As the Uganda Buddhist Centre (UBC) marks its 20th anniversary this year, a group of Buddhist teachers and supporters has organized to help the center secure a piece of land they say could determine its future — and protect a fragile ecosystem on the shores of Lake Victoria.
As a monk, Bhante Buddharakkhita, UBC’s founder and abbot, does not solicit funds himself. The effort is being led instead by a group of Buddhist teachers and friends who are deeply moved by his teaching and by UBC’s impact, and who have organized on the community’s behalf. (Get to better-know Bhante Buddharakkhita through his Lion’s Roar “Meet a Teacher” installment.)
Watch as Bhante Buddharakkhita details some of the diverse and ambitious projects of the UBC:
UBC has the opportunity to acquire 13 acres of wetland on Lake Nalubaale (Lake Victoria) — the source of the Nile — adjacent to its existing campus in Bulega-Garuga, near Entebbe. The land would allow UBC to build what organizers describe as the first retreat center on the African continent built solely for the purpose of sharing the dhamma, while permanently protecting the wetland from development.
According to the campaign, if the land isn’t secured, it faces being sold for resort development or a military base — either of which, organizers say, would bring noise, light, and waste pollution to the wetland and threaten food and water security for the schools, orphanage, and surrounding villages that depend on it.
The asking price is $1.75 million. As of this writing, $781,888 has been raised toward a total goal $2 million; the funds raised include $760,000 in pledges from anonymous donors. Organizers say half the total is needed for a deposit by September 15, with the remaining $875,000 — plus legal fees and taxes — due by November 15.
A Monk’s Path Back to Uganda
Bhante Buddharakkhita, born Steven Kaboggoza in Uganda to a Roman Catholic family, first encountered Buddhism in 1990 while studying business in India, where two of his hostel-mates were Thai Buddhist monks. Bhante Buddharakkhita is the author of Planting Dhamma Seeds: The Emergence of Buddhism in Africa, with a foreword by his teacher, Bhante Gunaratana. Among the stories he shares with supporters is that of his first meeting with the Dalai Lama, after which he thought, “I’m hooked now.”
He was ordained in 2002 by Sayadaw U Silananda at the Tathagata Meditation Center in San Jose, California, making him one of the first African Buddhist monks. He then spent eight years training under Bhante Henepola Gunaratana — author of the bestselling Mindfulness in Plain English — at the Bhavana Society in West Virginia, before returning to Uganda in 2005 to found UBC.
His path back to Uganda was not without danger: he has said that when local communities have misunderstood his robes and his mission, he has faced hostility, including being shot at and narrowly escaping the bullet. That history, and the broader legacy of conflict in the region, has shaped his approach to teaching, which he has described to supporters as “Afro-Dhamma,” a melding of Buddhist practice with African culture and healing.
Twenty Years of UBC
Founded in 2005, UBC was the first Buddhist center in Uganda and the first in Africa established by an African monk. Over two decades, it has grown well beyond a meditation hall: the campus now includes the Buddhist Peace School (pre-school and primary) and the African Buddhist High School, along with water infrastructure and medical services for the surrounding community — a resource, supporters say, for both Uganda and the international dharma community.
How to Help
The organizing group is inviting the wider dharma community to join them at whatever level is meaningful, as the effort works against its September and November deadlines — what they’ve called a “stretch gift,” whether that’s $100 or $100,000. Those interested in giving through a donor-advised fund or ACH transfer are asked to contact campaign organizers directly through the GoFundMe page.
