By Asenath Were
In his sermon during community worship on March 28, Uganda Christian University’s (UCU) chaplain, Rev. Canon. Paul Wasswa Ssembiro, paused to ask the congregation, “What does the Holy week mean to you?” He went on, “Many of us think of it as a holiday, a long weekend, or a special family time when we get to have that special lunch.” “However, it is about the coming of Jesus Christ into this world. About God sending His only begotten son to come and pay a price for us.” He pointed out. Easter is a season to demonstrate Christ’s love to one another.
With the concept of giving highlighted through the Easter season, Percy Gessa, a retired Makerere University lecturer, aged 68, has embraced the message and proceeded to care for the aged in his community by providing them what he calls. “Easter eggs.”
Gessa informed the Standard that he received the concept for this project while studying for his master’s degree at the University of New South Wales in Australia between 1981 and 1985. He saw them assist the weak, who were mostly elderly, around Easter, and he replicated and altered this behavior to benefit the residents of Himutu sub-county in Butaleja district, which is also his hometown.
“I got this from Australia, where they support disadvantaged individuals, mostly the elderly. They give out what they refer to as “Easter Eggs” on Easter Sunday, but in reality, they are just chocolates covered like eggs. He remarked
After seeing Australian Easter customs, Gessa adapted them to serve the needy in the Himutu sub-county, with a focus on widows and widowers who are 80 years of age and older. Items in the Easter Eggs packages are valued at around USD 20, or roughly UGX 74,000.
Each person has various needs, therefore gifts are given based on their preferences. Some people even prefer to get monetary gifts, but the most common gifts are Soda, beef, rice, and other colorful foods to brighten their Easter.
Given that his OBs are the only sources of funding for his initiative, Gessa stated that they suggested he establish a Community-Based Organization (CBO) because, in their opinion, he required a steady stream of funding. A bank account was opened for the CBO to assist in accumulating funds for such occasions.
Since Gessa resides in Kampala and the project is located in the Butaleja district, this resolved both the financial and geographic problems. “What I did was to set up a community-based organization called Bunyole Cares Association because my OBs told me they cannot keep giving me money because one day they might get tired or not be in a position to give me the money,” Gessa emphasized.
He added that the gifts are given to these individuals around Easter and Christmas out of compassion, as some of them are alone and don’t even have children to take care of them during this time of year. “A portion of this season was dedicated to celebrating Deborah Muhwana ‘the centurion’ who was turning 102 years old and had lost both of her children,” said Gessa.
“Therefore, our idea is to give support to those elderly people so that they are at least happy. They should not see other people celebrating while they remain lonely and miserable, especially on such days as Christmas or Easter.” He pointed out.
