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Davis Kamoga (Uganda), Michael Johnson (USA) and Chris Jones (USA) , at IAAF Grand Prix in France, 1907, 400m.

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Topics covered include biographies, boxing, track and field, running, culture, Africa, African-America, USA, geograhy, books, research, African names, African proverbs, and reviews Write a description about your topic. Let your readers know what your topic is about and add some general information about it.

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At the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh in 1970, 17 year-old Marilyn Neufville (right) of Jamaica won the gold in a new world record in the 400 meters (51.0), and 18 year-old Judith Ayaa (left) of Uganda won the bronze medal.

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John Akii-Bua (Uganda) and William Koskei (Kenya). Gold and silver medallists in the 400 meters-hurdles at the All-Africa Games in Lagos in January 1973.

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Erasmus Amukun: Uganda and NCAA Sprinter and Canada Geologist

Erasmus Samuel A.O. Amukun was born on November 27th 1940 in Ngora in Kumi in Eastern Uganda. Amukun is best known for his exploits as a collegiate and international sprinter and as a professional geologist. He represented Uganda at the British Empire Commonwealth Games, at the Olympic Games, and at the East and Central African Games. Amukun is also credited for having beaten Kenyan sprint legend and future Commonwealth Games (1962, Perth) double-sprint gold-medallist Seraphino Antao in a race.

In 1958, at the Commonwealth Games in Cardiff in Wales (July 17-26, 1958), teenager Amukun did not advance beyond the fifth of twelve preliminary heats in the 100 yards sprint. In the heat 5 he finished in 9.9 seconds, in fourth place. But his team-mate Benjamin Kiyini Nduga, who had finished ahead of Antao, qualified for and moved on to the semi-finals in which he would be eliminated. In the 220 yards, Amukun was second in the eighth (22.14) of nine heats of the preliminary round. Later, in the fourth of six heats of the quarter-final round for which he had qualified, he was eliminated after finishing third in 22.1. But in the 4x100 yards, the Uganda relay team which Amukun was part of, finished sixth in the finals (42.1). Also on the Uganda relay team were Ben Nduga, Ignatius Okello, and S. Bwowe. They had moved on to the finals after finishing in third place (42,47) in the first round which was a semi-final.

Amukun, aged 19, was the captain of the Uganda team at the 1960 Olympics in Rome. In the young Uganda team, Amukun was the youngest, and 21 year-old Aggrey Awori was the oldest.

On August 31st 1960, Erasmus Amukun competed in the fourth of nine heats in the first round series of the 100m in which the fastest three in each heat would move on to the next round--the quarter-finals. He finished third in 10.80, qualifying for the next round. Notably, in this first round, fellow Ugandan 21 year-old Aggrey Awori (Awoori) who competed in the third heat was eliminated after finishing fifth (11.09). Kenyan Seraphino Antao (10.64) comfortably finished first in the first heat of this preliminary round and thus moved on to the quarter-finals.

In the quarter-finals held later in the day, Amukun was placed to run in the third of the four heats. He would finish fourth (10.75), and become eliminated since he was not among the top three finishers in the heat. But this would be the fastest he would ever officially run in the 100m. Antao finished third in the fourth heat (10.61) and moved on to the semi-finals. On September 1st Antao finished sixth (10.72) in the second of two semi-final heats, and become ineligible for the finals.

The 200m competition was started on September 2nd, and Amukun was placed in the fifth heat of the dozen heats of the first round in which the top two finishers of each heat would move on to the quarter-final round. Amukun finished second (21.38) and moved on to the quarter-finals. This would officially be his life-time best in the 200m. Meanwhile, Antao won in the eleventh heat (21.44), easily making it to the next round.

In the 200m quarter-finals held later that day, Amukun was placed in the first of four heats. He finished fourth (21.47) and was eliminated from advancing to the semi-finals since he was not among the top three finishers in the heat. Also coming in fourth, but in the second heat of the quarter finals was Seraphino Antao (21.43) who was also eliminated.

Uganda also competed in the 4x100m relay scheduled for September 7th 1960. There were four heats in the first round, and Uganda finished in fifth in 41.90, but had already been disqualified. In some of the other heats, Poland and France were also disqualified. The Uganda relay team had also included Aggrey Awori, Jean Baptiste Okello, and Gadi Ado.

In 1961 at the East and Central African Championships at the venue Nakuru in Kenya, Erasmus Amukun had won in the 440 yards in 48.0 seconds. Samuel Amukun was also part of the Uganda 4x100 yards relay team that won in 43.1 in Nakuru.

Near the end of 1961, Amukun successfully completed the 2-year Cambridge Advanced Secondary School Certificate, majoring in the sciences, at King's College Budo (Buddo) near Kampala where he resided in Mutesa House.

Sam Amukun competed in the annual IC4A (or ICAAAA, (Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America) which is a men's competition held at different colleges every year. Amukun was then an undergraduate student at Colgate University in Hamilton in New York.  At the IC4A in Villanova in Pennsylvania in 1964 at the end of May, Amukun won in the 100 yards in 9.7. It was a photo-finish with Villanova University's Earl Horner, and it was decided that Amukun with his chest forward on the tape had won (Green 1964: 5).

At the summer Olympics held in Tokyo in 1964, 23 year-old Amukun would represent Uganda in the 200m, and in the 4x100m relay. Placed in the second heat of eight heats of the preliminary rounds, Amukun finished fifth (21.55) on October 16th and was eliminated since he was not among the top four finishers in the heat. Kenyan Antao advanced to the quarter-final heats after finishing second in the third heat (21.52). Antao would, in the quarter-finals, later be eliminated.

On October 20th, the 4x100m Uganda relay team consisting of Awori, Amukun, James Odongo, and Amos Omolo finished sixth (41.4) in the third of the three first-round heats; so the team did not advance to the semi-finals.

Revenge was sweet at the annual IC4A championships held in 1965 in Brunswick, New Jersey at the end of May. Here Horner of Villanova who had lost to Amukun of Colgate in the 100m in 1964, won in both short sprints, with Amukun finishing third in the 100 yards sprint. But earlier in the same year, at the beginning of May, the Ugandan Olympian had triumphed in both short sprints at the track meet whereby the Raiders of Colgate were pitted against Syracuse University (Orange) at the Archbold Stadium in Syracuse. Also, in mid-April at the Cornel University vs. Colgate meet, Amukun the meet record-holder was beaten into second place in both short sprints by Cornel's Charles Blaugrund (9.9 in the 100 yards) second effort in the 100-yd. dash was enough to beat Colgate's Sam Amukun, the meet record holder a favorite in the event. Amukun had covered the distance in 9.6 seconds the week before. In the 220 yard sprint, again Blaugrund (22.5) was followed by the Ugandan at the finishing line.

Just before Amukun died in 1998, aged 57, he was the exploration manager for Northwest Explorations, in Canada. Amukum obtained the bachelor of  science degree in chemistry at Colgate in 1966 while on track-and-field scholarship. He would acquire the master's degree in geology at the University of Manitoba in 1969. The title of his master's thesis is: "Petrography of the Gold-Bearing Vein Rocks from Bissett Area, Southeastern Manitoba."

Amukun returned to Uganda to work at the Kilembe mine of Falconbridge but fled to Canada with his wife in 1972 given the insecurity and unease about the dictatorial military regime of Idi Amin.

After his death it was chronicled that after leaving Uganda, for 25 years, Amukun worked as a field geologist for the Ontario Geological Survey, Noranda and Urangesellschaft, and later started his consulting business. In 1996, he joined Northwest Explorations and became exploration manager for the company's Guyanese projects. He was a member of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum, the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada, and the Geological Association of Canada.

Samuel Erasmus Amukun compiled and authored extensively and his books include: "Precambrian Geology, Little Marshall Lake Area" (1989), "Geology of the Klob Lake Area, District of Thunder Bay" (1984), "Geology of the Willet Lake Area, District of Thunder Bay" (1979), "Geology of the Tashota Area, District of Thunder Bay" (1977), "Geology of the Gledhill Lake Area, District of Thunder Bay" (1980), "Geology of the Conglomerate Lake Area, District of Thunder Bay" (1980), and "Willet Lake, Thunder Bay District" (1979).

Amukun had been married to Daphne for 29 years, and he was also survived by daughter Nasheba and sons Settu and Mwenu.

Works Cited

Green, Bob (AP). "Villanova is IC4A Titlist Again; G-Burg Entry Fourth." Gettysburg Times, 1 June 1964: 5. Jonathan Musere

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Henry Morton Stanley Comments on Uganda as, "The Pearl of Africa"

"Since my return from Africa, I have persistently maintained that so long as there are no facilities of transport between Lake Victoria and the sea, nothing in the way of progress can be hoped for from East Africa. Just as Stanley Pool on the Congo is our objective in West Africa, we must take the Victoria Nyanza as our objective in East Africa. The first commands the commerce of 16,000 miles of river banks; the second is the centre of a region which is inhabited by millions of the finest people in Africa. The lake has 1500 miles of coast line of its own. At one point it is but 150 miles from Lake Tanganyika; from Beatrice Gulf it is only sixty miles; from Lake Albert it is barely a hundred, and the navigable Nile is also within easy reach; so that by this lake we have, roughly speaking, access to about 3000 miles of lake shores and 5000 miles of river banks. To join these with the sea would be a scheme equal in importance and prospective advantages to that of the Congo, because, though we should not at once control so vast a region as the Congo, the natives of these parts are so immeasurably superior to those of Western Africa, that we should only have to appear with our goods in order to establish a vast trade. I take but little interest in the region through which the railway must run, because of itself it is scarcely worth a thought. I regard the region as only a means to an end. By itself it is not worth the luxury of a railway. The point to be reached is the fresh-water sea beyond. Let that be made accessible and the intervening region becomes naturally of great value. We may be sure that those who need fat pastures, farm-lands, and cheap labour will not neglect the opportunities provided for them by the railway.

It is the "Pearl of Africa" that is our object. I applied that somewhat  grandiloquent term to Uganda because of its frequent use by the Portuguese, who spoke of Cabinda at the Berlin Conference as the pearl of the Crown of Portugal. Many have sneered at it since, and dense-headed travellers have tried to account for the term by adducing the fertility of the soil and the variety of its products; but the truth is that the term aptly illustrates the superior value of Uganda because of its populousness, the intelligence of its people, its strategic position for commerce, and for spreading Christianity--all of which make it pre-eminently a desirable colony for a trading and civilizing nation like ours.

No one, however, has called Uganda a paradise. It is simply a superior region of East Central Africa possessing unusual advantages by its position between the Three Lakes and the Nile, and inhabited by a remarkably intelligent people, who, because of their undoubted adaptability, are more capable of being trained, educated, and civilized than any other between Assfian and Cape Colony. I have twice crossed the continent; I have tested to the full the capacities of the best Congo tribes, the Zanzibaris and Wanyamwezi; I have had hundreds from the West African coast tribes under me; I have been into Upper Egypt, Ashanti, and Abyssinia; I have had two hundred Zulus in training; but I have met none who impressed me so much with their mental, spiritual, and moral capacity as the Waganda. Remembering these qualities, look over the map of Africa and tell me where there are such possibilities as with such a people, occupying such a country as they do. Had the Waganda, held together as they have been by their traditions, nature, and customs, inhabited the country of the Basutos, or the Zulus, or the Matabeli, they would long ago have made their mark as a progressive race; but being where they are, stretched along the northern shores of an inland sea, and dominating the whole of the intra-lake region, it is a marvel to me that English people are so slow to perceive the uses to which Uganda and its nation may be applied. Administered by a British Commissioner, assisted and directed by British officers, educated by British missionaries, and trained in industrial crafts by British teachers, Uganda and its people are as capable of astonishing Central Africa as the Japanese have astonished the Far East.

In 1862 Speke and Grant found the entire Waganda nation clothed in home-made robes of brown bark cloth. Thirteen years later the king and his court, the chiefs and officers of the army, were dressed in the finest white cottons, cloaks of broad cloth and fez caps, and were inclined to the Mohammedan religion. In another thirteen years some 5000 had become Christians, and many of them were able to read and preach the Gospel. Cloth dresses had become almost universal, firearms had become common. In the last six years the progress has been still more rapid. The Christians have trebled in number; they possess a cathedral and nearly 200 churches; the art of reading and writing has been acquired by many hundreds, and a perfect mania for instruction has developed among the young."

Henry M. Stanley

Work Cited

Stanley, Henry Morton. "The Uganda Railway" [Excerpt]. Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art , vol. 79 (1895): 719-720. Jonathan Musere

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Judith Ayaa, John Akii-Bua, Vitus Ashaba: Uganda Performances at the August 1972 Hanns-Braun Pre-Olympic Festival in Musich

A Pre-Olympic Meet in 1972, a tune-up for the upcoming Olympics, took place in Munich in West Germany in mid-August. Elite athletes from many countries, arrived in Munich approximately ten days before the 1972 Olympics, to participate. The track-and-field meet that spanned two days is also dubbed the "Hanns-Braun Memorial International Pre-Olympic Invitational." The Ugandan athletes that would commendably perform well were hurdler, sprinter and former decathlon athlete John Akii-Bua; sprinter Judith Ayaa, and steeplechaser and middle-distance runner Vitus Ashaba. The competition began. 22 year-old Akii-Bua, perhaps relaxing and bidding his time in cautiously avoiding the dangerous hurdling in which athletes are quite injury-prone, settled for the 400m flat, other than his 400 meters-hurdles specialization. Most of the top results at the Invitational were published in the "Oakland Tribune" (1972: 44) The men's 400 meters' lap involved four heats, and the best overall times were signified. Overall in performance, Akii was placed third (46.18) behind top finisher Fred Newhouse of the USA (45.47), and second-placed was Kenyan legend, Charles Asati (45.77). Fourth overall was Horst Schlbske (West Germany) in 46.25, and fifth was Leighton Priestley (Jamaica) in 46.30. Surprisingly, up to this time, although he had longed to, Akii had never competed with 400 meters-hurdles USA champion and national record-holder Ralph Mann. The barrier race involving the two was inevitably eagerly anticipated. Ralph Mann was slightly ahead of Akii-Bua in terms of personal best performance in the intermediate hurdles. Akii-Bua was reasonably familiar to the track community in the USA where he won in all the numerous 400mh events that he had so far competed in during 1971 and 1972. Akii was regarded by the Americans as Ralph Mann's main rival at the 1972 summer Olympics. In the August 1972 issue of "Sports Illustrated," it was predicted that at these forthcoming Olympics, Akii would win in the 400mh, Ralph Mann would be second, and that Kenya's William Koskei who had won a silver medal for Uganda at the 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh (Akii finished fourth) would win the Olympic bronze. Eventually, in the 400 meters-hurdles at this meet, Ralph Mann won in 49.85, James Seymour (USA) finished second (50.02), third was William Koskei (Kenya) in 50.46, fourth was Mike Murey (Kenya)  in 50.42, and fifth was Richard Bruggeman (USA) in 50.63. Judith Ayaa, aged 20, competed among the three heats of the women's 400m at this pre-Olympic invitational. The best overall performances were signified. Overall, Ayaa's performance was second best and she posted 52.68 which was a new Africa record, reduced from the one that she had established (52.86) when she won in one of the two semi-final heats of the event in Edinburgh at the Commonwealth Games in 1970. In early September 1972, in Munich at the Olympics, Ayaa was again timed in 52.68 seconds. She equalled her Africa record, and it would be her personal best. But in Munich, Ayaa was eliminated from advancing, when she was eliminated in a semi-final heat. Yvonne Saunders (Jamaica) was the fastest 400m sprinter (52.34), third after Ayaa was Nadeshda Kolesnikova (Soviet Union) in 52.90, fourth was Karoline Kaefer (Australia) in 52.98, fifth was Penny Hunt (New Zealand) in 53.31. The other Ugandan who performed quite well at the invitational was 29 year-old Vitus Ashaba. He finished fifth in the 3000 meters-steeplechase and his time of 8:50.08 was a new Uganda national record. In an event that has for decades been dominated by Kenyans, legendary Benjamin Jipcho (Kenya) won in 8:27.43, 1968 Olympic champion Amos Biwott (Kenya) was second in 8:30.70, third was 32 year-old legendary Kipchoge Keino (Kenya) who was quite new to this event (8:32.70), fourth was Werner Schuman (West Germany) in 8:45.89. Weeks later, the ever versatile Keino would win the steeplechase gold at the Olympics, ahead of Jipcho and Biwott, in a new Olympic record. Ashaba would improve on his Uganda record by five seconds Other elite competitors at the sports meet included sprinters Valeri Borzov (Russia) and Lennox Miller (Jamaica), and middle-distance runner Mike Boit (Kenya).

Works Cited

Associated Press. "U.S. 400 Quartet Eyes 38.5," in "Oakland Tribune" (August 16, 1972). Jonathan Musere

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Musere turned 5 today!

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Judith Ayaa: Athletics Performances in Uganda, East Africa, Africa, Europe, and USA

Judith Ayaa was born on July 15, 1952 in the sub-county Koch Goma in Nwoya District in Uganda. During an era when African women participation in athletics was in its prevalently nascent and amateur stages, young Ayaa became a resounding name amongst African women track stars. Ayaa became the first Ugandan woman to win a Commonwealth Games' medal. The female Ugandan Commonwealth Games' medallists who followed in her footsteps are three: Ruth Kyalisiima (Kyarisiima/ Kyalisima) in Brisbane in 1982 where she won the silver in the 400 meters-hurdles (57.10), gold-medallist Dorcus Inzikuru in the 3000 meters-steeplechase in Melbourne in 2006 whereby she established a Games' record (9:19.51), and bronze-medallist Winnie Nanyondo who was third in the 800m (2:01.38) in Glasgow in 2012. Judith Ayaa's career on the track would be short-lived, though of significant fulfillment. The record of Judith Ayaa in the East and Central African Athletic Championships is amazing. In 1968 (Dar-es-Salaam), Ayaa won gold in the 100 meters sprint, finishing in 11.5. The following year in mid-August 1969, Ayaa cemented and confirmed her formidability by in the same championships (Kampala) winning in the 100 meters (11.8), the 200 meters (25.0), and the 400m (53.6). Jane Chikambwe, considered an athletics legend in Zambia won silvers behind Ayaa in the 100m and 200m. Here in Kampala in 1969, Ayaa was part of the Uganda 4x100m relay team that won in 49.5. In the same year, based on her personal best time of 53.6, Judith Ayaa was ranked amongst the world's top 10 female 400m runners. In 1970 at the same ECA Championships (Nairobi), Judith Ayaa did not slip behind. The slim young woman with the "Mercedes-Benz" body again won in the 100m (11.8), the 200m (24.1), and the 400m (54.0s). It was at the Commonwealth Games held in Edinburgh in Scotland in 1970 that Judith Ayaa established herself as an international female athlete to be reckoned with. At these Games, Judith Ayaa notably competed in the 100m and the 400m. On July 17th, Ayaa was placed in the first of the five 100m preliminary heats. He performed reasonably well, finishing in second place, behind Jenny Lamy of Australia, in 11.92 seconds. But the semi-finals, the next day, were not as fruitful for Ayaa. She was placed in the second of the two semi-final heats, and was beaten into sixth place (11.93) and eliminated from advancing to the finals. The finals, later in the day, were won by Raelene Boyle of Australia, followed by legendary Alice Annum of Ghana, and then Marion Hoffman of Australia for the bronze medal. There were much fewer competitors in the 400m so there would only be two rounds of competition. On July 22nd, Ayaa was placed in the second of two heats of the first round. Ayaa won in a relatively astounding time of 52.86 seconds, a new Uganda and Africa record. The finishing time by Ayaa ranked her as eleventh in the world in 1970. Alice Annum who had been scheduled to compete in the same round, did not start. Ayaa advanced to the finals that would be contested the next day. But perhaps she had ran too fast instead of running while relaxed but enough to be amongst the top four of each round that would automatically qualify for the finals. Sandra Brown of Australia, was second, and a full second behind Ayaa. The other semi-final heat in which Marilyn Neufville won in 53.05, was of more relaxation and tactfulness. The finals the next day witnessed diminutive but legendary 17 year-old Jamaican Marilyn Fay Neufville, winning in a world record of 51.02. Neufville won by an astounding more than two seconds ahead of silver medallist Sandra Brown (53.66) of Australia; she reduced the previous world record of 51.7 established (1969) by Colette Besson and Nicole Duclos both of France by nearly a second. Judith Ayaa, overtaken after slowing down near the end of the race, likely due to fatigue after her unnecessary exertion in the semi-finals, was third (53.77) in a photo-finish behind Sandra Brown and captured the bronze medal. The fatigue had likely cost her at least the silver medal; but the Commonwealth bronze would be one of Ayaa's most acclaimed international possessions! Marilyn Neufville's superb career would be short-lived because of physical injuries and inconsequential surgery. At the 1974 Commonwealth Games held in Christchurch in New Zealand Neufville was 6th in the finals of the 400m. And at the Olympic Games of 1976 held in Montreal in Canada, she participated in the first round of the 400m and qualified for the next round, but she did not move forward into the next round because of injuries. The next major event for Ayaa would be from July 16-17, 1971 at he Wallace Wade Stadium at Duke University in Durham in North Carolina. It was the USA versus Africa and the Rest of the World Meet (sometimes referred  to as the USA-Pan African Track-and-Field Meet). The event that attracted a high capacity crowd of a total of 52000 spectators was of a unified African team together with other nations (fourteen nations altogether) versus the USA team. Perhaps the main attraction was 1500m Olympic gold-medallist Kipchoge Keino who was revered and renowned for his track rivalry with American middle-distance legend and 1500m world-record (3:33.1) holder Jim Ryun. Here at Duke, Keino intended to break this world record. Other internationally acclaimed runners in the competition included Kenyan Amos Biwott (steeplechase Olympic champion), and long-distance Tunisian legend Mohammed Gammoudi. Ugandan hurdler John Akii-Bua of Uganda who was hardly known internationally, was also there to compete. Judith Ayaa won the gold medal at these USA-Pan Africa Games in 54.69. Second was Gwendolyn Norman (USA) of Sports International in 55.42, third was Jarvis Scott (USA) of Los Angeles Mercurettes in 56. 0, and fourth was Titi Adeleke (Nigeria) in 59.52. John Akii-Bua won in the intermediate hurdles, establishing an Africa record (49.0) that would be the world's best time for 1971. Smooth-sailing "flying policeman" Akii  became signified as a contender for the forthcoming Olympics in 1972 in Munich. Simultaneously, Ayaa  gained international acclaim though not to the level of Akii. Kip Keino failed to break the world record in the 1500m, but he clearly led and finished in quite an excellent 3:34.7. John Myers airs Akii-Bua's comments, here sometimes referred to as "John Akii-Buba" (1971: 6A): "The runners were good.... The track is fast. It was not uncomfortable." Other notable competitors at the track and field meet included Americans Rodney Milburn and Ron Draper (high hurdles), Kenyans Robert Ouko (800m) and Benjamin Jipcho (steeplechase); Steve Prefontaine (USA) and Miruts Yifter (Ethiopia) in the 5000m, and John Smith (USA) in the 400m. Still in 1971, at the East and Central African Championships held in Lusaka in Zambia, Ayaa was the winner in the 400m (54.7). She was also part of the Uganda gold medal winning teams in the relays: 4x100m (48.7) and 4x400m (3:50.5). The next major challenge for Ayaa, the Olympic Games of 1972 held in Munich in Germany would prove to be interesting. In the first round, Ayaa in lane two came in fourth (52.85s) thereby qualifying for the quarter-finals. In the quarter finals, Judith Ayaa was drawn in lane 7 in her heat two of four heats. The first four finishers of each heat would move on to the semi-final. Ayaa comfortably finished third and established a Uganda and Africa record of 52.68. The Uganda record, Ayaa's personal best, would stand for more than three decades. Of note, in these quarter-finals, Ayaa beat 26 year-old Colette Besson of France the diminutive surprise winner in the same event at the previous (1968) Olympics in Mexico City. Besson was in lane 3 and her 5th place finish disqualified her from advancing to the next round. Ayaa moved on to the Olympics' semi-finals. She was in lane 2, and finished in 52.91 seconds, a 7th place finish. Ayaa had put up quite a commendable performance, but the international competition was formidable, and Ayaa was eliminated in what would be her first and last Olympics competition. The eighth competitor, Christel Frese of West Germany, fell during the race and did not finish. In 1972, Ayaa became a 4-time gold medallist in the 400m at the East and Central African Championships. This time, in Dar-es-Salaam, Ayaa's winning time was 55.7. She was part of the Uganda team that won the gold medal in the 4x100m (48.7). After 1972, Ayaa's performance record would become lackluster. She got married and started having children in close succession, and neglected sports. The tumultuous regime of Amin made the situation worse. Athletes were far less financially compensated for their toil and injuries, than they have increasingly been in the recent decades. Ayaa's demise was far from glamorous; it was disheartening. At some point later in her life, while looking after her two young children, Ayaa struggled, and sometimes begged on the streets of Kampala. She would crush stones for a living. Akii-Bua, also a national team-mate with Ayaa at the Olympics in 1972, would be instrumental to the drawing attention to and the intervening in the plight of Ayaa. She was located and a European benefactor helped with expenses. Unfortunately, in 2002 Ayaa would die young at 48 or 49, at Mulago Hospital in Kampala. Ironically, Akii-Bua who was also then not faring well, had died at about the same age of death as Ayaa, earlier in 1997 at the same hospital. Ayaa's reign on the women's track was short but is superb and enduring. Trophies and national and regional competitions in northern Uganda have become commemorated in the name Judith Ayaa. Works Cited Myers, John. "Hosts Winning Score in Pan Africa Meet" in "Carolina Times" (July 24, 1971). Jonathan Musere

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Henry Morton Stanley's 1875 Presence in Uganda and the "Daily Telegraph" Invitational Letter of Recommendation

Stanley's proposal to invite British missionaries, educators and technicians to come to Uganda to further the development was corroborated as positve by Linant who happened to be a French-Belgian Protestant, and Mutesa concurred. Stanley drafted the proposal to be sent to England, handed it to Linant who would be the messenger. The two Europeans parted on April 17th 1875, Stanley intent on completing the circumnavigation of the Lake Victoria Nyanza [Nyanja].