Swimming is Who I am

For the first time, I spoke to a live audience and performed a poem about swimming. I have written about swimming before and this time, celebrating women's day, I spoke about it.

In a room brightened by poets, writers, business men and business women, I spoke. It was the evening of Thursday 5 March, during a session organised by Ladu Poetry Slam at the cosy coffee shop called Ishaazi, in Bukoto Kampala.

Swimming.

I needed to recognise two women in my life who changed my swimming story. Pamela Namutebi, my classmate at Makerere University who amped my swimming until I became competent in every stroke. From a below average swimmer, I started to compete for Mary Stuart Hall at Makerere.

I also recognised Coach Bridget, who in January of 2026, taught me how to blow bubbles. When you learn to blow bubbles in the water, you are able to swim beyond your wildest dreams. You will no longer look for inspiration elsewhere. You are covered.

I told them that even though I learned how to swim as a child, because it was compulsory in my school, I never really understood the purpose. I shared another revelation which even I still cannot comprehend.

It's this.

"I have more strength and energy for swimming, than I did in my twenties. I do not understand it, except that swimming must be a spiritual experience."

A few days ago, I prayed with a small group of friends. As we shared, I told them that my swimming has to mean something more than feeling refreshed and vitalised. It has to mean more than receiving compliments from coaches. 

I have received all those things before. I have been recognised. I have been awarded. I have stood before audiences that clapped. That is not the goal. There's always something higher.

I have seen other brilliant and celebrated people steal creative ideas from others, because their insecurities outweigh their self worth. Their brilliance is not enough for them. They are searching for something higher.

My swimming has to be for a higher purpose. I asked the women in my prayer group to pray that God would show me His purpose. May my swimming be to his glory. I want to swim and help people in mental distress. I want to swim and let people recognise how important their physical health is. I want to swim and show people how to let go of the temporary glory, for something richer.

As I recited my poem and speech that night, there must have been something impactful.

Several participants told me that the only reason they didn't swim was because they were conscious of their bodies and that now they would start it again.

Someone else came for counselling, because she wanted to know how I was able to do it all.

"How do you do it? I am confused about my life. I am facing emotional abuse at home. I need help."

truthfully, there is nothing like doing it all. 

When things seem effortless for me, it is because I am doing less and not more. If I appear to be confident, enriched and secure, it is because I am doing less and not more. It is because I prioritise purpose over power. I prioritise victory over validation. I prioritise glowing over shining. Shining with glitter is temporary but glowing is eternal. 

I used to be that person. The one who wanted the glitter and shine, and I got it. It was never enough. I always wanted more.

When I let go of the excess and purpose preceded my journey, so much shifted. 

I see people who will claw at their own guts, at their own people and at their own shadow, if they felt threatened by them. They serve on committees and remove certain people from opportunities. It is futile.

They bleed internally when the very people they thwarted are popping up like daffodils in spring. These people are evergreen like spruce trees in winter and they sway in every storm, swaying, smiling and soaring.

I want to swim and change lives. I want to swim and make sure that God's name resounds in the darkest chamber of someone's heart. I want those who are lost, at what ever age, to find new meaning in their lives.

If I'm going to swim the way I do, then it must be for a higher purpose and not just for myself.

I am not reinventing myself. This is whom I've always been.

Bless!

Beverley N Nsengiyunva