He is married to primary education
Nov 19, 2003
LIFE is a journey. Society often discards the weak but if we forge a friendship with them they gradually heal to appreciate humanity and its value.
By Arthur Baguma
LIFE is a journey. Society often discards the weak but if we forge a friendship with them they gradually heal to appreciate humanity and its value.
Joseph Almeida’s life journey is an amazing story of love, a ray of hope that stretches across races and boundaries of humanity. He has no biological siblings, but is a father to many.
Ten years ago he ventured into charitable work and pioneered the establishment of LARCH-International, Uganda branch, a Canadian based NGO-building and rehabilitating people with disabilities. The association of which he serves as treasurer (Ugandan branch) was founded by Jean Vanier a Canadian.
At the Busega based abode, a glimpse at the children sends chilling waves through your nerves. With acute defections, they stare at you innocently. Some are unable to talk let alone hear, but their eyes glow with a show of appreciation– hope and love.
Among them is the monkey boy salvaged from the jungles of Luwero several years ago. He spent his childhood with monkeys feasting on wild fruits and leaves, an experience that perpetually robbed him of his humanity ideals.
“He can’t talk or hear. Something traumatic happened to him,†Almeida says before adding “Sharing my life with people with disabilities has taught me to accept people the way they are.â€
Almeida may have touched the lives of the disadvantaged, but his contribution to Uganda’s education is a fairy tale. A celebrated teacher christened Kampala’s father of primary school education with 45 years of service under his belt; Almeida is still a humble servant.
At 78, he is still a reference point in the education world, a career he started 45 years ago.
“He has a magnetic personality and appeals to a large following with vast trust in him,†Lillian Kasubo, a librarian at Lohana Academy where Almeida is headmaster says.
In every office, on the streets and wherever he travels, there is someone to remind him of his great services on earth, his former students.
As the dust settles down over controversy of charging lunch fees in UPE schools, the architect of the idea breaks the placidity
“Buganda Road children used to carry packed lunches to school, but many brought what could not fit as lunch for a child, while others begged. Their parents were either negligent or could not afford. In consultation with the PTA, a policy to have lunch prepared by the school was passed. After the initiative other schools followed suit,†Almeida explains the history of serving lunch in primary schools around Kampala.
When government introduced UPE, Almeida was consulted by Fagil Mande (Commissioner in the Ministry of Education then) over the cost of lunch and maintainance costs like water in schools, especially Kampala schools.
“I recommended sh10,400 and sh10,000 for lunch and maintenance fees respectively which policy makers have since implemented in UPE schools,†he said.
Almeida entirely disagrees with the idea of scraping lunch fees in schools, but says the President had genuine reasons for his decision on the issue.
“The president was not wrong. Some headteachers were turning the lunch issue into a business,†Almeida said in defences Museveni.
By 1994, Almeida was of retiring age. He retired from government service, but soon after he was requested by the Lohana community to start up a school. He turned the former hostel into today’s Lohana Academy.
Joseph Almeida was born in 1925 to Asian parents at Entebbe.
His father, XE Almeida came to Uganda in 1910 and worked with the department of Works during the colonial era. The family resided in the famous Goan village in Entebbe.
Almeida started pursuing one of the oldest professions, at Goan school (presently St. Theresa), Entebbe before the family left for India in 1946.
In India, Almeida continued with his education career. In 1950, he enrolled at Karnatak University for a Bachelor of Science Degree and for a second Degree in Education at the same University graduating in 1955.
Soon after graduation, he was faced with a dilemma of where to work. One of his brothers Father Hector Almeida was in East Africa, doing missionary work in Mwanza, Tanzania.
At the end of 1957, he packed his bags and headed for Kampala. In 1958 he secured employment as a teacher in Shimoni Primary School where he stayed for barely three months.
He later started East Kololo Primary school before joining Norman Gordinho Primary school (presently Buganda Road Primary school) in 1960.
In 1972 following the expulsion of many of his colleagues, he was appointed headmaster where he faced a crisis of teaching staff.
Most teachers were Indians who left the country involuntarily leaving only two Indian teachers at Buganda road primary school- Dias and Almeida.
Almeida spent most of his teaching career at Buganda Road Primary school before retirement. He transformed the school into one of the few best primary schools Uganda has had since the post- independence era.
The 78-year-old veteran is not married nor has any children, but he is a ‘father’ and all his children are African though he is an Indian. “I don’t have a family in the worldly sense, but before the eyes of God I am a parent to thousands who have passed through my hands. I help quite a number of children. All needy children are my children and I give them all I can,†Almeida narrates.
Almeida is a patriot at least, as far as sport is concerned. He represented Uganda last year in Manchester at the indoor games championship. He played Bridge, which he described as a highly intellectual card game. He has a passion for Mangoes. “I love miyembe, and local Ugandan dishes,†Almeida says.
Almeida’s works can not be exhausted on paper. His name lives in those who have had a chance to associate with him in life and those that will have the luck to relate to him now and in future.
LIFE is a journey. Society often discards the weak but if we forge a friendship with them they gradually heal to appreciate humanity and its value.
Joseph Almeida’s life journey is an amazing story of love, a ray of hope that stretches across races and boundaries of humanity. He has no biological siblings, but is a father to many.
Ten years ago he ventured into charitable work and pioneered the establishment of LARCH-International, Uganda branch, a Canadian based NGO-building and rehabilitating people with disabilities. The association of which he serves as treasurer (Ugandan branch) was founded by Jean Vanier a Canadian.
At the Busega based abode, a glimpse at the children sends chilling waves through your nerves. With acute defections, they stare at you innocently. Some are unable to talk let alone hear, but their eyes glow with a show of appreciation– hope and love.
Among them is the monkey boy salvaged from the jungles of Luwero several years ago. He spent his childhood with monkeys feasting on wild fruits and leaves, an experience that perpetually robbed him of his humanity ideals.
“He can’t talk or hear. Something traumatic happened to him,†Almeida says before adding “Sharing my life with people with disabilities has taught me to accept people the way they are.â€
Almeida may have touched the lives of the disadvantaged, but his contribution to Uganda’s education is a fairy tale. A celebrated teacher christened Kampala’s father of primary school education with 45 years of service under his belt; Almeida is still a humble servant.
At 78, he is still a reference point in the education world, a career he started 45 years ago.
“He has a magnetic personality and appeals to a large following with vast trust in him,†Lillian Kasubo, a librarian at Lohana Academy where Almeida is headmaster says.
In every office, on the streets and wherever he travels, there is someone to remind him of his great services on earth, his former students.
As the dust settles down over controversy of charging lunch fees in UPE schools, the architect of the idea breaks the placidity
“Buganda Road children used to carry packed lunches to school, but many brought what could not fit as lunch for a child, while others begged. Their parents were either negligent or could not afford. In consultation with the PTA, a policy to have lunch prepared by the school was passed. After the initiative other schools followed suit,†Almeida explains the history of serving lunch in primary schools around Kampala.
When government introduced UPE, Almeida was consulted by Fagil Mande (Commissioner in the Ministry of Education then) over the cost of lunch and maintainance costs like water in schools, especially Kampala schools.
“I recommended sh10,400 and sh10,000 for lunch and maintenance fees respectively which policy makers have since implemented in UPE schools,†he said.
Almeida entirely disagrees with the idea of scraping lunch fees in schools, but says the President had genuine reasons for his decision on the issue.
“The president was not wrong. Some headteachers were turning the lunch issue into a business,†Almeida said in defences Museveni.
By 1994, Almeida was of retiring age. He retired from government service, but soon after he was requested by the Lohana community to start up a school. He turned the former hostel into today’s Lohana Academy.
Joseph Almeida was born in 1925 to Asian parents at Entebbe.
His father, XE Almeida came to Uganda in 1910 and worked with the department of Works during the colonial era. The family resided in the famous Goan village in Entebbe.
Almeida started pursuing one of the oldest professions, at Goan school (presently St. Theresa), Entebbe before the family left for India in 1946.
In India, Almeida continued with his education career. In 1950, he enrolled at Karnatak University for a Bachelor of Science Degree and for a second Degree in Education at the same University graduating in 1955.
Soon after graduation, he was faced with a dilemma of where to work. One of his brothers Father Hector Almeida was in East Africa, doing missionary work in Mwanza, Tanzania.
At the end of 1957, he packed his bags and headed for Kampala. In 1958 he secured employment as a teacher in Shimoni Primary School where he stayed for barely three months.
He later started East Kololo Primary school before joining Norman Gordinho Primary school (presently Buganda Road Primary school) in 1960.
In 1972 following the expulsion of many of his colleagues, he was appointed headmaster where he faced a crisis of teaching staff.
Most teachers were Indians who left the country involuntarily leaving only two Indian teachers at Buganda road primary school- Dias and Almeida.
Almeida spent most of his teaching career at Buganda Road Primary school before retirement. He transformed the school into one of the few best primary schools Uganda has had since the post- independence era.
The 78-year-old veteran is not married nor has any children, but he is a ‘father’ and all his children are African though he is an Indian. “I don’t have a family in the worldly sense, but before the eyes of God I am a parent to thousands who have passed through my hands. I help quite a number of children. All needy children are my children and I give them all I can,†Almeida narrates.
Almeida is a patriot at least, as far as sport is concerned. He represented Uganda last year in Manchester at the indoor games championship. He played Bridge, which he described as a highly intellectual card game. He has a passion for Mangoes. “I love miyembe, and local Ugandan dishes,†Almeida says.
Almeida’s works can not be exhausted on paper. His name lives in those who have had a chance to associate with him in life and those that will have the luck to relate to him now and in future.