Kironde, Yasoni

[TORO, ANKOLE. Muganda]

Yasoni Kironde arrived to teach in Toro in 1899 and was first posted to Butiti and then to the small nearby village of Myeri. In March 1901 he was sent to Butanuka and in June of the same year was transferred to Rubona near Butiti where there had been trouble among the teachers. In August 1901 he came to Kabarole and was reposted to Buhongo, headquarters of the Mukwenda, to take charge of the work there. In each of these places he met considerable opposition, but this seems to have been partly because he was a Muganda. His own account of his work in Toro shows some signs that like many Baganda he despised the Batoro, and this was a time where there was considerable friction in Toro. Nevertheless he claimed to have built up good congregations in each place where he worked. In 1902 he returned to Mengo.[1] In 1911 and 1912 we find him in Ankole.[2] In 1916 he was transferred from Ndejje where he had been training teachers, to Mukono, the most important center for theological training. He was not an altogether easy member of the staff there.[3]

Louise Pirouet**

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

1. Mengo Notes. April 1902 published an account, translated into English, of an address he had given describing his work in Toro. All the first part of this account is based on this address. It is given partly because it is an example of the difficulties teachers faced on account of the constant changes of location to which they were subject.

2. Mbarara Service Book.

3. Minutes of the Theological Board: January 29 and April 5, 1916.

This biography, written by Louise Pirouet, was included in “Appendix A: Biographical Notes,” on page 404 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]