Mzee Haajje Gashegu: The Patriot who stood by his people when they needed him most

A story is told of a man who in the early 1980’s while a Headmaster in many powerful secondary schools in Uganda - like Kitante Hill School, combined patriotism, intellect and generosity to rescue his people from ignorance after the Obote regime at that time decided to deny Banyawanda refugees education. Many of his generation ended up in politics while others settled for well paying jobs, but Mzee Mutangana Gahaya Haajje-Gashegu chose teaching until he passed away on 15 – August -2011 morning at Nakasero Hospital, Kampala of heart failure. He was educated and politically well-placed throughout his career as a teacher, something that helped him groom several people in both Uganda, his home for over sixty years, and in Rwanda, his birthplace. “He has never had heart failure before. It was his fist time and he could not resist the complication,” said sobbing Janet Gashegu, one of the widows of the late education icon. She added: “We took him for first aid at Daniels’ Clinic in Bweyogerere; he was referred to Kadic Hospital in Bukoto but their doctors could not handle. Kadic also referred us to Nakasero Hospital.” “He was on oxygen and he could not breathe,” the widow said, while explaining what killed her husband. Driven by a strong passion to help his abandoned people, Gashegu had a signature tune that many Banyarwanda refugees at the time fondly remember him as having used. “We would all assemble and he would tell students from all walks of life that there are no more vacancies…..but would add in his local dialect, that; abumva icyo nvuga ejo muzagaruke,” says John Rwagatare, a Civil Engineer in Kampala. “He wasn’t doing this because he segregated among his students - but because he wanted to give a chance for education to those that had been discriminated upon by the leadership at that time. It was clearly hard for us to get education anywhere.” By the time of his death, Gashegu was the director of Buntubulamu Education Centre, the schools he founded in Ttakajjunge village, Mukono District to help teach needy students from different villages in Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and other neighbouring East African countries. “We shall always remember him for having diligently stood by Banyarwanda at the hour they needed him most,” says Bella Gahunde, a successful Businessman in Kampala. He has been running the schools in Mukono, Uganda, which include a primary and secondary section after retiring from the teaching service 20 years ago. During his career, both as a classroom teacher and head teacher for 50 years, Gashegu, who died at 88, supervised and made friends with Presidents, Ministers, Army generals and several high ranking officials in the region. He also taught several high ranking government officers both in Rwanda and Uganda. He taught several military officials who are still serving in both the Rwanda Defence Forces and Uganda People’s Defence Forces. Some of the officials he taught in Rwanda and Uganda include; Professor Nshuti Mannaseh, President Paul Kagame’s Advisor on Economic affairs and Lt Col Felix Kulaigye, the Ugandan Army spokesperson. Justice Minister Tharcisse Karugarama, who was a teacher at Kitante Hill School where Mzee Haajje Gashegu was a Headmaster in the 1980s, said that the deceased strongly participated in meetings that raised funds to support the RPF struggle. “He played a crucial role in the liberation struggles of both Rwanda and Uganda. He was a patriot, straightforward, very honest and a strong believer in God,” Karugarama said. And contacted, Kulaigye said the late Gashegu gave hope to the downtrodden and segregated at the time he was an educationist. “When the Banyarwanda were segregated against by Ugandans, Gashegu stood by them. He was not ashamed of his origin,” said Kulaigye who added that Gashegu championed the interests of Banyarwanda by assisting them access education. According to Kulaigye, the role Gashegu played in the education sector helped shape the politics of this region and hence the liberation struggles. And family members attest to this; they say “a number of his students also died during the liberation struggles both in Uganda and Rwanda; the list is long.” “RPF fighters would knock on our door late in the night and we would open and share with them the little we had. That was their home even for those who sustained injuries,” Ruth Gashegu, one of the widows said during burial last Friday. Born in 1924, in Rukara, Gahini in Eastern province, Gashegu grew up in a strong religious family, revered for spreading Christianity in Rwanda and his father Daniel Gashegu was a Reverend in the Anglican Church. But despite being born in a religious family, his calling was not Christianity, and it is the thirst for classic knowledge that saw the then 20-year old man trek several hundreds of miles to cross over to Uganda, his dream destination of a quality education. And when he arrived in Uganda in the then Kigezi District, Gashegu enrolled at Kigezi High School in 1944 for his senior education completing his ‘O’ level in 1948. For his ‘A’ level, Gashegu was admitted to the prestigious Busoga College, Mwiri, a school built by colonialist for the kids of Basoga chiefs. During that time, on completion, one would either choose to further their education career or branch off for any job or job training. Gashegu chose to join Mbarara Government Teachers Training College where he qualified as a junior secondary teacher. Thereafter he upgraded at Kyambogo Teacher’s College from 1958-1959. Not satisfied with the academic qualifications he had obtained to make him a decision maker, so as a mature entrant he furthered his education at Makerere Univeristy College, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Arts between 1965 and 1967 and a post graduate diploma in education in 1968. And in the ensuing half-century teaching career, Gashegu taught in 11 secondary schools, becoming headmaster in four of them, between 1954 and 1986, when he retired as headmaster of Kitante Hill School. He was also one time a tutor at one of Uganda’s leading teachers’ college, Namutamba Primary Teachers College, before serving as an Assistant Education Officer in the defunct Buganda Government in 1964. Schools From Makerere he was posted as a teacher in Aga Khan Secondary School, Kampala, a tutor at Buwalasi Teachers College in Mbale, a teacher at Mengo Secondary School, Kampala. He was posted to Ngora High as headmaster, the school he headed from 1972-1973. After a year in Ngora, Gashegu was transferred to Kitunga High School in Mbarara in 1974. From Kitunga, he was posted at Bishop Senior School, in Mukono where he served from 1975-1980. It was in Kitante Hill School in Kampala where he served from 1981-1986 that he retired from teaching in public schools after 57 years. He then started the Buntubulamu Education Centre, the Primary and Secondary Schools are in Ttakajjunge, Mukono District. ““He had a character anyone would find difficult to hate and his large heart has made everybody love him,” said one of his sons. Gashegu had 14 children. One of the children died. And when news of his death broke out, one of the students Gashegu taught in the 1960’s at Namutamba Teacher’s Primary College, said: “he taught many who have also taught very many in Rwanda and Uganda.” The Author is a family friend who stays in Mukono, Uganda Ends