From Medical Desert to Lifesaving Oasis Virginia Knights build a health clinic and more for a remote village in Uganda By Zoey Maraist
Photo by Spirit Juice Studios
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ob Maher vividly remembers the fruit trees, the mud huts and the smiling faces of the villagers when he visited Kitakyusa, Uganda, for the first time. Maher saw a lot of things on that trip, but it’s what he didn’t see that changed his life forever. It was January 2012, and Maher had traveled to Uganda from the United States with his pastor, Father Gerald Musuubire. A past grand knight of Sts. Peter and Paul Council 11475 in Palmyra, Va., Maher had always wanted to see the native animals roaming through the African bush. Father Musuubire, a Knight of Columbus and a native Ugandan, had served in the remote, rural town of Kitakyusa before he became parochial vicar and then pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul Parish. When he made one of his biannual trips back home, Maher asked if he could come along. After spending the day in Kitakyusa, Maher and Father Musuubire returned to Kampala, the capital city. On the way, Maher realized he hadn’t seen a hospital anywhere. He
asked Father Musuubire what people did when they got sick. “Unfortunately, in this area, if they get sick, they get better or they die. There’s nothing for them,” Maher remembers the priest replying. During the 17-hour plane ride home, the words rattled around in Maher’s brain — “They get better or they die.” He felt he had to do something. Thanks to Maher and the support of his brother Knights in Palmyra, the villagers of Kitakyusa no longer have to face such a dire fate. Within a couple of years, the Knights had constructed a health clinic to provide medical treatment to thousands. And they have continued to meet other basic needs — from clean water to electricity — in the years since. A WILL BECOMES A WAY
Father Musuubire didn’t realize the impact the trip to the village would make on his brother Knight, or on the little town he once called home. “I was showing him different things,
Above: St. Francis of Assisi Health Clinic and its staff residence (right), in Kitakyusa, Uganda, were constructed with support from Sts. Peter and Paul Council 11475 in Palmyra, Va. JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022 B C O L U M B I A
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