Today is 12 July 2018 and I sit here reflecting on the impact Henry Katiti Bernards had on me. I am lost between celebrating his life or feeling sad. I chose to do both. First because he has impacted many with his kindness and generosity but also I am sad because he was so young with a lot of potential.
I have tended to think that a life lived well is a life
lived in the Lord, or a life lived in relative success to the eyes of the world
– driving fancy cars, building and living in bug houses, dressing up in suits
and showing off. The past few weeks however as I reflected on the death of my
good friend and brother Henry, I have tended to question this
notion. As I have gotten to reflect on how my life was affected by the life of
Henry, how he has affected me with his little life calling me and talking to
me, sharing with me what he is doing in his life, introducing me to his wife. I
am even now sure I should be thinking is this way but here I am questioning
this very thing that I have been told from childhood.
Henry succumbed to meningitis June 12th and
was laid to rest in Bukalasa on June 13th 2018. It is now about
a month since he died. It is a month and two weeks since I lost saw his
suffering body in a hospital bed in Kirudu Hospital in Makindye.
Henry’s death come just a few weeks after his son failed to
recover from a hydrocephalus operation. His young son had just undergone this
operation from Mbale but could not fully recover from this complication. This
is painful to take for all of us but especially for the widow losing a son and
then a husband in less than a few weeks.
I got to know Henry when he had just joined Cornerstone
Leadership Academy in 1999. He to me represented a very intelligent young man
from Western Uganda with a very bright future. He
was a man inside out, freely expressing himself, not backing down from any war
of words, a reputation he lived with till the time he was laid to rest.
Friendly and generous at all times even when he was drunk which he many times
did. I am sure in the circles under which he drunk he was known for his
generous attitude.
He had graduated from
cornerstone among the top students in his class and subsequently was awarded a
government scholarship with residency in the prestigious Lumumba Hall. After
three years at the university he was not able to complete his studies. That did
not kill his spirit since he had his intelligence to rely on. Without academic
document he had to struggle to place his fit on the ground. He soon decided he
would form his own organizations.
He founded several environmental
initiatives to benefit local communities in western Uganda initially and later
on in Central Ugandan where he was currently working. His initiatives have been
to improves production of food crops in ways that protect the environment. With
his skills in writing proposals he had a very firm understanding of the USAID
systems and was able to write and be awarded several grants.
He fought a brave and strong
battle for two weeks before the right diagnosis was made. He took each day in
stride, never really complaining, always caring with him this great sense of
hope for the better world he was creating. He was loving caring and honest. I
can remember how the feeling of becoming a father beamed a great sense of
happiness as he introduced me to his young expecting wife at his humble home in
Bukalasa.
To some just another person has
gone. To the doctors just another patient is gone. But to his widow her whole
world has been shuttered. Not any amount of word and describe what she had to
go through. I received a gracious text of appreciation from her and
could only mentally think about how difficult it must be for her.
In his death Henry, managed to bring the cornerstone alumni
together in ways that we had not anticipated before. The feeling of compassion,
the feeling of loss and the feeling of support was profound. We will miss you
Henry. SO LONG MY BROTHER.
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