The making of a woman hydropower engineer

Leaving Bubulo Primary School in 2003, Khainza joined Grace Primary School where she scored Four Aggregates in the 2005 Primary Leaving Exams.

At Mount Saint Mary’s College Namagunga, she was challenged by “the many students who were way brighter than me,” but she quickly found her feet, scoring Nine in Eight at O-Level.

Khainza knew she wanted to do engineering but knew little about the specific courses. In fact, all she thought of mechanical engineering was being a motor vehicle mechanic, something she did not find appealing.

So electrical engineering was her first choice but Stella Byaruhanga, her Chemistry teacher, persuaded her to include mechanical engineering, after explaining to her the depth of the field and the opportunities therein.

In her final A-Level examinations, Khainza scored 22 points: C in Physics, B in Chemistry, A in Mathematics and another A in Economics, earning government sponsorship at Makerere University to study a Bachelors’ in mechanical engineering.

In her final year at university, she applied to major in aviation engineering but was placed in renewable energy—ending up in the hydropower department.

Renewable energy

No regrets, however, after all there are more opportunities in renewable energy than in aviation. She did her first internship at the Ministry of Works and the second one at Meys Consult, a private engineering firm.

In 2017, she earned a second-class upper degree in mechanical engineering and applied for graduate training at Eskom Uganda, the largest generator of energy in Uganda, operating Nalubaale and Kiira Hydropower dams in Jinja.

Real dam work

When Operations and Maintenance Energy, Uganda Limited (OMEUL), otherwise called Global Power Generation, got the contract to operate the Achwa Hydro Power Plant in Pader in 2018, Khainza was one of the new recruits.

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Paul Odipiyo, former OMEUL operations manager, told Full Woman that after excelling as a trainee, Khainza in early 2019 was confirmed as a shift leader/operations engineer charged with supervising operations and maintenance activities of the dam and issuing work permits.

Her work involves generating units and ensuring all power plant equipment are functioning properly. She also supervises work shifts, conducts daily inspections and offer emergency response in case of any anomaly.

To Khainza, the job is both interesting and challenging. Her typical 12-hour working day shift begins at 8am till 8pm, while the night shift begins 8pm till 8am. Day shifts are busier yet night shifts interrupt her sleep schedule.

The shifts change every week and in between is what is called a general shift; a normal day shift; that lasts only nine hours. While on duty, Khainza is in charge of the entire plant, meaning she must ensure the whole system is functioning well.

At the end of every shift, the outgoing team must report the status of the unit and if anything must be addressed, it becomes the urgent business of the incoming team.

In the control room, Khainza starts the power generating unit and sets the megawatts she wants it to generate, depending on the water levels on River Achwa. 

“And you must keep an eye on the unit and the moment any abnormalities such as rising temperatures or oil leakages show up, they are fixed immediately,” she says. 

You do not want the generator to trip, or stop suddenly, so where necessary, she stops it until the issue is solved. Achwa has two plants; the water passes through Achwa HPP I before coming to Achwa HPP II, separated by about five kilometres.

When necessary, Khainza or her colleagues move between one to the other.

“Khainza is a very dedicated worker and a fast learner,” says Odipiyo, who left Achwa in January after being promoted to head the Kikagati Hydro Power Plant on River Kagera.

He adds that Khainza usually focuses on her work and gives very good reports, a characteristic he attributes to female workers, compared to their male counterparts.

Agella Kirabo, director at Meys Consult, echoes Odipiyo’s reviews of Khainza, calling her “hard working, keen to accomplish her tasks, a quick learner and a team player.”

Her heroes

Raised as an Anglican, Khainza became Born Again while at university. She says she takes her spirituality seriously and attributes her success to God’s grace.

“When I wake up on a bad day, prayer is my motivation, my anchor,” Khainza says. “When I need direction about something, I pray over it and sometimes I get the answer in my dreams and when I follow it, it works.”

Khainza confesses: “I am the child on whom my parents have spent most of their money.” 

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While in Primary Five, Khainza’s teachers advised her parents that if they wished their daughter to join elite secondary schools, she had to leave Bubulo Primary School, a school under the Universal Primary Education, for a better primary school. 

Her elder siblings had gone through Bubulo, with the same limitations. That is when she joined Grace Primary School, a new private school that had the standards that took her to Mount St Mary’s College Namagunga. Her father told us he almost stopped her from joining Namagunga, fearing he would not afford the fees. But he persevered and the rest is history.

“My parents struggled with my school fees and would get salary advances almost every term,” she remembers thankfully. 

“But thank God they finally saw me through secondary school, until I got government sponsorship at university.”

Internship

During her second internship, at Meys Consult, Stephen Yateesa, the company owner, felt concerned that the third-year engineering student lacked a laptop, which was a necessity. “Mr Yateesa bought me my first laptop,” she recalls gratefully.

Yateesa’s daughter, Kirabo, a director at Meys, is another benefactor.When Khainza had to choose between graduate training at Eskom and a job in an insurance company, it was Kirabo who advised her to choose Eskom training, which turned out to be a major springboard in her career.  “Since I met her in 2014 she has been my mentor,” Khainza says.

Enabling factors

Khainza is committed to pursuing excellence. “I feel indebted to supersede the expectations of my parents, who sacrificed a lot for me,” she says. “…and I know they are proud of me because they express it.”

In 2020, Khainza was hardly a year into her marriage when she left Kampala for work. She would spend three and half months in Pader—the longest she has been away from home. And usually she spends five weeks away.

“Often people ask me: “you are the woman, who is supposed to take care of the home, how come you are the one who works away from home?”

But she is glad that her husband, a medical doctor, understands the demands of her work. Her family has been equally supportive. “Whenever I am tempted to relax, they remind me of how much they believe in me, which encourages me to aim higher,” she says.

Aspirations

Khainza is preparing to get registered as an engineer which, among other benefits, will enhance her career opportunities.

With new players entering the hydropower sector, her former boss Odipiyo, predicts a rise in demand for engineers and says ones such as Khainza, who are already thriving in the industry, have an advantage over new ones.

“If she is ready to accept new challenges she will move on,” he says. She also intends to upgrade her academic credentials in pursuit of higher positions such as operations manager or projects manager.

Inspired by Irene Muloni and Mary Goretti Kitutu—women from her region—who have led the Energy ministry, Khainza dreams of taking her technical know-how into policy making positions, to improve the energy sector in Uganda and internationally.

She believes policy makers who have the technical knowledge can make better decisions.

Besides engineering,  she also loves literature. She has written about religion, politics, mandatory vaccination, etc., on social media. She plans to write a book.

Having gone to a UPE school and serving as an untrained teacher at a government secondary school in Manafwa, Khainza wants to start a charity to help disadvantaged learners access quality education and narrow that yawning gap between them and their well-to-do counterparts.

Narrowing gender gap

In her mechanical engineering class of about 50, at university, Khainza was among only four female students. At Achwa, there is only one other female engineer, in the civil engineering department.

Khainza thinks if girls believe in themselves, acquire the right career guidance, more can thrive in engineering as they do in other fields such as medicine, leisure and hospitality, etc.

“Women need to appreciate that mechanical engineering, for instance, is more than lifting metals. The methods of teaching are comfortable for gender and the profession has an assortment of opportunities, including establishing one’s own engineering firm.

“Of course, the boy-girl ratio is intimidating and to the extent that colleagues ask what you are doing in a boys’ course, but these are barriers women can overcome,” says the budding engineer.

She advises students to research about courses of their interest to make informed career decisions. Equally, she says, they should accord internship the seriousness it deserves as opposed to doing it as just an academic formality.

Dream to improve energy sector

In her mechanical engineering class of about 50, at university, Khainza was among only four female students. At Achwa, there is only one other female engineer, in the civil engineering department.

Khainza believes if girls believe in themselves, acquire the right career guidance, more can thrive in engineering as they do in other fields such as medicine, leisure and hospitality, etc.

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Inspired by Irene Muloni and Mary Goretti Kitutu—women from her region—who have led the Energy ministry, Khainza dreams of taking her technical know-how into policy making positions, to improve the energy sector in Uganda and internationally.

She believes policy makers who have the technical knowledge can make better decisions.