Nakanyonyi’s trio who did not know it was Christmas
Dec 30, 2003
WHILE the world celebrated Christmas, I was on a boda boda heading for Mukono to make merry with the aged of Nakanyonyi Old Peoples’ Home.
By Fred Nangoli
WHILE the world celebrated Christmas, I was on a boda boda heading for Mukono to make merry with the aged of Nakanyonyi Old Peoples’ Home.
The winding country road narrowed into a winding path, suffocated by overgrown weeds.
Twenty-four kilometres from Mukono town dust lodged into my nostrils leaving me wheezing.
Occasionally, we fell into potholes as we rode past isolated homesteads, withering banana plantations and thickets.
Nakanyonyi Old People’s Home stands in isolation on top of a hill in a church farm. A kilometre away, is an Anglican parish church, the nearest building to the home.
The home was founded in 1992 by the out-going Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, Livingstone Mpalanyi Nkoyoyo, to cater for homeless, old people.
The home is fenced off by a cypress hedge. Each old person lives in a two-roomed house fitted with a bed, chair and stool.
The garden has short trees under small flowering shrubs grow. The home also has a clinic run by a resident nurse.
Stillness looms over the domicile.
Despite the fact that it is Christmas elsewhere, there is nothing to reflect this mood here. It is coming to 10:20 am. A short man welcomes me with a clownish smile. Later, I learn that he is Andrea Nyanya a Congo-born evangelist.
“I am on my way to church but could I know what you want here?†He asks suspiciously.
Before I can respond, he briskly alerts two other colleagues of my intrusion. The others peer at me through their doors.
The mood is unreceptive. There is silence, except for the birds chirping in the trees.
The short man insists that I identify myself because the Archbishop owns livestock and property on the farm that must be protected from thieves. “You could be a thief,†an old man chips in.
This stern, wrinkled man walks with a stick and I later learn that he is an ex-convict called Pascal Kalema. In this house also lives visually impaired, skeletal Stanley Rwabuhungu.
Blind, his eye sockets are deeply buried in the skull. He has lost all his teeth except for a lower incisor that inconveniently protrudes from the mouth letting his saliva flow uncontrolled.
Rwabuhungu is a retired church lay-leader of Rwandan origin. He is very friendly and talkative.
“This is our home. It is beyond our dream. It is such a bright and happy place to spend the last days of our lives,†he says with a broad smile with saliva dripping out of his mouth.
“I am now over 110 years. I came to Uganda when Daudi Chwa had just been crowned Kabaka of Buganda. I was 17,†he says.
Catherine Ssepuuya, an elderly matron accepts me as ‘one of her own’ and quickly gives me a room next to Rwabuhungu’s.
I am invited to share a modest breakfast with the elderly of milk tea, a boiled egg and slice of bread.
Even on this holy day, none of them know it is Christmas.
“How can we, when we have no access to the outside world? You realise it is a long way to the main road,†they explain and quickly break into song to recognise the day. Nyanya sings tenor while toothless Rwabuhungu sings bass.
For over ten minutes, the two turn a dull Christmas morning into a jolly one. Mzee Kalema, however, just stares at them.
“He is a Roman Catholic and does not know most of our songs,†Nyanya later discloses.
After worship, Nyanya offers to take me around the homestead. This man aged 92 is only 3 feet tall and is a Mumbuti (pygmy) from Mboga Zaire in the Congo forest.
He is one of the first converts of Apollo Kivebulaya, a Muganda missionary famous for spreading the Gospel to the Congo.
Nyanya came to Uganda in 1957 and has since not returned to the Congo. His name still brings memories to many of his early converts.
The Rev James Ssebaggala, the diocesan secretary of Mukono describes Nyanya as a great Congolese evangelist who gave his life to the service of the church.
“I first saw him in the 1950s when I was just a boy. He was my father’s guest,†the Reverend recollects. Nyanya has also been to southern Sudan and Kenya.
Rwabuhungu on the other hand is weak and frail. His memory dim.
Like Nyanya, he is a retired church lay leader and of Rwandan origin with no relative or family in Uganda.
“My wife and three children are all dead. They were buried in Gomba in the years I cannot remember,†he says. He has been at the home for nine years.
Musawo, as Ssepuuya is known among the elderly, says Rwabuhungu’s bones are weak. “Sometimes he can hardly stand on his own and he trembles a lot,†she says.
Rwabuhungu likes to sit in the sun. “I feel a lot of cold in my body, so I use the sun to keep warm.â€
Mzee Kalema on the other hand who is estimated to be 105 years, is a former convict whose only tale is his prison life. He has a chronic cough and spends much of time roaming about the bushes in search of herbs.
“I killed a man in the late 1950s. He was celebrating the death of my twin grand children. I was sentenced to death by a white judge and spent 17 years on death row at Luzira. I was later pardoned by the Queen of England,†he recollects and narrates the same story for the next one hour.
Kalema lost his home to his enemies in vengeance for the murder he had committed. He lost all his eight daughters to HIV/AIDS.
Kalema too, is of Rwandan origin.
It is lunchtime and the aroma of the delicious meal Musawo is preparing fills the air.
Nyanya tips blind Rwabuhungu about the good meal they are about to part take. The two break into another session of prayer and praise, and then take position at their doors.
We are all expected to sit at a big table for lunch but only Nyanya is willing. Rwabuhungu gives his reasons.
“I have no teeth and I eat badly. I do not want to eat with you. Our guest will vomit,†he says and is excused.
Kalema breaks into a deep cough, one that puts off those who want to eat. He is also excused from the table and his meal of matooke, rice, meat, fruit juice and watermelon is delivered to his room.
After lunch, Rwabuhungu and Kalema take a nap. Nakanyonyi Old People’s Home is for the homeless who are over 65 years of age and the first of its kind in the Anglican community of Africa. The home has over 65 elderly men and women but only three are residents.
“The others are brought here on Wednesdays for healthcare, sports, food and prayer,†says Musawo.
The home was established by the former Archbishop of Uganda Mpalanyi Nkoyoyo in the 80s to cater for elderly priests of the diocese. But started catering for other elderly people following the 1980-85 National Resistance Army war, that left many aged people in Mukono homeless.
WHILE the world celebrated Christmas, I was on a boda boda heading for Mukono to make merry with the aged of Nakanyonyi Old Peoples’ Home.
The winding country road narrowed into a winding path, suffocated by overgrown weeds.
Twenty-four kilometres from Mukono town dust lodged into my nostrils leaving me wheezing.
Occasionally, we fell into potholes as we rode past isolated homesteads, withering banana plantations and thickets.
Nakanyonyi Old People’s Home stands in isolation on top of a hill in a church farm. A kilometre away, is an Anglican parish church, the nearest building to the home.
The home was founded in 1992 by the out-going Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, Livingstone Mpalanyi Nkoyoyo, to cater for homeless, old people.
The home is fenced off by a cypress hedge. Each old person lives in a two-roomed house fitted with a bed, chair and stool.
The garden has short trees under small flowering shrubs grow. The home also has a clinic run by a resident nurse.
Stillness looms over the domicile.
Despite the fact that it is Christmas elsewhere, there is nothing to reflect this mood here. It is coming to 10:20 am. A short man welcomes me with a clownish smile. Later, I learn that he is Andrea Nyanya a Congo-born evangelist.
“I am on my way to church but could I know what you want here?†He asks suspiciously.
Before I can respond, he briskly alerts two other colleagues of my intrusion. The others peer at me through their doors.
The mood is unreceptive. There is silence, except for the birds chirping in the trees.
The short man insists that I identify myself because the Archbishop owns livestock and property on the farm that must be protected from thieves. “You could be a thief,†an old man chips in.
This stern, wrinkled man walks with a stick and I later learn that he is an ex-convict called Pascal Kalema. In this house also lives visually impaired, skeletal Stanley Rwabuhungu.
Blind, his eye sockets are deeply buried in the skull. He has lost all his teeth except for a lower incisor that inconveniently protrudes from the mouth letting his saliva flow uncontrolled.
Rwabuhungu is a retired church lay-leader of Rwandan origin. He is very friendly and talkative.
“This is our home. It is beyond our dream. It is such a bright and happy place to spend the last days of our lives,†he says with a broad smile with saliva dripping out of his mouth.
“I am now over 110 years. I came to Uganda when Daudi Chwa had just been crowned Kabaka of Buganda. I was 17,†he says.
Catherine Ssepuuya, an elderly matron accepts me as ‘one of her own’ and quickly gives me a room next to Rwabuhungu’s.
I am invited to share a modest breakfast with the elderly of milk tea, a boiled egg and slice of bread.
Even on this holy day, none of them know it is Christmas.
“How can we, when we have no access to the outside world? You realise it is a long way to the main road,†they explain and quickly break into song to recognise the day. Nyanya sings tenor while toothless Rwabuhungu sings bass.
For over ten minutes, the two turn a dull Christmas morning into a jolly one. Mzee Kalema, however, just stares at them.
“He is a Roman Catholic and does not know most of our songs,†Nyanya later discloses.
After worship, Nyanya offers to take me around the homestead. This man aged 92 is only 3 feet tall and is a Mumbuti (pygmy) from Mboga Zaire in the Congo forest.
He is one of the first converts of Apollo Kivebulaya, a Muganda missionary famous for spreading the Gospel to the Congo.
Nyanya came to Uganda in 1957 and has since not returned to the Congo. His name still brings memories to many of his early converts.
The Rev James Ssebaggala, the diocesan secretary of Mukono describes Nyanya as a great Congolese evangelist who gave his life to the service of the church.
“I first saw him in the 1950s when I was just a boy. He was my father’s guest,†the Reverend recollects. Nyanya has also been to southern Sudan and Kenya.
Rwabuhungu on the other hand is weak and frail. His memory dim.
Like Nyanya, he is a retired church lay leader and of Rwandan origin with no relative or family in Uganda.
“My wife and three children are all dead. They were buried in Gomba in the years I cannot remember,†he says. He has been at the home for nine years.
Musawo, as Ssepuuya is known among the elderly, says Rwabuhungu’s bones are weak. “Sometimes he can hardly stand on his own and he trembles a lot,†she says.
Rwabuhungu likes to sit in the sun. “I feel a lot of cold in my body, so I use the sun to keep warm.â€
Mzee Kalema on the other hand who is estimated to be 105 years, is a former convict whose only tale is his prison life. He has a chronic cough and spends much of time roaming about the bushes in search of herbs.
“I killed a man in the late 1950s. He was celebrating the death of my twin grand children. I was sentenced to death by a white judge and spent 17 years on death row at Luzira. I was later pardoned by the Queen of England,†he recollects and narrates the same story for the next one hour.
Kalema lost his home to his enemies in vengeance for the murder he had committed. He lost all his eight daughters to HIV/AIDS.
Kalema too, is of Rwandan origin.
It is lunchtime and the aroma of the delicious meal Musawo is preparing fills the air.
Nyanya tips blind Rwabuhungu about the good meal they are about to part take. The two break into another session of prayer and praise, and then take position at their doors.
We are all expected to sit at a big table for lunch but only Nyanya is willing. Rwabuhungu gives his reasons.
“I have no teeth and I eat badly. I do not want to eat with you. Our guest will vomit,†he says and is excused.
Kalema breaks into a deep cough, one that puts off those who want to eat. He is also excused from the table and his meal of matooke, rice, meat, fruit juice and watermelon is delivered to his room.
After lunch, Rwabuhungu and Kalema take a nap. Nakanyonyi Old People’s Home is for the homeless who are over 65 years of age and the first of its kind in the Anglican community of Africa. The home has over 65 elderly men and women but only three are residents.
“The others are brought here on Wednesdays for healthcare, sports, food and prayer,†says Musawo.
The home was established by the former Archbishop of Uganda Mpalanyi Nkoyoyo in the 80s to cater for elderly priests of the diocese. But started catering for other elderly people following the 1980-85 National Resistance Army war, that left many aged people in Mukono homeless.