By Andrew A. Limber
It was a warm, slightly breezy July evening at the Civic Center in Glendale, Arizona, next to Phoenix, as the large banquet room filled to near-capacity with 500 well-dressed young adults representing a variety of nations-from Germany to South Korea, from Lebanon and Brazil to Canada and the Cayman Islands.
Their constant smiles reflected both joy and a sense of relief at having reached a major academic milestone: completion of an on-line University of Phoenix international degree program.
The pre-graduation day reception and dinner featured the customary welcoming speeches, along with the more uncommon performances by Native Americans of traditional warrior “spirit dances.” Then, another speech or two, a few more colorful dances, followed on stage by a slim young man in an earth-toned pullover shirt adorned with depictions of stately giraffes.
As the personal story begins to unfold from the soft-spoken student from Uganda, the clank of silverware on the white linen-covered dinner tables fades, and the slight undertow of murmuring voices vanish into silence.
Walakira “Robert” Kisakye, 26, tells about his late father, Vincent, who as a teenager becomes the pen pal of a 10-year-old American girl named Lisa, as a result of her visit to the Parker Pen Pavilion at the World’s Fair in New York City in 1964.
Over the years, the letter-writing flows on and Lisa comes to know and love Vincent, his wife, and their two daughters and son. In 1971, life in Uganda takes a brutal turn as a military coup installs Idi Amin as the country’s tyrannical ruler. Vincent writes to Lisa of his people’s suffering, of his losing a small piece of land, and that his only work is making bricks by hand.
The banquet room of fellow students and guests comes to a standstill. Even the wait staff in their crisp black attire cease all activity, standing quiet and attentive, focused on Robert Kisakye as he continues relating his incredible journey leading to this July night in America.
Somehow, he says, his father is able to come to New York in 1974 to finally meet his pen pal, then twenty. Lisa and her family take Vincent everywhere, and he especially enjoys the United Nations visit. After an emotional farewell, he returns to Uganda where, in 1979, Idi Amin is deposed. Four years later, Vincent dies, and his widow assumes the correspondence until she passes away in 1999. The letters to Lisa continue at the hand of the son, 16-year-old Walakira, also known as “Robert.”
Meanwhile, Lisa fulfills her ambition to become a medical doctor, marries, has a family, and moves to Arizona-all the while maintaining contact with her second-generation pen pal in Africa.
Although conditions since the tumultuous reign of Idi Amin in Uganda improve, life for its 31 million residents is a struggle, with half the country living below the international poverty line of $1.25 (U. S.) a day.
Established in Chandler as a family practitioner, Dr. Lisa Wright and her husband, James, attempt to adopt Robert, but Ugandan law prohibits it. Robert hungers for a formal education, and the Wrights consider enrolling him at Arizona State University, but the Ugandan government denies an exit visa.
Undeterred, the Wright’s find the ideal solution at the University of Phoenix and its internationally respected on-line program. They pay for Robert’s entire tuition and enroll him in the information technology curriculum. This brings the immediate bonus of making him employable at a telecommunications company in Uganda, where he works during the day and studies on-line at night.
Less than four years later, the once unemployed young Ugandan with a great appetite for knowledge but little hope for attending a university, was about to receive his bachelor’s degree in a roomful of fellow global graduates.
The genesis of this momentous evening began 45 years earlier when a little American girl just happened to become the pen pal of a teenage African boy. Such a seemingly unremarkable beginning to a most remarkable outcome is the stuff legends are made of
And no one expresses it better than Walakira Robert Kisakye himself when he concluded his remarks that night in Glendale, saying:
“Four years ago, I was a young man in Africa who could never hope to have an education. But today, I am here to graduate from the University of Phoenix. So for me, this is a testimony that a single act of generosity might change the world, and proves that nothing is impossible-not even for an orphan boy in Uganda.”
When the words ended from the stage, there was an extended moment of pure silence in the cavernous banquet room. Then came the rapidly building crescendo of nearly deafening applause, punctuated by the entire audience rising to its feet in tribute to the speaker, who had, in his unassuming yet powerful way, delivered a profound message:
No dream is impossible.
University of Phoenix is constantly innovating to help students balance education and life in a rapidly changing world. Through flexible schedules, challenging courses and interactive learning, students achieve personal and career aspirations without putting their lives on hold. As of February 28, 2010, 458,600 students were enrolled at University of Phoenix, the largest private university in North America. University of Phoenix serves a diverse student population, offering associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degree programs from campuses and learning centers across the U.S. as well as online throughout the world.
For more information please contact Niamh Fitzgerald, Dicomm Media at nfitzgerald@dicommintl.com
