I'm Ending my 2025 Celebrations With Swimming

I focused so much on poetry this year with the laudable and celebratory publication and launch of 'Feeling,' the poetry anthology celebrating iconic Ugandan women. 

I choose to end my 2025 celebrations with swimming. I have been swimming as an experienced aquatic individual for close to 30 years. Some of those years were hghly consistent while others were not so much.

 

After spending  copious amounts of time writing, editing and speaking poetry, I went back to my favourite sport, which is swimming.

The refreshing coolness of the water. The acoustic nature of the splashes. The welcoming aqua blue. The way my body glides like a good dream. Swimming matches m personality. It invigorates me. It provides pleasure of such magnificent measure.

It was almost 30 ears qago while an undergraduate that my friend Pamela Namutebi introduced me to the wider universise of swimming. I learned the breast stroke, backstroke and butterfly, thanks to her.

 Thanks to her, swimming is the reason why my body is in great shape.

Bless!

Bev

The Faith That Changes You

There is a faith that changes you. There is a situation that comes into your life that is so significant, pivotal and sacred that it defines the rest of your life, your thoughts and your presence.

I listened to Miriam Ekirapa Musaali's story. Miriam was the Director of Legal and Board Affairs at Capital Markets Authority in Uganda, a loved and distinguished individual. I had always known Miriam to be a woman of faith, until I listened to her story and the very definition of faith shifted.

Jack, her husband, is an old friend of mine and a son to a fellow writer, Philomena. Miriam and Jack lived a perfect life, which she herself testified in her story. And indeed by every standard of the word. Married for twenty years, living in a  dream home, climbing the corporate ladders of success, in fields of their choosing. 

Miriam held a first class Master's degree in Law, from the highly coveted Cambridge University in England. She was receiving recognition for her hard work and making positive impact in the communities. Both her and Jack were blessed with three children and came from loving families on both sides. Theirs was a dream.

Their life was actually beyond perfect. God was clearly in everthing that they did; devout and admired Christians.

It was not until 2023, when, as Miriam puts it, her life went from 1,000 to 0. She was diagniosed with Stage 4 colon cancer. After what appeared to be a stomach ache at the end of 2022, she visited doctor after doctor and was tested for typhoid and other infections, until a colonoscopy revealed that she actually had colon cancer.

A revelation of this kind would test anyone's faith as it did indeed test Miriam and Jack. And yet, what happened was a strengthened resolve to build their faith. I do not know how they did it. With over 20 rounds of treatment and over 60 trips to specialists, with physical pain that could only best be described as hell within hell and bills that amounted to over half a billion Uganda shillings (over 150,000 USD).

How does a couple that has lived a worthy life, generous and loved, gifted in every way, overcome such devastation. How do they survive this!

Miriam spoke of pains that came from every pore of her body. The anguish she experienced was actuall hell within hell. And et she still continued in prayer. Jack prayed ceaselessly for his wife, and together with relatives, they accompanied Miriam on the frequent trips for treatment and care.

The faith that saw them through this was similar to the faith that Abraham had when he trusted God to the point of giving up his only promised son. And God blessed Abraham because of his faith.

The faith that Miriam had was similar to Hannah's, who cried for significant time for God to remove her barrenness. And He did.

Miriam and Jack had a faith that only comes with a promise.

It has been a very long time since I listened to people of faith testifying with such passion, sharing God's word with such earnestness and believing so strongly in the Living Word.

This loving coupld did not fundraise for treatment. Trusting in faith, all the medical bills were cleared. In the midst of this hurricane, their faith saw them through.

When Iistened to the story, I no longer felt sad that Miriam passed away. I felt encouraged. Miriam's life was fulfilled. Jack and the children are in safe hands with God.

I would like to thank Miriam for sharing her story of faith. Even though she is no longer with us on earth, her faith continues to move mountains.

Bless.

Beverley N Nsengiyunva

I am a Swimmer

Swimming is the language that my body fully comprehends.

While I used to swim as a child, it was Pamela Namutebi (Mrs, Ngobye), who taught me how to become A SWIMMER.

For close to 30 years now, I have been swimming with ease, manoeuvering through the water with aquatic calmness. 

If any other person had taken the reins to coach me, I probably would not be swimming as I do. I had the right coach and I had the right attitude, thanks to her.

If you want to progress well and progress far, get someone who truly cares about your journey and who has proven positive experience as well. There are so many self-help gurus whom we have become addicted to and yet with little impact to show for it.

What do you really want?

Find someone who will genuinely take you there. If you have to pay for it, then by all means do and keep checking your progress.

If you are in Kampala Uganda, I highly recommend Waves Fitness Centre in Kiwatule. They open at 6am all week and are clean, professional and trustworthy.

Bless!

Bev

Protect Your Boundaries

 If I do not treat my WhatsApp as an office and create boundaries, I will feel violated.

In most offices. there are clear contratual guidelines of when work should begin and end, and clea guidelines of the work expectations. Often, these lines are crossed. For example, even when work ends at 5pm, meetings are held up to 7pm, or online meetings continue up to 10pm. Sometimes impromptu weekend meetings are scheduled and in most cases, none of the employees are remunerated for the overtime.

It becomes worse when we feel entitled to people's online spaces. The WhatsApp office groups become unprotected. Calls for proposals and last minute edits and responses are sent after 6pm. 

In other instances, family members, colleagues, friends and acquaintances send messages close to midnight, they call during dinner time and demand our attention.

We must create boundaries to protect ourselves. Just like national parks have boundaries for the animals' safety and property owners have boundaries to mark their land.

We must create boundaries for online communication. When I wake u before dawn, Ithat is my private quiet time with God and should not be violated. I will not respond to your call or message. Any urgent message will always finds its way to me and through discernment, will be identified.

WhatsApp spaces need opening and closing hours so that we protect our time, minds and our own sanity. Chunks of private time should be spent alone, with family, reading, taking on hobbies or just relaxing. When we respond to messages at all hours of the day, we sent the message that we do not have boundaries.

Protect your space.

Put a sign that says, Sorry I've missed you. See you tomorrow at 9am.

The Great 'Great' Gatsby-Reviewed by Beverley N N

When I was about seven or eight years old, my English teacher, after reading to us 'Charlotte's Web,' gently tossed the novel onto her desk, after which she told us,

"Every time I finish a good book, I toss it onto the table."

After I read 'The Great Gatsby,' I gently closed my laptop and leaned back with a smile of contentment. I had just read what has been arguably categorised as one of the world's 100 greatest novels, by Scott Fitzgerald. The themes in this endearing novel did not confound me. Instead, I felt pity and understanding for the characters and the 'Greats.'

'The Great Gatsby,' is available for free download, and as you read it, you will marvel at how our minds can reduce our greatest works to common misadventures and tragedies.

Nick Carraway, a World War 1 veteran and Yale University alumnus, is the voice of this novel, caught in the middle of swirling worlds of the rich and wealthy, caught in the middle of their dreams and lofty ambitions and also their duplicity. He observes how the heart, once unchecked, can lead to a spiralling of events, and eventual tragedy.

The affairs between Tom Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson, and Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby, are central to this novel. These people who belong to the upper class of the fictional communities of East Egg and West Egg in New York and its nearby surroundings, are not immune to the salacious lives common to man.

Their downfall is exactly that. Instead of living above reproach, they succumbed to their lustful desires and met tragedies that could have been prevented.

They lost their appeal and sense of mystery once they became common and basic. Jay Gatz, who transformed himself through big dreams and hard work, becoming Jay Gatsby, with the American dream before him, could not contain his desires for Daisy Buchanan, a married woman.

Daisy's husband, Tom, likewise, lived out his own affairs. Amidst these were the lavish  parties, luxurious lifestyles and extended displays of wealth amongst the upper class. This was unsustainable, because of the secrets and lies, the gossip and deception and eventually the facade came to a halt.

Published in 1925, this novel captures the inner thoughts of men and women, the systems meant to create illusions of happiness and the drawbacks of depression.

It also rides on the American dream, which is real as much as it is an illusion. It rides on idealism of friendship, all of which still exist today.

A must-read.

Reviewed by Beverley N N

Bev

I remember holding onto the Three Thousand Shillings, my first ever prize money, and smiling from ear to ear.

I was in senior one and had just won the school dancing competition. I held onto those green notes with pride, a symbol of my tenacity and ability.

Julia Majugo, who bore another name at the time, handed that money to me and said with a smile, "Congratulations." She was the Entertainment prefect.

I was Janet Jackson and Vanilla Ice. I was indestructible.

Three Thousand shillings at the time could buy three packs of crispy Bon Appetit chips. It was a lot of money for a young teenage dancer. Dancers of those days who were raised by Turbo and Paula Abdul were not that fussy.

All we needed was a floorboard to do our back spins and a pair of high tops for the running man.

My exercise routines comprise a lot of dancing.

We should never let go of what made us stand out as children. That talent that gave us a spark should always remain. If you loved art and were good at it, then as an adult, you should draw, paint or take part in an artistic hobby and if you don't, then there is a vital part of your life that is missing.

You know that there is something missing and yet you are unable to articulate it. It is art.

You may be a world class neuro surgeon, or the most reliable mechanic or salesperson and yet feel incomplete. That is because you have let go of the childhood hobbies or talents that gave you a spark.

It is not for nothing that you were called a dolphin when you were younger. Go back and swim. You don't need to compete but just dive back into the water and relive that unparalleled aquagasm.

It will not matter where I am thrust in the world. I will always write. I will always find time to dance and I will swim.

I'm Grateful to Doris Ndizeye

I closed my eyes for 3 seconds and in that momentary silence, wrapped in a pink kitenge laying on my boat shaped mattress, I knew that Doris Ndizeye was the best choice for emcee. This was for the July launch of 'Feeling,' the poetry book celebrating iconic Ugandan women, published by the Babishai Niwe Poetry Foundation.

Beverley, Flavia and Doris (L-R)

I enjoy planning events. I do. I enjoy sitting with the organisers and walking through the venue weeks prior to the event. I relish asking the kitchen staff what meals they plan to prepare for the guests and taking photos with th head chef. I like listening to the General Manager of a hotel as he persuades me to bring my husband for a discounted weekend in the well furnished suites.

Planning events is like whispering into the future and imparting blessings on every guest.

When I am an emcee, I am also an assistant events coordinator. I need to breathe the same air, listening to the same conversations and walk where the event planners have walked, so that I am able to nuzzle the event with a well prepared emceeing experience. It's not just talking and directing people to the next point on the agends. It is an experience.

I invited Doris Ndizeye to host the launch of 'Feeling,' the highly anticipated poetry anthology celebrating iconic Ugandan women.

As the founder of the Babishai Niwe Poetry Foundation, my heart has scaled the emotional heigts of despair and experienced the elevated elations of  triumph. I have walked miles to deliver invitation cards and meet journalists and sat for hours with individuals in restaurants delivering proposals. 

I knew that Doris shared these values of preparation with me. How did I know? Because I trained her. I trust people whom I have trained and have been tested. 

Doris embodies thoroughness. She grasped her task with such alacrity that pleasantly surprised me at every turn. She asked questions, reached out to the individual poets, visited the venue and inquired about the guest list.

There are people who host events and 30 minutes to the occasion, start to bother the organisers with bothersome questions like, 'What is the theme of the occasion? or What is the name of the organisation in full?' And then they begin meddling with the sound team making personal requests for songs and rearranging the entertainment order. 

They will often ask for a heavy meal at this time as well, claiming their sugar levels need to be levelled so that they too can level up. We know these people. They always take organisers and organisations for granted and yet they keep getting away with it. 

Take control and hire someone who has been trained and tested, or enlist for training yourself.

I am grateful to Doris because a couple of years ago when she specificially reached out to me to be trained on effecting hosting of events, I was also able to carve out a niche curriculum for this purpose.

I am grateful to Doris because she over delivered.

Have a wonderful week, everyone.

Beverley N Nsengiyunva