President Museveni decorating labeka Okwong
during this year’s Labour Day celebrations in Gulu.
She was
among the lucky few girls to get an education eight decades ago. Labeka Auma
Okwong decided to pass on this luck to the girls in Achioli Sub-region.
Labeka Auma Okwong narrowly missed going to school. At the age
of eight, she managed to enroll in school after a missionary nun, Mama Cave
Brown, from England saw her in church and asked her parents to allow her
educate the girl.
“At eight years, I had never been to school apart from having
the basics like reading the Bible and a little writing which we picked from
baptism classes,” she recalls. The encounter with the nun took place in Koch
Goma, (present day Nwoya District), when she had gone to visit her father, a
catechist at the church.
She recalls how Mama Cave Brown used to move around with her, preaching
and also gave her the responsibility of reading Bible verses. Okwong’s parents
picked interest in her Bible reading and let her join school.
Now 81 years of age, she is a retired teacher who is one of the
most educated women of her time. She began her education from Gulu Primary
School where she studied for six years and then joined junior school. But due
to lack of female teachers in Acholi, she was enrolled in Gulu Primary Teachers
College where she studied for three years and got a certificate in teaching. On
completing the course, Okwong was posted to Boroboro Vernacular Teachers
College, where she was assigned the responsibility of teaching language, that
is pronunciation and spelling.
Consequences of marriage
She taught for three years before getting married. During that era, conceiving or getting married meant that you had to quit your job. It was a government policy that when a woman opts for marriage, she had to let go of her job. And if the person left before serving in a position for less than four years, there would be no pension paid.
She taught for three years before getting married. During that era, conceiving or getting married meant that you had to quit your job. It was a government policy that when a woman opts for marriage, she had to let go of her job. And if the person left before serving in a position for less than four years, there would be no pension paid.
Later, this policy was revised and Okwong was called back to
duty. She was also awarded a scholarship to upgrade at Stranminis Belfast
College in Northern Ireland in the UK. She says the skills obtained at the
college helped her to become the first female assistant inspector of schools in
Acholi District from 1968-1970.
“Had not it been Mama Cave Brown who
helped me to get an education, parents that time thought that educating girls
was making them lazy and promoting prostitution in the community. Girls were
only taught how to read and little writing and be prepared for marriage so that
they can get dowry to their parents and contribute to their brother’s
marriages,” she says.
She adds that her education was an eye-opener to her father, Rev Canon Yayeri Ojok, who also went ahead to ask to other parents to take their daughters to school.
She adds that her education was an eye-opener to her father, Rev Canon Yayeri Ojok, who also went ahead to ask to other parents to take their daughters to school.
“I am glad that girl education was taken up seriously and to
date, there are many girls who have achieved in life as result of the struggle
for girl child education in the region. Though there are others who are still
tied up by the cultural norms and tradition especially those married off at a
tender age.”
Okwong is among the 24 people who were awarded the Nile Medal by
President Museveni at this year’s national Labour Day celebrations in Gulu. She
was recognised for her work in the field of productivity, research and cultural
enterprise.
Looking back, the 80-year-old regrets that the colonialists only
concentrated on teaching a few people who would help them in doing their
administrative work.
“They were just looking at giving the basics and natives by that
time had no capacity to sustain education, they paid little attention to our
plea as many children remained uneducated because they could not trek for over
20km to reach where the schools were.”
A few girls who were able to join school were limited to
Arithmetic and home economics while the boys did mathematics and geometry.
However, she has no regrets being a teacher. And among her achievements,
she prides in lighting the candle of the girl-child education in Acholi which
is still burning up to date.