Uganda

The first baptism took place near Nchwanga after about two years of work. The first convert was an old blind man named Joshua, who lived at Mityana, 70 miles (110 kilometers)
away. In his enthusiasm he closed his small tobacco shop and had his son take him to all his friends to tell them of his newfound faith.
Maxwell paid a visit to the kabaka (king) of Buganda, presenting him with two specially bound books—Ellen White’s Great Controversy and Patriarchs and Prophets. The kabaka later was instrumental in securing for SDAs a plot of land at Mityana when prejudice toward a new church was strong. In 1928 Rye Andersen joined Maxwell at Nchwanga. Andersen was temporarily in charge when in 1929 Maxwell was called to succeed W. T. Bartlett as superintendent of the East African Union (which was then under the Northern European Division). Later, in the same year,
V. E. Toppenberg came to Uganda as superintendent. Shortly after his arrival the field headquarters were moved to a more central location.
In 1932 Andersen went to the Eastern province to open work, and in 1934 established the Kakoro Mission, 12 miles (20 kilometers) from Mbale. He was assisted by African workers H. Guweddeko and K. Kigulla, who went with him to the Eastern province, and by an African worker from Kenya, Ezekiel Rewe.
New Administrative Arrangements. In 1933 the unentered territory of southern Sudan was added to that of Uganda to form the Upper Nile Union, with V. E. Toppenberg as the superintendent. At this time there were three Uganda stations and a membership of 281. During 1935 M. E. Lind came to Kakoro as director and later held evangelistic meetings in a number of places. The work was taken into the northern area when Lind and L. Kaddu held a series of meetings among the Lango people.
The Upper Nile Union (Uganda) was transferred to the Southern African Division when
World War II made it difficult to administer the territory from Northern Europe. Another reorganization in 1943 returned Uganda to “field” status, with G. A. Lewis as president, and it became part of the new East African Union. In this same year F. H. Muderspach established the Katikamu Mission in the Central province and M. E. Lind went to open work in the Western province. At Kazingo the king of Toro gave a plot of land on which a church was built. In 1948 an estate was bought about 11 miles (17 kilometers) from Fort Portal among the foothills of the Ruwenzori Mountains. On this estate the Ruwenzori Station was opened.
In 1943 the first five Uganda workers were ordained to the ministry. In 1955 Kakoro Station in the Eastern province was placed under the care of an African directorY. Bamanya. In 1963 D. Bazarra became the first African president of the Uganda Field.
A training school built at Nchwanga was later merged with the Bugema Training School, now Bugema Adventist College. In 1950 the Ishaka Mission Hospital was opened. Most of the stations operate medical work on a dispensary level.
In 1987 Uganda became a union by itself. In 1994 there were four fields and one mission in the new union: the Central, Eastern, Southwestern, and Western Uganda fields, and the Northern Uganda Mission.