Tooro’s literary icon launches dictionary

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signs the Runyoro/Rutooro dictionary as he launched it in Fort Portal. Photo by Ruth Katusabe
 

By FELIX BASIIME

Posted  Saturday, September 7  2013 at 01:00 [http://www.monitor.co.ug/artsculture/Entertainment/Tooro+s+literary+icon+launches+dictionary/-/812796/1982336/-/fvfnmwz/-/index.html]

In Summary

Specialist: Lazarus Tinkasimire Rubongoya has mastered the Runyoro/ Rutooro languages that even books in these languages are synonymous with his name. He recently launched a dictionary in these languages.

When you talk about any literature book in Runyoro/Rutooro in western Uganda, you are referred to books authored by Lazarus Tinkasimire Rubongoya, a prominent writer in the region.
Indeed, on a visit to most libraries and book stores in Fort Portal town, Rubongoya’s books paint the shelves mostly on the vernacular sections.
A teacher by profession and a member of the East African Literature Bureau, Rubongoya, 89, launched the first comprehensive Runyoro/ Rutooro (RR) dictionary on August 31 at Mountains of the Moon Hotel in Fort Portal, where President Museveni was chief guest.
“My dream comes true in my more than 50 years of specialised writing as I launch the RR to English and English to RR Dictionary,” said Rubongoya at his home at Kigwengwe, Karambi in Kabarole District.
In his bedroom, beside his bed, there is a small table where he rests his mobile phone, a cup, mineral water bottle and on the bed shelf near the pillow is a radio and a rosary while on the other side of the bed is a wheel chair on which he is lifted outside by his wife, Regina, a former banker. In the far corner of his bedroom rests two spears. His sitting room is crammed with several literature books, including his own.
Career hiccup
“The RR dictionary delayed to be published because of the 1979 liberation war when he lost his manuscript at Nakasero in Kampala during the stampede and lootings, so he had to re-write it” says Regina Rubongoya, his wife.

Rubongoya was in an accident in 2007, where he broke his right thigh bone, but this did not stop him from authoring books from bed or from his wheel chair at home, where at most, he has spent time writing the dictionary.
But how did he start writing?
“I was sent to England by the government and Tooro Kingdom in 1958 purposely to help other writers learn skills in writing and later come back home to help other writers in western region,” he says.
He later joined the School of Oriental and African studies in London to study language in East Africa.


“We were taught that when a word is pronounced in different ways, each way must be written down differently, for instance, Okuhaka and Okuhaaka, he says.
Faustino Nelson Nyakaana, a veteran journalist in Kabarole, describes Rubongoya as a very hard working man and one who has toiled to promote his language.
“He is my mentor in journalism, he inspired me to write, he is very hard working, voluntary and has toiled to see that his language is promoted,” Nyakaana says.
The philosophy that has guided Rubongoya through his work is keeping focused. “Life is what you do and give now, not tomorrow,” he says. And his secret to success is, “just zeal, nothing else, from primary school level I had zeal in everything I would plan to do”.
Through his writings, he has learnt some lessons that he wishes to share with the world.
“I have learnt that there are many things on earth to learn and write about, places to visit; people know many things that you don’t know until you visit and talk to them”. Rubongoya says writing needs a lot of courage lest you drop it.


“You write and others will read your work and like it while others will not but you continue,” he says, adding: “Every stage of life has its needs, the people of today have their own outlook of things, what you write in 2013 will be outdated in future”
Apart from being a writing icon, Rubongoya also ventured into radio broadcasting. He was the first to innovate the Runyankore/ Rukiga/ Runyoro/ Rutooro (RRRR) programme at Radio Uganda.