Kija, Edwadi

[ACOLI]

Edwadi Kija was a pupil of Sira Dongo during the period when there were no European missionaries in Acoli. Baptized at Masindi on September 4, 1910 by the Rev. H. E. Tegart.[1] He became a teacher, and during the next few years his name appears from time to time in the Gulu Service Book. In 1921 he went to teach at Lira, Lengo.[2] From 1918 when the Church Council was formed, until 1922 he was a member of it.[3] In 1918 he was awarded an honorary first letter because of the good work he had done as a teacher although he had never received any training.[4] He contracted tuberculosis, of which he died.[5]

Louise Pirouet

Notes(short form; see List of Sources for complete citations):

1. Masindi Baptism Register.

2. Information kindly collected for me by miss Cave-Brown-Cave, CMS missionary, now retired.

3. Gulu Church Council Minutes.

4. Minutes of the Theological Board, May 16, 1918.

5. Okech, 1966 (per Miss Cave-Brown-Cave).

This biography, written by Louise Pirouet, was included in “Appendix A: Biographical Notes,” on page 403 of “The Expansion of the Church of Uganda (N.A.C.) from Buganda into Northern and Western Uganda between 1891 and 1914, with Special Reference to the work of African Teachers and Evangelists” (PhD Thesis: University of East Africa, 1968). Pirouet published this thesis as Black Evangelists (London: Rex Collings, 1978). However, Black Evangelists does not reproduce the detailed biographies, complete with references to sources, found in Appendix A of the thesis. Print copies are available at Africana Section, Makerere University Library (U 02 P57); The Centre for Christianity Worldwide, Cambridge; and a microfilm copy at the School of Oriental Studies, London. [information from Angus Crichton]