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Her proficiency in the Luganda language, the local culture, traditions, and way of life have earned her adoration and a huge following on social media, which she relishes so much that she can no longer imagine life outside of Uganda.
The young medical student says her goal now is to complete her studies, settle down, and start a new life in the country.
“Life here is much better. Soon after my studies, I hope to come back to Uganda and hopefully get married, have twins, and build my own hospital here,” she says.
Nankya first came to Uganda in 2019 on a social work mission to teach music to children. She was deployed to Masaka district where she spent seven months living with a local host family.
Later she went back to Germany for two years, and returned to Uganda as a medical intern for two months, before going back home.
But in the 9 months, she’s mastered the Luganda language at a rate that’s baffled even her closest friends.
“Some people think I am a ghost; a young boy once ran away in fear when she heard me speaking his language,” Nakya told BBS TV in an interview over the weekend.
Now a master of the Luganda language from the expressions to the proverbs and idioms, Nankya has also dropped her German name and embraced her Mamba clan name and all its traditions.
Asked in the interview what drove her to learn the language, she said she badly wanted to learn to communicate with the children at her host family.
She had also grown tired of being backbitten and cheated during grocery shopping at the local market.
“Now they cannot cheat me and they cannot speak behind my back,” she gloated.
Besides Luganda, Nankya is also able to articulate basic words in Acholi, Karamajong, Lusoga, Runyankore, Iteso, and Lugisu.
Regarding her love for Uganda, Nankya says she was touched by the kindness of the people, which is almost the polar opposite back in Germany.
“People here don't have much but they share. It is hard to find a person who is completely helpless; but at home, people are left to suffer alone even if they have family and friends. You find them sleeping on the streets,” she said
“My new family has taught me to be happy and humble and to enjoy the smallest things in life and to be humble."
Nankya currently boats nearly a quarter million followers on TikTok alone.