May the ‘Siniya’ spirit live on and flourish

The genesis of Siniya and its meaning

Nigaahe
Nigaahe
Jul 25, 2017 · 4 min read
View of Kigezi College Butobere (Siniya)

My sincere greetings to Basiniya of all generations, young and old, living on any part of planet earth who may access this article by any chance. Just allow me to exchange a discussion with those who may not have bumped into these topics.

First what does the name Siniya mean and what is its genesis. At the present moment, the word Siniya refers to Kigezi College Butobere, one of the numerous secondary schools in Uganda. It is located in an Eastern valley of Kabale Municipality. Its unique name and significance as an outstanding institution can only stick out from its history that would have also remained ordinary if it did not have something special and very outspoken.

Here it is. Right from its inception, its students and more so its alumni built a culture of common identity and purposeful way of living and association called the SINIYA SPIRIT. The spirit manifests itself in many different ways and modes but in all cases its common characteristic is proud identity. Before talking about the spirit, we must discuss what most people cannot remember.

Where did the name Siniya come from? No one will answer this question unless the old education system is the reference. This is the genesis of the name Siniya. The old education system was a 6:2:4:2, meaning 6 years primary school, 2 years junior secondary school, 4 years senior secondary school and then 2 years higher school before proceeding to university. In 1965, the junior secondary stage was eliminated hence the change to a 7:4:2 system.

Until 1957, there was no senior secondary school in the present six districts of Kigezi which had only four junior secondary schools. However, between 1957 and 1964, Kigezi College Butobere was the only senior secondary school in Kigezi and this unique position became a cause for pride and the source of the common identity , pride and association wherever they interfaced thereafter, a mode that came to be called the Siniya spirit which has assisted numerous people in many different ways.

In 1960’s, a highly contested football match took place between the only senior secondary school in Kigezi and Ntare school. By that time, Kabale people and the Kigezi population had dubbed Kigezi College Butobere the senior school or briefly senior as opposed to junior schools that existed. But due to the local language effect, the word senior was being pronounced Siniya. To the excitement of the numerous spectators, Kigezi College won the famous match and they all went back home singing that Siniya had beat Ntare School but forgot that even Ntare School was also a senior secondary school.

The students of that time were so excited at the Siniya name that they adapted it from than up to today and the foreseeable future. Slightly later, they moved a notch further to add another brand to pride in Siniya as a unique name of a school in the whole of black Africa.

At that time, little was known of the states North of the Sahara desert which were more Arabic than African. The apartheid policy in a Southern Africa state starting at River Limpopo had earned them an international embargo. That was why the Siniya boys took pride of being students of not the only senior secondary school in Kigezi but the only Siniya south of the Sahara and North of the Limpopo. Having established what Siniya is, we can now move on to describe the Siniya spirit.

The pride and prestige of winning the Ntare School match and the common identity which persisted in the Siniya alumni has since extended into a legacy given the following examples.

  • The Siniya Oldboys Association (SOBA) has held numerous functions involving fundraisings, donations, civil construction at the school and student promotions
  • Informal contacts and interaction have taken place world over resulting into assistance, togetherness and donations of different sorts.
  • Rogers Wilkinis aka Mikawber ,one of the most resourceful science teachers of his time was well received and enjoyed fellowship with old Basiniya all his period of stay.
  • Academic competitiveness and zealous performance at work has enabled many Basiniya to progress and even excel.

In fact, some people argue that this Siniya spirit is the foundation for the now building up Kigezi spirit.

The world is not a bed of roses and so there is an unfortunate side of the Siniya spirit. These are some of the issues.

  • The school standards sank so low that one cannot be proud of what it is today.
  • The school with capacity to hold over one thousand students sometimes has less than three hundred and some dormitories remain empty.
  • The successful academic aspect of the Siniya Spirit at the school was overtaken by what some people have called a tendency towards hooliganism
  • The lowest anti-climax of the Siniya Spirit manifested itself in a 13 years old senior 1 first term student who got indoctrinated with a misinterpreted Siniya Spirit of hating Kigezi High School students into an extremist attitude that took him beyond the separating hill on an attack and assault mission. Too young to escape, he did not survive to return home.

Given the numerous positive stories of interaction between Basiniya of all generations starting with men like Professor Mondo Kagonyera of 1957 to date, NIGAAHE wishes to salute the Siniya Spirit and wish all Basiniya prosperity

May the Siniya spirit live and prosper forever. It would be very useful and pleasant for any interested Basiniya to enrich this article with more ideas and information. We welcome comments, information and analyses on any of these platforms.

More about the spirit and origins of Siniya is discussed in Episode 7 of the NIGAAHE podcast, listen to the episode below;

Nigaahe

Written by

Nigaahe

News, politics and culture updates from and about Kigezi of South Western Uganda. To contact the author Caleb Rwakatungu, please whatsapp +256776912055

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