This is a question we need to raise and answer if we are to attract more Africans to Humanism. During 2005 and 2006, I had one of the worst experiences in a long time with people whom I tried to educate about Humanism. I believe I wasn’t successful in those two years because 90 percent of the people I tried to convince didn’t believe my words and didn’t develop any interest in Humanism. Having failed to convert more than 30 people to Humanism in two years, I asked myself a number of questions including: “Am I using the right and the easiest approach while introducing people to Humanism? Am I defending Humanism positively or negatively? Am I supposed to get training first on how to educate people about Humanism? Am I missing a Humanist syllabus? Why have religions succeeded in converting so many people?” and many other related questions. After raising and answering a series of questions, I realised that I was not using the right approach because I didn’t know how sensitive and delicate the subject was.

I always used hard terminology whenever I was introducing Humanism to a new person. I used very few words in my teaching and I thought they were the only right words to use while explaining Humanism to a person for the first time. The worst part of it is that at the beginning, I concentrated mainly on arguments like there is no God, religions do cheat, and many other issues related to myths. Many people, including my friends, only listened to me the first time and never paid attention to me again. I then realised that there was something wrong with my approach and I needed to change it.

Unfortunately, I never had any other alternative to introducing the topic to new people than the way I had been introduced to it. While trying to understand Humanism initially I heard words like scepticism, rationalism, fundamentalism, fanaticism, free inquiry and many other words that were not part of my vocabulary at that time. The reason behind God and religions was explained to me so well that I asked myself how a person could talk about not believing in God. Being a newcomer to an alien world which was so very different from what I knew till then, I was unwilling to join the movement. I totally convinced myself that Humanism meant opposing religions and the God in whom I believed. But I was afraid to confess this openly. Rather, I just accepted the registration form for joining the Humanist movement and requested for some time to think about it. While at home, I read a variety of definitions of Humanism from the registration form. When I read about what Humanism meant to an individual, community etc., I learnt that Humanism is just concerned with people and what people do, more than opposing religions as I had understood it at first.

Eventually, I thought that there were probably some other people who also felt the way I felt when I heard about Humanism for the first time. I was just fortunate that I was able to find and read some more information about Humanism. Otherwise, the information I received from current Humanists would have been too complicated for me to embrace Humanism. I have just learnt that religions mean a lot to Africans and while handling this topic, one needs to be very tactful. Besides, I believe I have proved that religious fanaticism and fundamentalism are not the right topics to begin with while introducing Humanism to Africans. It appears to me like teaching about a mammalian heart to a primary school pupil. The pupil will just get confused and hate the teacher as well as the subject.

Various religions in Africa have been successful in attracting a number of followers. Why can’t African Humanists apply some of the techniques that religious people use to attract a very big number of their followers?

Mind you, religions are introduced to children at a very early age before and after joining schools and religious subjects are learned at schools, which isn’t the case with Humanism. On top of that, religions are introduced to children using very simple, interesting stories, songs, books, magazines and other methods intended to arouse the children’s interest. Therefore, our introduction regarding Humanism in Africa needs improvement. It has to assume that the African people are no more knowledgeable about this subject than children, and approach them accordingly. Let us use simple and measured language while teaching them the virtues of Humanism for the first time.

Another lesson to learn from religious people is that religious institutions design their own syllabus. This helps them to preach from the simple to complex unlike us Humanists who at times begin with topics that deal with the supernatural which might be among the hardest issues that you can peacefully address in Africa. It is better to begin with the simplest, most interesting and less scary topics that also require less effort. Addressing religious issues at the beginning requires one to raise one’s voice higher than that of a politician during serious presidential campaigns. This might well scare people who are new to Humanism. They might take off thinking that Humanism is all about arguments. We should first peacefully welcome new people to our Humanist family and then expose them to 99 sweet juicy fruits of Humanism. The fruit which might not taste very should be served last. However bitter the God-related fruit will be, it won’t be easy for our visitors to run out of the Humanist house after feasting on all our 99 sweet juicy fruits. Besides, the bitterness of the hundredth fruit will just be neutralised by the sweetness of the first 99 fruits swallowed with less difficulty and eventually its sweetness will also be noticed by the visitors.

UHESWO is now well known in Uganda as a women’s Humanist group that is there to rehabilitate young prostitutes, support female school drop outs and single young mothers, educate women about their rights, and many other activities. We have tried to avoid the attention of people that might believe we are misleading religious young women in the country, or that we are a group of homosexuals and prostitutes. These were not the first topics we addressed to the public. By the time have already made a good impact in the country so people will be ready to listen to us.

Because of this good image that we now have in the country, many people ask me what Humanism means. I am no longer using hard terminology to explain the meaning of Humanism to people. I always use the following phrases:
Humanism means loving your neighbour the way you love yourself.
Humanism means leading a good life with every body.
Humanism means helping the disadvantaged and the needy.
Humanism means leading a natural life.
Humanism means respecting other people’s rights.
Humanism means application of science and reason to solve human challenges.
Humanism means respecting oneself and one’s friend.
Humanism means the potential to do a number of things.
Humanism means being sceptical about everything.
Humanism means critical thinking.

I use many other phrases as well. Being selective in the terms we use and the topics we share has helped us to attract very many youths to our group now. I was worried during the launch of UHESWO Makerere University branch on 28th March when the Chief Guest Gunnar Olfsen stated in his speech that in Norway, homosexuality is legal. Despite all the wonderful words that were in Gunnar’s speech, a young female student approached him afterwards inquiring if he was intending to spread the good news about homosexuality at the campus. We later discussed it with him and concluded that such topics weren’t fit to be discussed with newly married brides of Humanism. In other words, topics about what is taken to be illegal in a particular country shouldn’t be among the first issues to be addressed to the brides of Humanism. These are carefully handled later as subtopics of human rights. The most important thing is that we don’t need to rush with some of the delicate matters like homosexuality, prostitution, religion and others. Why should we run when we have a chance of walking? It is better to walk 1000 miles than fail to complete even 10 miles while running at a high speed. Let us be slow but sure. We just need to be focused and determined. Provided we know what we want, we shall eventually succeed with Humanism in Africa.

Betty Nassaka, a young Humanist, is Chairperson of Ugandan Humanist Effort to Save Women (UHESWO)