SMACKOBA Alumni Re-Union [Sunday 8 June 2008]

Started with mass which I attended about 50 minutes late; actually entered during offertory time, what an entrance! I sat next to some guy I usually meet on Nakasero Hill Road. The students looked just like us; I did not feel any older than them. The Choir was still as angelic as during our years. After mass, me, Kiyinji and another lad one class ahead of us toured the former German Room (now Senior 1D), saw Yellow Man (the Agriculture teacher), Sexie (The French teacher), the Junior Library, walked behind 1C and checked out the Senior 4 classes (Empty at that time because of breakfast, you know) before heading to the Main Hall. I almost registered before D’Arbela, one of the 4 SMACK Old Boys to be honored that day but allowed him to write his name before me in respect. He actually wanted me to do it first but it was his GOD-given day, so he had to come first. Doesn’t that mean that the honourable can also honour the noble like me? I have always had such wishes. If the most beautiful woman (at least acclaimed by respected establishments) tells you that you are beautiful, do you feel ugly? Actually during the reading of his citation by a true admirer, I was satisfied that he had written his name before me. As a medical genius, he had inspired so many and worked both in Uganda and overseas countries even residing in Saudi Arabia for quarter a century. He would say mass at his house on Sundays.
Before the function, I had picked a leaflet about Naalya flats and signed in the visitors book at the National Housing and Construction Company Limited stall (One of the sponsors of the meeting alongside Nile Breweries, can you imagine? And Ethiopian Airlines Wow!) The Chairman of NH&CCL said that since he was also a SMACK product, he became selfish and decided to sponsor the re-union, “It takes an entire village to make a man.” He further praised J.C. Kiwanuka for his dedication to teaching Mathematics, “We do not honour this man enough; He has sacrificed doing other things in order to make us the men that we are today.”
While serving breakfast (A banana, juice and cake; I couldn’t drink tea and the sumbis were finished; Okatch got me the Mineral Water), I saw Emily Mwebaze, the beautiful solo-singer plus WBS TV news reader and reporter just one person ahead of me. I wanted to greet her and tell her how I marveled at her beauty but also did not want to be overcome by this syndrome of being struck by a star. “If the stars can’t recognize you, why should you worship them?” The same applies to crushes: Why cant life be so easy? Of course, the babe looks more beautiful in reality than the beauty we see on the silver screen but as a boy, I did not want to tamper with the peace of another man’s woman. So I let her remain in tact.
The award ceremony was very inspirational simply because the recipients of these accolades, given to them by the Katikiiro of Buganda (Engineer J.B. Walusimbi) also a SMACK OB, had achieved so much over a course of 50 years. I told Nicholas Mwanja, an OB and Lourdel dorm mate for 4 years, sitted next to me that we had about 50 years to get there. The 4 guys honoured were at SMACK in the 1950s and 60s. Paul George D’Arbela, the one who wrote his name before I (Remember?) was introduced by an OB who literally worshipped him. Everything D’Arbela did, this guy followed. When he went out to work in Saudi Arabia, this guy followed. The awards he got, this guy worked to get. It was just totally unbelievable how some one could honour another one’s legacy to such an extent. During his acceptance speech, D’Arbela said, “Lourdel House back then was not good at Sports but via the brain, they were on top,” No one objected.
The Second Awardee was Francis Xavier Kitaaka who came with many members of his family, actually the Most Escorted Guy that day I can say. He narrated how he survived death twice by GOD’s grace during the turbulent times. The scientist turned businessman said, “Any one can be rich; Capital is the head, Caput. Use your head. Only three principles made me successful: GOD, Trustworthiness and Business.” His revelations emphasized some of the rules I had read in a 2007 Richard Templar book entitled “The Rules of Wealth” carried to the re-union by an OB sitted ahead of me.
The Third recipient was Henry Ssentongo, also from the green-flaged Lourdel House, my house. This was the guy I was waiting to hear from simply because he designed the fantastic blue and white Workers House, renovated State House Entebbe and the new Centenary Bank Main Building (Still in the pipeline, will be known as Mapera and one of the Most Fantastic Bank Offices in Uganda). He is also the Patron of the SMACK Chapel Choir and was the guy who donated a 2 Million Shilling keyboard from UK during our time (Late 1990s), masterfully played then by Mwanja sitted next to me. After leaving Uganda to study Architecture in Kenya as the only Black in his class (Afterall blacks were only taught hospitality courses to work as hoteliers or kitchen servants), Henry was given an aptitude test in which three half naked women entered a room and he was told to draw what he saw. Unfortunately, he did not know how to draw. After the test, he cried in his room because he felt he had let down his parents. When one Indian saw him weeping and offered to help, they made a deal that he would teach the Indian mathematics, pay him a third of his allowances while the Indian taught him how to draw. In the long run, he became the President of the Association of African Architects and a member of other bodies.
The Last OB on the Honours list was Prof. Charles O., Vice Chancellor at Uganda Martyrs University Nkozi whose son is also a faculty dean there (I think they were following age). He advised that, “There is an Asante saying: ‘If you follow your father’s footsteps, you will learn to walk like your father’…” As the guest speaker, he had earlier said that we need “Quality Time on Task…A vision with a task can change the world…We become persons by relating.” Being an author of tens of books and an acclaimed orator, the professor had basically given an earth moving presentation before the awards though I missed it briefly. Nevertheless, his acceptance speech was brief and concise. He graduated from SMACK in 1960…
“I look forward to seeing the first person plunged into the swimming pool…,” said Headmaster Edward Bukenya. The Speaker of Parliament Edward Sekandi, also an OB came in late and was honoured by being called to the high table next to the awardees.
Andrew Opolot, the SMACKOBA President Elect and Swimming Pool Coordinator said, “The pool had been an incomplete 40 year project but would be finished by the end of the year.” Some of the speakers wondered why the attendance was low and J.B. Walusimbi advised that we should get some tips from the former President, Architect Sentongo whose regime had fuller meetings.
“During the next SMACKOBA meeting, we should all plunge into the swimming pool,” J.B. Walusimbi humorously concluded the Re-Union and Award Ceremony.
Theatre Factory provided the entertainment after 4pm and it lived up to people’s expectations. Though their first two skits were already presented on NTV’s Sunday Barbed Wire Show, the one about SMACK seemed new and kind of rocked. It must have been produced after the invitation to perform at the function; it simply employed a joke creation technique that sizzled: In the scene, a librarian was required to fill a job vacancy so the first applicant (a sharp actor who impresses me a lot while acting drunk) came in and answered the interview questions correctly. When asked who SMACK’s headmaster was, he replied, “It used to be Father … but is now Brother Edward Bukenya.” OBs were amazed. The second question wanted to find out when the school began. He replied, “1906 and super-modified in 2006” (because of the 100 years celebration I guess). The last question was: Can SMACKists build a class on Planet Mars? “Some people think so but it has not been scientifically proven. Absolutely! ...,” The applicant was so confident that he had passed. So when the interviewer went to ease himself, he tried to give the next applicant (role played by Hannigton Bugingo) the ‘marking guide’ as he called it. He probably did not know that the questions would be changed for his friend. So the second guy walked in with a spring step and was asked what his name was. He stupidly replied, “It used to be Father … but is now Brother Edward Bukenya.”/ “When were you born?” Without thinking, “1906 and super-modified in 2006”/ “Are you mad?” “Some people think so but it has not been scientifically proven.”/ “Are you insane?” “Absolutely ...,” This applicant was simply chased away but he had a joyful smile on his face thinking that he had passed. This was half of the crew performing but after the lunch, they promised to give another dose of their humorous entertainment. Unfortunately, I had already made up my mind to catch the Benin vs. Uganda and missed the fun ... Former classmates present included Ogwal (Usual suspect told me Tinyiro didn't come because he had downed too many), Ocuku, Gerald Okol,Kon Paul (Wow, nice name for a Sudanese!),Walugega, Kasolo, and a few others.

(The information below was copied and pasted from Vickie Kayaga's Email to the OBs)

Hullo OBs, i know you will be interested in reading this educative, informative and inspirational speech by Prof. Charles Olweny presented on the SMACKOBA REUNION DAY.

RE-UNION DAY SMACKOBA 8 TH JUNE, 2008
The Guest of Honour and Chairman of the Board of Governors of St. Mary's College Kisubi, Owekitibwa, Engineer Walusimbi, The Headmaster of St. Mary's College Kisubi, Brother Edward Bukenya,President of SMACKOBA, Mr. Henry Kibirige, Fellow Honourees or Awardees, Fellow members of SMACKOBA, Ladies and Gentlemen

To day is a great day for me as it represents an official home coming after 48 years of absence. I graduated from St. Mary's College in 1960 having been among the first batch to start A-level course here. The warm welcome so far accorded to us makes me feel I might be the prodigal son. The fattest calf has been slaughtered and there will be dancing and jubilation as the celebration continues.

Our human identity is first and foremost relational. We become who we are through relationship with other people. It is not that we become a person first and then relate; rather we become persons by relating, reflecting, knowing and making meaning of our God given gifts. I therefore congratulate you all for keeping the fire of St. Mary's College Old Boys Association burning over the years.

Mr. Henry Kibirige in his letter inviting me to this occasion requested me to be the Guest Speaker and to talk on the theme: “Quality Education and Professionalism”. In preparing for this presentation I asked myself what is QUALITY? What is EDUCATION? And what is PROFESSIONALISM? I will try to share my perceived or shall I say my preferred definitions of what these words mean to me. Quality is the degree to which services to an individual or population are (a) likely to achieve desired outcome and (b)consistent with current professional knowledge. Quality has nothing to do with how shiny or bright a product is or how much it costs. A customer who buys your product or experiences your service has certain needs and expectations in mind. If the product or service meets or exceeds those expectations time and time again, then in the mind of the customer it is a quality product or quality service. Quality therefore relates to the customers perception and in that regard quality may be defined as ”meeting the customers needs and expectations”. Most customers are reasonable. They expect a Mercedes to have leather seats. They do no expect the same of Toyota Corolla! Customers may switch from one supplier to another not just to get a better price( although a good bargain would come in handy) but rather to secure better service, reliability, accessibility and courtesy. Customers are the most important assets of any company although they do not show up on our balance sheet, they are an asset to be nurtured. Let me then ask who are our customers at St. Mary's Kisubi? It is the students, their parents, their sponsors, the Church and the people of Uganda. Has St. Mary's lived up to or exceeded their expectations? If the answer is yes then St. Mary's is a quality institution.

What about education? There are many different definitions of education. Some tell you what education is NOT as for example ,”Education is NOT just filling a bucket with knowledge”. My late parents taught me three things viz. Fear God, work hard and respect authority as all authority comes from God. They instilled in me the notion that you can never have authority until you respect authority. You need to find some authority worthy of your respect. I have added a forth dimension or value to my children, namely, “be disciplined”. Discipline is doing the right thing when no one is watching. It is , when you are alone , instead of eating in the kitchen, laying the table, carrying food to the table, sitting down, saying prayer before meals and eating the food; and when it is all done, taking the plates and washing them before retiring. Discipline is not just demanding people to take action; it is to do with getting them to first engage in disciplined thought and then take disciplined action. In this regard my parents were my first educators. My own preferred definition of education is, “what is left when all that you learnt at school, college or university is long forgotten.” What is left is “education” When you can no longer define the principle of Archimedes, when you can no longer deduce Pythagoras' theorem, when you cannot impute E=MC2, when all the neuroanatomy, or biochemistry is gone, when all the calculus you learnt no longer makes sense then what is left in you is education. A good education empowers us; provides us with the necessary knowledge and skills to undertake important tasks in our lives, exploits all our potentials, prepares us to become global citizens and above all teach us to think critically. Text books teach people subject matter but they do not teach people to think let alone to think critically. I believe St. Mary's gave me a good education. St. Mary's instilled in me the notion of discipline. I recall the early morning wake up call from Brother Louis or Bother Paul Major, rain or no rain, would roar at the door, “May Jesus live in our hearts” and the chorus, “Forever”still ring loudly in my ears. We were taught the appreciation of classical music. I developed then a passion for classical music to this day. We were given dancing lessons. I wonder how many of you can dance foxtrot or waltz or calypso? We were given courses in etiquette. We were encouraged to ask questions and to ask the right questions when faced with complex decisions. We were trained not to cone by rote, but or cram but to try to understand issues and express them in our own words. Now that I can no longer remember the academic issues, what I have left in me is education and I can proudly announce it was a good education.

Lastly, what is professionalism? The definition I found is , 'being engaged in one or other of the learned professions i.e. Legal, medicine, engineering etc. A better definition is exhibiting a courteous conscientious and generally business like manner at the work place. Another definition of professionalism is the conduct , aim and qualities that characterize or make a profession or a professional person. The majority of us here are professionals or belong to one or other of the professions. Do we exhibit courtesy? Are we conscientious ? Are we business-like in our work place? Do we exhibit qualities that should characterise our profession? Are we reliable, accessible and courteous to those we serve? I leave it up to each of you to answer those questions

Our mission in this world, according to the late Pope John Paul II, is to seek God, study the world and serve humanity. All of us have a mission to fulfil. If we are still alive then that mission is not fulfilled and definitely not completed. According to St. Thomas Aquinas, “God's grace works through nature”. Encountering God in the bits and pieces of every day life is what we should strive for. Remember the people you encounter in the streets, in the class room, in the market, in the taxi park are your gods. This earth is crammed with heaven. The people who come to your consultancy rooms whether you are an Architect, an Engineer or a Medical Doctor are all your gods. Please treat them as if they are God. Take your heart to work and ask everybody else to do the same. Don't let your special character and values, the secret that you know and no one else does, the truth, don't let them get swallowed up by the great chewing i.e. Complacency. The ancient Buddhist expression states, “ If we are facing the right direction all we have to do is walk” I was amazed to learn that a SMACK old boy designed the Chogm logo, not me brothers.

I suspect Mr. Henry Kibirige wanted me to talk about quality university education. I have intentionally avoided doing so because quality education begins in the home. The ruin of a nation begins in the homes of its people. Quality education begins in the primary and secondary schools. Unfortunately, by the time the students get to university, the dye is cast and it is almost impossible to mould them into quality products. I thank you for listening to me.