Sarah Nyendhoha’s memoir takes us through a fascinating journey from a village in Hoima through Kings College Budo, Makerere College, St Anne’s College Oxford to the Legislative Council.

Sarah had the singular distinction of becoming the first woman graduate of East and Central Africa, morever from the prestigious Oxford University. From a young age, Sarah was aware of her rights in society and she pushed hard for them; rejecting salary that was less than what her male colleagues with the same qualification were getting and insisting on her right to a first class cabin on the train from Mombasa to Kampala are only two examples in a lifetime of assertiveness.

On the occasion of the Golden Jubilee of Gayaza High School, Sarah was the only teacher who could drive, and undaunted, she took on the school tractor. Attached to the tractor was a trailer with about 30 Gayaza School Girls in their busuuti, complete with her Oxford University cap and gown, she embraced both tradition and modernity with panache.

I believ I am the richer for having met her in person several decades later in the women’s movement where she was an icon.

I invite you into the life of Dr. Canon Sarah Nyendwoha Ntiro – a daughter, student, wife, mother, human rights activist, legislator, diplomat, teacher, and one of the greatest symbols of women’s emancipation in Africa.

Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga

Speaker, Parliament (May 2011 – May 2021)

First Deputy Prime Minister of Uganda

Republic of Uganda