Semei kakungulu to most people is remembered for being an active British colonial ally, an Administrator of Eastern Province 1899-1905, and President of Busoga 1906-1913, a warrior and statesman of the powerful Buganda Kingdom from 1869 to 1928.
He was also a Saza Chief in Buganda. BUT to the century old Abayudaya community of Uganda (Ugandan Jews) he is a hero; a strong religious icon whose name never misses in any narration about the birth of Judaism in Uganda.
The Jewish Rabi Gashom .S. Wambede attends to visitors as the Bamasaba cultural leader (right) and a delegate from Israel (left) looks on. Photo by moshdephotojournalist
On 30th June 2019, this century old memory was brought fresh as the Jewish community at Nabugoye hill, an area in Mbale; Eastern Uganda and a home to the biggest Synagogue (Jewish worship center) in East and Central Africa where joined by Jewish friends from Israel and United states to celebrate a century (100 years) of Judaism in Uganda.
The celebration was graced by Government luminaries and District bureaucrats including the State Minister for the Environment Hon. Goretti Kitutu who represented the Speaker of Parliament as the guest of honor, The Mbale woman MP. Hon Nakayenze Connie Galiwango, Leader of Opposition In parliament Hon Aol Betty among others.
The daylong event had all sorts of fun ranging from the Artifact displays, local music, dance, dramas and Performance from one of Uganda’s top artist Aziz Azion.
The Bayudaya leader Rabi Gershom Sizomu; the first native-born black rabbi in Sub-Saharan Africa and a Ugandan member of Parliamentary for Bungoho north while giving a brief history about the faith during the celebration recalled how tough it was to exist as a minority religion especially during the reign of the Late Iddi Amin.
“During Amin’s reign, we faced the hardest time with the faith. He banned any other religion from practicing apart from Islam and Christianity, his men threatened to kill who ever practiced Judaism, so many of the Jews joined other religions in fear of their lives and those who remained in the faith practiced in secrecy” Gershom remembered.
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