Humanist

One – Death is an inevitable part of the circle of life.

Two – We have no control over when death will occur or even how it will occur.

Three – There is a choice we can make. Prepare for and after death.

Four – Preparing for death includes who to be remembered as and what for.

Five – Preparing for after death includes influencing what happens after death.

Six – You have no control over how the living will react to your death.

Seven – Among the living are some who may exploit your death.

Eight – Among the living are some who may try to circumvent your last Will.

Nine – Doing four and five makes it hard for those described in seven and eight.

Ten – How you do four, is your legacy for posterity.

Dear reader,

My list of 10 things that I know to be absolutely certain, comes when I am in mourning for my mentor and ‘professional father’.

In 1992, as I returned home, after successful studies for my first university degree, at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, I had a chance meeting with Change Agent Stan Burkey, now rested. We traveled on the same flight from Brussels to Entebbe.

After we landed, it is said he pulled a job advert and unilaterally offered me the job of Administrative Assistant of Quaker Service Norway. And so it was, amidst my late biological father’s protests, my 33-year journey with my mentor began.

Read more in “How I got my first full time paid white collar job.”

While I am in pain and my heart is heavy, I celebrate my mentor, for he prepared for his death. He prepared me for his death. He equipped me with the tools to enable me to take over from him the baton and continue the relay of his life’s work, adapt and transition it for posterity.

Preparing for death is within each one’s control, especially one who has lived a full life. This is not necessarily only in terms of longevity, but in terms of quality too. It is really about how you live your life and how you pro-actively let others know who you are; and what you stand for.

How you live and how you tell your story are equally important. Lessons learned from the death of loved ones is that you need to go beyond just preparing a legally sound last Will. In his professional life, indeed, my mentor, by his actions, lived and therefore told his story profoundly well.

Since 1986 until his death, Stan lived in Uganda. Worked with ACORD, Quaker Service Norway and the Uganda Change Agent Association His life work in Uganda embodies the wisdom of the Chinese Philosopher Lao Tzu.

Prior to living and working in Uganda, he lived and worked as a teacher in Nigeria in the early 1960s; and thereafter with Norwegian organisations – National Computer Center, the Norwegian Scout Movement and Redd Barna; doing development work in Norway, India, Thailand, the Maldives, Guatemala, Kenya, and Sri Lanka.

An Aristotelian professional life Stan lived. He was an alumnus of Pennsylvania State University, Yale University, Oxford University, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is the author of the acclaimed book: “People First – A Guide to Self-Reliant Participatory Rural Development.”

Stan succumbed to pneumonia and he was pronounced dead at 5:40 a.m., on 3rd July 2025 at Case Medcare Hospital, where he was hospitalized for less than a day in the Intensive Care Unit.

In accordance with his wishes, his remains were cremated at 2:00 p.m. on 10th July 2025, at Shree Sanatan Dharma Mandal (Hindu Crematorium) in Kampala.

Working in a participatory manner with his family of change agents in Uganda, we will make decisions on how to fulfill his final wishes for celebrating and memorializing his life. When we have done so, I will up-date accordingly.

My mentor and ‘professional father’ has physically left us, but I and many change agents in Uganda, thousands of us, rejoice in what each and everyone of us has been able to do ourselves, because of him and how he worked with us.

May his soul find eternal rest I pray.