Asante 2007 celebrates Bugando students
The Waldorf Astoria’s Starlight Roof provided a warm reception for Asante 2007 on June 13th to benefit our work at the medical university and teaching hospital of Bugando University College of Health Services (BUCHS).
We were delighted to welcome the Bugando leadership as our special guests, including Rt. Rev. Bishop Balina, Chairman of Bugando University College of Health Sciences, Dr. Charles Majinge, Director of Bugando Medical Centre, Professor Jacob Mtabaji, Principal of Bugando University College of Health Sciences, and Dr. Frederick Kigadye, former Director of Bugando Medical Centre and our moving keynote speaker.
With Touch director Jane Fraser as our master of ceremonies, we honored the 700 students of BUCHS for their commitment to improving healthcare in their country. We were pleased to welcome Stella Mongella to accept the honor on behalf of her fellow students at the medical university. Ms. Mongella, who is now in the fifth and final year of her MD degree, was one of the first ten students who enrolled in the MD program at Bugando in 2003. She eloquently stressed the continued need to support health worker training and her moving words were met with a standing ovation.
In his keynote address, Dr Kigadye described moving to Mwanza in the early seventies when Bugando was “like a paradise”, a fully-equipped modern facility with quality medical and support staff. However, as Dr Kigadye described, that ‘paradise’ abruptly changed when war began with Ugandan dictator Idi Amin.
By the end of the war there was only one doctor left at Bugando, and the infrastructure of the facility lay in ruins. Bugando has struggled from this devastation ever since; however, Dr Kigadye finished his address by praising the good work that is now taking place and declaring, “I give thanks that I have lived long enough to see it.”
Asante 2007 was a great evening and we look forward to gathering our friends and supporters together next year for Asante 2008.