A friendship that blossomed at Exeter

Husband and wife team Tony and Faith Mwangi-Powell work in Uganda, furthering the development of palliative care across Africa.

They first met in Cardiff University and became friends, but later Faith joined Tony to study at Exeter and it was here their friendship blossomed into romance and they married in Kenya in 1997.

At Exeter Tony graduated with a MA in Applied Population Research and later a MSc in Healthcare.

Faith completed a PhD in Human Geography, looking at the impacts of economic status on the fertility-related behaviour of women in rural western Kenya.

They have an 11-year-old son, Jake.

Here they talk about their time at the University:

Q Did you meet at Exeter or later?

Tony: We first met in Cardiff, Wales, in 1992 when Faith was pursuing a one-year Masters degree in the economics of population policies and development. I was initially going to follow her on the same course in the subsequent year, but became aware of the research course that was being offered at the then Institute of Population Studies (IPS) at Exeter University. So I later found myself in a car on the M5 heading down to Devon, whilst Faith returned to Kenya. It turned out to be a relatively temporary separation that ended in her return to the UK to study for a PhD at the Department of Human Geography at Exeter, a few years after I had completed my postgraduate course.

Faith: We met in Cardiff. I remember a semester in the course. I heard my colleagues saying that there was a new Welsh guy in the department who wanted to join the course. I never really met him until he gave us a talk on the black plague in medieval Europe. Despite his then strong Welsh accent and his quick way of talking, which meant that we really did not understand a thing (!), he made a great impact on all of us and he became a constant friend in the department. He was always ready to help the international students with their computer woes. He was also a good party animal and we had many parties where we invited him and by the time he went off to Devon, we had developed a strong friendship which continued even after I returned home to Kenya. We had limited access to emails those days and so we shared long handwritten letters, and as our friendship evolved so did my interest to return to Cardiff to pursue a PhD. Having moved to Exeter, Tony was a great advocate for the university and he persuaded me to join him there to pursue my doctoral studies, which I did in 1995, and this really took our friendship to a whole new level and I became his wife in 1997, after a colourful, traditional African ceremony held in my village in Kenya - it was wonderful!

Q What are your memories/how did Exeter influence you? What impact has it had on your life?

Tony: I have fond memories of my time at Exeter. Not only did I learn from highly competent and knowledgeable lecturers, but met a range of fellow students from highly diverse backgrounds, given the international nature of the course. Such exposure introduces you to perspectives that take you beyond the parochial, informed as they are by divergent cultures, attitudes, behaviours, traditions, etc. It was also the turning point in my life; a career in research was opened up for me. It was up to me to optimise that opportunity as much as I could.

Faith: Exeter for me was very different from Cardiff - it was like going to study in the countryside. I loved the green lawns and trees. Apart from that, my study started with some worries over supervision as I was supposed to undertake my PhD at the IPS, but the person who was supposed to supervise my work moved just weeks before I arrived in the city and this created a potential crisis for me. In this respect, I will never forget the kindness of Elaine Davis, who was then lecturing at IPS, who introduced me to the Department of Human Geography, where I met Professor Chris Caseldine who embraced me with both arms and welcomed me. Chris' warmth and generosity made my whole experience in Exeter University and particularly the department a very memorable one and I have great respect for him to this date. He introduced me to two wonderful supervisors, Dr Jo Little and Dr Nick Ford, whose wealth of knowledge I robbed unashamedly - I owe them both for their generosity and support. It is largely because of these people (Tony included) that I am where I am today. So I hold my memories of Exeter dear to my heart.

Q What did you study and what were your years of graduation?

Tony: I studied for a MA in Applied Population Research (graduating in 1994) and later, as an employee of the university, a MSc in Health Care (1998).

Faith: I completed a PhD In Human Geography, looking at the impacts of economic status on the fertility-related behaviour of women in Western Kenya. I graduated in 1998 and my dear mother attended my graduation from Kenya, taking her first flight from Nairobi. I was very glad that I made my mother proud that day.

Q What happened immediately after graduation?

Tony: Using the transferable generic research skills I acquired on the course, I moved initially into research at the university's fledgling department of mental health, before continuing in that area following a move to south London, where we sought to undertake research to inform education and policy advocacy, where possible.

Faith: Having been married in 1997, I did not return to Kenya. Instead I secured a job in London, working with the Foundation for Women's Research and Development (FORWARD) as their Community Development Officer. I stayed with FORWARD for two years and became its Executive Director. I then left FORWARD and joined The Diana, Princes of Wales Memorial Fund as their International Advocacy Officer for Palliative Care, working with The Fund for two years before moving to Kampala in 2005.

Q What are you doing now and why?

Tony: We moved our family to Uganda on 1 January 2005, to establish the African Palliative Care Association as a meaningful regional player in advancing the palliative care agenda in Africa, pursuing training, education, policy advocacy and what was initially embryonic research work. For the last approximately 20 years I have wanted to live and work in the continent and an opportunity arose when Faith was given the role of being the organisation's Executive Director, following her work and experience with The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund.

Continuing my work in research, I am now the organisation's Director of Learning and Research, and the coordinator of the new African Palliative Care Research Network (APCRN), an alliance that will bring together senior researchers from Africa to work collaboratively with their equivalents in Europe and north America. It is something I am very proud of; we have been discussing for a few years how we introduce more longer-term innovations into our work - international collaborative research was, and is in many disciplines in Africa, characterised by short-termism, the absence of strategic vision, with minimal capacity development for our African colleagues. What we sought to do was introduce a footprint that would be recognised on the continent for years to come. The APCRN promises to be that footprint, developing the critical research mass and future academic leadership that will ensure that palliative care research plays a significant role in both informing palliative care service development and policy making for decades to come.

Faith: As Tony says, we moved to Uganda in 2005 where I took up the daunting task of setting up the African Palliative Care Association, a regional organisation with a mandate to support the scale-up of palliative care across Africa. We have been in Uganda now for seven years and our time here has been really blessed, although every opportunity has its challenges. Overall, though, we enjoy what we do in east Africa.

Q What do you enjoy most about it?

Tony: It's the forging of a largely new territory that proves exciting.

In the 7 years we have been in Kampala, African palliative care has greater visibility on the global palliative care agenda. Indeed, we recently had agreement with the European Association of Palliative Care, one of our critical partners, to develop a Task Force for palliative care on the continent. This will not only provide us with further global profiling, but we can access potential European benefactors who will be able to see that we are adding value to the agenda on the continent, supported by the rich and diversified skills sets that arise from esteemed European partners.

Despite the challenges we routinely face competing for finite financial resources on a continent that has so many desperate problems to address, and where trying to answer these real and genuine needs of people with life-limiting illnesses (such as HIV and cancer) is a tall ask compared with the much more photogenic issues that some people can more easily attach themselves to (e.g. orphans and vulnerable children), I wouldn't want to live anywhere else currently.

Faith: Agreeing with what Tony has said, for me I also derive joy from the knowledge that what we do makes a difference to the lives of people living with life-threatening illnesses. When you restore hope and peace to patients enduring severe pain and suffering, it makes it worthwhile.

Q Where are you living now and how do you feel about where you are living?

Tony: We live in a suburb of Kampala, the capital of Uganda. Are there challenges? Yes, inevitably. Do I have access to the shelves of cat food (and associated products) that one can access in the UK supermarkets? No. But I live in an environment where the pressures of work are, at minimum, countered by the equatorial weather that sees us having a relatively predictable average temperature of 25 degrees C throughout the year. Of course, there are mosquitoes and I've been bitten many times - but the perception of rampant malaria is misplaced, especially within the capital. In 7 years none of us have contracted that particular disease. And as for the usual negative images that haunt Uganda's history ... Idi Amin and the political system that he and subsequent presidents ruled over are misplaced stereotypes. But people are slowly having their misperceptions corrected, thankfully.

Q Are you in touch with other Exeter friends?

Tony: Only a very small number, unfortunately. Changes in one's life, including the appearance of children and all the demands they invariable place upon parents, and the growth of increasingly significant commitments that demand your time and energy means that sometimes old connections start falling down or off the agenda.

Faith: Yes, I have kept in touch with a few friends, but perhaps not as regularly as I would have liked. But now with twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and the whole social media phenomenon, we have no excuse. So Exeter alumni colleagues, if you remember me, please follow me on Twitter @faithpowell or look me up on Facebook.

Q Have you been back to the University since?

Tony: No, unfortunately.

Faith: No, unfortunately, but it would be good to come back one day and maybe bring our son.

Q Sum up how you feel about your time there and the influence it's had on your lives.

Tony: A pivotal time in my life that has ultimately acted as the springboard to where I am now in life. Not wanting to mix metaphors, but it was the gateway that opened up a global vista to me, and ultimately my family.

Faith: Exeter for me was a place where my foundation was laid. I gained so much from my experience there and will remain forever grateful. When you say that Exeter is probably one of the best universities in the world, I could not agree more!