Charles Wesley Mumbere left his nurse’s aide job in Harrisburg last year to rejoin the Ugandan people who call him king. He is to be crowned Monday in Kasese in an elaborate ceremony recognized by the Ugandan government.
I’m visiting my parents in Harrisburg, PA this weekend. The Patriot News has a surprising article about Charles Wesley Mumbere, a Ugandan working as a nurse’s aide in Harrisburg, who will be recognized by the Ugandan government on Monday as the king of Rwenzururu in the western part of the country. He inherited the kingdom at age 13, but the government did not recogize kingdoms at the time. At age 30, he was sent to the U.S. to get an education as part of a “peace deal” with the government. Wesley moved to D.C. and began to work at a nursing home and won political asylum. He moved to Harrisburg in 1999. On Monday he will become king at a ceremony in Kasese that President Museveni is expected to attend.
Timeline
- 1965: Charles Wesley Mumbere, at 13, inherits the title of king of an ethnic group in western Uganda.
- 1970: At 18, he assumes authority from a regent.
- 1984: He comes to the United States on a Ugandan government stipend to study.
- 1987: Amid upheaval in Uganda, the stipend stops. He takes a job in a nursing home in Washington, D.C., and gains political asylum.
- 1999: He moves to Harrisburg and works as a nurse’s aide.
- July: He prepares to return to Uganda, amid signs the government will recognize his kingdom, Rwenzuzuru, in Uganda’s Kasese district.
