(By Enosh K.Mainah Ben Abraham - History student IUIU)

Abayudaya in 1986 - Problems Encountered.

When Lt.Gen.Museveni came into power, this paved the way for the revival of Judaism. As soon as the Movement Government came into power, the President declared "Freedom," which comprised of freedom of worship, freedom of speech & association, and freedom of movement, a statement that inspired the youth of the time to stand for the revitalization of Judaism in Uganda. When I say the youth of the time I intend the later community that succeeded Reb Samson Mugombe. Among these Youth were Joab J.Keki, Jacob Mwosuko, Yehudah Mutusa, Uri Katula, Israel Siriri, Sarah Kalyesubula, Samson Shadrak, and Gershom Sizom etc. acting as the leaders of the contemporary two communities in Uganda. These youth whose hearts were filled with a spirit of Zionism started up their work by mobilizing the youth in the borough for unity. Later on, when the number of the youth mobilized became quite large, a project was begun to start a farming youth settlement on the model of the kibbutzim that had sprung up in Eretz Yisrael. The youth kibbutz in Uganda emerged at Nabugoye hill. Parents were advised to send their children to the kibbutz to study Judaica and some Hebrew. Among the children of the time were, Seth, Tziporah, Shirah, Samson, Rachel Namudosi, Enosh Keki Mainah (the author of the story) etc. Our activities while at the kibbutz included the making of bricks - used for the construction of the Synagogue that is today called "the Moses Synagogue".

These activities took place mostly at night in the cool o the night and by the light of the stars and moon. During daytime, we could go for secular studies at Nankunsi Primary School that is about 6 kilometers away from the Kibbutz. As for those of secondary, they went to the cheapest secondary school known to be Bukonde S.S. While secular studies were being carried out during day times, Judaica was being taught at night and on week ends i.e. after morning prayers on Shabbat and on Sunday. Despite all of the above and the vast love for Judaism, the following obstacles hindered the progress of Judaism in Uganda:

1.There were surprise attacks by the local officials.

I will begin by narrating a brief story that happened at that time. I remember one day when we were seated under the big tree busy studying Judaica on Shabbat, turning my back, I saw the local officials of that time with two gunmen coming towards our side. As soon as they arrived in a place where we were taking our classes from, gunmen arrested Joab Keki with other youth and took them for custody. We saw gunmen descending the hill taking the youth but of course there was nothing to do. Time was approaching for Havdalah and the youth who had been left were very young to keep the hill. The other youth had gone to Nangolo (Joab Jonadab's Home) immediately after the morning prayers. There was no one to facilitate the trace out of where the youth were being taken for detention and worse of it; there wasn't any means by which the information could be conveyed to other members. The only alternative to let everyone know what was happening was by running very fast to Nangolo (about 6-7 kilometers away from nabugoye hill) to alert the home people about the kidnapping of some of the younger Abayudaya by the local officials. Fortunately on my arrival, I met some strong youth and no sooner had I broken the sad news than they hurried to search for our friends taken for captivity. By the next morning, we had known where our brothers were detained. Barukh HASHEM, they were sentenced only for a few days in jail, and because there was no genuine reason for their arrest (except for their studying of Judaism and practice thereof) they were released.

Another incidence occurred on the second night of Succot (16th Nissan) in the year 5750 corresponding to the Secular year 1989. This time, more than 11 gunmen seeking to kill Joab Jonadab Keki ambushed us very deep in the night while many youth were still asleep in our local succot. Some youths had gone out of the Sukah to ease themselves but when they returned in, they saw brilliant flashes of light pointing at our sukah. Within a few seconds they heard some voices closer to the Sukah but were not certain of the specific direction. Then these guys whispered to us, "please wake up," Get up everybody! We thought that as usual the time had come for working in our garden, only to find out, "Musilike" a Luganda word meaning silence. One whispered to us again, we might be under ambush." Within a minute, we saw flashes of torches and gunmen peeping in the Sukah. They were interested in one man (J.J Keki) who had left for his home. They interrogated the youth one by one, slapping them suspiciously thinking that we had hid him but all were confirming, "he is out of the hill". A great search was done in all the succot but they found nothing. As a result of that, they took with them some youth for imprisonment falsely alleging that we had guns (which we of course did not) Lucky enough, these youth spent a few hours in prison and at noon they were released.

After a few weeks, again these local officials planned with the Local Defense Units to come and threaten us with bullet shots at night. By then we were residing in the synagogue (since they denied us to own any structure) that was constructed at the time of Semei Kakungulu. Whatever structure we made, they could come and demolish, take our constructing materials and seriously warning us against our right to construct any abode of any sort.

2.Another obstacle arose at Nabugoye unexpectedly. Attaining food proved very difficult to get.

We had our agriculture carried out on top of the hill but whenever we could, these officials with other infamous leaders in the area invaded our gardens and took everything within one day. In most cases, they timed when we were in services on Shabbat, a day on which we could not spare any time to visit the gardens. Remember that all this was done to fail our objectives and goals - to continue practicing Judaism. As a result of this the youths resorted to getting food for their survival from Jonatan Keki's home, Uri' Katula's home and the late Enosh Wamani's home. However, due to the big number of children accommodated, this food got over and the kibbutz proved a very expensive home to maintain. From that time, life became very bitter for members living at the hill, forcing many parents to withdraw their children and some youth were forced to desert the hill. By the year 1991 the number of the youth had deteriorated, the majority had abandoned staying at Nabugoye and the hill was left empty and in suspense.