about me

I was born in SW Uganda, close to the border with Rwanda, in 1957 to Nathan and Irene Bisamunyu, both illustrious students and beneficiaries of the sacrifices of two British missionaries. My maternal grandfather, who met them in their first few months in my district, learned reading and writing from them, became a Christian and joined their work as one of the first indigenous African missionaries. One of the schools my grandfather started became the springboard for my father's education. Meantime, his daughter Irene exerted her own industry to become one of the first African girls to receive a full Western education, defying her underestimation by a British District Commissioner to score the highest marks in Uganda and force him to grant her a scholarship. This story will open your eyes to the extraordinary sacrifice and contribution of British missionaries in East Africa and to the superb achievements of African men and women of my parents' generation, whose love of education inspired the creation of Makerere University College of East Africa 80 years before it was due. This is also a story of human growth and relationships. It is not written to deny the negatives of colonial rule nor does it pin medals to the lapels of racialists. On the contrary! It supports the use of knowledge and education and indeed explains, among other things, why Britain, the US, Australia and Canada have in their schools, universities and hospitals hordes of educated Africans offering their expertise. A missionary education is, today, the cultural legacy of many of our countries and has survived even the slash-and-burn political rule of Idi Amin, Robert Mugabe and the abject corruption of military governments of Ghana, Nigeria and other countries. The cover of my book was contributed by Rebecca Studd Bebb, whom I met through our families while we were both in our teens in Dar-es-salaam, Tanzania. Friendship, like colonialism, is an astonishing source of useful influence. - Edward Nobel Bisamunyu

favourite books

1. Great Expectations > Charles Dickens
2. Things Fall Apart > Chinua Achebe
3. Alva Myrdal > Sissela Bok
4. Sense and Sensibility > Jane Austen
5. The River Between > Ngugi wa Thiong'o (formerly James Ngugi)
6. Weep Not, Child > Ngugi wa Thiong'o
7. Building the Nation & Other Poems > My very own Uncle Henry Barlow
8. The Wanderer, or, Female Difficulties > Fanny Burney

My email address: ENBISAMUNYU@aol.com

my websites

http://www.communityofsweden.com/Pages/MyPage/MyPa