Mt. Everest/The Equator

I remember a literary trip to Hebei Province in China and there was a guest from Nepal. 

How did it feel to come from a country like Nepal, that holds the world's highest peak, Mt. Everest? It must be one of the greatest feelings in the world.

I kept asking him about it.

"Have you been to Mt. Everest?"  I asked.

"Yes, I see it often and as a school, we would tour there.

"How does it feel?" I probed.

He must feel like a rock star. Imagine glimpsing at Mt. Everest everyday as you go to work. Nothing caps that.

And then I remembered that we too have the Equator. Beat that. We are at the centre of the world, at 0 degrees Latitude.

The Equator is a compulsory subject in geography. We are a significant world landmark. More people will hear and learn about The Equator than they will ever learn about Mt. Everest.

Why was it still so hard for me to convince myself that Uganda had something special and extraordinary too?

It happens a lot. Everyone else has it better than you do. You look at other people's marriages, at their newly built homes, at their well-behaved children, at their multiple degrees and their well-toned physique and then compare yourself and your thoughts turn ugly.

You even scroll their social media and their quotes are going viral,while everyone in your WhatsApp group ignores you.

You will search and search and always find something better on the outside, until you start searching in the right place.

The outside is inconsistent and beyond your control. It will agonise you and make you fret until the day you die.

Work on what is on the inside. I have observed people over the years and experienced the same thing. Someone's true completion comes when they are genuinely in Christ. 

The ones who genuinely seek him and are complete, have a different vibe. They are content. They do not covet or rush to outdo everyone at every turn. 

They do not negate others' good deeds by bragging about their own. They sit back when it's another person's turn to shine. 

They are the husbands who openly praise their wives in public instead of humiliating her out of scorn. They are the women who are Christians on Sundays and everyday, no matter how descpicable their workmates are. 

They are the people who do not always seek to have the last word at every conversation. They politely walk away when the atmosphere is tarnished and vile.

They are content to sit alone and read, write, or just think. It is not crucial to them that everybody likes them, because they have high self-worth and a community of friends who value peace and prayer.

These people love who they are and they do not wish to be like anybody else or to change their ways to fit in. It's exhausting.

They work on who they are, because depth is what is meaningful.

Bless!

Bev

2005

This photo was taken in 2005/6. 

I had just left my job at the radio station where I worked for two years. 2005 was also the first time I applied for a Master's scholarship to the U.K. I received another U.K scholarship after applying the second time around, a few years later.

I was a writer, a poet, unabashed and relentless. I wove words like the territotial and fearless honey badger. I preyed on muses and devoured them.

I also swam, wrote stories and loved to travel.

Twenty years later, I added a new name, finally got that Master's scholarship and bore four children. My writing rituals and muses remain unchanged. Still devouring literature and enjoying new scenery.

We do not change who we are. We adjust our behaviour and yet we ultimaely remain the same. Marriage, high income, wealthy status, new titles and more, do not change us. We are who we are. If you feel you are changing, then maybe you're in the wrong environment.

Just enhance who you are, harness your gifts that are already there and let your environment, enable you to blossom. 

Nobody was born a mistake. They may have made regrettable decisions and circumstances delayed their goals. 

Our souls were meant for fulfillment. 

It's a shame to waste the life we've been given.

Bless!

Bev

We Need New Names: Book Review by Bev

I bought the novel, 'We Need New Names,' in 2013 at Waterstones in London, the very year it was published by Chatto and Windus.

NoViolet Bulawayo is such an avid storyteller. With the opening chapter, 'Hitting Budapest,' which doubles as her award-winning Caine prize story of 2011, we are drawn into the narrator's journey in troubled Zimbabwe. 

Darling, the narrator, the ten-year-old is ambitious, curious and like many of the children around her, always hungry and looking for ways to stave her hunger. The places she narrates depict the vastly picturesque affluent neighbourhoods contrasted against the impoverished areas that have been demolished, rendering thousands homeless.

Darling and her friends are amongst the homeless. And yet, like children will, they keep up their adventure and curiosity, dreaming of  big houses, better lives, running into mischief and surviving.

After a few years, she makes it to Michigan and there while the infrastucture and culture vary widely from Zimbabwe, Darling remains the honest narrator giving the reader glimpses into her life across hundreds of thousands of miles.

We begin to feel for her as she grapples with belonging. Because of her colonial English, it takes a while before she is accepted by her American peers. The coldness of her cousin TK, the weirdness of her aunt and uncle and the strangeness of the shifting identity.

Paradise, which is the shanty town she lived in in Zimbabwe, drifts further apart and while she tries to cling to the memories, she also needs to adapt to Michigan.

With the opening chapter where Darling and her friends Bastard, Chipo and the rest are going to Budapest, one of the affluent neighbourhoods in Zimbabwe, to steal guavas because they are extremely hungry, one wonders if she found a new Budapest in Michigan. If anything, Darling is able to unravel the complexities of belonging and survival.

She assimilates in shocking yet understandable ways, and gets into all sorts of scrapes while scoring a few conquests against small time bullies. While she is no longer hungry all the time, she misses the camaraderie of her childhood friends. 

Survival is difficult in the U.S for people like her who have not yet found their professional footing. Within this, she still finds her tribe and regains certain amounts of boldness. And as she looks toward advanced education, there is hope for her in her new home.

The honest and raw observation, captured in startling dialogue, and unexpected interactions, makes this novel such a worthwhile read.

Copies of We Need New Names are available on Amazon.

Reveiwed by Beverley N Nsengiyunva

We Are Meant To Swim (Ezekiel 47:5)

 “Again he measured one thousand, and it was a river that I could not cross; for the water was too deep, water in which one must swim, a river that could not be crossed” (Ezekiel 47:5). 

There Is a 'Madness' Called Swimming

 There Is a 'Madness' called Swimming and it is the only madness you'll ever need.

Nobody goes with a laptop to the pool.

There are no zoom meetings.

You are safe.

There is no rush to prove you are worthy. 

The water is not a respecter of persons.

...This is part of the performance piece that I delivered at the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) offices, during their corporate wellness retreat organised by Gem Zavanna.

Swimming is a sport where there is no judgement, because it is not about strength, body size, social status or family name. The water does not care about any of that. You need to identify what you need and then be honest with yourself as you get into the water.

With swimming, every dream is possible. Whatever you want to achieve, is achieveable. There is always space to learn a new stroke, master it, overcome fear and improve. Always.

And in Uganda, many 25 m pools (half the Olympic length) are vacant during off peak hours. It's just you and the life guard. You can spend a lovely 2 hours without interruption. Imagine how much you can do with 2 hours to yourself in the swimming pool, several times a week.

It's a templace for success.

You can also swim at any age. I plan on swimming up to the age of 104, because if I'm swimming like this, then why not?

Bless!

Bev

...

Esteri Tebandeke

 In 2021, I moderated the panel discussion for the 'Tropical Fish' play, based on the award-winning short story by Doreen Baingana. This story transformed into a play and was directed by Sarah Nansubuga and the lead role was played alternately by Esteri Tebandeke and Lulu Jemimah.

Still observing Covid protocol, in a small theatre room hosted at Ndere Centre, the play, coordinated under Tebere Arts, unfolded. As the moderator, I watched Esteri in the advance moments before she took to the stage. 

The protagonist, Christine Mugisha, depicts the life of a city girl who relies on the perceived power of foreign men to lead her out of her current dismal situation, and yet it is not as simple as that. There are complexities of identity woes, family troubles, patriarchal strongholds, betrayal and friendship. Situations are never based on just one thing.

In this role, Esteri expertly unraveled the mindset and relentless of a young aspiring woman who not only wanted to survive but like any ambitious person, desired to make a mark and along the way, she met individuals and encounters situations that were beyond her scope of understanding. 

Esteri, during the panel discussion, explained that after her roles, she retreats quietly away so that she can remove the alter persona she has been taking on, to return to her self. Before any set, she also removes herself from crowds, she explained to us, to fully embody the role.

Lasy year 2025, Esteri launched the Binti women's film festival, which I could not attend because I was away. I was impressed by the way she immersed herself in the preparations. If I was in charge of Arts funds distributions, I would have given towards that inaugural women's film festival, which I am sure  shall continue in her honour.

Dear Esteri, you lived large. You kept going.

Dear Sam Tebandeke, this is a huge loss. I met you as a dancer and I hope that you will find strength to continue dancing.

Much love, people.

Beverley.

Diving Chess Players

One of the most brilliant things I have seen in my entire life. Diving chess players.

Diving chess players  

It's ingenious. Not only do you have to b masterful at chess, you also have to control your breathing and have good swimming ability and high level of confidence. I love it. You also need to trust one another and be quite  quick witted.

Today, as I swam, I was searching for something more riveting and exciting in the water, something that would require a high level of intellect, global companionship and more. And then I come across videos of diving chess players.

For everyone looking for inspiration to swim, surely this is it.