Tribute to a wonderful father
Jan 05, 2009
THE earliest memory I have as a child was being pushed in a pram across what seemed like an endless lush expanse and up a ravine, to another meadow. Then after what appeared to be an interminably long trip to a two and three year old, there it was the big
By Simon and Douglas Kisaka
THE earliest memory I have as a child was being pushed in a pram across what seemed like an endless lush expanse and up a ravine, to another meadow. Then after what appeared to be an interminably long trip to a two and three year old, there it was the biggest building in our neighborhood.
King’s College Budo’s historic main building, the Arch, stood majestically before us. As I craned my tiny neck to the sky in amazement, out of nowhere appeared this broad-shouldered imposing man we called Dad who without the slightest hesitation, piled the pram into the trunk of a Ford Opel as he gently nudged us into the back seat.
But Alan and I had achieved our goal. We wanted to see Dad. That he found out and left the class he was teaching to intercept us was no coincidence.
The word got around faster than his two little munchkins could traverse two football fields because Dad was very popular.
Our early childhood was punctuated by song, art and laughter. Dad loved to sing and play piano and guitar to us. Cradle songs, when we couldn’t walk and Christmas songs when we could barely talk. And then there were the madrigals, choral songs, classical and Jazz brightened our world.
He never so much as chided us for the hundreds of Decca label vinyl records we scratched or destroyed never quite setting the gramophone needle in the right place.
He enrolled us in excellent schools and encouraged us to be close to our friends. And there were numerous parties at home not to mention all the teaching emissaries and professionals from around the world.
He constructed a large outdoor playhouse. It was there, that we hatched mischievous plots and picked our next soccer game rivals, or played war-games. We could have all the fun in the world as long as we got good school grades. His core values were God and honesty .
Honesty
As with any family, the Kisaka’s had their share of difficulties. But his unwavering honesty in the toughest of times flew in the face of conventional wisdom.
Instead of sweeping matters under the rug, he would confront them and be honest to a fault even to his own detriment.
Unlike many fathers, he was confident enough to admit his failures and mistakes to his children and it was qualities like this that endeared him to family and friends.
Education
He traveled to over 70 plus countries around world and made countless far flung trips to remote regions of Uganda. To tiny hamlets and towns in areas like Karamoja, West Nile and Bunyoro, absent the glamour of nice motels, telephones and paved roads.
No sooner would he return than he would off to his next meeting with teachers in other remote regions, working tirelessly to improve their lives and the standards of education in Uganda. Dad encouraged each of us to be well rounded and learn other disciplines. He wanted us to pursue our dreams.
One day he came home with a guitar for his eldest son Alan. Despite mom’s initial reservations, Alan became something of a musical prodigy and a phenomenal guitarist. He went on to study music at Cheney University and the University of Oregon. He has written hundreds of songs, now sung in churches across the United States. He has served as director of worship for the Southern California Region of the Four Square Church and currently serves as Pastor of worship at a large church in Southern California. His most recent music album, ‘Desert Rain’ was produced by 3 time Grammy Winner Phil Naish.
God
Leaving Kings College Budo, a single white French Peugeot crept along winding past meadows and with curves steeply descending over two miles to an asphalt road. The school term was over and my cousin and I were being driven back home by Dad. Feeling rather lax, my cousin chose the moment to expound on his radical views.
“There’s no such thing as God. I don’t believe in God!†he blurted. .We lurched forward as the Peugeot came to a screeching halt. Dad swung around in high dudgeon and glared at this fifteen year old. “What do you mean you don’t believe in God?â€
Dad chided incredulously. “How can you sit there and say there is no God?†This whittled down my cousin to a dry leaf and we drove on in silence. To this day, I’m certain my cousin believes in God.
In the intervening years, his support would eventually yield to admiration for the good things he saw at work in our lives.
Sunset Years,
Several hundred yards from his home on the outskirts of the capital, stands a little Anglican Church that became his spiritual and artistic oasis.
He wrote about it in letter written to Alan in 2002, “I am glad to inform you, that in the short period I have been with St.Mark as the Choirmaster, I have made an impact which has been felt beyond the boundaries of our church to such an extent that on Friday 22nd November at a general meeting of all Choirmasters in Namirembe Diocese, I was elected as their chairman and their representative to the Diocesan Council.â€
As the years wore on and his health started to falter, he could barely endure the walk from his front door to the church steps.
But he kept a halting pace as he put one foot in front of the other as he walked across this arduous stretch to where he did what he loved most – conducting music.
He always believed in us and encouraged us to be the best we could be. With Dad, the glass was always half full. Never half empty. And the sky was the limit.
On December 12, 2008, two days before he would take that same strenuous walk and eight days shy of his 79th birthday, he found himself marching without the stinging pain singing more perfectly with those that had gone before. I can almost hear them. – “Onward Christian Soldiers Marching as to War with the Cross of Jesus going onbefore.â€
KISAKA’S BIOGRAPHY
_ Son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Manyolo of Mukono.
_ Studied at Bishop Tucker College in Mukono and later Kings College Budo.
_ Completed a degree in Fine Art at Makerere University.
_ 1956 to1962, was the fine art instructor at Kings College Budo.
_ Married to the late Mebra Nakabiri.
_ In 1962, became the first full time General Secretary of the Uganda Teachers Association (UTA), a position he would hold for 34 years until 1996.
_ Officiating member of the World Confederation of Organisations of the Teaching Profession.
_ Established and administered the UTA.'s Building Headquarters in Kampala.
_ Nyonza Singers Club secretary for over thirty years.
_ Designed the gates to the Kabaka's palace at Bulange and created the art-work of the Buganda clan totems at Buganda's Parliament.
_ Choirmaster of St Marks Church.
_ Chairman and representative to the Diocesan Council which represents over 150 Churches.
THE earliest memory I have as a child was being pushed in a pram across what seemed like an endless lush expanse and up a ravine, to another meadow. Then after what appeared to be an interminably long trip to a two and three year old, there it was the biggest building in our neighborhood.
King’s College Budo’s historic main building, the Arch, stood majestically before us. As I craned my tiny neck to the sky in amazement, out of nowhere appeared this broad-shouldered imposing man we called Dad who without the slightest hesitation, piled the pram into the trunk of a Ford Opel as he gently nudged us into the back seat.
But Alan and I had achieved our goal. We wanted to see Dad. That he found out and left the class he was teaching to intercept us was no coincidence.
The word got around faster than his two little munchkins could traverse two football fields because Dad was very popular.
Our early childhood was punctuated by song, art and laughter. Dad loved to sing and play piano and guitar to us. Cradle songs, when we couldn’t walk and Christmas songs when we could barely talk. And then there were the madrigals, choral songs, classical and Jazz brightened our world.
He never so much as chided us for the hundreds of Decca label vinyl records we scratched or destroyed never quite setting the gramophone needle in the right place.
He enrolled us in excellent schools and encouraged us to be close to our friends. And there were numerous parties at home not to mention all the teaching emissaries and professionals from around the world.
He constructed a large outdoor playhouse. It was there, that we hatched mischievous plots and picked our next soccer game rivals, or played war-games. We could have all the fun in the world as long as we got good school grades. His core values were God and honesty .
Honesty
As with any family, the Kisaka’s had their share of difficulties. But his unwavering honesty in the toughest of times flew in the face of conventional wisdom.
Instead of sweeping matters under the rug, he would confront them and be honest to a fault even to his own detriment.
Unlike many fathers, he was confident enough to admit his failures and mistakes to his children and it was qualities like this that endeared him to family and friends.
Education
He traveled to over 70 plus countries around world and made countless far flung trips to remote regions of Uganda. To tiny hamlets and towns in areas like Karamoja, West Nile and Bunyoro, absent the glamour of nice motels, telephones and paved roads.
No sooner would he return than he would off to his next meeting with teachers in other remote regions, working tirelessly to improve their lives and the standards of education in Uganda. Dad encouraged each of us to be well rounded and learn other disciplines. He wanted us to pursue our dreams.
One day he came home with a guitar for his eldest son Alan. Despite mom’s initial reservations, Alan became something of a musical prodigy and a phenomenal guitarist. He went on to study music at Cheney University and the University of Oregon. He has written hundreds of songs, now sung in churches across the United States. He has served as director of worship for the Southern California Region of the Four Square Church and currently serves as Pastor of worship at a large church in Southern California. His most recent music album, ‘Desert Rain’ was produced by 3 time Grammy Winner Phil Naish.
God
Leaving Kings College Budo, a single white French Peugeot crept along winding past meadows and with curves steeply descending over two miles to an asphalt road. The school term was over and my cousin and I were being driven back home by Dad. Feeling rather lax, my cousin chose the moment to expound on his radical views.
“There’s no such thing as God. I don’t believe in God!†he blurted. .We lurched forward as the Peugeot came to a screeching halt. Dad swung around in high dudgeon and glared at this fifteen year old. “What do you mean you don’t believe in God?â€
Dad chided incredulously. “How can you sit there and say there is no God?†This whittled down my cousin to a dry leaf and we drove on in silence. To this day, I’m certain my cousin believes in God.
In the intervening years, his support would eventually yield to admiration for the good things he saw at work in our lives.
Sunset Years,
Several hundred yards from his home on the outskirts of the capital, stands a little Anglican Church that became his spiritual and artistic oasis.
He wrote about it in letter written to Alan in 2002, “I am glad to inform you, that in the short period I have been with St.Mark as the Choirmaster, I have made an impact which has been felt beyond the boundaries of our church to such an extent that on Friday 22nd November at a general meeting of all Choirmasters in Namirembe Diocese, I was elected as their chairman and their representative to the Diocesan Council.â€
As the years wore on and his health started to falter, he could barely endure the walk from his front door to the church steps.
But he kept a halting pace as he put one foot in front of the other as he walked across this arduous stretch to where he did what he loved most – conducting music.
He always believed in us and encouraged us to be the best we could be. With Dad, the glass was always half full. Never half empty. And the sky was the limit.
On December 12, 2008, two days before he would take that same strenuous walk and eight days shy of his 79th birthday, he found himself marching without the stinging pain singing more perfectly with those that had gone before. I can almost hear them. – “Onward Christian Soldiers Marching as to War with the Cross of Jesus going onbefore.â€
KISAKA’S BIOGRAPHY
_ Son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Manyolo of Mukono.
_ Studied at Bishop Tucker College in Mukono and later Kings College Budo.
_ Completed a degree in Fine Art at Makerere University.
_ 1956 to1962, was the fine art instructor at Kings College Budo.
_ Married to the late Mebra Nakabiri.
_ In 1962, became the first full time General Secretary of the Uganda Teachers Association (UTA), a position he would hold for 34 years until 1996.
_ Officiating member of the World Confederation of Organisations of the Teaching Profession.
_ Established and administered the UTA.'s Building Headquarters in Kampala.
_ Nyonza Singers Club secretary for over thirty years.
_ Designed the gates to the Kabaka's palace at Bulange and created the art-work of the Buganda clan totems at Buganda's Parliament.
_ Choirmaster of St Marks Church.
_ Chairman and representative to the Diocesan Council which represents over 150 Churches.