Kampala, Uganda – As Uganda commemorated the 37th Heroes Day, Dr. Isaac Orec, Director of Victoria School of Nursing and Midwifery, made a passionate call to remember a different kind of warrior—nurses and midwives who have silently sacrificed their time, health, and even lives at the frontline.
“We will remember nurses who are sacrificing their time and work for the people as heroes,” Dr. Orec said.
He noted that while Uganda traditionally honors fallen freedom fighters, there is a new generation of heroes who must not be forgotten: health workers who battled COVID-19 and are now fighting Ebola.
“They deserve to be given the title ‘heroes,’” he emphasized.
Dr. Orec explained that the courage of nurses and midwives begins where they are trained. “The nurses and midwives who sacrifice themselves come from where they are trained,” he said. “That is why Victoria School of Nursing and Midwifery does its best to train the best and good nurses.”
According to Dr. Orec, true heroism is not only about past liberation wars—it is also about the daily war against disease, exhaustion, and the risk of infection, fought quietly in Uganda’s wards and isolation centers.
“When a nurse holds a feverish child at 2 a.m., or a midwife stays through a complicated delivery without running water—that is heroism,” he added.
As Uganda raises its heroes, Dr. Orec insists that a stethoscope should be honored just as much as a gun.
