Loan from a friend unlocked Tibasiimwa’s retirement fortunes

Lay Canon Joram Tibasiimwa, 74, is a retired secondary school teacher. At a time when there were few graduates in western Uganda, Tibasiimwa became a head teacher at 33 years of age in 1976.
He has taught in Ibanda Secondary School, Mutolere Secondary School, Kitunga High school, Ruyonza School, and was head teacher at Mbarara High School before retiring in 2002.
Tibasiimwa is married to Loyce and they have 12 children. His first wife Terry Kanyangezi passed on during child birth in 1981.

She was the first female graduate in Rubirizi.

Life as a teacher
After his studies at Makerere University, Tibasiimwa taught at Ibanda Secondary School in 1968 where he spent one year before he was transferred to his old school, Mbarara High School to teach Chemistry.
“We were only four black teachers out of the 25 staff. At that time, I was popular because I was among the few graduate teachers. I left in 1975 and then returned as head teacher in 1993.”

Preparing for retirement
While serving as a teacher, Tibasiimwa bought a plot of land in Mbarara Town. In 1982, he acquired a loan of Shs1 million from a friend and bought 12 acres of land that contained a tea plantation.
“I increased the acreage of the plantation to 28 acres by buying more land and planting more tea. I also opened a retail shop with my wife and bought land near Bishop Stuart University and built rentals. The retail shop now deals in imported clothes for ladies.”

Life in retirement
After retiring, Tibasiimwa returned to his home in Kyeizooba, Bushenyi District, where he is as a consultant and politician. He has served as a district councillor, speaker, national vice chairperson of Reproductive Health Uganda, trainer of trainers for good governance, Rotary club president, chairperson for older persons and chairperson board of education for West Ankole Diocese in the Church of Uganda.
Tibasimwa also has a forest and does crop farming. All of his efforts have ensured that he lives a comfortable life in his retirement.

He is also involved in bee keeping, has a banana plantation, has a cattle and goat farm, and grows passion fruits. From all his businesses, Tibasimwa says he makes about Shs10 million a month.
On a normal day, he wakes up early and distributes assignments to his workers at the farms, and sometimes works with them, attends meetings if there is any and being a soccer lover, he watches football at the weekends.
“I am now 15 years into retirement. And I am grateful that I have something to do to keep me busy. It is dangerous when a retired person has nothing to do.

He can become a drunkard because he does not have projects to supervise.”
“Habits, such as sports betting are not for retired people. We need to have self-control. People need to prepare in advance for their retirement, save some money here and there. Even during retirement, one must train themselves to cut the cost of expenditure to what they can actually afford so that they do not end up using all that they had saved so quickly.”
He advises workers to join savings groups because it is not easy to save as an individual.

Tibasimwa, who says he does not have free time, has 12 children and eight grandchildren.

His firm is 25 kilometres from his home. On the weekends he does not go to the firm. Most times he stays back to watch European football matches and also doesn’t miss church.
“I attend church because it is a must and I am a church leader. When people around me lose loved ones, I spend time with them, condoling with them because it brings people in the community together.”