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Kafuluma: Determination drove him to PhD
Ddungu in a parking lot. PHOTOS/ EDGAR BATTE
What you need to know:
- Go-getter. As a child, John Mukasa Ddungu Kafuluma admired his uncles who were mechanics and owned garages. After his O-Level, his father advised him to join a teacher’s college but Ddungu knew his heart’s desire. Thus, he joined technical school for mechanics and the rest is history.
- John Ddungu Kafuluma was born in Mityana to Ernest Kafuluma and Nanyonga Faith . He is sixth of 12 children.
- “I thank God for the life. I was taken to Namayaba Kayanja for infant education where my paternal aunt taught. I did Primary One to Primary Six at Namataba Primary School. I repeated Primary Six at Bishop’s School, Mukono then in 1971 joined City High School before going to Mityana Secondary School from Senior Two to Senior Four. There, I passed general science,” he recalls.
There was a time when variety was not the spice of life, at least not for TV viewers of the 1980s and 1990s who had to wait for six-hour broadcasts on Uganda Television (UTV).
Nonetheless, one of the interesting presenters was John Mukasa Ddungu Kafuluma on Know Your Vehicle, a segment that taught about the mechanics of cars, as well as Highway Code.
He started this programme in 1983 and 20 years later, Wavah Broadcasting Service (WBS TV) asked him to offer the same. That landmark year,along with two directors and his wife, they established Ddungu Kafuluma Global Driving School.
Whoever trained and learnt at his driving school got more than what average driving schools offered. To date, he offers that.
“I teach theory lessons, driving on the road lessons and basic mechanics,” Kafuluma says.
School ambitions
When Kafuluma first sat behind a car steering wheel, he decided he was not only going to learn how to set a car in motion and go on to stabilise his driving, but wanted to acquire a doctorate too.
He attracted chuckles and mockery from those he shared his dream with because he did not have a certificate.
“When I passed my Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) examinations, my father said he wanted me to pursue Education at Namutamba Primary Teachers’ College,” says Ddungu adding that he politely declined the advice.
“I wanted to become a mechanic, a career I had seen my uncles, through commitment and with passion, excel at in our home district of Mityana.”
Aspirations grow
The youngster at the time, asked his father, Ernest Kafuluma to instead facilitate him to travel to Kampala to have a conversation with his elder brother, Mwanje Ssenabulya, who understood and appreciated Ddungu’s aspirations in mechanical engineering.
Ssenabulya advised his brother to apply for a two-year course in Motor Vehicle Mechanics at St Joseph’s Technical Institute Kisubi, the oldest technical institute in Uganda that was started in 1911 by The Missionaries of Africa, popularly known as The White Fathers.
“By then, people had a perception that those who joined technical institutes were failures and immediately people started asking me if I had failed to join A-Level,” he recounts.
He proudly told them that from a tender age, his focus was on handling cars and fixing any issues they developed. Ddungu had keenly observed his uncles while they went about their mechanical work in their garages. He was drawn to their hustle.
He was convinced to take after them.
His childhood aspiration paid off through Ddungu Kafuluma Driving School on Dewinton Road in Kampala one of the oldest driving schools in Uganda.
The art of driving at his school
At a time when you can enroll for a driving course but not show up yet acquire a driving permit, Ddungu has not bent the good old school rules. Follow the book to the letter.
When you enroll at his school, you ought to be ready to learn the basics even before you are taken through the theory of studying how to drive. For instance, knowing the key parts and your way around a vehicle, knowledge of both a manual and automatic car, why listening to a professional driving instructor is important and why going for a driving test is vital and relevant.
“In Uganda, you could ask someone, ‘what is driving’? They will answer, ‘it is the moving of a vehicle from one place to another,’ but we care to teach (actual) driving. When I was studying Education at Kyambogo they taught me to use a curriculum and syllabus. I have a curriculum and syllabus for driving too,” the seasoned trainer and teacher explains.
“My advice to parents is that if you don’t have enough money to further the education of your child after Senior Four, try vocational studies. If they are dedicated, they will upgrade up to PhD like I did,” he advises adding that technical education is not for failures.
“A person who repairs a vehicle he did not manufacture is not stupid or a failure.”
He observes that Uganda is moving towards the path developed countries took; that is vocational skilling of their citizens.
“That is why government has embarked on projects such as skilling Uganda, creating the Directorate of Industrial Training so that we can have people with skills for development,” he argues.
Ddungu during the interview. PHOTOS/Edgar R Batte.
Back to school
At St Joseph, he passed with 75 per cent and got his Motor Vehicle Certificate Part I. With it, he got a job at Car and General.
“I had that feeling that people would regard me as a failure so I decided to upgrade. I applied and enrolled at Kyambogo Polytechnic to pursue an advanced certificate in Motor Vehicle Mechanics Part II for one year, and I passed,” he narrates.
He got a job at Nakawa Vocational Institute as a technician. In 1989, he applied to pursue a diploma. He was enrolled because he had passed with two certificates and a credit.
He continues, “I studied with students from Senior Six. I was not so good at Mathematics, so I befriended students who were happy to coach me. In return, I helped them in Motor Vehicle Mechanics until the two years elapsed. In 1985, I applied for a higher diploma in Motor Vehicle Mechanics and I passed,” says Ddungu.
Then he wanted to enroll for a degree. He applied to Makerere University and was admitted on condition that he started from Year One and go all the way to Year Four with students from A-Level.
He did not like the idea.
“I felt unprepared to undertake a degree despite the certificates and diplomas I had pursued, as well as the knowledge, skills and experience I had galvanized,” he recounts. I, instead went to Kyambogo University to pursue a diploma in Technical Teacher Education.”
The determined man was admitted and graduated in 2001. That was when he felt ready to pursue a degree in technical studies at Makerere University.
They initially refused to admit him because he had pursued a one-year diploma, but Prof Lutalo Bbosa, then Kyambogo University vice chancellor , wrote to the university detailing the weight of Ddungu’s various qualifications and insisted the mechanical student and practitioner be tested to prove his abilities.
They complied and he was eventually admitted for a Bachelor’s in Technical Studies for two years at the university. He graduated in 2003 and was retained as an assistant lecturer.
“… but remember in 1980 I was admitted to Kyambogo to teach Motor Vehicle Mechanics, but now I had got a transfer to the Faculty of Education at Makerere University, which was a plus,” Ddungu further narrates.
He wanted to pursue a master’s degree in technical studies but it was unavailable in Uganda. A friend who was lecturing at Moi University told him that they offered his desired course. So, he put together his (many) papers and sent his application.
Off to Kenya
He was admitted to Moi University in August 2007 and got study leave. That same year, Kenya went to polls during which students and staff left the university.
“I was left alone in the university hall, with no food. I resorted to (just) taking tea. Remember, it was chaotic after elections so I could not leave the campus. Through the window, I saw disturbing scenes in which people were involved in violence. One of my lecturers drove all the way to bring me food after a few weeks,” he recounts.
Ddungu’s sister back in Mukono used to ring him. She advised him to borrow money for an air ticket and return home. A friend lent him some money and he was able to access a plane from the University of Eldoret to Nairobi and finally to Entebbe.
“I could not believe I was still alive.
Undying love for school
After a while, he went back to complete his Master’s and then applied to pursue a PhD in 2012.
“Then, I opted for a coursework PhD where I went and studied for one year and returned to do my research for two years,” he says.
In 2014, he clocked 60, the official retirement age. Friends expressed their dismay at the elderly driver ‘wasting his money in school’. He was happy to continue studying and in 2018, he graduated with a doctorate.
“I was the first student from Uganda to get PhD in mechanical work. At the moment, six more students have enrolled for the same PhD at the University of Eldoret,” he elaborates.
He says it has taken him dedication and endurance to study and complete the PhD. Ddungu still runs his driving school on Dewinton Road.
Mentorship
He uses his time to tutor students at his driving school, but also offers career guidance for those who join the school and are contemplating on what to do after O and A-levels. He talks to them and their parents about the possibility of a good future if they considered vocational studies.
He says, with hands-on skills and experience, they offer competitive solutions in the practical world.
