As we get to remember that it has come to 10 years since Besuel Kiwanuka breathed his last on Sunday, 3rd October, 2004 at 8.00am, I find it hard to forget the type of treatment that my father enjoyed in his last working years at Namutamba Teachers' College and Namutamba Secondary School. I learnt seriously of the mistreatment after father had died. I was surprised that father was not that jolly during retirement, though we tried in our means to facilitate him and the family members.
I had known as well as seen father ride his bicycle to Mityana from Namutamba a distance not less than 12 miles even when he was going on official duty and I wondered. Father is one teacher who remained at Namutamba when all the other teachers decided to leave when they got to serious misunderstandings with the then College Principal. About 2 years ago, I was shown a letter which was evidence that father had got a promotion, but the powers that be at the College were opposed to this, and a letter reversing the same was written! In 1984, I responded to a call by Bakka RIP to help Namutamba community revive the secondary school which had failed. I accepted,but shortly, I realized that things were not moving well. I was not performing the roles a head teacher is supposed to perform, in among other areas, the meetings, yet I had not trained as I teacher. I decided to resign. It is then that my father took on my roles. Though father was having my siblings to care for including fees, the powers that be decided not to pay for his services. As of that was not bad enough, I got information that father had no transport to get the family to his retirement home. I was in disbelief. As a responsible person, I saw that it was best for me to get an executive sofa cloth for my sofa's and sell it off to get money to hire a truck to Namutamba and, I thank God that He had given me ability to work on the three and half acre piece of land to a habitable level as well as got another acre of land for their cultivation. May be, if father had taken Hon. Kasole's offer to teach in Kampala Parents, he would have been less frustrated in his retirement.
I am grateful to father because I learnt a lot from him, more so, being concerned about others.
The Life of the Late Besuel Kiwanuka
1. As a family man, he
shouldered responsibilities very well; he managed not only to feed the
family, but also educate all and provided good guidance;
2. The
relation with mother was excellent – we never saw a fight, direct
confrontation, nor did our mother ever leave home because of
misunderstandings;
3. As a teacher – at College he was nicknamed
"Cob – web" he would always ensure he would always ensure that his class
had no cob webs and that is what he told the teachers he was teaching
always to ensure.
4. As a Garden teacher - he never got things out
of the College Garden without paying for them though in many cases he
was putting in his own labour which would have been paid for. Our father
helped the garden efforts for Ssisa Church of Uganda, and this was an
income project for the Church.
5. As a saved/religious man, he was an epitome of a model saved personality and he would spare time to preach.
6. Our father used the quote: "He careth for you" 1 Peter 5:7 – "Cast your anxiety on him because he careth for you."
Our father spent most of his working career at Namutamba Teachers'
College and many students went through his hands and guidance.
William Kituuka
THE LATE BESUEL KIWANUKA WAS ONE OF THE BUILDING PILLARS OF NAMUTAMBA
By the time of his death in October Besuel Kiwanuka was an active member of St. Peter's Chuch of Uganda Ssisa
The skill Besuel used on the Namutamba College Farm are the same skills he took to Ssisa Church farm which he helped start and the community would participate and learn from it.
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