Ellen Muzimya: Motherly, selfless and spiritual leader missed dearly

We could not have known the day or the hour but Ellen Keirungi Muzimya had to respond to this call on the most unexpected day; her first son’s wedding day while giving her speech. The festive mood flipped and was all the more difficult to comprehend for those that loved her so dearly.
Selfless love for children

Muzimya had a special place for children in her heart. She was known as Jjaja (grandmother) by all children from her neighbourhood. From her house always came voices of little children either playing or singing as they snacked on cakes and other goodies that she made. Her main source of income was baking and providing events management services.

“I always felt unworthy of the love she showed me. I still remember vividly our last chat in the sitting room when she told me, ‘my daughter, God is not asleep. He knows the desires of your heart and will definitely fulfil them according to His will.’ If there is anything I want to emulate from mummy, it is the way she loved,” Gloria Munguci, one of  Muzimya’s Goddaughters, says.

Motherly 
Being the first born came with its responsibilities for  Muzimya, especially upon the death of her parents. She had to provide for her siblings’ basic needs including school fees and housing them. 

When her husband died in 2001, she assumed the role of both parents, working hard to sustain her young biological children and the children she had adopted with her husband— a total of nine children who were still in school. From her events company and a restaurant she started after the death of her husband, Muzimya educated their children.

She was compassionate, welcomed everyone into her home, and shared the little she had with the needy. 

Keith Mbanawe, her son, recalls how their mother picked up a girl from Rukungiri after her primary school and educated her as she oriented her into baking. 
“This was at a time when getting school fees for the children she already had was a struggle,” Mbanawe recollects.

Spiritual 
Muzimya’s dedication and contribution to the church is an inspiration.
She served at St James Cathedral Ruharo Mbarara as a Sunday school teacher and a member of the Mother’s Union for five years, then joined All Saints’

Church, Mbarara where she served as a Sunday school teacher for about five years as well.
Later, she joined Holy Spirit Fire Church Mbarara in 1999 and was a pillar in its inception. 

The team leader of Holy Spirit Fire Church, Willy Tumwiine, says that year, Muzimya donated bedding to the church.
“On the day she donated the bed sheets and duvets, we had guests but were not sure of where the bedding would come from,” Apostle Tumwiine said in his sermon during the funeral service at King of  Kings Church Mbarara on September 27, 2020.   

She lived by the principle of praying more for others than herself, a seed she sowed in her children. 
Sedrack Bamwine, one of Muzimya’s adopted sons, recalls how she taught them about prayer, faith, and reading the Bible.
“Mum always smiled even in the toughest times and would tell us ‘Our God has never let me down, He will provide,’’ Bamwine says. 

Disciplinarian
 Muzimya, a teacher, was a no-nonsense disciplinarian. A slipper and cane were her co-parents. Often times she taught people how to care for each other and echoed the need for responsibility, punctuality, honesty and the importance of having the lord at the centre of their lives.

Children she nurtured agree that their mother and jjaja, will always be remembered for zero tolerance for ridicule, scorn or disrespect.
After battling hypertension for a long time, she succumbed to a cardiac arrest on September 26, 2020. She was buried three days later in Kyabagyerwa, Ruhinda, Rukungiri District. She is survived by five biological children and five adopted children and grandchildren.

Who was Muzimya?            

Born on April 14, 1957 in Kabale District, Ellen Robinah Keirungi Muzimya was first of the 30 children of the late  Amos Barugahare and late Nalongo Margaret Nagaddya.  Before embarking on business, Muzimya was a teacher.

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