THE SMALL VILLAGE OF GIANTS

 My grandfather settled in a small village called Lungujja a few kilometres from the Kabaka’s palace in Mengo. It was not far from Old Kampala hill, where Captain Fredrick Lugard of the Imperial British East India Company , the architect of the Uganda Protectorate, built his base in 1891.My father walked barefoot from this place to Mengo Primary school, the first church missionary school in Uganda.By the time I was born in the early 50s, the small village had grown and was home to Michael Kawalya  N.Kaggwa , a former Katikkiro/prime minister ( 1945-1950) of the Buganda kingdom.

In the 60s, this parish was home to Abubaker K.  Mayanja, among the first Ugandans to be educated at Cambridge University. A lawyer, freedom fighter and a political giant till his death in 2005. His neighbours included Ephraim Kamanyi , a Minister of Education for the Buganda Kingdom and lady Kate Sarah, mother of the two daughters of Sir Edward Mutesa, the 35th Kabaka of Buganda and first President of Uganda.Roger Mukasa, chairman of the prestigious Uganda Coffee Marketing Board, Timothy Lwanga, the tough and professional head of the then Buganda Police, Magistrate Kyobe whose family suffered the loss of two male relatives in February 1981 when the bush war against Milton Obote was launched . Only to find out later that it was a case of “mistaken’’ identity. Not surprising at all because Prof Yusuf Lule’s home was a stone’s throw from his home.  At the end of May 1966, Dan Kamanyi risked his life after the Uganda army’s attack on the Kabaka’s palace, to drive Sir Edward Mutesa to safety as far as the Burundi border.Hope Mukasa, a renowned singer of the 70s and 80s was born and raised in this village as well as the talented national footballer, Ashe Mukasa.

My father was an administrator who became the Katikkiro of Buganda ( 1950-1955) later went on to become the second  indigenous Mayor of Kampala city and a chairman of many voluntary organisations like Uganda Red Cross Society, Young Men’s Christian Association, YWCA, Uganda Boys Scouts, The Bible Society of Uganda, Lions Club, and Uganda Civil Society.Everyone knew each other and every child belonged to the whole village. For many years, my father had the only telephone in the village and allowed the members of the community to use it for emergencies for free. Emergencies ranged from calling back a father from the office to return home and take a sick child to the hospital to calling the fire brigade to kill a python. I do not remember any house break in during my whole childhood!

“Every person is defined by the communities she belongs to.’’ – Orson Scott Card

 During the 70s , Kintu Musoke , a politician and a journalist joined the village. He went on to become the Prime Minister of Uganda from 1994 to 1999.        Other new comers included  Rev. Canon Sentongo, by then the Secretary of Makerere University . His wife, a nutritionist, taught at Lubiri Secondary school and baked the most delicious fruity wedding cakes in Kampala! Fred A. Mpanga , a former Attorney general of the Buganda Kingdom and married to Joyce Mpanga who later became the first Minister of the Ministry of Women in Development and later State minister for primary education( 1989-1992) settled in.

 The only outsider was someone from Busoga,  near our home. He worked with one of the corporations in Kampala.Yusuf Kironde Lule, a professor and civil servant , the first indigenous Principal of Makerere College, joined the village. He became a freedom fighter during the authoritarian rule of Obote. In April 1979 , he was sworn in as 4th President of Uganda.Prof. Eric Paul Kibuka a social scientist came in and later became the head of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology of Makerere Univesity. As an immediate neighbour to us, he became a close confidant of my father.Lawyer Edward Sekandi who later went on to become the Speaker of Parliament (2001-2011) and the Vice President of Uganda May 2011 to June 2021.Business man Jim Kiggundu of the Kibanda boys, Prof Paul Sagala of the faculty of Engineering, Makerere University and Senior Police officer Mukiibi joined our community.

 During the 90s, Prof Peter H. Sebuwufu, an exceptional professor of anatomy of Makerere University, settled in the village. He later became a politician and served as a Minister of health. Currently, he is considered among the giants of Medicine in Uganda. Professor Fred Kigozi, a global and national giant in Psychiatry, for a long time the Director of Uganda’s only Psychiatric teaching and Referral hospital, Butabika,( 1992-2008). He was instrumental in revamping the mental health services of Uganda. Sadly, he and his wife died a few weeks between each other just before the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown.All these people and their wives used to visit our home on many occasions and their children became our friends.A few other notables settled in the village in the 2000s.

 Lungujja has grown, expanded and developed a unique personality- active but peaceful. No slums yet.It constantly reminds me that places are made by people- their culture, attitudes and values and social organisation. All the years I was way, I would go home and make a village round. The welcome and love shown to me long after my father’s death, would recharge my emotional battery until my next visit!

“When you have a solid upbringing and a strong sense of place, that sustains you. My sense of home never leaves me.’’- Lyle Lovett

All these families had benefitted from the good education of their parents so they have continued to educate the grand children of the village.In my family we have had a journalist, a Police officer, lawyers, a nurse, a social worker, a medical doctor, a pilot, a caterer and an IT officer. Our own children have pushed it to a higher level. They include engineers, lawyers, a journalist, a financial expert, Real Estate managers, an Insurance consultant, a diplomat and a medical doctor. Conspicuously missing is an active politician!

 “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. ’’- Nelson Mandela 

The period 1981- 1986 was previously Uganda’s worst time of uncertainty, powerlessness- politically, socially and economically.Lungujja being a village of conservative Baganda, close to the Lubiri, naturally became an ideal hotbed for organised resistance to the authoritarian government of Obote 2. It became a more tight-knit community during the insurgency. Residents looked out for one anotherProf Yusuf Lule and his group of freedom fighters joined the Popular Resistance Army of Yoweri Kaguta Museveni to form the National Resistance Army(NRA) that liberated Uganda on 26th January1986. After a six -year and costly bush war in the Luwero Triangle.My father by then in his early 80s joined the struggle and persuaded many other Baganda families to support it by encouraging their sons to join the NRA. Due to the tension in the village, my pre- wedding  party could not be held at our home in February 1981. Always leading by example, my father persuaded one of my brothers, Henry Arthur to join the war. Sadly, he was killed in May 1985 , aged 32 and his body was never found. Though survived by some children, my parents carried their pain to the grave! The consolation for such determined Baganda families came in the form of: the coronation of Ronald Muwenda Mutebi as 36th Kabaka of Buganda on 31 July 1993! 

Due to Uganda ‘s long history of civil strife, most of my siblings have been away for decades and our house had fallen into ruins yet it has been a landmark of the village. Taxis  and buses driving through the village related to where you  had to disembark before or after our home.We have been renovating the house since last February.It has been heart-warming to see all those we have known since childhood come out to congratulate us on taking on the huge task. Flooded with great joy as if it were their home. That is how closely connected the people of this community have been. They love their village and its people.Many stop by just to talk , thank us and encourage us to finish the work. Among them were the Kabalis, the Kamanyis, Honourable  Sekandi and  the Rev. Canon Buwembo of Nateete Martyrs church where our father was buried.

There is no pomp or ceremony, we just talk as friends and members of a community with a strong sense of place, connected to a village which we consider important to us. 

“Every successful individual knows that his or her achievements depend on the community of persons working together. ‘’ – Paul Ryan

My father loved his village and used his power in all the positions he held to develop it.He loved the people of the village and they admired and respected him as one of their own. Our home was always open to anyone who cared to pass by. Learning from our father, we developed a strong bond to the people and place. Gradually, it became part of our self-identity. We have many memories and associations to the home which give us a sense of belonging.

No doubt we shall always be drawn to it. Our peers and those who knew our father make us remember so many things about ourselves and our parents and the many relatives who lived nearby. Such memories are associated with many “firsts’’; first day at school, first date, first trip by bus and first party as a teenager.It is this lifelong attachment that drove us into building a new relationship as we transformed the home from an old home into a modern one.

We are committed and are responsible for managing the place in our time and later hand it over to the young generation as our father would have wanted.It is not lost on me that it is the young ones who will sustain the home in the future yet they are  scattered all over the world.  I keep wondering to myself, “Will they care enough to take on this responsibility?’’

Lungujja is no longer a small village but a suburb of Kampala city, the capital of Uganda. There are more stone brick houses with tiled –roofs, few apartments, a big hotel built by Eritreans but few green areas. The roads are narrow and there are a few shops. The perimeter walls are becoming taller and the traffic through the village connecting to the Northern By-Pass has greatly increased. It still has good views of the next hills, Namirembe, Lubaga and Lusaze and remains a middle-income residential area. Over time, it is becoming steeped in its heritage and history.Most of the traditional family homes of the the Kamanyis, the Kabalis, the Etuusas, the Sentongos and Wakatamas are still occupied and cared for in a united community.

Looking around the area, there is hardly any space for young families to put down roots, so the older ones have to care enough to preserve, rebuild and improve those homes.Lungujja had a big place in the minds and emotions of our parents so it is the responsibility of us the children to reconnect with our village.Amazingly, at whatever time I pass through this village, it always feels old and familiar and safe and dry. I feel as if the memories and associations are always waiting for me to come back.I guess I am not the only one whose identity is rooted in the home I was born and raised. 

“A tree’s beauty lies in its branches but its strength lies in its roots. ” – Marshona Dhliwayo 

“Live in your roots, not in your branches. ” – Nancy Willard. 

QUESTION:

How has the place you were born and raised in influenced the person you have become?