The usually quiet neighborhood of Gahini village in Kayonza District Eastern Province was on 23rd January 2016 brought to a standstill as people from all walks of life thronged Gahini Cathedral to bid final farewell to a man that served them selflessly at their time of need.

Faustin Rushanda (RIP); born in 1932 died on 19th January 2016 at Kanombe Military Hospital. He was 83 years old. His body was laid to rest in the church cemetery.

The death of Rushanda (popularly known as Mwalimu or Headmaster Rushanda) spread grief beyond family and friends to many people across the region who were touched and positively influenced by his illustrious life.

A life that left society better than it found it. Rushanda was an iconic figure in educating Rwandans particularly refugee children spread out in different camps in neighboring Uganda and Tanzania during the exile years.

In his tribute Senator Mike Rugema; himself one of Rushanda’s pioneer students in Nshungerezi condoled his death, saying that he was one of the most distinguished educationists and that he would be remembered for his courage, commitment and leadership qualities.

The first child of John Ruvumbinabi and Marigarita Nyiramugasa, Rushanda was born in Karama, Karangazi of Nyagatare district in 1932.

He started school at Karama in 1944 and later at Gahini and graduated with a teaching diploma at Shyogwe in 1950. He then went to teach at his former school of Gahini.

After few years of teaching he was sent to the then Congo (DRC) by Belgian colonial administrators for further studies.When the 1959/60 Tutsi persecutions started he was in Congo and this presented him with a dilemma—whether to continue his studies or to abandon them and join his fleeing parents and relatives.

He chose the latter. He left Congo and went into Uganda joining the mass of refugees in Oruchinga valley. He was now a refugee and would remain one for the following three decades.

With his qualifications he couldeasily get a good job in the neighboring states capitals and live a relatively comfortable life like many his contemporaries opted.

But he chose to join and live with the masses of refugees in camps where hunger,poverty,malaria and other infections, malnutrition and wild animals especially snakes were effecting a lethal toll upon them and;in dozens they were dying daily.

What mattered to him was not his personal wellbeing and advancement but the fate and future of his people and particularly the youth. He understood clearly that survival of his nation depended on educating the toddlers and babies carried on their mothers’ backs in the camps.

And that is where he was going to put his energy….educate the children. This was going to be his life-long calling and there was no time to waste. He had no tools to use.

No classrooms, no teachers, no teaching materials and in a foreign land with a different education system; it was a daunting task he was undertaking.

Ingeniously, moving from camp to camp and picking on boys and girls who had been previously to school in Rwanda; he made them sit under a tree shade and started teaching them.

This was his first classroom in exile. With no scholastic materials to use, the pupils would scribble answers in the dust or on their dry rough skin on their legs. Soon other teachers joined and Kajaho Primary School was born.

This school would in few years shine in academic excellence in the region. Some of the teachers who teamed up with Rushanda in this noble task included Nicodemus Rwabarinda (RIP), Ephraim Muneyi (RIP); Hon Narcisse Musabeyezu, Hon Tito Rutaremara, Mr Charles Murigande and others.

They heroically committed to educate and inspire the Rwandan youth in exile. It was voluntary work and not all of them had had previous teaching experience.

What they had in plenty was love of their nation and hope for its future and they were prepared to do whatever it took to nurture the spirit of nationhood in these children.

Soon grass-thatched classrooms were constructed by parents.Much later when the UNHCR came to support through its refugee education programme, it found a firm foundation started by Rushanda and his compatriots.

Despite the humble beginning of Kajaho Primary School, soon it would excel academically producing the best student in Primary Leaving Examinations in the whole of East Africa in 1968 and 1969.

Some of its alumni; taught and mentored by Rushanda would in years to follow graduate with diverse degrees and PhDs from some of the world’s leading universities.

Rushanda dedicated his life to serving the best way he knew……teaching. I remember his energetic entrance into the classroom and a thorough check on the curriculum coverage by the students.

He would run us through a marathon revision session quickly summarizing history and mathematics classes. He particularly liked teaching mathematics and we would get thrilled when he took our young minds through algebra and simultaneous equations.

Ever compassionate; he had time for everyone and never discriminated. It would be a parent unable to pay school fees for a child or a former student asking for a recommendation or a chance to repeat the final year…he would listen to all and find a solution.

Sometimes it would be an old lady unable to read or write looking for him to read out to her a letter from a far-off child…she could only trust Mwalimu to do it for her. He was a kind man and he helped many in need. He was a pillar in the society.

Mwalimu Rushanda was a consistent, passionate, principled advocate for refugee children education. He developed a network of individuals and institutions that offered scholarships to refugee students.

Such included the UNHCR, Church of Uganda but perhaps most memorable is Ms Penelope Carlisle.

A venerable British lady who had come to Uganda as a missionary and enlisted by Rushanda played a great role in educating refugee children. She got so committed that she moved from Kampala and came to live in the refugee camp.

Rushanda’s towering stature as an icon of education should not by any means dwarf his other capabilities. He was a sportsman and above all, a patriot.

A mentor to many of us and instrumental in encouraging many senior RPF cadres to study hard and in a big way prepared them for the struggle that lay ahead…the ultimate liberation of our motherland.Iremember his affable personality and ready smile that endeared him to many regardless of their status in life.

I was fortunate to visit him after his retirement a few times at his residence in Gahini/Rukaraand every encounter with him was a charming and enlightening experience.

I remember one such visit I was with Capt Iyako (RIP) and he told us that he was from early age inspired and influenced to like education by Silas Majoro (RIP). Silas Majoro, born in 1917 in Gahini was a brilliant Christian educationist; some saw as a possible James Aggrey (the great Ghanaian educationist of the 1920s).

After his studies at King’s College Budo in Uganda where one of his classmates was Kabaka Muteesa II; Majoro returned to Rwanda to head Gahini Primary School and Rushanda was one of his students.

Majoro’s advocacy for improvement in Rwanda’s education got Mwami Rudahigwa to appoint him on the King’s Advisory Group. In 1958 the King sent him to Brussels for further studies and it is there the same year that he mysteriously died.

Though he died young, he inspired many and Rushanda took him as a role model inspiring him to be the revered Mwalimu we have now lost.

Rushanda was a disciplinarian and one smack from him for tardiness or other misconduct was enough to straighten you. He was a patriot who served his country with distinction and never strayed from his roots and those of us who benefitted from his tutelage shall remain proud to have known him.

He was God-fearing; inculcating Christian values in the school life with every day morning prayers before classes. He diligently served Gahini Diocese both before and after his exile.

Having departed to join the constellation of Rwanda’s finest; he has left behind a legacy we should emulate. His life, his struggle, his story is our pride and our heritage. He will have a special place in our chronicles.

He has left a widow, his life-long companion Joyce Rushanda, eight children and ten grandchildren.