Vision Group's Camilla Asiya buried in Moyo

PIC: From left, Camilla's longtime friend Rose Kamiti and her sons Robert, Max and Jean addressing mourners at the funeral service on Monday in Moyo district

CELEBRATING LIFE

MOYO - Vision Group's longest-serving front desk officer, Camilla Asiya, was Monday laid to rest at her ancestral home in Metu sub-county, Moyo district.

Camilla, who worked for the multi-media company for 23 years before retiring mid-this year, was hailed as "a loving and hardworking woman who loved God".

She breathed her last on Friday evening -- hardly two months into her retirement. She was 66.

Moyo West MP Tom Aza told mourners at the burial that Camilla's family contributed a lot to the development of the district, particularly Metu sub-county, where she hailed.

He said the land on which Metu Secondary School and primary school, health centre IV and the area Catholic parish sit was donated by Camilla's family.

Camilla leaves behind three sons -- Robert Amayo, Max Adii and Jean Tabu -- and four grandchildren.

Speaking on behalf of the children, Amayo, the eldest sibling, assured mourners that their mother's legacy will live on.

While eulogising the late Camilla, Vision Group chief executive Kabushenga Robert tasked the siblings with keeping alive their mother's legacy by doing good and continuing with the projects she has left behind.

Vision Group's CEO Robert Kabushenga (right), together with other staff, carried the late Camilla's casket out of the house for the funeral service in Moyo

 Camilla was buried in a white casket

Moyo West MP Tom Aza held the hand of Jean Tabu, one of Camilla's children, as he delivered his eulogy


Asiya had just started life in retirement after working at Vision Group for 23 years. But hardly two months into her next chapter, she succumbed to anaemia Friday evening at Mengo Hospital in Kampala.

A mother, a grandmother, a mentor and a friend to many, Camilla was the smiling face that you met as soon as you walked through the New Vision head office doors in Kampala.

For years, she had worked as a front desk officer at Vision Group, and was only recently officially bade farewell with a grand, heartwarming send-off.

Camilla joined New Vision in February 1995 and served the company until last month.

During a staff meeting where she bade farewell to colleagues at Vision Group, she was upbeat and looked forward to enjoying her retirement.

"I am going to retire comfortably. I educated my children and managed to give them properties," Camilla said.

Rest in peace, Camilla

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ROBERT KABUSHENGA'S GLOWING TRIBUTE TO CAMILLA

Today, we laid Kamila Asiya to rest at her ancestral home in Metu, Moyo District. It is about 450km northwest of Kampala. I had to go and pay my last respects. It was more than an obligation to a work colleague. In a very deep sense, Kamila reminded me of my own mother.

Kamila was a single mother of two boys & a stepson, so was my mum. Kamila worked in Industrial Area (where our office is located on the corner of First & Third Street) as a telephone operator/receptionist. Same as my mother(she did exactly the same job in Industrial Area on Sixth Street). Both of them dropped out of high school to go find work in order to support their families. They both died in their mid-fifties.

The similarities don't end there. They both regarded me as their son. They were polite to a fault & almost biblically honest. They had a sunny personality & studiously avoided offending anyone. When they did, they were profusely apologetic. They were early risers & reported to office before anyone else. They walked work. They cared about their work colleagues beyond the call of duty & understood the value of humanity in a way that we no longer do. What is even more striking is that both of them made immense personal sacrifices to educate their children. By the time they left this world there was a sense in which their work was truly done!

Kamila, like my mother was a strict disciplinarian & that's how she raised her children. She also mentored her juniors, instilling not just skills of the job but a disciplined work ethic & strong personal values. It is for this reason that I drove all the way to send her off in dignity.

Through the power of her example & in our personal interactions she taught me some powerful lessons. Now that I look back, may be she was sent by my mother to reinforce what she had taught me as I grew up.

I need to remind you that Kamila was a very low level employee. But in her own way (you could even say inadequate) she would come to me & point out what she felt was going wrong in the company. It was always from an honest & well meaning place. By doing this, she forced me to go down to her level, to think like her. This is an imperative of leadership. Once I did that, I was able to see things from her point of view. She forced me to look at myself from the outside & see the errors I was making. After all this is someone who interacted with all our customers & staff. When people worked out that she gave me honest feedback, they started to tell her what they felt in needed to hear unfiltered. This can be very humbling when you are in a powerful position. I could have dismissed her offhandedly. I could have reasoned that at her level she doesn't have a bird's eye view of our strategic direction. And that therefore her perspective doesn't matter. That would have been wrong.

Over time I learnt that people at the bottom of the pyramid have a very real experience of life as it is. They may not express what they feel in the way we would want or expect. In fact we may even find them irritating. Sometimes we may even get rid of them as an inconvenience. But they serve a useful purpose. So their methods of making their point shouldn't blind us to their the point they try to make. Think of the role of court jesters in ancient monarchies. They found a palatable way of telling the king about his wardrobe. If they had been dismissed for what they were, the king may have lost his realm. So I am eternally grateful that we had Kamila in our team at Vision Group. She helped us avoid obvious pitfalls.

Sometimes we can be blinded into thinking that because of our office & personal role, all the success is personal. In the corporate world like the one I live in, success is a collective effort. The collective endeavor of people like Kamila is what makes results possible. So when in their own way they bring up issues, you listen. You listen with your ears, with your brains & with your heart. People at this level are the conscience of the company. They save you from costly mistakes. Even if you were right in the first place, when you subject your thinking to the logic of such low level people, their reaction will reinforce your correctness. So Kamila for me represented these kinds of people. Always make it a point to look out for such people in your organization. You will be the better for it.

I guess I may have already been predisposed to being like this. My mother always reminded me about being humble. She always watched how we treated others to see if we had learnt the lessons well. She told us about the pitfalls of hybrid & to always remember that one day, it all has to end. Now that I recall, she loved the music of Philly Lutaaya because he captured these lessons of life in his lyrics. She wanted our lives to be shaped by them. And so Kamila was always my reminder of this.

Then there was humbling experience of Kamila's personal life. In her last speech at Vision Group, she narrated how much she had achieved which included owning a house in the posh Mbuya suburb of Kampala. She boasted that she was now a neighbor of (Hon. Maj. Gen. Kahinda) Otafiire. What a life!

To my colleagues at Vision Group, let us emulate Kamila's work ethic & personal values. Only then shall we maintain our success & in that way, keep her memory alive.