My father discovered the magic of education
Jan 26, 2009
On January 30 1925, a Muganda chief working in Toro Kingdom as a gombolola chief for Rukoki sub-county recorded the birth of two children in the family of the local landlord of Mbunga village.
The New Vision would like to celebrate the readers’ most cherished family heroes. Below, Asuman Bisika writes about his hero— his father
On January 30 1925, a Muganda chief working in Toro Kingdom as a gombolola chief for Rukoki sub-county recorded the birth of two children in the family of the local landlord of Mbunga village.
One of these children happened to be my father, Asuman Bighasaki. He decided, on his date of birth after corroborating the Muganda chief’s information with that of his mother. Bighasaki exhibited traits of adventure at an early age. These traits developed into a go-getter attitude that was later to benefit both his immediate and distant family.
At the age of 10, he sought work as a farmhand on a horticulture farm owned by Captain Chuckman, a retired British Army officer, in Kyalhumba. His action was unusual because he was still a child with little experience of tilling a farm. And worse, he was a widow’s last born.
Of course, this ‘unusual’ behaviour annoyed his mother; for only an unfortunate woman would have a son as stupidly daring to look for a job at 10. However, my late father used to say that working as a shambaboy was the one single action that turned everything around him.
“Working for Kapiteni (Capt. Chuckman) exposed me to the new world and gave me the foresightedness from which the family and the whole clan benefited. My boss gave me a letter that opened doors for me to work for other Bazungu. This letter, was more important than the degree certificates of these days,†my father would say.
He got a job in the tea estates of Kijura as a team leader. From Kijura, he went to Buganda where he met a former Rukoki gombolola chief who educated him.
Bighasaki was a resilient and stubborn man. According to his sister, they had unending sibling rivalry which continued even in old age. At the height of the very popular Rwenzururu rebellion, Bighasaki stood firm against the policy of closing all schools and dispensaries. This earned him the tag of ‘traitor’ with the consequent threat on his life. He fled to Ankole and the family settled in Bunyaruguru.
For instance, after getting some formal education in Buganda, he dedicated most of his time, endeavouring to send as many children to school, even if it meant at the expense and welfare of his family. At one point, he left the safety of Ankole and tried to convince his sister to come with him. When his sister refused to leave her husband, he asked her to let him go with one of her sons and take him to school but his brother-in-law refused.
Stubborn as he was, my father insisted and fought his brother-in-law. But his sister could not take the humiliation of beating her husband, so she let my father have the child.
The child is Edward Masereka Bairinga who recently retired from the public service as district education officer . Masereka is the father of the father of Edwin Kugonza, the former New Vision marketing officer and now the managing director of Real Marketing Ltd.
Another member of the family, Erastus Bukombi, a senior member of chamber of Commerce, lived with us in Bunyaruguru.
When he was joining Mbarara High School in 1964, everything was sorted out. School fees, shoes, suitcase and many other things. It was January and despite the disruption caused by the Rwenzururu rebellion, there was a bumper cotton harvest.
The night before leaving for school, Erastus realised that he did not have a towel and my father offered his towel. Characteristic of him, he also surrendered his shirt when I joined Senior One. He said he did not have money to buy me a school uniform. He just gave me a white Yamato shirt.
My father was a Primary Three school drop-out. With free school fees from a benevolent Muganda chief, why did he drop out of school? According to him, a teacher slapped him and for a Mukonzo man, he found it inappropriate. He left and never returned to school. Fortunately for him, he had learnt to read and write. However, he always said his biggest regret was the decision to drop out of school, for he later learnt that merely reading and writing was not enough. That is why he returned to Kasese in 1952 where his reading and writing could be more useful.
He, however, used his education deficiency to help other people acquire education. He believed every child had to have a chance to a good education.
He was elected the first vice-chairman of Nyakatonzi Co-operative Union in 1959. It was during his tenure as vice -chairman that the union bought a cotton ginnery in Kasese from its Indian owner.
No wonder one of his sons is the current secretary manager of Nyakatonzi Co-op Union.
On January 30 1925, a Muganda chief working in Toro Kingdom as a gombolola chief for Rukoki sub-county recorded the birth of two children in the family of the local landlord of Mbunga village.
One of these children happened to be my father, Asuman Bighasaki. He decided, on his date of birth after corroborating the Muganda chief’s information with that of his mother. Bighasaki exhibited traits of adventure at an early age. These traits developed into a go-getter attitude that was later to benefit both his immediate and distant family.
At the age of 10, he sought work as a farmhand on a horticulture farm owned by Captain Chuckman, a retired British Army officer, in Kyalhumba. His action was unusual because he was still a child with little experience of tilling a farm. And worse, he was a widow’s last born.
Of course, this ‘unusual’ behaviour annoyed his mother; for only an unfortunate woman would have a son as stupidly daring to look for a job at 10. However, my late father used to say that working as a shambaboy was the one single action that turned everything around him.
“Working for Kapiteni (Capt. Chuckman) exposed me to the new world and gave me the foresightedness from which the family and the whole clan benefited. My boss gave me a letter that opened doors for me to work for other Bazungu. This letter, was more important than the degree certificates of these days,†my father would say.
He got a job in the tea estates of Kijura as a team leader. From Kijura, he went to Buganda where he met a former Rukoki gombolola chief who educated him.
Bighasaki was a resilient and stubborn man. According to his sister, they had unending sibling rivalry which continued even in old age. At the height of the very popular Rwenzururu rebellion, Bighasaki stood firm against the policy of closing all schools and dispensaries. This earned him the tag of ‘traitor’ with the consequent threat on his life. He fled to Ankole and the family settled in Bunyaruguru.
For instance, after getting some formal education in Buganda, he dedicated most of his time, endeavouring to send as many children to school, even if it meant at the expense and welfare of his family. At one point, he left the safety of Ankole and tried to convince his sister to come with him. When his sister refused to leave her husband, he asked her to let him go with one of her sons and take him to school but his brother-in-law refused.
Stubborn as he was, my father insisted and fought his brother-in-law. But his sister could not take the humiliation of beating her husband, so she let my father have the child.
The child is Edward Masereka Bairinga who recently retired from the public service as district education officer . Masereka is the father of the father of Edwin Kugonza, the former New Vision marketing officer and now the managing director of Real Marketing Ltd.
Another member of the family, Erastus Bukombi, a senior member of chamber of Commerce, lived with us in Bunyaruguru.
When he was joining Mbarara High School in 1964, everything was sorted out. School fees, shoes, suitcase and many other things. It was January and despite the disruption caused by the Rwenzururu rebellion, there was a bumper cotton harvest.
The night before leaving for school, Erastus realised that he did not have a towel and my father offered his towel. Characteristic of him, he also surrendered his shirt when I joined Senior One. He said he did not have money to buy me a school uniform. He just gave me a white Yamato shirt.
My father was a Primary Three school drop-out. With free school fees from a benevolent Muganda chief, why did he drop out of school? According to him, a teacher slapped him and for a Mukonzo man, he found it inappropriate. He left and never returned to school. Fortunately for him, he had learnt to read and write. However, he always said his biggest regret was the decision to drop out of school, for he later learnt that merely reading and writing was not enough. That is why he returned to Kasese in 1952 where his reading and writing could be more useful.
He, however, used his education deficiency to help other people acquire education. He believed every child had to have a chance to a good education.
He was elected the first vice-chairman of Nyakatonzi Co-operative Union in 1959. It was during his tenure as vice -chairman that the union bought a cotton ginnery in Kasese from its Indian owner.
No wonder one of his sons is the current secretary manager of Nyakatonzi Co-op Union.