Meeting Justice Ogoola

Meeting the Judge (Wed. July 2)

We had packed fewer things to do into today. We planned some of the prison visits and then set off to do something I have been looking forward to do for quite some time. Meeting the Judge! I had heard much about him and I had read much about him. He is Justice James Ogoola and he serves as the Principle Judge of the High Court of Uganda and is part of the same clan as Sophie originating from Eastern Uganda near ‘Busia’ of the LuSamia people.

We had told some of the inmates back in Lethbridge about him and showed his picture. To my surprise, rather than being disdainful about seeing the picture of a court judge, our inmates grew fond of his picture and imagined his personality as they heard Sophie tell stories about him.

Call me cynical, but back in January when I heard about him I reacted the same way normal prison personnel react when they hear amazing stories about somebody. “Believe nothing and verify everything!” If prison work does anything to a person it certainly steals away that human instinct of sincerity where our inclination is to believe the best about most people. And as everybody knows, the advantage today is that when we hear about extremely accomplished people who touch humanity by virtue of their occasional presence on the world stage or regular appearance on a national stage, there is an ideal tool available for cynical jail people to utilize -Google! So I googled the good judge. This is when my curiosity really grew and I began to read about this judge who it was hoped I would one day meet.

Long story short, after we hoofed it from downtown Kampala over to the Judiciary, we waited outside his office as he was in a late afternoon meeting with judges who serve under him. This wait was worth the time also. We met a number of the staff that work for the justice and when they found out I was the one who Sophie was working with in Canada they just had to express how much they miss her. Out came my video camera, out went courthouse professional decorum and there I was recording “we miss you” messages from assistants, secretaries, security staff and a few other people I had not the foggiest notion about who they were. Sophie will probably burst out in joy (in the Samia language) when she sees this.

Then we were allowed in to see the judge. He looked just like he did in the pictures with an extremely kind face and in meeting him one is struck by the authority in his personality that is extremely rare in both it’s generous and warm demeanor together with a fierce uncompromising conviction that right is good and wrong is not. He is famous for his transparency and his tenacious reputation of having rooted out corruption in government or public affairs when tasked by the President to do so. As principle judge he is head of all criminal and civil activity in the high court of Uganda. He spent many years living in the U.S. in roles with the World Bank and the IMF. But then there are some other intriguing things about him. He has been known to show up at the prison to pray together with inmates. He is a devoted Christian as so many people are in the fabric of Ugandan society and he conducts all of his judicial responsibilities with fairness and integrity. Some months ago he was invited by the Prison ministry and Chaplaincy to preach within the Luzira Prison Condemned section. He said to Sophie, “how can I do that since I am the one who has condemned some of them?!” He has preached the Chapel sermon there on several occasions since this first invitation and when he talked about it he explained that it was one of the most rewarding experiences in his life.

The meeting was excellent, productive and very interesting. To add one more thing about this meeting there is another fascinating thing about this man. He is just finishing the process of his life-long dream project. He has just finished translating the New Testament into his people’s language ‘Samia’ which is spoken in the eastern part of Uganda and Western Kenya. Samia or “LuSamia” as a language has been spoken since Adam and Eve as the Judge likes to say, or at least since the tower of Babel. But Samia, until this New Testament was translated, has never been written….never. This is the first written material in Samia. He gave me his completed first ever copy of the Gospel of Luke to look at. I had to give it back though. Anyone who has done formal Biblical study dreams to see a copy of the first translation of the Bible into any language as it is part of making history. To say that I was impressed by all of this is an understatement! He invited me along the following evening to attend a fundraising family dinner where they would plan a large function in his hometown of Busia when they will launch the translation and get the first 2000 copies into the hands of some of the people from his home village. He has lined up a huge community celebration to officially launch the Samia New Testament and has guests from Government, Archbishops of both Anglican and Catholic churches as well as other Protestant denominations lined up to be there. Pretty cool for sure.