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Much has been written and said about the late Fr Damien Grimes, a former headteacher of Namasagali College in Kamuli District, who died in England on September 4.

Suffice to say that Namasagali College today is a sad shadow of the school that caused waves in Uganda in the 1970s and 1980s. Many outsiders, seeing pictures and video of a rundown school, have wondered how it all came to this. They imagine that Namasagali in its heyday had first-class facilities and since Fr Grimes left, it has been reduced to a rusty pile of wreckage.

The truth is that Namasagali, even in its best years, was never a five-star hotel. At its height, it produced national boxers, swimmers, creative dancers, and musicians. In the minds of most Ugandans, Namasagali was a performing arts school and it seemed that all the students ever did was dance.

What every former Namasagali teacher and student knows is that the school was not about its buildings and surroundings, but its creative and recreational spirit. The loss of this creative culture with the departure of Fr Grimes in the early 2000s, rather than the rundown buildings and overgrown grass, is what true Namasagali students find most regrettable.

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