Ugandans fundraise for Gahini Cathedral

Ugandans and friends of Gahini Cathedral will today converge at the Lugogo MTN Arena in Kampala to raise funds for the construction of a new cathedral. Gahini, is the oldest Anglican church establishment in Rwanda, located in the Eastern Province near the border with Uganda and Tanzania. It is known to be the spiritual home of the Anglican movement since the early 1930s. The project is budgeted to cost Rwf2 billion with construction works expected to be completed by next year. Joan Bamulange Kakwenzire, President Yoweri Museveni’s advisor on poverty alleviation is the chairperson of the fundraising committee. She said that she was confident the occasion will be a success. “Everything is set. I’m working with a great team and we have received support from different organisations,” Kakwenzire said. Gen. Salim Saleh Akandwanaho is expected to be the chief fundraiser. “I welcome the fact that the cathedral is being constructed and we all have a duty to make a contribution. I have made mine,” said former Ugandan prime minister Apollo Nsibambi. Alexis Birindabagabo, Bishop of Gahini Diocese, who has joined the team in Kampala said the support from Ugandans is a clear testimony of how East Africans are “walking the talk” of regional integration. “To me it is not about how much money we shall get from the event; it is about getting together and the spirit in which it has been carried out,” he said. The ceremony, organised by the Gahini Fundraising Team (Uganda chapter) in partnership with the Rwanda High Commission in Uganda is expected to be attended by hundreds of beneficiaries of the East African Revival Movement. “Many of us have been beneficiaries of that revival and today we have been given opportunity to be part of the fundraising,” said Isaac Rucibigango, the master of ceremonies of today’s event. The late Kosiya Kyamuhangire, the father of Uganda’s foreign affairs minister Sam Kutesa is one of the pioneers of the movement. Kyamuhangire died during an Anglican missionary convention in 1952 at Gahini hill in present day Kayonza District – a place that became his permanent resting ground.

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Ugandans fundraise for Gahini Cathedral