The Gospel according to St. John records a curious miracle
in its second chapter. At a wedding in Cana of Galilee, Jesus commanded water
in six stone jars to turn into wine and it did. And from the reaction of the crowds
who partook of it, it apparently was quite good stuff. For centuries since then,
alcohol-centrics have had a field day justifying some of their excesses basing
on this singular miracle (it is not mentioned anywhere in the three Synoptic
Gospels). It is in dispute however if any serious drinker really needs a
miraculous excuse to hit their favorite bar.
That miracle is so entrenched in Christianity that few
escape its mention while growing up. And I am no exception. I heard it told so
many times that the miracle itself lost its appeal to me along the way. Mention
of it would only serve to elicit the most blank stare from me. And that is in
no way to take away from the awe of the moment back then but time passes and
dulls the senses.
That was my standard reaction until I heard the song
"Wine into Water" by T Graham Brown. Apparently, he loved the bottle
so dearly that it had plunged him to depths he could never have imagined
possible. At the very bottom of the alcohol pit, he felt he could not sink any
further and cried out for help. Divine help. He picked up his guitar and
together with Steve Wariner, they penned this memorable country tune.
When I first listened to the lyrics, the water into wine
miracle took on a new significance. I realized that sometimes in life, we come
to that place where we wish for a reversal of our fortunes. What at the time
appeared as a good thing to us can be the one that now enslaves us and we pray
to the gods that they restore things to their factory settings, wine back into water. A
near-impossible feat if you ask me. I have been there on some occasions.
And when I read about the altercation between Winnie
Byanyima and security operatives camped at her home in a Kampala suburb, the wine
song sprang to mind. For those unfamiliar with Uganda's politics, the country
held presidential elections about three months ago. The main opposition leader
Dr. Kizza Besigye disputed the result of that election and has since been incarcerated
in his own home under unclear circumstances. Armed security personnel have laid
siege to his private residence since that fateful 18th day of February 2016.
Winnie Byanyima happens to be his wife.
The story goes that Ms Byanyima returned to the country a
few days ago only to be confronted by armed men in uniform demanding to check
her bags before she could be granted access to her home. "Seriously???!!!"
she must have exclaimed. In the aftermath, she took to Twitter to express her
displeasure and revulsion at such a flagrant violation of her privacy and
rights.
You need to hear this. The said Ms Byanyima is not your
run-of-the mill woman. (And neither is Dr Besigye her husband).
They have both featured prominently on Uganda's political
landscape for the last 30-plus years. Wikipedia gives us a glimpse of Ms Byanyima's
lofty stature (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnie_Byanyima). She is an
aeronautical engineer, politician and diplomat. She served as the director of
the Gender Team in the Bureau for Development Policy at the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) from 2006. She has been the executive director of Oxfam
International since 2013.
She was born in 1959 in Mbarara District in the Western
Region of Uganda. Her parents are Boniface Byanyima, one-time national chairman
of the Democratic Party (DP) in Uganda, and Gertrude Byanyima (RIP), a former
schoolteacher. Clearly, politics runs through her blood.
Ms Byanyima attended the prestigious Mount Saint Mary's
College Namagunga in Mukono District. She went on to obtain a bachelor's degree
in aeronautical engineering from the University of Manchester, becoming the
first female Ugandan to become an aeronautical engineer. She later received a
master's degree in mechanical engineering from Cranfield University,
specializing in energy conservation.
Following the completion of her training as an aeronautical
engineer, Byanyima worked as a flight engineer for the now defunct Uganda
Airlines. When Yoweri Museveni launched the 1981–1986 guerilla war, Byanyima
left her job and joined the armed rebellion. Apparently, Museveni and Byanyima
had been raised together at the Byanyima household as children, with the
Byanyima family paying for all Museveni's education and scholastic needs.
If all of this is anything to go by, it is obvious that Ms
Byanyima and Museveni's relation is more familial than political. But most
important, Museveni, Byanyima, and her husband Kizza Besigye were all combatants
in the National Resistance Army (NRA) during the guerilla war that brought
Museveni to power in 1986. He has ruled Uganda since.
From that point onwards, her star just kept on rising and
shining brighter with every passing year.
After Museveni captured power, Ms Byanyima served as
Uganda's ambassador to France from 1989 until 1994. She then returned home and
became an active participant in Ugandan politics, serving first as a member of
the Constituent Assembly that drafted the 1995 Ugandan Constitution. She then
served two consecutive five-year terms as a member of parliament (MP),
representing Mbarara Municipality from 1994 until 2004. She was then appointed
director of the Directorate of Women, Gender and Development at the
headquarters of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She served in that
capacity until she was appointed to the UNDP job UNDP in November 2006.
I repeat, Ms Byanyima is not a run-of-the-mill woman.
You can safely say that she's been there, seen it, done it
all. Imagine her fury at returning home recently only to be confronted by armed
"thuggish looking men in civilian clothes" who demanded to look inside
her bags (and probably frisk her) before she could be allowed into her home. Imagine
the humiliation she felt, a humiliation fueled by the fact that it was
orchestrated by instruments of the regime she had shot to power, a regime whose
ideology she had served to shape during her days on the inside, a regime she
had finally turned her back to and transformed herself into its pariah in the
process. It is a heavy price to pay and it must weigh heavily on her mind.
If by any chance Ms Byanyima has listened to T Graham
Brown's "Wine Into Water" song, these lines must resonate with her
during these trying times in her life.
"And once upon a time, You turned the water into wine
And now, on my knees, I'm turning to You, Father
Could You help me turn the wine back into water?
Could
You help me turn this wine back into water?"
