Interviews of Stella Kasirye - Collection 493

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Brief Description of This Collection

Title Page and Restrictions

Biography

An Essay on the Contents of the Collection (Scope and Content)

Lists of Audio Tapes in This Collection (Location Records)

Audio Tapes

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Collection 493 [November 19, 2002]

Kasirye, Stella; 1965-

Interviews; 1993

Audio Tapes

Brief Description . Oral history interviews with Kasirye about her childhood in Uganda, her conversion to Christian faith while at school; her involvement in programs to reach street children; her efforts to develop programs of AIDS education and care among college students and the country at large, and observations on the church in Uganda and missionary efforts there. The time period covered is 1965 to 1993.

Restrictions: None.

Biography

Scope and Content

Stella Kasirye was interviewed by Robert Shuster in September and November, 1993, at the Billy Graham Center. The events described in the interview cover the time period 1965-1993.

T1 ( 66 minutes). Growing up with father and stepmother; description of her father and his strictness; changes in his life after he gave his life to Christ; discovering her birth mother and grandmother at the age of eight and later contacts; description of her stepmother, Eva; influence of her step siblings on her; growing up in central Uganda; reasons for father's emphasis on education; memories of things she enjoyed in her childhood; difficulties in school; going to the Anglican church; contact with the Reawakened, Christians from the East African revival; reasons for delaying baptism; being transferred to Namagunga High School, a Catholic school; reading Catherine Marshall's book Christie and being convinced of life after death; several conversions among her friends at school; attending a charismatic prayer meeting; giving her life to Christ the next day after reading a pamphlet; reaction among her friends and teachers; support and encouragements from some of the school's nuns; growing in Christ because of challenges to her faith in school; influence of a Baptist missionary she met through Scripture Union; minimal effect of the upheavals of the Idi Amin regime on her; memories of that period; influence of Festo Kivengere's books on her; more comments on the Reawakened or Bazukufu

T2 ( 21 minutes). The compassionate nature of Kivengere's Christian faith; Kasirye's desire to go to seminary; reason for entering the social work program at Makerere University; the joys and difficulties of being a social worker; working with street children and getting their trust; learning from street children; ways that street children can be part of the community; her leadership role in Baptist campus ministries during her university education; learning form her experience as leader of her dormitory; her social work internship

T3 ( 64 minutes). Putting together a program on AIDS awareness for FOCUS (Fellowship of Christian Unions); departmental difficulties during her time as an instructor at Makerere University; the social impact problem of AIDS in Uganda; reluctance of churches to deal with AIDS victims; growing impact of the disease on the country and the church; response to people who did not want to help AIDS victims because they were sinners; the great influence of the church in Uganda; FOCUS' emphasis on the church's need to fulfill its biblical mission during the AIDS crisis; discussions with students about social relations and self esteem; isolation of students from the tribal culture in which they grew up; coordination between Christian groups in AIDS education and care; outreach of students who had been through the FOCUS program to the rest of the country; description of the development of the program and its impact; strategy for involving churches; trends among college students' attitudes toward AIDS; Kasirye's own background as an asset in working with students; blessings that Kasirye received from her work and growing understanding of her vocation as a social worker and counselor; her expectations of for graduate education at Wheaton; the great influence of pastors in Uganda and the great demands upon them; lack of a personal commitment to Christ among some clergy; strong influence of the wealthy in churches; departure of many young people from mainline churches because of the rigidity and formalism; disdain of mainline churches for independent churches ("papyrus churches") and the lack of trained leaders in the independent churches; importance of women in the church ministry and their exclusion from leadership

T4 ( 17 minutes). The need for foreign missions to Uganda to be more open to working with Uganda Christian leaders and allowing them to set priorities; need for missionaries to be better prepared and more part of the culture and Christian community in Uganda; Uganda missions programs to other parts of the country; hindrances to the growth of Uganda foreign missions

Provenance

The materials in this collection were given to the Archives of the Billy Graham Center by Stella Kasirye in 1993.

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Last Revised: 11/20/02
Expiration: indefinite