Jackie (right) with third year students at Neema looking at their Grace Partner letters

Jackie Birungi, one of Neema’s counselors, is living out her great passion of “putting a smile on somebody’s face” in a profession where genuine smiles are hard earned but a definite sign of hope for the future.

As the daughter of a soldier, there was no excess income for Jackie to attend the top tier schools. Yet she was able to complete her education through university. Due to the requirements of her father's profession, Jackie’s father was away a lot, and being the first daughter of seven children, Jackie’s childhood provided experiences that God would use to shape her into the trauma informed counselor she is today. She uses theophostic healing: pointing people to Jesus and his truth to find their true identity — that each person is valued, loved, heard, and matters.

During her second year as a junior resident in her counseling program, Jackie participated in a six-month internship at The Zion Center, an organization using counseling and skills training to rescue women and their children from lives impacted by prostitution. Upon graduating with her degree in counseling, Jackie was hired full-time as the first counselor at The Zion Center.

Initially, the program focused on providing a way for women to escape the lives of prostitution that life’s circumstances had driven them to. The organization identified that this worthy pursuit was just the first step needed in a cycle experienced by the women and their families. It became clear that the children of these women were at risk of prostitution, physical and verbal abuse, hopelessness, bitterness, and depression. Jackie developed programs and curriculum providing counseling to women and their children as well as parenting classes.

Through the transformed lives of these women, couples were also seeking marriage counseling. Despite her own singleness at that time, Jackie provided marriage and family counseling, understanding that involving men and fathers was the way to facilitate full restoration of the family. Additionally, The Zion Center returned to the communities the women had come from, impacting them with outreach on love and forgiveness, and working with childcare givers, social workers, and pastors.

During this time, Jackie met and married her husband Andrew with whom she now has two sons. Because she is from Western Uganda and her husband is from Northern Uganda, they come from different tribes/cultures with their own languages. The couple have a “cross marriage,” meaning that Jackie crossed over from her tribe to his. Interestingly, in a country of over 80 languages, English is the National language (though Swahili is increasingly becoming more prevalent), and this is the language spoken in Jackie’s family and the only one by her two sons.

Over time, Jackie became the Acting Director at The Zion Center while the former Director returned to the US. During this time, a blog about Transformation published by The Zion Center caught the eye of the US Director of Neema Project who connected the Program Manager of Neema in Kenya with Jackie. In 2017, Neema sent their staff to Jackie in Uganda for training in trauma counseling, as well as self-care counseling for these faithful instructors and care providers. Jackie strongly promotes self-care as a necessity for all people, particularly those who care for others, and she personally practices it regularly as an example to us all.

Jackie describes herself as a naturally peaceful person who has always wanted to provide peace and joy to people. And since that first meeting in 2017, Jackie has joined Neema as a consultant providing individual counseling services to the students and their families/guardians, as well as staff counseling and training. Her commitment to be the one that hears, notices, provides hugs and attention, as well as a place of refuge, safety, and a soft spot to share—particularly to children and youth and those who are unheard and powerless—have made Jackie an integral part of the Neema team. She continues to identify and address the needs of the Neema community, as well as the surrounding schools in the Kitale area, by providing much needed counseling services, and we are so grateful to have her!

Original Interview by: Leslee Albright

Meet Jackie Birungi, Consulting Counselor at Neema