I'm Stwagawompshed; Life Can Actually Be Beautiful

In 2009,  on this date,  21 August,  we held our first BN Poetry Award ceremony. It was at Fang Fang Restaurant on the rooftop. About 200 guests were present to witness the first ever poetry award for Ugandan women.

Today is the seventh anniversary of that first BN award ceremony and Lillian Aujo pioneered the first win. 

The first award-giving dinner

While on radio on Power 104. 1 FM,  I hosted the morning show every weekday from 6:00am to 10:00am,  setting the pace for the day. I like to set the pace,  to give encouragement to the weary and to inspire youth. That has always been my motivation,  to encourage,  inspire and provide positive creative leadership.

Taking paths that are overgrown from disuse. My curiosity will take me there. If people say that there is no honest lawyer in the world,  then I want to be that honest lawyer.

With Esther Armah in Hargeysa

If certain people think that a woman should not be heading a festival and do everything to suggest that,  then I want to be the woman to not only organise a poetry festival but to tell every woman I know to start festivals in every corner of the world.

There's always a way. Last week,  I met a Ugandan retiree from the UN who made me believe that life can be beautiful. I'm meeting new people in new spaces. Old conversations that stuck to the status quo,  have been replaced with exuberance. This spirited,  candid and effervescent woman,  illustrated through intricate diagrams,  how life can actually be beautiful. All we have to do is begin from the core.

Add flesh to the skeleton

From 24th to 26th August in Kampala,  we'll be holding our second poetry festival at Maria's Place in Ntinda opposite Winifred Fashion Designs near Victory City Church. We'll be holding our award-giving dinner on Friday 26th August at Fang Fang Restaurant and this time General Okanga,  High Commissioner of Kenya to Uganda, is our Chief Guest.

I'm stwagawompshed. Life can actually be beautiful. 

I won the Gayaza High School dancing competition while in senior one in 1991

I won the Gayaza High School dancing competition while in senior one in 1991. Julia Majugo (nee Kalyegira) the entertainment prefect, gave me a life-changing Three thousand shillings as first prize. Akusa Batwala and Babirye Kagga were the other top two winners, each of us from Kampala Parents' School. 

Parade on Sports' Day (courtesy photo)

For years, I resented the title Gayaza girl. I would hear stories of my good behaviour and how well-groomed Gayaza had made me. While holding back the urge to scream that I don't look like a Gayaza girl and never will, I listened politely instead, just like a Gayaza girl. 

I often pitied the hundreds of parents who sought many ways for their daughters to attend Gayaza High School. I wondered why many women, after decades of years,  still wished they had attended this school. Until I joined a whatssap group of Gayaza girls and participated in the July 2016 Gayaza High School Career Day, I was reminded why Gayaza is indomitable,  precious and and wholesome. Being a Gayaza girl is not about being one thing. I'm a Gayaza girl, which means I'm not just a poet or the Coordinator of the Babishai Niwe Poetry Foundation. You see, when you're just one thing,  then cowards can easily follow your journey and poison your intentions, spiking your food with sabotage; just because they found you in a box.  Being a Gayaza girl means I'm not just one thing. I joined Kampala Toastmasters Club and found an energised group of creative professionals who celebrated my diversity as a public speaker and mentor. I was further challenged to compete in the East Africa Toastmasters Competition, where I emerged semi-finalist.

Kampala Toastmasters Club at a recent retreat.

Together, we’ve created the first ever Toastmasters challenge, competition between poets and public speakers on Thursday 25^th August at the #Babishai2016 poetry festival at Maria’s Place in Ntinda. One of the judges is Doreen Baingana, another Gayaza girl who dominates Uganda’s literary scene. 

At the July 2016 Gayaza Career Day (courtesy photo)

 

While at Gayaza High School,  I was the house leader of Sherborne House,  a position where I participated and lead the house in all sports' competitions,  contemporary African dance and drama competitions,  where I inspired young girls to excel both off and on the field. We had a solidarity that I've never experienced in any other institution; we were motivated to perform our best at all times. 

I'm a former student of this mighty school that demonstrated what it means to be a born again Christian. This is another title I resented for a long while. The world brings lots of disillusionment and doubt and there are people who have made cynicism and manipulation their preferred career choice. It’s difficult to believe in anything good when you’re suffocated by them everyday for years.

It doesn't matter anymore. I'm a born again Christian. And I know that my purpose in life is to rise and not apologize for my abundant, life-changing and history/herstory making personality. I love who I am. I love my husband, children and relatives. I thought I’d wait for the Babishai poetry festival to end before I plan the next huge event but I can’t. I’ve tried to be modest about it but fake modesty looks so ugly on me. Plans are already underway. I celebrate Gayaza girls. I celebrate the testimonies and excellence. With unwavering, trail blazing and world-changing confidence,  I'm a Gayaza girl. 

I'll  Never Give Up!

An open letter to Adong Judith, Director of Ga-AD!

Dear Adong, 

How did you weave the script of my 40th birthday wish?  How did you know that after a life of 39 years of silence,  I was choking with unspoken truths?

Adong Judith (right) and I  Courtesy photo

  You shared my freedom when you took my poetry and created the most powerful,  abundant and meaningful production I've ever been a part of.

Rehema Nanfuka, courtesy photo

Do you know that people are calling us co-writers?  Imagine!  Me a co-writer of Ga-AD. They make it seem like I contributed to half the ideas. Adong,  the cast you selected for this script have interpreted this message in such a magnificent way that almost seems surreal. How did you know that Rehema Nanfuka and Patrick Ssenjovu were the perfect fit? 

Patrick Sseenjovu  Courtesy photo

And the entire cast dominated the stage and lifted us to unimaginable heights.
I don't know what to say about Andrew Ssebaggala,  Grace Ibanda,  Michael Wawuyo and the geniuses that comprise the technical crew and leadership?

The cast 

Dear Adong, what I saw on stage in the production of Ga-AD,  is a testimony that words have the capacity to grow bigger than our dreams.
It's hard to believe that tonight 7th August is the final production at 7:00pm and that it's only
 20, 000/-?
I'll see you soon for that dinner that I promised.

And we're honoured to know you'll be part of our #Babishai2016 Poetry Festival from 24th to 26th August at Maria's Place in Ntinda near Victory City Church.

 
Apwoyo.
Wanyala naabi

Nambozo