Fr Grimes to be laid to rest in Namasagali

Fr Grimes, arguably the greatest educator in the history of Uganda, passed on at 93 in Liverpool, UK, on Wednesday, September 4.

TRIBUTE | The Reverand Father Damian Grimes could only be laid to rest in Namasagali and it is in this idyllic riverbank township in Kamuli District that his earthly chapter will close, the Nile Post can confirm.

But certainly not his legend.

Fr Grimes, arguably the greatest educator in the history of Uganda, passed on at 93 in Liverpool, UK, on Wednesday, September 4.

Sources in the thick of funeral plans in the UK have told this publication that after a funeral in Liverpool, Fr Grimes' body will be flown back to Uganda in fulfillment of his will - for eternal rest.

"Advance plans are in place for a service here and for his body to be returned to Uganda," a source said.

The Namasagali Old Students Assocation is working on the plans to repatriate the body of their legendary school administrator, who was more than just a Catholic Father and headteacher to them - he was literally everything a young learner needed.

"He passed on yesterday in Liverpool, UK, at the age of 93 in the presence of some of the old students Maureen Mwagale, chairperson NCAA Alumni," said Ms Catherine Tabingwa, an old student.

"He will be buried at Namasagali College as one of his death wish so plans are underway to bring back his body."

 

We regret to inform you of the passing of Fr. Damian Grimes, MHM on 4th September 2024. Further details, including funeral arrangements will be provided at a later date. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Mill Hill Missionaries and family during this difficult time. pic.twitter.com/WHGcZmxmvt

— Mill Hill Missionaries (@MillHillmission) September 5, 2024

Mr Patrick Bitatura, a businessman and entrepreneur, said the old students did not have a definite funeral programme yet as Fr Grimes had passed on from the UK.

"We are working on it, we are working with the committee and we are trying to see how we can involve all the key stakeholders," he told the Nile Post.

Mr Bitarure said Fr Grimes is not just Namasagali College but also the OBs Namilyango College.

"This man was just more, this man was more than just in one school. We want to make sure that all stakeholders feel that they are involved and get a fair share," he added.

Ms Maureen Mwagale, a councillor for Tilgate in the Crawley Barrow of the UK, was by Fr Grimes' side in the nursing at his final moments and the OG is understood to be coordinating the efforts.

Mr Bitatura has offered the gardens of his Protea Hotel in Kololo - along with coffee, confectionary and other snacks - for a vigil starting tonight until a definite funeral plan is drawn.

What is in a name?

Started as Kamuli College in the premises that hold today's Busoga High School in Kamuli, Namasagali found its name after it was shifted to its famous landmark location later in the same year.

The premises, until 1965, had been a railway station. Warehouses at the station were quickly turned into main hall and chalk dust hit the airs to bring the school to life.

But there was hardly life. There was grime, lots of it. Yeah, for a school with no running water, one whose students had to fetch water from the River Nile nearby, grime was certain to be the thing.

And just when the early learners thought they had seen more grime from the railway implements around their new school, in came a man named Grimes.

The former boxer cum Mill Hill Missionary was posted at Namasagali College as its new headteacher in 1967 and went on to polish the grimes - including those in the heads of his students - to fashion arguably the greatest education history in Uganda.

Fr Grimes' tact was simple: holistic approach to learning.

Where other schools beat their learners into finding the elusive X and whatnot, he espoused the virtues of cocurricular activities of music, dance, drama and sports and made cover up for all the grime.

This was the Namasagali College where, Ian Kiyingi Muddu wrote, extra-curricular regimentation was made mandatory for every student to learn how to dance, to act, and to recite a poem.

"It was certainly not a place for the timid, the feeble-limbed, or those with tremors in their voices. It was a place for the bold, the creative," says Kiyingi in the article that was first published by The African Theatre Magazine.

"With its emphasis on sports, dance, drama, and music, Namasagali espoused the true definition of holistic education when many post-colonial secondary schools in Africa were using bookish pedagogies."

With their motto, “Strive Regardless", Fr Grimes turned the grimes into the place where ministers sent their children to be nurtured into the future.

From all corners of the country, those who loved the creative world and espoused shaping their career around their innate talents streamed to the Kamuli village school.

At Namasagali, a parent was sure their child would imbibe from the rich cultural nourishment that included a compulsory dance on Saturdays, annual beauty contests, creative dance competitions, poetry recitals, and a drama festival, Kiyingi notes.

If you have a voice, you can sing, if you have a leg, you can dance, Fr Grimes would grind into his students.

"Forget drooping over calculations, maps, or passages in the classroom all day long: classes in Namasagali would end at 1:30pm," he said.

"The afternoons were reserved for co-curricular activities.

In the early days, Fr Grimes nurtured 'sweet scientists' as the school trained boxers until the 1980s when he decided that boxing was a violent sport and limiting when it came to developing confidence and speech.

He replaced it with acting. And that is where he struck gold, turning MDD into the hallmark of Namasagali.

The warehouse that had turned been into a main hall became the furnace where all the Namasagali dramas were hatched, panel-beaten before finding their befitting place at the National Theatre in Kampala.

Kamuli had become a talent factory. Where Rev Fr Wynand Huys's famous Kamuli Boys School Brass Band was the talk of the nation wherever they went, Fr Grimes' ability to produce a play every month turned Namasagali into a permanent fixture at National Theatre and the Odeon Cinema in Jinja.

In the 80s, it was difficult to convince many that Namasagali was escounced deep in Kamuli and was not a school nestled in Nakasero or some other areas in the vicinity of the National Theatre.

National broadcaster UTV, then the only 'silver screen', had a weekly MDD programme where Namasagali acts were the most sought-after.

For many Ugandans, Msenangu by Tanzania's Pressmen Band remains nostalgic because of Namasagali's use of the same in their production.

Their dance-musical productions such as 'Song of the Bantu' in 1978 that saw the students pull of Zulu dances, 'Great Caesar' 1989', Spanish Romance' in 1991 and Amalia in 1994, among others, would make more money today than many theatre productions.

Kiyingi recalls how the 'Sagalis' - as the Namasagali students were called - became the cynosure of delighted eyes whenever they came to town to perform.

Kampala would, as the millennial parlance goes, be on fire. Revellers would turn to the theatre to see these students who sang beautifully, as though they washed their voices with honey; danced as if they had no bones in their waists; or played like the roles had been God-tailored to them

Fr Grimes was a militaristic disciplinarian who roamed around his school to spot any signs of trouble in his students. Whether with his nose, eyes or ears, he was sure to get one troublemaker every now and then and put them in their places.

But behind his strict displinary approach was a warm visionary headteacher who believed in the success of every child.

Kwezi Kaganda, a playwright, screenwriter, and creative director of Fun Factory Uganda, told The Threatre Timees that Grimes wanted people who could stand up for themselves, people who knew what they wanted [in life].

From 1978 until around 1998, Namasagali College managed to put up annual theatre productions.

He wrote the plays, adapted some, and directed almost all with his team of choreographers such as Sandra Jones.

The cast was usually big. Casting was based on systematic executions, with students who had excelled in inter-class and inter-house competitions taking premier roles.

What was remarkable with Fr Grimes is that he kept the African culture at the top of his game, weaving his plays and musicals around deep African roots and dramatising popular African legends such as Shaka Zulu.

He infused musicals from Ghana, Tanzania and all around the continent into his productions.

And it that was still not remarkable enough, at Protea Hotel where a vigil is taking place starting tonight is the home of one of his products and there will be droves of them.

From First Deputy Prime Minister Rebecca Kadaga to Charles Mbire and Miria Matembe to Robert Kabushenga, Namasagali did not just produce the creatives like Kwezi and Juliana Kanyomozi much more - a testament that behind the petals of creative roses were many excelling in conventional education.

Like Grace Flavia Ibanda, a dance professional and former student, would say, Fr Grimes honed in his students the ability to build character, which in turn enables them to negotiate space, negotiate time; work with different people, and with any resources.

And there is a man who did not just leave a mark, he etched it in stone by the riverbank.