“It is my deep conviction, that whether living or dead, our heroes, personal or National, are a perfect reflection of our societal fabric and DNA (especially moral). In other words, they mirror our core values and ambitions – at the individual, community, and National level. But have we also allowed them to shape and catalyze our transformation and future?”
Who are our Heroes, and Why them?
Since 9th June 1989 Uganda has stopped every year on that same date to remember and celebrate what it calls its “heroes”. While there may be questions around the criteria of deciding who are our true heroes as the nation, that is not the purpose of this article. However, maybe you might find an invitation to reflect on, and discuss the nature and scope of our choices of heroes. What truly informs the choices of persons and personalities whom we celebrate as heroes? May I submit right from the start, that it is my deep conviction, that whether living or dead, our heroes, personal or National, are a perfect reflection of our fabric and DNA (especially moral). In other words, they mirror our core values and ambitions – at the individual, community, and National level. But have we also allowed them to shape and catalyze our transformation and future?
The Late Archbishop Janani Luwum (1922 – 1977), one of my greatest personal and national heros.
On the first Heroes’ Day – 9th June 1989, majority of the first set of heroes to be recognised and decorated were people who had been involved in the Liberation War of 1981 to 1986. This category has continued to dominate the list of national pride to date, though the list has with time evolved to include the Rwenzori Medal recipients, who are particularly recognized (alive or posthumously) for extra-ordinary sacrificial service and impact in society.
In recent years have also seen sports personalities get onto the prestigious list for raising the national flag so high at the global stage. Frontline Medical personnel too, and even youngsters like the 10yr-old Yvonne Namagganda who perished while saving her little friends in the Buddo Junior School inferno eighteen years ago, are among our national heroes today. Without a doubt, our set and list of Heroes has been changing and you can be sure that it will be very different in the next 50 years – in 2076. But who and what will determine that list? Will it still be about men and women in uniform? Will it be about another kind of “Liberation”?
Personal vs. National Heroes
At a personal level, this years’s Hero’s’ Day I received three (3) messages from three young men recognising and appreciating me as one of their “Heroes”, and they even gave reasons. One of them from as far as Karamoja. My heroes haven’t been men in military uniform. Not because I don’t honor or value their contributions, but because at this stage in life my core values are inspired and challenged from a rather different aspect of life and society.
One might wonder what the value of heroes is. Or why we need a whole public holiday to remember and celebrate them. Or ask: Why would people have to be rewarded with medals for doing what is expected of them as Ugandans – to Love God and Country (fellow Ugandans – a.k.a neighbours)? Secondly, the awarding of medals also seems like they won and we didn’t in a competition that we didn’t even know about. Nonetheless, heroes are important in our lives, and it is a Nobel practice overall, to remember, celebrate, but above all, emulate them. It recognizes and celebrates effort, nobility and nationalism, encouraging those that sacrificially offer themselves for national goods, while challenging and inspiring others to also arise and love and honor God and country above self.
“I dream of a time in our country, when the fountain of honor raises up on Heroes’ Day and proudly announces that the next recipients of Heroes’ Medals are a special category in our society. Then invites forward Model Couples from across the various regions of our country that have faithfully lived together in marriage for over 50 years!”
Some Heroes are Wholistic Giants 
Retired Abp. Orombi: a Giant of a personal and national hero of mine.
I’m one of those Ugandans who strongly suspect that majority of our real heroes may never make it to the headlines, nor to the halls and walls of fame. And that’s very okay. For example, on Heroes Day morning, while invited guests (mostly Veterans) gathered at Statehouse Nakasero for a Commemoration Ceremony, I was home reflecting on who my real heroes are. Honestly I have a couple of them. I zeroed in on five men that I personally consider my Heroes (4 of them in their 70s and 1 in his 50s), and sent them messages letting them know personally how they have inspired and challenged me by modelling faithfulness in marriage (decades and counting) and to the work of the Gospel.
One of them that I have written about before, Retired Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi made 54 years in marriage with Mama Phoebe on 3rd June. The other, Dr. Thomas Yearwood will be making 50 years with his wife Lisa on 20th June. Wow! I could keep on naming. It’s amazing list of inspirational men that I admire, to see marital longevity in a day and age where many give up easily or just add another, and another on the side. Anyone that has tasted marriage knows that besides its beauty, it take incredible sacrifice, love, hope and commitment (and more) to make it work, and more so, to make it to 50+ years. And such are the virtues that the heroes we celebrate embody and model before us.
I’m very certain that I may never grow as tall as Bp. Orombi, or Dr Yearwood, but if God gives me the life as they have both lived, I want to make them proud by loving my wife and being faithful to her till we hit that Golden Jubilee and beyond. Same thing with my other Heroes, who have demonstrated faithfulness in marriage and to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. They inspire and challenge me in equal measure to work on my marriage and continue on with the work of the Gospel, and public life, for the good of my neighbour, my nation, and above all, to the Glory of God.
“In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Matt.5:16
Rethinking our Values through the Heroes we Celebrate
Going forward, I dream of a time in our country, when the fountain of honor raises up on Heroes’ Day and proudly announces that the next recipients of Heroes’ Medals are a special category in our society. Then invites forward Model Couples from across the various regions of our country that have faithfully lived together in marriage for over 50 years. This, for me is worth every medal and celebration in a day and age where marriage is undermined and divorce on the rise. Faithfulness is despised, and single-hood and individualism glorified. What do you think would be the impact of publicly recognising and celebrating such heroes to the younger people, the newly-weds, or those that have plodded through a decade or two of marriage? What story would be told to the rest of the world about our society and its values? Having told one of corruption and other vices, we have an opportunity to tell a different and better one.
Dr. Thomas Yearwood: a man of Love and faithfulness, both to Lisa (Married for 50 years), and to Jesus.
Right now it appears impossible for our leaders to consider the category of heroes that I’m advocating for, because they themselves won’t make the list. For now we will continue with the categories that reflect our values and ambitions. However, as long as we have beacons of light like Bp. Orombi and Dr. Yearwood, and others like them, there is hope that someday marital faithfulness and longevity will be recognized and celebrated as a truly core national value. A nation with the second youngest population in the whole world, and increasing divorce rates, needs to seriously rethink its values system, hence its heroes.
Dreams take Decades to Build
Fifty (50) years, from now, by God’s grace, I will be almost 95, with almost 60 years of marriage, and over 70 years of faithfulness to the Gospel of my LORD. But at that time it will not even be necessary to brand me a hero, because marital longevity would have become normal. But will it, in a society that still exalts militarism as the pinnacle of national sacrifice? Well, it is possible, but will take committed models and decades of work and emulation if dreams like these are to ever see the light of day. Otherwise, we will keep commemorating a day and talking about heroes who wish we never knew about. Because, of what use has knowing them been to us anyway? How do we keep naming and celebrating heroes, yet continually deny their legacies to shape and catalyze our personal and national values and transformation?
“But this is the covenant that I will make with them … declares the LORD: I will put my Law within them, and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbour … and each his brother, saying ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall know me (… and honour me personally), from the least to the greatest…” Jeremiah 31:33-34; Hebrews 8:10-11
I have seen it and admired it from the men that I’ve named here along with others. They are shaping man that I’m becoming, the husband, citizen, and Christian I want to be for the rest of my life – even better. Christlike! While our society might inevitably outgrow military heroes in the future, there might never be a time when we don’t need heroes in the area of faithfulness in marriage and the Gospel – both of which reveal God’s nature and heart towards the church and the world. May the real Heroes of our time please stand up, and stand out, and hand this generation the moral liberation they need.
“For God and my Country.”
~ Raymond L. Bukenya ~
Writer, Speaker & Team Leader Tru Tangazo Uganda
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