In a nerve racking book titled ‘Cutting Through Hell’, a UPDF officer-cum-medic narrates the impact of the war and the ordeal faced by the AMISOM combatants in his 11-year stay at Somali war fronts and hospitals.
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In what could summarily be classified as a step towards educating Ugandans on experiences of war in Somalia, a senior UPDF officer and medical doctor assigned to treat Ugandan AMISOM soldiers, Brig. Gen. Dr. James Kiyengo shares personal experiences in a book titled “Cutting Through Hell”.
In the book due to be launched by the Transport and Works Minister Gen. Edward Katumba Wamala on 24th July 2024 at Fairway Hotel in Kampala, Dr. Kiyengo gives a detailed account of his medical ingenuity in the face of war.
In a recent interview at Aarola Hotel in Nakifuma cell in Nakifuma-Naggalama Town Council, Mukono district, the 55-year-old army officer who spent 11 years in Somalia on a mission to treat UPDF soldiers, found himself extending services beyond bases in Mogadishu to Baidoa, Kismayu and further away, treating peace keepers from other countries including Kenya, Ethiopia and others, in addition to Somali civilians.
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Born to the late Mr. and Mrs. Kiyaga of Ggwafu cell in Seeta Ward in present-day Goma Division of Mukono Municipality, Kiyengo went to school at Uganda Martyrs Namiryango Junior Boys, Namiryango College and Makerere University where he trained as a surgeon before proceeding to Kimaka Army College.
He has served in the army for 30 years, since 1995, eleven of them in Somalia as a medic for the Ugandan soldiers in the AMISOM contingent.
“My primary role was to save Ugandans but I had to cut across as there were not many surgeons; you could find five Ugandans injured in war alongside 10 Somali soldiers, and many more civilians”, Kiyengo narrated.
In a nutshell, “Cutting Through Hell” delves in his life, how and why he joined the army, his experiences in Somalia, what went wrong there, the nitty gritty of how Somali geography and history affects the war, and how Uganda was mandated to pacify the war-torn country.
Smartly clad in his army uniform, Gen. Kiyengo said that in a two-year period between 2016 and 2017, he carried out not less than 1,500 cleft lip operations among Somalis, where he said even adults clocking 80 years plus were found to be suffering from the problem.
His researched explanation on the relatively high cleft lip prevalence in Somalia attributes the shortcoming to the inheritance factor, with many spouses being close relatives and so stepping up possibility of the genetic inheritance of the problem.
He vividly recalls the day Somali youths under his treatment and training turned against him, demanding that he surrender the gun he was supposed to have in his possession, and how he tactfully convinced them to change hearts.
“The truth is that I had no gun on me then, but this was a learning experience and henceforth, I began conducting my obligations with a pistol tucked away on me”, he said.
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The other nasty experience Dr. Kiyengo narrated, is the day their Mogadishu base was burnt by Al Shabaab operatives, forcing them to trek long distances and, at the end of the day, developing swollen feet. This, he adds, is the genesis of the chapter he titled ‘Baptism By Fire’ in his book.
Kiyengo is strongly convinced that besides educating researchers on the Somali war in detail, they will pick a leaf on how to go about specific diseases in hazardous situations; “I dwelt at length on issues like the psychological effects of war on soldiers, evacuation of patients, and others, and I was commissioned to start Hoga Hospital in Mogadishu, from makeshift tents to permanent buildings”, he narrated further. ‘Hoga’ in Somali dialect means good luck.
Before the Somali assignment, he worked in Mulago Hospital, Bombo and Kimaka, and has a personal hospital in Seeta, his birth place, and started one in Buikwe.
Other common health problems among the Somalis he cited, include fistula and malnutrition related ailments especially given war situations which are a common occurrence.
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Driving the point home, he said, “When the terrorists attacked Uganda, they left 80 people dead at Lugogo and Kabalagala, but for the sake of comparison, with terrorists at large in Somalia, incidents similar to this are almost a common occurrence”.
Brig. Gen. Kiyengo is however a proud man that besides being behind the continued existence of many souls, he taught many how to work in a war situation and learn from it. Personally he learned how to cope with large numbers of casualties at a go, the fact notwithstanding that many times his own life was at risk. He underwent psychological suffering working far away from home, sites of casualties all the time, and accompanying frustrations.
As a result, he said, in 2014 he suffered a breakdown which he technically called a burn out – too much hectic and frightening work, not enough rest, and other constraints. This gave him an abnormally long 3-day period of sleep to recover.
However, it was not bombs, guns, injections and surgeries all the time. Once in a while, they would find time to go out to beaches, hold parties especially during public holidays, the means of killing off the trauma and boredom coming with their situation.
His book, he says, will be available in Aristoc and Uganda Bookshop outlets, and through online booking.