Recently I was at Makerere University to attend a wedding
ceremony. I hadn’t been on the university’s grounds in a while. I was shocked
at how run down Mary Stuart and Lumumba Halls were. They are in need of serious
work.
These thoughts were reawakened with the recent launch of the
coffee table book “Beyond the Reeds and Bricks” promoted by the tourism
ministry, the cross cultural foundation of Uganda and the European Union
Delegation.
The book which is aimed at the protection of historical
sites and buildings in Kampala, Entebbe and Jinja, is a moving collection of pictures
of buildings and sites we know, but probably take for granted when we pass them
as we go about our business.
"Entebe za Mugula in Entebbe, Mackay’s Cave, the post office in Entebbe, the Stanbic Bank Branch in Jinja, Hamu Mukasa’s house in Mengo, the main building at Makerere , the Bahai Temple, Kibuli mosque and many other sites have pride of place among the 60 pictures in this book, which is a good start in bringing to light these and many other sites around the country.
Unfortunately, we are losing these sites to neglect,
population expansion and the accompanying modernization of our towns, cities
and country.
We all want progress but there is a value to maintaining
these sites and buildings, which hold much cherished memories for many of us
and serve the useful purpose of reminding us where we came from and the
aspirations we held as a country in those far off years.
They say that the thing we learn from history is that we do
not learn from history. The neglect or destruction of these sites is testament
to this old saying.
But it need not be the case.
We shouldn’t wait for foreigners to come and tell us what we
should preserve and what we shouldn’t. Many of these sites are not much to look
at, until one is told the history that surrounds them and their roles in the formation
of this country.
Great ideas were conceived in these buildings, great drama
was played out in the fields and waters around us, great people launched their
ambitions and many great people lie dead and buried around us.
The great dramas and events that surround these
circumstances are what forged our nation and continue to inform our cultures
and traditions.
"To let these sites, go to waste is to take away from our great history and to lose the lessons of the time...
This book as I said earlier, is only a start. Many of us
have memories to go with certain building and sites wherever we grew up.
It would be great if a fund was set up to identify, protect
and preserve these various sites. Contributions They would serve as great tourist
attractions, but even beyond that it would better ground us and our children in
our shared past.
Which is important in this time of fast changes, where we
are being assaulted from all sides by cultures and traditions that are not only
alien to us, but even in direct conflict with our own customs, traditions and
way of life and not necessarily helpful towards achieving our national
aspirations.
It is these symbols of our history which can lend force to a
pride in our nation and elicit a sense of patriotism that a thousand classes
will not be able to do.
At the Private Sector Foundation of Uganda, we would be glad
to support any initiative that seeks to protect and preserve such sites and
buildings for posterity and for the enjoyment of current and future
generations.
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