Humanist

He was the last of my late grandfather’s sons who was still alive. We each have our time surely; and today, 30th August 2023, papa Stephen Omio’s time came. Two years ago, I wrote this of my late papa Omio and it is valid that this is how I should announce his passing early this morning, after a long illness.

The life of my papa Omio, brother to my late father, Eng. George William Obityo Owaraga, has me convinced in the belief that if it is not your day you will not die.

As a youthful man he consumed alcoholic beverages significantly, to the extent that many believed his  volume of consumption had surely damaged his liver beyond.  Many wrote him off and predicted he would have an early grave. Miraculously and with God’s mercy he continued to prove them wrong for decades! Oh yes, he did reduce significantly on consumption of alcohol in his later years.

Then, he had a great big fall which necessitated him to be hospitalized for nearly a year or was it years in Mulago Hospital so that they could repair his broken hip. Some wrote him off again, thinking that even though he survives surgery, he will never be able to walk again. But they were wrong. With the help of crutches he walked for decades after.

In August 2021, he was taken very ill and even though he had received his first dose of the Covid vaccination, he apparently got it. Pallisa Hospital could not handle and so in critical condition he was rushed to Soroti Hospital where he was hospitalized for two weeks or was it three weeks. Again, some wrote him off, but papa Omio got well. 

During a weekend, in October 2021, when papa Omio heard I had come home and was beautifying his brother’s grave, the grave of my late papa Owaraga, he insisted on spending the day with me hanging at his brother’s resting place. We had a great day and shared breakfast, lunch and evening tea; after which my driver dropped him back to his home.

He told me so many hilarious stories about him and his late brother; stories that I had never before known. Stories like how at first they shared a compound with my late father – each with his household but within the same geography – as my late grandfather had allocated to them, his sons.  

He even pointed out the kabaka njagala trees at our home that he was the one who planted. And all along I thought that the trees were planted either by my late father or my late grandfather.

Anyway, papa Omio’s mother, one of my late grandmothers, wives to my late grandfather, insisted that he demand a separate piece of land from his father so that he too could locate his home separately. Apparently, one of the reasons why she insisted so was that even though he would be the one hosting people for a meal or even an ajon party, his guests would say: “we are going to Owaraga’s home.”

That did not go down well with papa Omio nor with his mum. Long story short, papa Omio was given another location and he was proud that his mother had the foresight to pressure him to insist on it. With pride he said: “now, when I die, like Owaraga, I will also be burred at a place of my choosing in my own home.” 

I am happy for papa Omio, that his remains will not join the league of the Kasangos. He died peacefully at home, surrounded by his immediate family. And he will be buried at his home in Kadoki village in Pallisa in Pallisa County in Pallisa District.

I am comforted that his soul has been welcomed by the souls of his brothers, sisters, mothers, father and of all our ancestors gone before him. And that together they are watching over me and protecting me, until my time comes.