Just weeks before she was meant to introduce her fiancé to her family, Namirembe Angella, a third-year Law student at Uganda Christian University (UCU), was laid to rest in Jjalamba Village, Mawokota, Mpigi District — her dreams of love, family, and a bright future shattered by a tragic boda boda accident.
The 23-year-old, who had been organizing her introduction ceremony for November, died on Tuesday in a crash that has since left the UCU community and her family reeling with grief.
At her burial, mourners wept openly as relatives shared how excited Angella had been about her upcoming traditional introduction. Invitations were being prepared, outfits chosen, and plans underway.
“She kept talking about how November would be her happiest month,” a close friend said quietly. “She wanted everything to be perfect — her family, her fiancé, her future.”
But instead of celebration, the family gathered to bury her — a promising young woman whose life was cut short before she could live the chapter she had been waiting for.
In a heartbreaking revelation, relatives disclosed that when the accident occurred, bystanders at the scene robbed Angella of all her belongings, including her identification and phone — items that could have helped doctors or rescuers identify her sooner.
Her family only found out the next morning that she had died.
“We were looking for her all night,” a family member said. “We called hospitals, we called friends. By the time we found her at the mortuary, it was too late.”
At UCU, Angella was known as ambitious, warm, and deeply driven. She dreamed of becoming a human rights lawyer, according to her classmates, and often spoke about wanting to “make a difference for women and girls.”
Her lecturers described her as a focused student with “leadership written all over her.”
“She was a young woman on her way to greatness,” one lecturer said. “It’s painful to lose someone who had so much to give.”
Angella’s death had initially sparked family conflict over paternity and burial rights, leading to confusion over where she would be laid to rest.
But on Thursday, as her coffin was lowered into the red soil of Mawokota, the tone shifted — from dispute to heartbreak and remembrance.
“Let her rest in peace,” an elder said. “Whatever our disagreements, she belonged to all of us.”
Hundreds of mourners filled the family compound, many wearing black and white — the colors Angella had chosen for her introduction ceremony. Instead of ululations and dance, the crowd sang hymns as her coffin was lowered into the ground.
Her fiancé, who sat quietly throughout the service, could barely speak. “She was my best friend,” he whispered. “November was supposed to be our beginning. Now it’s the month I’ll never forget.”
Namirembe Angella’s story is one of love, promise, and loss — a young woman who dreamed of celebrating her future but instead became a memory too soon.
May her soul rest in eternal peace.
