Dr. John Owange Iraka and The Rewards of Endeavour

John Owange Iraka has two fascinating sides to his character. He is a very quiet man, almost shy on first encounter. He is also endowed with an excellent sense of humour that he dispenses in small doses, interspersed with silent breaks, before returning with a rib-cracking observation that makes the listener stop and think about the wisdom contained therein.

I have been privileged to know Iraka for fifty years, first as a medical student under his tutelage at Makerere University Medical School, then as his musanzire (our wives are sisters.) I was drawn to him because of his wealth of knowledge, his honest comment without mincing words, and his sincerity as my friend and relative. I have followed his journey and life in Uganda, the United Kingdom, back to Uganda, then South Africa, back to Uganda again, then Rwanda, and back to Uganda where he planted his proverbial spear in 2012, after great adventures and distinguished service to humanity in distant lands.

Over the years, I have come to know Iraka through many conversations with him and with those who have known him better than me. However, reading his autobiography, aptly titled “The Rewards of Endeavour”, has revealed to me that I knew only a small bit about his venturesome journey.

From a childhood that was as exciting as it was challenging, including living through the bleak economic impact of the Second World War, dealing with very difficult school headmasters, enduring the pain of his mother’s very premature death, Iraka takes us on a journey that sees him through his foundational formal education that peaks at Mbarara High School. He reveals a scandal that shakes his British headmaster at Mbarara High School, one which has been kept secret until now. He narrates his distractions from his academic pursuits that threaten his progress. It will not be the last time that these youthful distractions prove disastrous, but they shape his disciplined life and work ethic in later years. He describes these events with refreshing candidness, devoid of self-serving coverups or claims of perfection that one finds in many autobiographies.

From Mbarara High School, Iraka enters Ntare School in 1959, to begin his senior secondary education, under the famous William Crichton, the Scottish headmaster who founded the school in 1956. He meets very bright classmates, several of whom he has continued to hold in high esteem because of their achievements in public service. At the end of his six years at Ntare School, Iraka makes the great transition to Makerere University College Medical School in Kampala in 1965. At the time, it is the only University medical school of its kind in East and Central Africa. Iraka, now twenty-three years old, finds the freedom at Makerere and the social offerings of Kampala rather overwhelmingly distracting. Disaster strikes again. He learns a lesson that sets him on a straight path that he has successfully walked since then.

Soon after graduating, Iraka conquers a beautiful girl’s heart. Their romantic friendship culminates in a marriage and partnership that has been his strongest earthly anchor on his journey. He narrates that journey with grace laced with humour, weaving in the calamitous events that see Uganda descend from a country full of promise to one of despair, political repression, rivers of blood, economic collapse, and a moral decay that affects every aspect of life. He is a witness to the last decade of Apartheid South Africa, and the transition to African majority rule under Nelson Mandela. He makes that exciting period come alive.

He returns to Uganda for good after a quarter of a century. He discovers a very changed country, almost unrecognizable to him, but one in which he must continue to serve humanity. His sobering observations about the new Uganda invite re-reading and reflection.

This autobiography is not just about him. Iraka, the pediatrician, intersperses his story with education about child health, and great observations about the world of medical education. Iraka the western educated cosmopolitan gentleman, reaches into his knowledge bank of his people’s history and customs to present an enriching and entertaining account that shows that he has remained very firmly rooted in his nationality as a Munyankore.

Iraka, the sportsman, shares his exploits as a cricketer, an athlete, an avid chess player, his work as a sports doctor for the Uganda Cranes Football Team, and his passion for soccer. He shares memories of some of Uganda’s renowned sportspeople during his youth and makes very pointed observations about sports in Uganda. All of which reveals a well-rounded, educated man that has excelled as a medical doctor and educator, and as a student of humanity and the world in which he lives.

Iraka, the quiet introverted gentleman, has walked his journey out of the limelight. It is all in his book. In his own words.