Prime
A tribute to Kitante Primary’s head teacher of 12 years
What you need to know:
Augustine Dymock Sozi taught for more than half his life, but it is not just the lives of his pupils that he touched. The teachers he worked with remember a kind man, a father figure, a lover of tennis and a friend and his passing away on March 20, left many sad
“He was not just my employer, he was like a father to me. Everything that I have become today is because of the great love and encouragement that he extended towards me. It’s just very hard to believe that he is now gone.”
Those are some of the remarks Samuel Makeeri manages to make of the late Dynock Sozi, before he is overcome with emotion and fights back a few tears. Makeeri is a teacher at Kitante Primary School, and is one of the many people who shared a close relationship with the deceased. Like many of his colleagues, the passing on of the former academician is one that he is going to find very hard to cope with.
Sozi passed away on March 20 during a visit to family members in the United States. His death was sudden and no specific cause has been mentioned.
He was Kitante Primary School’s second head teacher, having taken on from Fagil Mandy in 1979. He had served at the school for more than 12 years, before his retirement from public service.
“The man with the pipe” as he was commonly known around the school, because of his trademark smoking pipe is said to have been not only an excellent administrator, but also endeavoured to build meaningful relationships with many of his employees.
“He always encouraged us to go for further studies, and make our lives better. He was very kind, and never harboured any sort of hatred, even towards those that wronged him,” Makeeri says.
He points out the one time when some of the teachers wanted to overthrow him, claiming he had become too elderly to be in control of the school: “You would have expected him to have these people fired, but he instead forgave them and even let them continue teaching at the school.”
During the years that Sozi served at the school, he had established a proper academic framework that went beyond the classroom.
“He loved sports and was very enthusiastic particularly about tennis. He organised a fundraising walk that saw us walk from the school up to Entebbe. The money fundraised was used to construct the tennis court,” Hajjati Yudaya Mpagi, a teacher at the school, explains.
During my visit to the school, I was shown the court, which has since been run down. The entire court is now covered with grass, and the only sign of the once existent court are the poles that once held the net.
Mpagi, who has been at the school since 1979, considered the deceased as a father figure.
“The one thing that I learnt from him was time management. He was time conscious, and most times he was at the school by 6am. As a result, we also had to catch up, and would endeavour to be here early,” she explains.
She also points out that his strong love for his teachers’ welfare was far-reaching, going beyond how they were while they were on the school grounds: “He purchased a truck that would pick us up from Clement Street to the school, every morning.”
Francis Senabulya, the head teacher of St Peter’s Nsambya, who was a teacher at Kitante under Sozi says: “I worked with the late between 1980-1997, when I was a teacher at the school. Many of us that got the opportunity to work with him are what we are because of him.
My administration skills are skills I adopted from him. He knew how to handle his employees and even the pupils. He was a wonderful tennis player. He also drew the road map to building the teacher’s village at Kitante primary.”
In a show of love for Kitante Primary School, Sozi ensured his children and grand children went to the institution. It is said that he once kept a school uniform belonging to one of his daughters for his granddaughter, Irene Nasanga, to wear when the time came for her to join the school! Nasanga did wear it to school, however, she stopped wearing it after three months because it was too short.
Early life
Roscoe Sozi, the deceased’s son remembers him as a strict disciplinarian but one who cared enormously for children and cherished quality child education.
“Our father was fearless, did not tell lies, mince words or say things simply to please or soothe others and was completely uncompromising on matters of principle and integrity. As a father, he was a best friend, and a most loving grandfather. One would not ask for more,” he says, going on to narrate the fallen academician’s early life.
Born on July 30, 1933, at Kawempe, Sozi was part of an extended family that comprised of seven boys and one girl, and only two of his siblings are still alive. Sozi’s brother, the late Stanley Ssesanga was the first law graduate in Uganda.
“His father, Tito Walusimbi, was a distinguished teacher of the pre-independence era, and was also the founder of Ndejje Senior Secondary School. His mother, Monica Nakanyike Walusimbi, was the daughter of a Buganda chief, Andrea Luwandaga of Nakasongola,” he narrates.
When the deceased’s body arrives from the US, he will be laid to rest at his ancestral home in Kawempe at the weekend.
Aside from his 12-year-long career at Kitante, he also worked at several private schools like the Aga Khan Primary School, Winston Standard Academy, Kawempe and St Augustine Academy, also in Kawempe.
He also sat on boards of numerous institutions including the Uganda National Examinations Board, Ndejje Senior Secondary School, and he was also a former chairman of the Uganda Tennis Association.
Sozi was also the chairman of several primary schools’ management committees, Vice Chairman LCIII Kampala Central Division, and Member of the Board of Trustees of the Uganda Teachers’ Association and he also served as the Kabaka’s representative in Bwaise.
Despite having retired decades ago, the Rotary Club of Kampala South bestowed upon him the Lifetime Vocational Service Award 2013.
He is survived by his wife Priscilla Nagawa Sozi, and five children: Night Joyce Nasozi, Titus Segujja Walusimbi, Agnes Lwabi, Dr Love Sozi Kasule and Roscoe Sozi.
May his soul rest in peace.
BIO
Name: Augustine Dymock Sozi
Born: July 30, 1933
Died: March 20, 2014
Education: Aggrey Memorial School, Makerere College School, Kakoba TTC, and Makerere University
Career: Kitante Primary School (head teacher), and pioneered Aga Khan Primary School, Winston Standard Academy, Kawempe and St Augustine Academy, Kawempe.
How some teachers will remember Sozi
“I joined Kitante in 1978, as a young lady that had just come out of college and I must say the late Sozzi took it upon himself to ensure that I fit in. I will remember him as a very straightforward man.
He taught us (the staff) to be time conscious, orderly, and also hardworking. He always encouraged us to upgrade in our academic qualification. He also loved his children,”
Kate Mugerwa, Ministry of Education and sports.
“Mr Sozzi was the first head teacher, under whose administration I served. He was a good administrator. He instilled great principles in us like being self-driven and now I don’t even need someone to keep inspecting me, as I know exactly how to do my work. He taught us the importance of not just being inwardly but also outwardly smart and clean. He will be greatly missed,”’
Judith Wakabi, Science Teacher at Kitante Primary School.
