Stephen and Tonny Graduate

Two young adults on the Road to Hope (RTH) program, Stephen and Tonny, recently graduated from university – Stephen with a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB) and Tonny with a Bachelor of Development Studies. These two young men have worked hard; they started out from difficult situations where they were forced to mature beyond their years to care for their sick parents; they have overcome those circumstances and many other challenges to become university graduates!

The RTH program aims to help orphaned and/or deprived child caregivers in Uganda receive the education they need to become productive young adults. We have seen this transformation with Stephen and Tonny. As they reach the milestone of a university degree, it’s something worth celebrating and a wonderful example of the success children on the program can achieve. PCAU recently featured a brief update about Stephen and Tonny’s success in their newsletter.

We are so grateful to the sponsors of the children whose support has enabled PCAU to reach out to them and other child caregivers in need. The RTH program is PCAU’s avenue for empowering communities at the grassroots level, which is essential for promoting palliative care, increasing demand for the services in communities. The RTH program is a catalyst for PCAU’s advocacy and programming activities at the community level. This strategy of empowering people and communities for palliative care is a key part of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) conceptual model for delivery of palliative care.

PCAU is now exploring ways to further engage Stephen and Tonny with the RTH program and/or other PCAU activities in the community. Stephen’s story was shared when he first graduated as a clinical officer. He worked for some time and then entered medical school. He also returned to volunteer on the RTH program in his spare time. Stephen has been key generally with the RTH program and was central in the execution of the February 2023 children’s camp. Currently, Stephen is back in his home village volunteering at a local hospital awaiting a government one-year internship after which time he will be allowed to practice on his own in the field of medicine and surgery.

Tonny also attended camp this year and will hopefully continue to engage in the RTH program as a mentor for the younger children. It can be hard to land a job right after graduation, so Tonny is being entrepreneurial with his time. He has recently been involved in a clothing business which is keeping him busy as he looks for employment in his field of study.