The Observer (Kampala)
Dismas Nkunda
13 March 2008
opinion
Kampala — Imagine this. You have been admitted to Senior One. The anxiety that comes with that is overwhelming. You begin to feel a proud secondary school student.
At the same time, you fear the unknown. What if? Will you miss home? How about the bullying that you were told would be exacted on you by the older students? As the days tick by, you begin to accept that there is no retracting. And the day of leaving arrives. After packing, you sit the whole night as sleep eludes you; worried and happy at the same time.
These thoughts came flooding back to me over the weekend. I remembered joining Kigezi High School for Senior One. The bus ride from Kisoro to Kabale was eventful. Aboard the state-run UTC bus, we laboured through the hills to Kabale. As I climbed from Kabale town towards Rugarama hill, where Kigezi High school is built, I stopped several times, sometimes to savour the air, while at the same time checking whether my heart was still intact; I was afraid of the coming bullying.
Midway the hill, I met a man. He looked calm and recollected. I was sitting on my suitcase, resting on the mattress. He greeted me in English. He asked where I was coming from.
I told him Kisoro. He told me he taught at Kigezi High School and would be my geography teacher. His name was Jason Turimumahoro. He told me to go straight to the headmaster's office where I would be registered and shown my dormitory.
I felt encouraged. I trudged on to the school. Some man - I was later to learn he was called "Bad News"- showed me the headmaster's office.
I will not go into the bullying that I endured. Variously, these mainly Bakiga boys called students from Kisoro names such as; "Iwe ka Japan we..." (You Japanese)! Yet I do not have any Japanese relative.
I was relieved of all the money and sugar, for how could engata (Senior One student) have these 'luxuries'!
I sang songs the whole night to the older students and by morning, my voice was hoarse. When I went to class, my first teacher was Jason - who I was later to learn knew my family well. He asked me how the night had been. I narrated to him. He advised that it would take a little while but all would be fine. And with that I felt comfortable that at least the teachers listened.
From that point on, geography became my subject of interest.
As time went by, I discovered something else. Jason (Uncle Yason- as we called him) was a very strict, religious man. One day, after settling into the abyss of one Senior One group, we escaped and went to watch a movie by Jackie Chan. As luck would NOT have it, Jason saw us. The punishment he preferred on us was enough deterrence, for I never stepped out of school without permission again.
So when last Sunday I leant that Jason, the best geography teacher I had in Kigezi High School, the strict man who was an incarnation of a truly religious man had succumbed to death, I was saddened.
As the funeral service went on at All Saints Church, it was as though I was back in Kigezi High School. Never had I seen all my teachers in one place, except when they were having tea at their staff room. Hundreds of former students were all in attendance to bid farewell to a man who was the teaching profession itself.
Jason later became the deputy headmaster at Kigezi High School, before heading Bishop Kivengere Muyebe Girls School. He had just finished building his own school in Kisoro.
I last met him in Kabale a few years ago. He asked me whether I still remembered my geography. I teased him to ask me one question and see whether I still remember.
"How was Lake Bunyonyi formed?" he asked. I told him that was too easy a question to answer. We both laughed. So when the only two persons who made one remember Jason took to the podium, I held back tears. Henry Turyagenda and Augustine Serucaca (brother to Jason) - both teachers at Kigezi High School, did what Jason would have been proud of - a befitting send off.
As I sat in stoic silence almost listening to Jason teach geography, I only wished he could just wake up, greet everyone present, and then go back to his resting place.
Yes, an entire library of education was silenced last Sunday, precisely 5.30a.m. at Mulago Hospital when his two kidneys failed. Those who were on his side say he died with a smile on his face. That smile that many a student would not easily interpret, yet it was meant to make them become better. Rest in peace my teacher.
The author is a human rights expert and specialist on refugee issues
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Thanks all of for your contribution.
Up to now my mind just remembers Jason, he was like my Father, Teacher and More so we worked together in Muyebe, even at the time by the time he retired we used to share much. Imagine he would invite staff members to his home of fellowship... For those who worked with him know his passion... for work. The community around Muyebe... His love for his family.... His sincerity on friends.
He would supervise the gravity water system and that is why it is the best gravity system in the country. All I can say is that people should remember the family and Pray to God to fill the Gap in the family.
wel i also want to say thanx for such a wonderful article about my teacher commonly known as Turi [RIP].During the four years at muyebe,he taught me geography for 2 years and i do recall where i got this statement i love using,"U MAY IF U MUST!"with our stubbornness in form two,we kept asking for permission to go out his and response never changed,facing the black board,"u may if u must."just plain as that but so clear and with a tone full of parental love. Just the name brings peace in my heart mixed with joy as i recall all that tym with such a wonderful teacher.may God rest his soul in peace and to the family,He gives and takes away so let your hearts choose to say "Blessed be the name of the Lord."Mr.Turi you died but your name and work lives on and we love you.
Thank you for a wonderful article. I also knew Jason from my visits to Uganda from UK in 97 and 06. He was a good friend of my Dad's and they were as one mind in God and geography. What a better place to learn geography than in the foothills of the volcanoes, surrounded by gorillas and all manner of wildlife and so many wonderful people!
My heart is with the Turimumahoro family especially as they continue Jason's work to set up Kisoro Senior Secondary School. I hope for many more wonderful students to come out of Kisoro and be touched by his great giving heart as you were. Thank you for sharing.