In conversation with Jimmy Sebulime 

 Could you tell me about your childhood? Where were you born? Is there anything about your childhood that stands out for you?

I was born and raised in Kamengo, Uganda. The first 12 years of my life, I lived with my grandmother, my aunt, my two brothers, uncles, many cousins and extended family members. We were one large family to say the very least with a powerful African grandmother as the boss. In my own view, there were ordinary African village hard times along the way but we always had enough at the end of the day and above all I was a happy young boy. Despite the happiness, I often look back now and wonder how we survived and made it through at times, the usual African fates of violence, infectious diseases, wars and the most common disease of most rural villages in Africa: Poverty. By poverty I mean the struggles to have every daily necessity: clean water, basic health, education, soap and a decent diet. I look back now and perhaps we made it through each day because of God’s will or perhaps because of the unconditional love my grandmother had for every single person in our family or perhaps because I had an aunt that found ways to care for us or because of my biological mother and two other aunts that never forgot about us from a distance. My mother left Uganda in the 80’s with my aunt(s) and somehow made it to Canada with other family members around 1986.

My grandmother and my aunt Sarah were as hardcore and tough as they come but despite their toughness, they loved us unconditionally through the good and bad times. Their dedication and commitment to family and community are what stands out the most for me. They made life OK for an African boy who had many fears. I always feared the nights that were far too long, dark and lonely. Another thing that stands out about my childhood was the suddenly death of people all around us and sadly, this continues to this very day. Saying goodbye to seven of my childhood friends at once remains a nightmare to me. The father took them to Lake Victoria with bad intentions one Sunday day. My friends/neighbors like most Africans didn’t know how to swim.  The lost their life tragically like most Africans do and way before their time. Most Ugandans continue to lose their lives from internal pain that are treatable, violence from one another and infectious diseases that medical science can prevent and treat if not cured.

There are many other things that stand out about my childhood, like the time we had to leave our village in 1986 during the civil war and ended up on some island in Lake Victoria for months that seemed like years. We survived the nights and days on that island because we had each other. It remains my hope that wars will someday come to an end in Africa because wars truly damage a childhood and war images remain with the children for years. When the civil war was over, we returned to our village and the country had a new leader who remains the current Ugandan president. Upon returning to our village, we found that my grandmother had lost most of her cows, house belongings and above all my biggest fears of dealing with death became a bigger problem because we found bodies half buried all around our compound. We recovered in terms of growing food in a short period of time because recovery-and-carry-on is what Africans do and having extended family members that were not in Uganda at the time who sent items to my grandmother helped a great deal. My grandmother receiving a small gift also stands out to me because she was so appreciative of the smallest gift of any kind. Her “thank you” would make any giver, want to give again and again. She just appreciated the smallest things in life more than anyone I have ever met. Lastly, in the midst of the instabilities in Uganda during my childhood, HIV/AIDS become a reality in the mid 80’s and to truly have a better understanding of most Ugandan thoughts on HIV/AIDS when it first came out, you would have to see a You-Tube documentary on Philly Lutaaya. The fears of an HIV/AIDS patient, discrimination and hopelessness fortunately have decreased thanks to education. But the first victims truly suffered and Phily Lutaaya remains a hero in my books, for having the courage to come out and tell anyone that would listen, that HIV/AIDS was real and not a conspiracy like some thought. He faced confusion and hatred for his courage but carried on until his final days.

My childhood in Kamengo, Uganda came to end in late 1989 because my mother was now so determined to sponsor me and my two brothers to join her and other family members in Ottawa, Canada. Truth is, I did not want to come and leave my grandmother and our cows behind. I was happy with my most important daily jobs making tea before we went to the garden, getting water and firewood, eating jack-fruit while waiting for dinner and playing soccer with other boys while forgetting to bring the cows home. Only a very small part of me wanted to come because I was told that the homes in Canada had running water and electricity which would end my fear of darkness. On top of everything I could eat all the bread I wanted in the world upon landing. You can imagine the confusion of three African boys travelling alone on an international flight from Entebbe to Montreal and then adjusting to a new life in a modern city that cannot at all compare to an African rural area. The drive from Montreal to Ottawa was bewildering, starting with trees that looked like firewood which I immediately wanted to send back to my grandmother, until I learnt the trees were not all dry and understanding the distance involved in getting back to Uganda.

You lost your mother in 2012; what were the circumstances and how did it affect you?

My mother’s death remains very difficult and painful to think about let alone write about. If there was a world champion of “The Hardest Working Singer Mom” in the world, my mother would have won the title year after year in the 90’s. I still do not know how in the world my mother fed us, clothed, took us to school and worked numerous jobs for very little pay. I guess I have the strength to write about my mother death because I know she would want me to carry on and I want others to know about the family and community person she truly was. Twenty months later, her sudden tragic death remains the greatest pain I have ever experienced and continue to experience every single days. Her death is a nightmare that is a sad reality I live with each day. I remain with a broken heart and dealing with every emotional possible. I am slowly coming to conclusion that I will never fully recover from this giant loss until my own death but I must continue to carry on because she would want me to carry on without fear and find a way to enjoy this short moment of life. I miss her deeply and become very sad knowing my 12 months old daughter Ivy Agnes Zabali will never have a chance to be held and loved by her grandmother Agnes Zabali. The loneliness remains real each day without her but my baby girls helps a great deal. I wanted to stop life the first time learnt about my mother passing away but I no longer feel that way at all because of my responsibilities as a father and the position that my mother left me in. I just hope that I will someday stop tormenting myself with questions about how could a country and people that my mother and I have done so much for, treat us the way they did? How can my mother who gave so much of her life and the little that she had to bettering her country and community be killed by broken down garage truck that belonged to Kampala City Council Authority and her children not get a single apology 20 months later? Its so sad that, all the love she gave to her country and community meant nothing in the end to those that were responsible for the accident. I thought about walking away from the lawless country of Uganda but it remains my birth place and the cards I have received from the children and youth that my mother and I have been helping for years, have truly helped, inspired and slowly rebuilding a broken heart back into place and above all, I know how hard my mother worked to build a community center in her birth place, she would want me to continue and I must continue because of her. While I was recovering in the Civic Hospital, I decided then and there to dedicate the remaining years of my life remembering and honoring Agnes Zabali and this will be done through The Agnes Zabali Boys & Girls Club of Kamengo, Uganda and partnership with The Canada Africa Community Health Alliance. www.cacha.ca/uganda.

You were seriously injured in the motor accident which took the life of your mother. How is your health now?

I am blessed beyond words to be alive and hold my daughter each day. I had and I have serious health issues 20 months later but I know it could have all ended for me on Dec 20th, 2012 in Kampala, Uganda. The thoughts of life ending at my age and what I am doing with my life truly makes me sick. But I am, mindful of the many people who have lost their loved ones and live with physical and emotional pain every single day, so I am not the only one and I continue to count my blessing each day. Slowly, my health has improved greatly since the accident, perhaps because my fears of being a disabled person or perhaps because of the medical attention I received at the Civic Hospital and Case Hospital in Uganda or perhaps because of my CACHA family and friends.  I remain very thankful to the doctors and nurses that worked on me and I can never fully thank some of my family members and my entire CACHA family members who were there for me from day one. The love and support I have received from the Ottawa Community, friends and my CACHA family give me strength every single day to continue and do the right things.

You founded the Agnes Zabali Boys’ and Girls’ Club in Uganda in memory of your mother. How did you find the resources and funds to get it started and how do you manage its operations from your base in Ottawa?

My mother made me and my brother go back to visit our grandmother in 1997 and I can’t start to describe to you my welter of emotions the first time I went back to Kamengo, Uganda. The first nasty shock came quickly about Uganda and that was that most of the uncles and aunts that we had left behind were dead or were sick and in their beds. Sick to my stomach, I asked what had happened and I heard the same usual African fates of accidents, disease, alcoholism and unexplained sudden death. I was deeply saddened and ended up walking around the village and finding many children walking, working but seemed lost when the work was done and some truly were left alone. By the end of my first trip back to Kamengo, all I knew was that I wanted to help those children that had very little in life but were so happy and enjoyed my company. The questions was how do you help others when we also needed help in Ottawa and lived in public housing with a mother that had part time jobs all around the city? Years went by and more ideas came but no project while I was in school,  then after school, I went back to Kamengo again and shared my idea with my mother who encouraged me to form a volunteer group. I first formed a group called Friends of The Ugandan Child and rather than register this group as an NGO in Ottawa, we were fortunate enough to find the Canada Africa Community Health Alliance which hired me as an intern first, then I was a volunteer and then I was hired as an employee. As an intern with CACHA, I spent six months at an orphanage in western Uganda and I could write a book about that experience but now is not the time. The town where the orphanage was based is called Kasese and it is far away from my village but I had time to stop by Kamengo a few times and my heart truly stayed there. I was ready to move on with my life after the internship and start a painting company but somewhere along the way, I met Dr Don Kilby who somehow convinced me help out at CACHA. It wasn’t long that I was asking CACHA to consider and partner with a community based organization in Kamengo called Care For Your Life. The partnership agreement was that Friends of The Uganda Child Committee in Ottawa now called Agnes Zabali Boys and Girls Club Ottawa Committee would manage the project and do all the fundraising. I assured CACHA that this project wouldn’t be a burden on CACHA’s resources and the agreement remains this way.

Today The Agnes Zabali Boys & Girls Club is a partner project of Care For Your Life in Kamengo, Uganda and The Canada Africa Community Health Alliance in good standing. I remain very thankful and appreciative of my friend Dr Don Kilby and my mother worked overtime and spent every extra dollar she had so that she can build a community centre on land her mother sold to her. I remember the phones calls so well every other weekend from my mother telling or asking me to be with my little sister so that she can go to work. We didn’t always agree on her working 7 days a week and then complaining about her endless joint pain, but she went anyways because she just had to finish the building.  Her determination and sacrifices cannot be put into words. Once the community center was completed, my mother agreed to have a few local concerts and she than realized that this did not met her goals of improving a community, so I asked if she could allow me to use the community centre to help our community in Kamengo, Uganda. She agreed and before you know it, a partnership was created between CACHA and The Agnes Zabali Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa Committee and Care For Your Life. I created a local Ottawa-based group made up of friends and we continue raising funds in Ottawa through annual BBQ’s, Christmas concerts, art and crafts sale and kind donations from friends and friends that have been to Kamengo with me. Our next BBQ will be Sept 6th, 2014 at Vincent Massey Park from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. and I hope many people will come. The funds we raise all go to our education program which provides schools fees for 136 primary, secondary, vocational training and university students.

How do you keep the club going financially?

Our annual fundraisers allow us to assist 136 primary, secondary, vocational training and university students with school fees. Other costs like electricity at the community center are covered by income generating that the youth and widows work on. This includes a garden project, a flower garden, a chicken project, a piggery project, a computer lab, water project and solar lights project. CACHA volunteers visit and volunteer at The Agnes Zabali Boys & Girls Club twice a year during the annual CACHA medical mission and the Infrastructure mission which allows volunteers to teach, hold educational seminars, paint and repair anything that is broken at the community center. They also purchase school supplies in the local market and work hand and hand with the older youth in our project during their stay. We also implemented a water project and solar panels at the community center to reduce electricity costs and provide clean water to the community. For more information about CACHA’s medical mission visit www.cacha.ca. The next medical mission to Kamengo, Uganda will be in the Spring 2015.  You can also see what the medical mission is all about by visiting YouTube (CACHA 2014 Kamengo Medical Mission and like the Kamengo Project FaceBook page.

You have been involved in Canada Africa Community Health (CACHA) which sends medical missions to rural areas of Uganda. How did this relationship start?

My relationship with CACHA started in 2006 once I completed my studies. I again visited Kamengo, Uganda and came back looking for organizations that worked in Uganda. I ended up finding CACHA and I applied for an internship they had in Uganda at the time. I was hired part-time after the internship and presented my project idea to CACHA’s board members who agreed for our project to be an affiliated project of CACHA. Since CACHA was already a registered Canadian NGO, it was easier to form a partnership with CACHA.  CACHA medical missions to rural areas in Benin, Gabon, Tanzania and Uganda offer basic health care to residents that otherwise wouldn’t see a qualified doctor and create unique partnership with for the African healthcare workers who sometimes end up here in Ottawa for training and education.

Can you describe some of the activities of CACHA? Who are the key players in the organization? How are they funded?

You can find more information about CACHA at www.cacha.ca. The organization was founded in 2001 by Dr Donald Kilby and daily operations are done by an Executive Director, Finance Manager and two project officers. The Boards members meet regularly along with the Executive Committee. Members pay an annual fee of $40.00 and the organization is funded mostly funded by private donors and starting to apply for grants from other foundations and organizations.

Have you received any support financial or otherwise from the Ugandan government, and if so in what form?

No our project has not received any financial support from the Ugandan government. The medical missions are entirely funded by the volunteers that participate in each mission.

Have you considered asking CACHA to seek funding from the government of Canada for its medical missions?

Due to the limited staff members at CACHA, the organization has written very few grants/proposal seeking financial support from the Canadian Government but this is a goal of the organization.

It is remarkable that a very young man like has been involved in trying to change the lives of those marginalized by poverty and neglect in Africa. What is it that drives you?

I am driven by my hero Agnes Zabali. I am driven by the many memories of my childhood. I am driven by remembering where I came from and the three women that struggled and sacrificed a great deal to raise me and all along keeping their decency in the midst of deep emotional pain and physical suffering. I am driven by the many children and young men and women that I personally know in Kamengo, Uganda that write to me often just to tell me “May you live for ever”. Its rather embarrassing to be told that because I have done nothing so special in my own view of myself. I am driven by the African grandmothers and mothers who show up to the annual CACHA medical mission with life threatening injuries and disease that are treatable but end up causing serious problems. Despite the long distances to get to the clinic most women that show up at Ggoli Health Centre and the Agnes Zabali Boys and Girls Club in Kamengo, Uganda somehow find strength and energy to show up with a smile. I am driven by great men and women I admire and the children at The Agnes Zabail Boys and Girls Club who are often smiling despite sleeping on broken beds and walking miles looking for firewood and school fees and not having enough food.

You are also President of the Ugandan Community Association in Ottawa. How do you find time to fit this into your daily life and how has that affected your role as a father and husband?

Life moves fast and often there are not enough hours in the day, but I believe one is able to find time for things that matter to them and my community matters and my sad but beloved Africa matters to me. Being a father is resulting in less hours for my community but I am also reducing my hours for the community because my community is often not very supportive. By that I mean they do not show up to events, which take a considerable amount of volunteer hours to organize and I am saying that knowing very well that people have to work and have children on top of everything. I became more involved with my community so that I can thank them for being there for my family during our darkest moments but now a time has come for me to reduce my role.
Looking at the Black population in Ottawa, what do you see as our greatest challenge and how do we resolve it?

I came to Ottawa some 24 years ago now and back then it could take a few days to see another Black person but now we are everywhere which I think is good thing and clearly shows the signs that our people want a better life and very few are able to obtain a better life in our homeland. I would say that our greatest challenge remains our inability to respect and tolerate each other. We do not always support each others’ businesses or work and make it OK to be late for any event hosted by another black person(s). Those that have been fortunate to open up businesses forget about the importance of customer service skills. Too often I see our insensibility to our brothers and sisters that are suffering and instead of helping them we walk and stay far away. We are so many and we can do much for another if we put our differences aside and support each other more. By support I mean acknowledging those in our community that have problems and find the solutions to the problems. By support, I mean being on time and improving our customer service skills. We need to respect each other’s time and stop being late to every event. We are never late for a flight or a party but we are late for all community meetings, games and its beyond annoying to me. Until we respect each other, others will not respect us and I believe most of us will remain as we are, just in the middle of the road hoping to make it to the end of the road. We can resolve our problems and differences by supporting ordinary people that are trying to make a small difference. Don’t support fake people that dress nice and give speeches, support causes that agree with your mind. In the end, I am probably not the best person to tell Black people of Ottawa what to do with their life, I only speak from my own personal experiences and I know at the end of the day we all want the same things out of life.

You lead a very busy life, so what do you do to relax?

I try to relax by going for long walks with my 12 months old baby and biking on Sunday. I believe one can always find time to do the things that must be done. For me, I must workout or go for a run, play some basketball and soccer. Yes life becomes busy but I always find enough time to read, run and play with family and my friends children. Life is far too short not to find the time for the above things.

Finally, do you have a message for readers of Black Ottawa Scene?

My message to my people, is that we must find a way to get along and help one another because this life is rather short. We are more able and capable than we would like to believe.