Anglican Communion News Service

[BBDC Newsletter] The Bishop Barnham Divinity College in Kabale is to become a University this autumn. The South West Ugandan college, which is some 300 miles from the capital, Kampala, was founded in 1924 as a normal day school.

Kabale is known as the "Switzerland of Africa" for its cool climate and beautiful hills and forests. It has become a popular tourist destination due to the mountain gorillas that can be found in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest just a few miles from Kabale town.

In 1934 the college moved to its present site in Kigezi (now Kabale) having grown in size and reputation under the guidance of the Revd Lawrence Barnham and the Revd Canon Ezekiel Balaba. During the 1940s and 1950s the college was an important centre of learning for educators and leaders.

Originally the school served just the Kigezi area, but over the last twenty years it was expanded as a Regional College of the Church of Uganda. In recent years further expansion has seen students coming from all over Uganda and from neighbouring countries, including Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and also from the United States.

"The college motto is 'Go and tell them'," says acting Principal, the Revd Canon Jovahn Turyamureeba. "The college's goal is to give all round education that will equip men and women for holistic ministry."

The college currently offers certificates and diplomas from a wide curriculum, but from Autumn 2000 it is also proposing to run degree courses in divinity, theology and social sciences.

The Board of Governors for Bishop Barnham Divinity College is made up of members of the six Anglican dioceses that comprise the Southwestern Region of the Board of Education of the Church of Uganda. The college is closely linked to the East African Revival that began there in 1935.

"All wisdom comes from God," says Canon Turyamureeba, "and education that is not based on the knowledge of God does not provide full knowledge and therefore cannot be effective."