Dr. William Obote was a paragon to many

It only seems yesterday that Dr. William W. Obote passed on onto a greater life. In school we used to sing a song; weep not for those who walk the streets of gold, and nay, should we weep but celebrate his life, the gift God gave us as a blessing to touch our lives in various ways.

Every one of William’s friends seems to share a unique experience with him, and this was the veritable man, William, able to meet anyone at his/her level. Personally, William always inspired me to endeavour to achieve excellence in whatever I do, never to settle for something because it is easy, but to always strive for something better because it is hard. He taught me to always seek after knowledge. He regularly read the British Telegraph newspaper – what passion for knowledge! William was a great paragon to many.

William touched the lives of many. One of the most moving stories is the story behind the adoption of his son, Daniel Omara. The young man survived an LRA attack, and was found cuddled up onto his dead mother. William took the young man, adopted him, and so brought hope where there was despair.

William was a man who greatly loved the LORD. At every opportunity he had he shared the message of Christ, not just from the Bible, but from the every-day angle. He taught us that excellence in what one does is one of the greatest acts of worship. One has to use the gifts that God has given him/her to the fullest and for the benefit of mankind lest they be rendered redundant.

William’s maturity is bespoke. He was a true leader. He was a man of great character, charisma (remember the mango tree story!), commitment, competence, self-discipline, passion, and of great generosity – not only in monetary terms, but of himself. He was a servant, he put others first which showed he was confident of himself. He loved people and greatly cared for their wellbeing.

William is a testament of the depth of the people of this country and indeed, the African continent. His passing away is a reflection of how we need to continuously make our environment a better place for all around us. He showed us the transformation that Christ brings to one’s life – a new creation indeed.

Fare thee well William, for you walk the streets of gold. You continue to live through us, through the many ways you touched and taught us.

Joseph Ogwal Oyie

Memorial and thanksgiving service held

The memorial and thanksgiving service was held as planned, drawing friends, relatives and patients of the late Dr. Obote from various parts of the country. The admin of this blog thanks the organizers of the service and all those who honored the invitation. May God richly bless you.

As expected, very inspirational testimonies were shared about William. It is our hope that the recorded testimonies will be transcribed and shared on this blog. We do also encourage all those who gave testimonies to share them (in their own 'voices') with readers of this blog.

It is our hope that once the video is ready, clips of various sections of the service will be uploaded and made available to all.

The Late Dr. William Obote: The Dedicated Servant

By Benson Obua-Ogwal, MP/ Secretary Lango Parliamentary Group (LPG)

It is a year since the Late Dr. William Obote went to be with the Lord. He was a very dedicated, humble and hard-working physician who by the time of his passing had earned a place in the medical fraternity as one of the best Surgeons in this country, his youthful age notwithstanding.

The late Dr. Obote is remembered variously by various people. To those whom he treated or operated on, Dr. Obote was this special doctor who puts one at ease on the operating theater bed, even if things were visibly not so good. He had this miracle touch that almost always saw his patients coming out of very complicated situations. Our people had developed so much confidence in Dr. Obote to the extent of believing that if he performed an operation on you, your medical problem was as good as solved. This kind of confidence and belief alone was good for patients and I am sure many of his patients got their healing that way.

Dr. Obote tempered everything he did, including his medical practice, with his faith in Jesus Christ. As a practicing born-again Christian belonging to many Christian and non-Christian organizations, Dr. Obote touched many lives in many ways. One wonders how he found time for everything of import and still be as effective and efficient as he was in all of them! He was always available to friends in times of need and in times of rejoicing. He was as active in wedding arrangements of his friends as he was in their times of bereavement.

In case of the death of any of his patients, Dr. Obote would take time to attend the funeral service and give the medical history so clearly that all mourners would be clear in their minds that everything that was humanly possible was done to save their loved one.

Besides his time-consuming medical practice, Dr. Obote still found time to reach out to our population in Lango through whatever means, including the radio to preach the gospel, teach our people the most basic health issues as plainly as he can, and to organize medical teams from abroad to perform specialized operations free of charge. It gratifying to learn that his medical friends at home and abroad with whom he worked have resolved to continue with the this initiative annually in memory of William.

Dr. Obote was brilliant yet very humble. Besides, he was never selfish with his knowledge, something not very common in Africa. Often times, whenever my friends and I had a meeting with him, he would receive phone calls asking him to give advice on an on-going surgical operation or a treatment, and he would it right there on phone. If he felt the situation warranted his physical presence, he would excuse himself to dash to the theatre to save a complicated situation and rejoin the meeting.

Dr. Obote was extremely honest in all his dealings. Since his passing, I believe no one has showed up to claim that Dr. Obote defrauded him or her in anyway. He led a clean life, with clean hands and heart. Above all he had a passion for Christ which compelled him to attend to other people’s problems anytime, anywhere. His kindness, love and generosity knew no tribe, race, creed, etc. He lived the Hippocratic Oath that he took to the letter. This is the kind of life that Jesus Christ must be proud of, and I strongly believe that Christ has received him into eternal bliss.

It remains for us to emulate this great Ugandan who unfortunately passed away in the prime of his life. We have to ensure that his legacy does not disappear.

May the memories of the late Dr. William Obote and his impacting good deeds live for ever and ever.

Benson Obua-Ogwal, MP
MP Moroto County, Lira District & Secretary Lango Parliamentary Group
15th Feb. 2008

Memorial Service

A memorial service for the late Dr. William Obote is planned for 17th February 2008 at Kampala Pentecostal Church (Central) starting at 5:00pm.

For further details and ideas please contact either Pastor Chris Komagum of Kampala Pentecostal Church or Mr. Paul Omara on +256772610296. You may also post a comment here.

Great Initiative

I just got this and did not waste time to sign up. It is close of day. I should be able to post something soon.

We need to keep his memory alive. It speaks volumes!!!

Bye for now, and be blessed.

Benson Obua-Ogwal, MP

In rememberance of William

On 16 February 2008, it will be a year since Dr. William Obote went to be with the Lord. We miss him but we have hope that we will see him some day in heaven.

It is my wish that it will be easy to convince friends, relatives and well wishers to facilitate the preparation and running of a story about his legacy in one of the Kampala dailies on or around the date he died. This blog, if used, could be useful in gathering information from several sources about the late William and such information could be incorporated in such a tribute.

In the long run, I think this blog will be a blessing to all who read it. William had a very fruitful relationship with many (in various capacities) and if shared here, the readers would be equally inspired by the testimonies.

Feel invited to make a comment on any post or even write a post.

God bless you.

Sam Okech