Name: Diana Namumbejja Abwoye
Nursing education: Registered Nurse and Family Nurse Practitioner 
(MSN) candidate for May 2020 graduation
Number of years in the nursing field: 1 year
Current title: Community Health Nurse
Country of Origin: Uganda
1) Why did you decide to become a nurse?
I have experienced first-hand the way health care—or lack of it—affects individuals and impacts communities.
I grew up in Ndegeya, a small village in western Uganda that had no doctors or clinics. People walked for hours to seek medical care and often died on the way. Others lived their entire lives without necessary medical intervention or preventive care. There was no access to family planning and many women had over ten children. Girls had babies as early as thirteen years old.
As an eight-year-old I was the primary caregiver for my parents when they were unwell. From that early age I wanted to pursue a career in healthcare and provide accessible care to all.
2) What has inspired you?
My personal and work experiences have taught me that unless patients’ individual needs are understood in the context of their families and cultural and geographic communities, there is a disparity of care. I understand that the social determinants of health begin in our homes, neighborhoods, schools, and workplaces. As an individual who has lived in underserved neighborhoods, I am passionate about moving beyond addressing gaps in healthcare temporarily in order to ensure true equity. I want to advocate for communities in different geographical locations around the world, because it is the children of today who will impact the neighborhoods of tomorrow.
3) What motivated you to go to NP school?
I am a mother of my own and my siblings, a nurse, a daughter, a friend, a wife, a listener, an empathetic, nurturing and caring individual who worries about the problems of the world and tries to figure out how to work towards fixing them. I love to travel and learn more about people’s cultures. I consider myself a spiritual person who loves nature and appreciates the beauty in everything. I am a future nurse practitioner who, overtime, will influence health policy in developing countries to serve the needs of different communities. I practice nursing in everything that I do. To me, nursing is a profession that combines education and personal attributes such as caring, empathy, selflessness, and desire to serve others, to provide holistic care to those in need. Nursing defines my personality and what others can expect from me.
I have always been the type of person who enjoys taking care of others, educating and advocating for individuals in given situations. I knew that I belonged in healthcare early on in life. I want to be on the frontline of patient care, and in that arena, nurses have the best seat, hence pursuing NP school-I will always be a nurse first.
4) What area do you plan to work in?
Underserved communities, and I am going Global baby. When I grow up, I will be championing global health policies.
5) What are some major differences between healthcare here and in your home country, and how will your training as an NP help you positively impact healthcare on a global level?
Healthcare in Uganda is largely curative. Typically people seek medical care when they are sick. Some people never make it to a doctor’s office at all due to the social, political and economic structure. Essentially it is a choice between health and food for the family, as some people would have to forego one or the other. In some rural hospitals, they lack basic supplies like light during birth/delivery at night. The gap between the rich and poor is too big in relation to healthcare access. And overall, healthcare providers are not held accountable for anything so many medical errors occur.
I hope to join the team of scholars who are on the journey of figuring out how we can have access to basic healthcare across the globe, because I believe it is a human need.
6) Tell us about some projects you are currently working on in Uganda.
- Our Bodies Ourselves Translation: I translated and published this book in 2017 for women in rural Uganda to learn about basic self care, pregnancy & birth, birth control, sexuality and overall their own bodies. I have continued to travel across country hosting talks with women’s groups about this content. The books are availed to women for free.
- Amida child mothers women’s group and vocational training center: This is a group I started 3 years ago in Northern Uganda. When I first visited this region, they were resettling after 20-year civil war (Kony war) many of these women/ girls were born during the war, had lost their parents and had lived all their lives in camps. Now they were being integrated into community but lacked the basic survival skills outside camps. As a result they were having unplanned pregnancies and having children with no means of supporting them. Since this group started, we have worked on basic child support, nutrition, survival, birth control, and recently started a vocational training program for them to learn sewing skills with the hope of empowering them to become independent.
- Collaborating with ST. Joseph’s hospital in Kitgum, Northern Uganda. I have established a relationship with this hospital to host nurses from the US and nursing students. I recently led a group of students from Simmons to volunteer in the hospital. I felt like this would be a good way of promoting global health especially since many of my colleagues in the US had no global health experience. To me this is a way of giving back to rural Uganda, creating an excellent learning experience for American nurses and students and fostering relations that will potentially join the global health team of providers
7) What is the most rewarding part of your work?
I believe in sharing, I believe that every person should have the basic needs of life. I find happiness knowing that for everyday I have lived, I have helped one child not to have a similar experience I had. The truth is today’s children are the future and I believe that supporting their mothers ultimately makes a big difference for these children. Although I cannot currently impact the lives of many, I find hope in knowing that little by little helps and it makes a difference.