An Evening with Shoshanna Nambi

Shoshanna Nambi

Shoshanna Nambi, Photo Credit: Lorne Mallin

Shoshanna Nambi, a young leader and activist from Uganda’s Abayudaya Jewish community and one of the first Abayudaya women to graduate from university, will present a fresh perspective on the roles of women and the challenges they face in her village. She will also share Jewish music from the Abayudaya tradition.

Her talk, free and open to the public, takes place at the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute, 515 South Street, Waltham on October 8 at 7 p.m.

Ms. Nambi, 25, has been a leader in encouraging women to take more active roles in a male-oriented society. She is touring with Kulanu, a non-profit that supports isolated and emerging Jewish communities around the world.

“The story of the Abayudaya is inspiring,” said Barbara Vinick, co-editor with HBI's Co-director Shulamit Reinharz, of Today I Am a Woman: Stories of Bat Mitzvah around the World. “The community has created a strong and vital Jewish presence in the heart of Uganda and works hard to improve the quality of life for its own people as well as for its neighbors. Ms. Nambi will tell us how they accomplished so much.”

The Abayudaya trace their roots to 1919 when Semei Kakungulu, a local governor, adopted all of Moses’ commandments. He and his followers were called the Abayudaya, “sons of Judah,” and over the next seven decades, Jewish travelers from the U.S. Europe and Israel visited, instructing them in post-Biblical Judaism.

Arye Oded, an Israeli studying at Makerere University in 1962 and the first Israeli to meet the Abayudaya community, was an influential visitor. Oded was part of the Israeli Foreign Ministry over many years and served in several countries including Uganda and Malawi, and as ambassador to Kenya, Zambia, Mauritius, Swaziland, Lesotho and the Seychelles.

In 1995, Kulanu connected with the Abayudaya community in meaningful ways. In 2002, they brought a bet din to enable hundreds of Abayudaya to affirm their Judaism and be recognized by world Jewry. Today, Kulanu collaborates with the Abayudaya on 20 or more educational and sustainable development projects including:

  • A primary and secondary school for the Abayudaya as well as their Christian and Muslim neighbors
  • The school nutrition program which funds daily breakfast and lunch for the 800 students
  • Economic sustainability and other community support programs, such as micro-credit loans, vanilla and coffee co-ops, and a women's association.
  • Clean water and electricity sources.

Ms. Nambi joined the Abayudaya community when she moved to her grandparents' home near Nabugoye Hill, the main Abayudaya village and entered Semei Kakungulu High School. A quick learner, she began to teach the younger children in the community on Shabbat mornings while gaining facility in Hebrew, learning to read Torah, leading prayers in the synagogue, and acting as English translator for visitors. In 2006, she became a bat mitzvah at Moses Synagogue, a highlight of her religious life.

Among her many accomplishments, Ms. Nambi, along with another student, founded the Abayudaya Girls' Magazine as a means of empowering young Abayudaya women through writing and poetry. She taught adult literacy Kulanu’s program and was active in forming the Abayudaya Youth Organization (AYO). At Kampala International University, Ms. Nambi received a B.A. in accounting and business management in 2011. While there, she initiated Sabbath services for Abayudaya students.

Today, Ms. Nambi serves as a health care educator and accountant, providing modern health care information to members of her own community as well as to neighbors of all faiths.  She works for RAIN-UGANDA, an organization founded by Sam Wamani, an Abayudaya medical officer, and addresses previously unmet health needs for women in the Mbale region. They provide HIV testing, cervical and breast cancer screening and other crucial services for hundreds of rural women who previously went undiagnosed.

"I know the audience will be moved by the presentation of this remarkable woman," Vinick said.

RSVP is recommended but not required. Light refreshments will be served. For more information, email hbi@brandeis.edu.