THE RE-UNION: 3 THINGS I LEARNT IN OMBACI

Every year on 19th march, saint Joseph, the husband of Mary and the foster father of our lord Jesus Christ, patron saint the school is named after, St Joseph’s college Ombaci becomes a beehive of activity as hundreds of old boys flock to their alma-mater to attend the popular Re-union. This year was not different as old boys from all walks of life turned up for the interface with the students and the staff. This year’s celebration fell on Saturday 21st March and saw many Old boys, a couple of muni girls (we call them OG’s) in attendance, we take a look at the 3 things I learnt at Ombaci while we visited.

 

The anthem is sung much faster these days

One old boy once joked ‘There are two things that distinguish a student from Ombaci from the others, he is a bachelor and he knows how to fry (in Jikko)’ and this is always the case when students clinch their fists and punch the air as they sing their beloved anthem, ‘Oh lord, I am a Bachelor boy, I am a bachelor boy from St Joscom’ this year the experience was different as the students sung with a lot of energy, sang faster and stood up on their feet rather hastily as though they were some sort of robots.

 

Late John folklore

For any former resident of Jerusalem, the name late john invokes some sort of haunting memory, near the entrance of the dormitory now turned entertainment centre, the patch of concrete squarely the size of an ordinary grave stands out and on it is a mark ‘Late John 1989’ two tales were told one that the patch is in fact a mass grave in which tens of people were buried after the Ombaci massacre, this for obvious reasons had a deeply disquieting or disturbing effect on all of us,  the other tale is that since the school started out as a technical school in 1949, Jerusalem was a garage and that  patch was a pit for repairing automobiles, whichever tale you believe, but be rest assured late John folklore is abiding.

Is Headmaster Andrew Tumwesige the new professor Dumbledore?

Professor Albus Dumbledore of the Harry porter fame, was a tall, thin and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, wore long robes, was often known as the greatest head master of all time who tried to see the good in anybody and respected the fact that one should be assessed by his actions rather than their blood or birth, many parallels have been drawn between this mythical book character and Mr. Juruga Augustine, arguably the greatest headmaster of Ombaci because of his keen and gentle approach, The old boys fraternity honoured Mr Andrew Tumwesige with a meritorious award for being outstanding despite the strikes, challenges et cetera and unlike prof Dumbledore who was often cheered by the students at Hogwarts, the students of Ombaci just didn’t clap when their HM walked up to take his award, whereas students and some few people available kept on muttering, in the eyes of the Old boys Association, Mr. Andrew Tumwesige was evolving into prof. Dumbledore of some sort.