Being a third generation Old Budonian gives me pride that very few other things can match. For non Ugandans I can only equate King’s College Budo to a combination of Alliance High School and St. Mary’s School, Nairobi. History, tradition, pride and an unmatched old boys/girls network.
I came across this picture while surfing the web a while back and it depicts one of the school buildings that was constructed in 19926. Its got a huge arch across its width and visually provides a gateway from the quads of lawns behind it to the vast playing fields in front of it.Its significance to Budonians runs very deep as it is a symbol of power, order, discipline and boyhood fun.
To the right are the rooms for the sports and chapel prefects and at he back of that was was the deputy head prefect’s digs. To the left was the senior 3A classroom and at the back was the head prefect’s digs. And above the arch was the infamous senior 4C classroom.
Right in front of the building runs the Bursary Road, which every red blooded Budonian of the male gender knew very well not to cross after 7pm. Reason being that it was the dividing line between the sexes after regular school hours. Crossing the road to get to the girl’s dorms across the sports fields after the said time was unheard of, as such an act was considered in the same league as murder and treason………..presumably punishable by death.
But that did not stop the foolhardy amongst us from trying. Skirting along the edges of the road, testing the resolve and patience of the four prefects whose rooms were conveniently located at the border of the garden of eden. Every day a list of people caught ‘loitering’ along the Bursary Road was read out out for all sorts of punishments. The less brave amongst us took the easier route: standing at the windows of the 4C classroom after evening preps, we would cheer, jeer and generally make a total nuisance of ourselves as the ‘brave’ girls walked back , across the road, to their dorms from the classrooms.
The Berlin wall could not have been more secure.
[...] and I had been to school together at King’s College Budo near Kampala with the best of the youth of Uganda. We came from all corners of the land. We arrived [...]
great memories, we in south africa house did the same to the ladies who passed by fromthe dinning hall to the sickbay. this was the trade fot the corwards like us. u atleast passed on your feelings to the ladies. they felt proud too i believe.
From Canada house senior dorm you could see bursary road;we had a couple of bricks taken out of the wall facing opposite sports prefects door, a window that offered up the best close-up on the ‘catwalk’. Only problem was the gals mostly went that way at lunchtime , not later. Great memories of the running commentaries as they ran past…..
I always admired Buddo,good school in deed.I was never there,but having gone to Horizon on the other side of the hill,made me feel like i was there,no wonder i was inspired alot,and passed my A level.
muteesa house ours is the best house although its old and also i want my my kids to reside in it because i liked it so much
wao school life is un forgetable experience all the memories are inspiral i wish i was there to share the same experience nice time keep up the spirit
Now if you go further to the left of that arch, you get to what was called Australia House back then in the 60′s. That was my dorm. Behind you,as you face the arch shown, would be the sports fields and then further down would be the ladies residences. As you may now imagine, Australia House was the closest to the sports grounds and also to the ladies residences. Every evening all the girls would have to pass next to Australia House before retiring to their residences. You can imagine how blessed we Australians were – but surprisingly, we actually preferred to hang around the dining hall (opposite side of the school then) to ‘clean up’ and we never even excelled at sports. For that, we were called the ‘benders’ and never ‘womanisers’. No school has left an impression on me more than Kings College!