From witchcraft to philanthropy

BRECKENRIDGE — A woman raised as a witch doctor in Uganda became a nurse in the United States and is on track toward a Ph.D. from Yale University.

In a few weeks, Rose Nanyonga, 35, will retrace the steps she took to leave the African country long plagued by AIDS, war and poverty.

The 32-mile walk she took as a teenager led Nanyonga from the village of Bamunanika — where she was disowned for abandoning the witchcraft rituals — to Kiwoko. It initiated a journey, which, in the course of two decades would often bring her back to serve her people.

“No one else as smart as she is understands Ugandan culture as well as she does,” said Jennifer Morgan, one of six Breckenridge residents walking with Nanyonga July 11.

Succeeding through nursing school in Arkansas and the nurse practitioner program at Baylor Medical School in Dallas, Nanyonga has contributed to her home country for the past several years.

She co-founded a nursing school in Kampala, continues to serve International Hospital Kampala and serves on the board of Narrow Road — a Breckenridge-based international aid organization.

A witch's power

Nanyonga began her witch doctor training at age 4, said Kate Glerup, a member of the group from Breckenridge traveling to Uganda.

She said Nanyonga's father was a tribal chief who had three to four wives. He died of AIDS. Nanyonga's mother died at childbirth.

Because she was the first daughter born after several sons, Nanyonga lived a special life that became “isolated early on” and caused others to fear her, Glerup said.

“They hold a lot of power,” she said of witch doctors, adding that they may be paid to curse one's enemies or to protect from curses.

And the experience involved witnessing some disturbing rituals.

“I'm sure she watched child sacrifices from an early age,” Glerup said.

Kristen Petitt, another member of the group, said Nanyonga was baptized in goat's blood.

“There is nothing farther from how I grew up,” she said.

A new voice

Nanyonga's superiors instructed her to listen to the voices of spirits. But when she was 16, she heard a voice that said “you'll be born again,” Glerup said.

“The trainers said, ‘Do not listen to that voice,'” she said.

Some missionaries came to her village and gave Nanyonga a Bible, which she read twice. She liked what she read and began turning toward Christianity, which the trainers did not approve of.

“They said, ‘If you listen to this, we'll kill you,'” Glerup said.

They locked Nanyonga up in her uncle's grain shaft for a month and told her she must commit her life to that of a witch doctor.

“It was basically torture — she was 17,” Glerup said.

The tribe finally let her go, disowned, and she started walking.

She traveled many miles until stopping at Kiwoko Hospital, which is run by Dr. Ian Clarke and his wife, Robbie — an Irish missionary couple who took her in.

“It was the beginning of my restoration as a girl, and it was a second chance at having a family and hope for the future,” Nanyonga said in a statement regarding her journey.

She stayed with the Clarkes for four to five years before moving to the United States and further pursuing education.

Nanyonga's currently working on a highly selective doctoral program at Yale that involves international health and public policy.

Helping her people

Rather than abandon the people who had cast her away as a teenager, Nanyonga has since used her skills and familiarity with Ugandan culture to help with orphanages, nursing programs and other aid to a country where AIDS and other pathogens are widespread killers.

“I think it is important for every young Ugandan today to engage in making a difference,” Nanyonga said in a statement. “I also believe every child deserves an opportunity. It is the only matter on which I think I am right.”

As the country gradually recovers from conflicts that tore at the heart of its culture — which included young children getting pulled into the battlefields — Nanyonga is making a difference through improving health care.

The walk she and the Breckenridge group are taking is aimed to raise $25,000 to support nursing scholarships for impoverished Ugandans and Hope Ward, the charitable arm of International Hospital Kampala.

Glerup said the Hope Ward treats children who've suffered such abuses as dismemberment and chemical burns.

Petitt said they remain $15,000 short of the fundraising goal.

She said Nanyonga actually repeated that 32-mile journey shortly after she met the Clarkes, because they offered her a ride home the first night and she couldn't turn down the kind offer.

The Breckenridge group met Nanyonga through Christian organizations that brought her to Colorado, and the Ugandan has visited the town a number of times.

Petitt says Nanyonga doesn't like the cold — she prefers her water free of ice cubes, but enjoys coming to visit.

The local group also includes Dr. Christina Black, Mike Glerup and D.J. Shappart.

Robert Allen can be contacted at (970) 668-4628 or rallen@summitdaily.com.