Chris Opio

Chairman

Dr. Opio, a Canadian citizen, is a professor at the University of Northern British Columbia in Prince George, British Columbia, Canada. He was born and raised in Kamdini Parish, Oyam District, Northern Uganda (a war-torn, poverty-stricken region). Dr. Opio’s parents were peasant farmers and very poor. His mother never went to school (she could not read and write); and his father stopped in Grade 4. Dr. Opio and his nine siblings grew up in abject poverty. Like all other children in his village, Dr. Opio and his family had nothing by the Ugandan standards: they walked bare foot, had to drink dirty water full of parasites, and suffered from bilharzia and many other water borne-diseases. Dr. Opio, together with his siblings and mother, spent considerable amount of time travelling long distances to collect dirty water for drinking. However, Dr. Opio’s parents were dedicated Christians and knew the value of education. They sacrificed all they had to send their children to school. Dr. Opio did his early education in Uganda and worked briefly there before immigrating to Canada in 1982. In Canada, he attended and graduated from the Universities of New Brunswick, Fredericton; Calgary, and Alberta.