Ofwono's height still fascinates many

In 1999, a little known giant in the village of Yokolo in Tororo district shot to fame. His life changed from a son of a peasant to a celebrity who graced billboards. Sadly, he did not live long to enjoy the fruits of his fame. He passed away in 2003 after succumbing to diabetes at Mulago Hospital. Carol Natukunda and Moses Nampala bring you the life and times of John Paul Ofwono

Remember Ofwono? No, not the soda; the onetime tallest man in Uganda. At 7feet 6.5inches tall, John Paul Ofwono rose to fame in 1999, after the New Vision broke the story about his perplexing height. Now, nine years after his death, Ofwono is still the talk of Tororo district. His kinsmen in Yokolo parish in Nabuyoga sub-county, speak of a man who was a great warrior.

true

Ofwono (left) during his last days

Growing unusually
When his body started growing rapidly, his family did not know what to do. By the age of 30, his arms and palms were almost three times the normal human being’s size. And his height was more than twice that of the ordinary Ugandan. One of the pictures published in the local press showed a tall Ofwono towering over his father who was only 5feet. Wherever he went, he attracted a huge following of people curious to know if this man was not a spirit after all.

 Born to Simon Owor and Blesta Amali, Ofwono was the fourth of eight children and the only boy in the family. He dropped out of Nabuyoga sub-grade Primary School in P4. He was a playful child, who loved singing and playing the xylophone during his free time. 

At community functions, villagers always hired him to play the xylophone and he would earn some money to support his peasant father. It is said Ofwono sang in a high-pitched soprano tone. 

Wicliff Opendi recalls that Ofwono loved hunting birds and was fond of trapping white ants.

Good boy 
At home, he always helped his father tend the field. Although his mum passed on, his stepmother, Matilda Owor, says she loved Ofwono like her own child.

“I remember him as a very humble, obedient little boy, who would not hesitate to do any domestic chore he was given,” she remembers. 

 John Oboth, a cousin and one of his childhood peers, says Ofwono appeared to grow normally until he turned 23 years old. Initially, they had dismissed it as normal, but soon they got concerned when he grew taller and taller. “Everybody was shocked. What mesmerised everybody was his body features. The limbs, palms, toes and fingers almost tripled in size,” narrates Oboth.

Thomas Dibworo, another relative, recalls that they had trouble measuring his height using a local measuring tape and came to the conclusion that Ofwono was 9feet tall, which would have made him the world’s tallest man. 

Heights of fame
In May 1999, soon after his story appeared in the press, Dr. Richard Stockley of the Surgery, on behalf of the Guinness Book of Records, took Ofwono’s measurements. Stockley had to substantiate the 9-foot height claims, but it turned out that Ofwono was only 7feet, 6.5inches. 

This annoyed some Ugandans, who argued that the Western World was probably biased against Africans appearing in the book of records. According to the Guinness Book of Records, the tallest man in the world was an American known as Robert Wadlow at 8feet 11inches and he died in 1940. No one has beaten that record yet. The tallest man living today is Turkey’s Sultan Kosen at 8feet, 3inches.

Despite that anomaly, Ofwono’s popularity only increased, so much so that a beverage company made him the spokesperson for a line of drinks. Around that time, a one-litre bottle of soda was introduced on the market and Ugandans immediately baptised it ‘Ofwono’. It is still popularly known as ‘Ofwono’ soda because of the length of the bottle.

Ofwono was no longer just an ordinary village man. He was also billboard material. He also got a deal to promote liquor for 3R International Ltd. His father Simon Owor says during this time, Ofwono made enough savings to construct for his father a semi-permanent house. Ofwono also constructed himself a 3-bedroom house. 

His love life
Years before his body assumed massive growth, Ofwono was reportedly admired by many girls. Many young girls sought the attention of the dude with a sweet voice. 

He reportedly fell in love with one Achieng. The two lovebirds were head-over-heels, but the moment Ofwono started growing taller and taller, Achieng fled for her dear life, never to return. Scovia Awere, the giant’s younger sister, giggles as she remembers the relationship.

“Achieng was scared. Moreover, people were always talking and ridiculing Ofwono. They scorned her,” says Awere, adding that Achieng was not the only one who vanished. All his potential suitors vanished.  

 The closest he came to having a wife was in early 2000s when he was admitted in Mulago Hospital and a woman turned up to look after him. After hospital, they lived together. In 2002, he declined to go for treatment in India “for fear of losing his wife.” 

Press reports show that his employers (3R) had offered to meet his treatment and travel expenses, but he did not want to leave the country. 

Illness strikes
The abnormal growth is believed to have caused his death. He did not stop growing. As months flew by, he became weaker. But he stayed put, receiving minimal treatment at Doctors House Clinic. By late 2000, he could not go on with his promotional campaigns. Dibworo recalls that his toes had started to develop blisters and he was in and out of hospital. 

Doctors said he was suffering from a condition called gigantism. Besides being tall, he weighed 146kg. On July 11, 2003, the 43-year-old succumbed to diabetes at Mulago Hospital.

true

Dramatic burial
His funeral was as dramatic as his life. The longest coffin ever seen in Tororo could not fit in the grave. The villagers had underestimated the length of the coffin and it took another 45 minutes to increase the length of the grave and lay to rest this man — a man who is to date associated with the Ofwono soda. Sadly, his grave has cracks and is bushy. The giant’s father suffered immeasurable grief and became bedridden for eight years, according to Ofwono’s stepmother. The old man died in January last year.

Memorable tales of ofwono
A story is told of one evening when Ofwono had just retired to his grass-thatched hut. He left the door open, and without bothering to light the tadooba (local lamp), lay on his mat. Then a jackal entered. 

“He just grabbed it by its neck and strangled it,” narrates his cousin Oboth. 

Another story that is still told is of how Ofwono frightened off the superstitious Lakwena’s Holy Spirit Movement rebels with his strange height in the late 1980s.

“The village, like many other parts of Tororo, had many rebels who would kill people. Residents abandoned their homes and sought refuge in the wilderness. 

But Ofwono somehow helped beef-up security in his own way. He would frighten away both the Government soldiers and the rebels,” recalls Dibworo. 

It is said one time, the great giant spotted a handful of armed rebels feasting on fruits from a mango tree by the main road in the village. Unbothered by the guns they carried, he trudged to the mango tree, and picked mangoes from the tall tree with ease. 

“The dumbfounded rebels had never seen him before. They scampered off in fright. Some fell to the ground in fear,” Dibworo recalls, bursting into laughter.

Oboth says they probably thought the towering figure before them was not a human being, but a ghost.

Most of them took off, while two rebels sustained fractures and were handed over to the Government soldiers when they turned up at the scene later. This incident changed the lives of many residents in Yokolo village. 

They stopped being fearful and instead sought to hunt down the rebels. 

true

The three bedroom house Ofwono constructed after becoming famous