I taught Kale Kayihura, Carl Muhlhausen says

Carl Muhlhausen speaks during the interview. Photo by Rachel Mabala.

What you need to know:

43 years ago, Carl Muhlhausen and his wife landed at Entebbe airport as a pair of fresh-faced Peace Corps volunteers keen to make a difference in Uganda’s education. During his enriching but short stay, Muhlhausen made an impression on the young Kale Kayihura, now Inspector General of Police. Emmanuel Ainebyoona met the volunteer on his second tour of duty.

Although he is of advanced age, Carl Muhlhausen, in a chequered shirt and a black pair of jeans, still has the looks and vigour of a 40-year-old. The 65-year-old father of two, first landed at Entebbe airport in June 1971 together with his wife, Linda. He shares the story of his stay in Uganda as a two-time America Peace Corps volunteer.

“I was part of a group of 30 Peace Corp volunteers. We were first taken for a one-week teacher training at Makerere University before being separated into small groups,” says Muhlhausen adding that he was 22 years old when he arrived in the country as a teaching volunteer.

The young couple were first seconded to King’s College, Budo for a three-week teaching practice. They were later taken to Fort Portal for cross-cultural understanding training and then to Mbarara for training in a foreign language, Ruyankole-Rukiga.

Asked whether he speaks Rukiga, Muhlhausen responds, “Nimanya Rukiga Rukye,” meaning I speak a bit of Rukiga.

After the language training in Ruyankole-Rukiga, Muhlhausen says together with his wife and another volunteer, they were unfortunately deployed in Kisoro where the native language is Rufumbira.
Muhlhausen joined the teaching service as a secondary school teacher at Mutolere Secondary School in Kisoro in 1971 just after Idi Amin had captured power in a military coup from President Milton Obote.
“I was teaching Chemistry and my wife taught English at the same school,” says the former teacher while adjusting his round spectacles.

However, Muhlhausen says their stay in Uganda was short lived after there was an invasion on some part of Uganda by Tanzanian guerrilla fighters.
“While in Kisoro, we often heard stories of atrocities being committed in the other parts of Uganda where Idi Amin was consolidating his power,” says Muhlhausen, adding it was around that time when President Amin made the decision to expel Asians.

Around September 1972, Muhlhausen says there were many army roadblocks in the country mostly near border towns. It was while listening to BBC radio that he got to know that one Peace Corp volunteer had been shot and killed while crossing the army roadblock.

One day while in a chemistry class, a student came with a note from the headmaster asking him to go and see the police captain in Kisoro Town.
“When I reached the Police station, the Captain told me that the head office wanted to speak to me over a short wave microphone.”

When Muhlhausen managed to get through to the Peace Corps office in Kampala, he was told that following the shooting of one of their colleagues, the government of President Amin had requested that they be moved to Kampala which was safer.

“They sent a bus to repatriate us from Kisoro but unfortunately, my wife and I missed the bus,” says Muhlhausen. He managed to take another vehicle the next day with a Police escort and they drove past many road blocks from Kisoro to reach Kabale where they spent two nights before proceeding to Kampala.

“In Kampala, the US Ambassador went to a meeting with President Amin but we never found out what come out of their discussion,” he adds.
In September 1972, the US state department requested Peace Corps volunteers all over Uganda to return to the United States.
Last year, Muhlhausen returned to the country for the second time after 43 years as a two-time Peace Corps volunteer but this time as a lecturer for secondary school teachers at Kabale National Teachers College (NTC).

During his orientation at the teachers’ college, the school principal introduced Muhlhausen to his new supervisor, the Deputy Principal, Beegira Bunsen George.
As the two chatted, Beegira mentioned that two Americans taught him in secondary school; “Ms “Mul-how-zen” taught English and Mr “Mul-how-zen”, Chemistry. Carl excitedly identified himself, “I’m Mr Muhlhausen. I was your teacher! 43 years ago!”

“It is at this point that Mr Beegira revealed that both the head of Uganda’s Police, Gen Kale Kayihura, and Mr Johnson Byabashaija, the current head of Prisons, were my students at Mutolere,” he recalls.

Muhlhausen, who was longing to meet his former students, finally got a chance to meet Gen Kayihura at the 50th anniversary celebrations of US Peace Corps held in October this year.

“I remember him and his wife very well. He taught us chemistry and the wife taught Literature. He inspired me to like sciences. He made chemistry interesting and manageable,” says Gen Kale Kayihura, the Inspector General of Police.

“All the American Peace Corps had to leave in 1972 because of the deteriorating situation in Uganda under Amin.” Gen Kayihura recalls.
Gen Kayihura adds that the American approach to teaching science is to simplify things, which should be a lesson to the Ministry of Education here.

According to Muhlhausen, American Culture is different from the Ugandan culture. “...for instance, it is hard for people here to believe that a couple can stay for 10 years without children while in marriage as they use birth control methods ,” he adds saying he had his first-born daughter 10 years after serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Uganda.

“Currently, Peace Corps volunteers are not allowed to have children neither are they allowed to own cars like we did during our time of service,” Muhlhausen notes.

In his interview with Life Magazine, Muhlhausen notes that he cannot stay in Uganda permanently since he has a family in the US.

However, he says he had to sell off his house in a move to come back to volunteer for a second time. “My eldest daughter Emily was opposed to my coming back to Uganda, after a lot of things had happened in Uganda including; political turmoil around the 1970s, HIV/Aids scourge, among others,” says Muhlhausen.

“My youngest daughter and the other members of the family were very supportive of my decision,” says Muhlhausen.

Muhlhausen says that to be a Peace Corps volunteer, you must have the desire to meet and live in another culture outside America.

“This time, I stayed with Rev Canon Katamba’s family in Mbarara near Kinoni but my first concern was how a 65-year-old man can live within another family, but I had a nice stay there,” observes Muhlhausen, adding that interacting closely with local communities helps to change people’s perception about Americans.

According to Muhlhausen, the country has changed a lot in terms of peace, security, stability and democracy. However he observes that education standards have since declined.

“I think the education in the country has suffered compared to those days when I was at Mutolere Secondary School. We are now aiming at changing that through our expertise as Peace Corps volunteers,” Muhlhausen notes.

Background
The Peace Corps volunteers was established by former US President John F. Kennedy in 1961. So far, more than 215,000 Americans have served in 139 host countries.

In Uganda, the Peace Corps programme was established in 1964 with the arrival of secondary school teachers. Since then, 1,305 volunteers have worked hand-in-hand with their Ugandan colleagues towards the goal of a peaceful, prosperous, healthy, democratic Uganda.

The programme offers opportunities for Americans aged 18 or over who are interested in public service abroad. One of the goals of the Peace Corps is to help the people of other countries gain a better understanding of Americans and their multicultural society.

According to the their website, the work of Peace Corps work in villages, towns, and cities around the globe represents a legacy of service that has become a significant part of America’s history and positive image abroad.

Recently, the US Mission in Uganda passed out 51 Peace Corps volunteers to help boost service delivery in the areas of health, agriculture and education in the country. Peace Corps is now celebrating 50 years of service in Uganda.