The octogenarian who beat culture to reach her goal

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.

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.

“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.

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What others say

Retired Bishop Baker Macleod Ochora, former colleague in the teaching service:
“She was an eye opener to the girl child education in the region…Many of our parents paid little attention to educating girls but because of her endless campaigns on girl child, to date, we smile…Most of the strong scholars in the region went through her hands,”
Filda Ojok, a senior lecturer at Kyambogo University, and Okwong’s former student
Ms Okwong was not only my teacher but also my eldest sister. When our mother passed on, she assumed the responsibility of bringing us up. I lived with her and most people thought I was her first child.
She also taught me at Gulu Primary school in primary three.”