{UAH} REMEMBERING JOSEPH OKELLO, DOKOLO, LANGO, UGANDA

Today we remember Joseph Okello late of Dokolo on the 9th anniversary of his sad passing away.  The Mzee was the last surviving of the 7 Lango colonial chiefs, but he is best remembered for a life time he dedicated to education. Starting from sponsoring children from poor families, he later went on to establish his own primary and as well as secondary schools, to absorb and provide FREE EDUCATION to those children who in the early years of independence could not get admission to government schools. Mzee must have provided education to at least 20,000 young people in Dokolo and surrounding areas- such was his dedication to learning and the material uplifting of those less fortunate.

 

Mzee was also a man ahead of his time- certainly one of the first Lango and only one of the very few Ugandans who sponsored their children to undertake their studies in the UK- and this was in the 1960s. A far sighted man, the first  child he sent to the UK was actually a daughter who had dropped out of  Namagunga Secondary School after becoming  pregnant. Rather than kill her or throw her out of the home as was the norm in Lango at the time, Mzee instead allowed her to give birth and then packed her off to the UK to pick up the broken pieces of her education. 

 

Mzee was a great man, the likes of whom we are never likely to see again. He is survived by  4 widows, several children and hundreds of  grand and -great-great-great-grandchildren spread all over the world, at least 50 of whom reside in the UK alone. 

 

May His Soul Rest In Eternal Peace.

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