Remembering priest who perished in freak accident

The Easter service of Sunday April 14, 1974 at Nsiika, Buhweju District, was very colourful and even more exciting for the Bacwayo family. This after all was their last Easter in Nsiika for in a few days Rev Azaria Bacwayo would be moving to his new pastoral station in Kyanyakatura, Igara, Bushenyi.  

On the morning of Friday April 26, 1974 the truck arrived to transport the family. Some parishioners, church staff and children at the church school gathered to bid them farewell.  Rev and Ms Bacwayo sat in the front with the three youngest children. The rest of the children and the helpers and some relatives were at the back. 

Within a minute of the truck moving down the hilly slope from the church, the brakes jammed and the driver lost control. Rev Bacwayo (who was carrying his daughter Abigail) was thrown out of the truck. He hit his head on a rock and died on the spot. Abigail escaped with minor injuries. 

The truck eventually came to a standstill. Miraculously, nobody else was seriously hurt. Ms Bacwayo, still in a state of shock, did not even realise that her husband had fallen out of the truck.  When it dawned on the occupants in the truck and those that were bidding them farewell that Rev Bacwayo had died, there was an expression of grief. News spread like wildfire and people began gathering from far and wide to comfort the family.
Rev Bacwayo was buried three days later on Monday April 29, 1974 at his ancestral home in Kikoonko, Sheema. He was just 49. Ms Bacwayo now had the uphill task of looking after her nine-strong family whose youngest member was aged only three months. 

The truck that belonged to Amos Baryamujura, a businessman, was faulty and not insured. However, through the legal assistance of two lawyers Alfred Karokora and Hillary Katembeko (and a process that took about two years), Mr Baryamujura agreed to pay compensation. It was, however, in instalments. Unfortunately, he was killed after making a couple of instalments. 

Against the odds
Ms Bacwayo had the odds stuck against her. The Bacwayos’ home area of Kikoonko was quite rocky and unsuitable for farming. Ms Bacwayo, however, needed to farm to feed her family and earn a living. Her husband’s colleague, Rev Canon Blasio Itima, was able to identify suitable land in Nyakwebundika in Sheema and Ms Bacwayo paid for it with money from the partial compensation from late Baryamujura and settled there.

Ms Bacwayo worked and toiled singlehandedly in her garden to look after her family. She grew all sorts of food crops and cash crops, made mats and baskets for sale. In so doing, she endeavoured that all her children went to school. This included her seven daughters who ordinarily would have been married off at the earliest opportunity as was the norm in those days and under those circumstances.  She also continued to be God-fearing, religiously attended Church and her faith strengthened her. 

Her children have gone on to live very fruitful and vibrant lives in the field of medicine, education and public administration, among others. 
One of them, Elizabeth Kukunda Bacwayo, who was aged seven when her father died, is now an associate professor of governance and development and dean of the School of Research and Post Graduate Studies at Uganda Christian University, Mukono. 

Ms Bacwayo, the unsung hero, is now 94 years and living a prayerful life at her home in Nyakwebudinka, Sheema District. She was made a church pillar (Enyomyo) for her contribution to the Church in her area. All her nine children are alive and she thanks God for being with her throughout her widowhood journey of 50 years. She says without God, she never would have managed. 

Who was Rev Bacwayo

Rev Azaria Bacwayo was born in Kikoonko, Sheema District in 1925. He was educated at Kabwohe Church School up to Primary Four. He then moved to Buganda to work on cotton farms for three years. He used the wages he got to pay the bride price.

In 1958, he went to Bishop Tucker Theological College (Mukono) to train as a lay reader. On being commissioned, he worked in Masheruka (Sheema) from 1959 to 1962. In January 1963, he was selected to go to Bishop Barham Divinity College (Kabale) for his ordination course. He was ordained deacon in December 1964 and ordained priest in 1966. Between January 1966 to December 1971, Rev Bacwayo worked in Bigyera Ibanda. In 1972, he was posted to Nsiika, Buhweju and in 1974 to Kyanyakatura, Nyabubare in Igara but tragedy prevented him from moving to Igara.
He married Beatrice Embabazi-Tizhwa in April 1951 and they were blessed with nine children.

Rev Bacwayo was well organised, a brilliant Church administrator, an outstanding preacher, and a family man, who had a strong and steady presence in his ordained ministry. 
He was disciplined in his prayers and knew his need for God.  He had an amazing ability to support the vulnerable and marginalised and many flocked to his home for help. He was a kind and generous man, who loved his Church and its parishioners deeply.

This is a book extract from A Common Hunger to Spread the Gospel: Ankole’s Pioneer Priests.