July 2025, Hello!

July 2025, Hello!

There is a sacred place where great things take place happens. Real greatness.

Change is inevitable. It is part of growth. We need to adjust our habits and one of the best ways to do that is to set high goals. I know a few people who have completed the 89 km annual Comrades Ultra-Marathon that takes place in Durban. To reach this goal, they had to change their diet, their exercise routine and even the people they spent time with.

Once you have attained something so significant, it is highly unlikely that you will slide into old habits.

I have known for a long time that I was born to reach the world through my poetry, writing, speaking and leadership. I had to develop certain habits to reach this goal. One of them was consistent reading, writing and also spending time with the most suitable mentors.

I also gravitated towards spending more time with those who think big ideas and are keen on finding solutions to global problems, instead of spending time on myopic discussions. 

Spending hours a day on my own, I think and plan a lot and when I reach out to anyone, it is intentional and meaningful. This week alone, first week of July 2025, I cannot even begin to explain in words the magnitutde of the impact of my interactions.

Meeting and speaking to people who are at a high level of vibration, self-aware and are deliberate on reaching high goals. My mind specifically directed me there.

Of course, there have been times when my mind was at a relatively low vibe and the people I met matched this. 

Not July. Not this month. Something has stirred. It was always there. Everyone has that gift. When you meet the right people who recognize your gift and match your vibration, the results will be obvious and your times of celebration will never end.

It is almost sacred; where there is no need to post about it to everyone, because it is hallow. You first relish it and share it amongst those who value it.

When you are seated with people who value you, you become unstoppable. When you are seated with people who do not value you, you become agitated and begin to second guess yourself.

High vibration meets high vibration. It is not just about chemistry. It is about those who are self-aware and who are keen on building their goals and fulfilling purposes that are founded on solid ideas, hard work and real impact.

July 2025, hello!

The Golden Years of Work (2001-2002)

 "The Golden Years of Work."

That is what one of my former colleagues from Rainbow International School Kampala, 2001-2002, called it.

Rainbow International School Kampala staff (2001-2002)

It was my very first job. I was in my early twenties, with the energy and zeal of a gazelle and the hunger of a starved buffalo. 

Imagine the elation of knowing that work ended at 3:30pm, except on Monday staff meeting days and day when supervising clubs, where it ended at about 4:00pm. A place where home time was respected so much that one day when the Headmaster saw me marking books after 4pm, he demanded that I return home to rest, or go out to have fun.

The Golden Years of Work.

Every communciation was printed and pasted on the staff noticeboard or sent in hard copy newsletters through the parents and students. I remember distributing some of these letters at home time, admonishing those who would not deliver the letters home to parents or guardians.

The Golden Years of Work.

There would be weekly meet-ups of staff at one of the hangouts near the school. And everyone would be invited, because there were no secret WhatsApp groups or hidden codes in email, since none of us ever used our staff emails. The internet lab was still trying to understand how to work in the new century.

We preferred to share our ideas and plans by word of mouth. Sometimes an English teacher would invite us for a cup of tea; or there would be potluck over the weekend.

Everyone knew what was going on in everyone's life and could not understand why I preferred to spend my weekends at church where I was part of a dynamic dance group, than going white water rafting. You see, my energy was boundless those days and I believe that it still is. I did go white water rafting and bungee jumping a few years later.

Dancing in church was one of the most positive ways I could spend my energy, sweating it out as I pranced and flew. And I used to fly. It was an experience, which I still relive today.

The Golden Years of Work.

Nobody showed up with the intent to outdo one another by dressing a certain way or posting on social media about how their lives were better. A mature person knows that someone who is content with their life, never has to prove it. They walk about with a confidence that is palpable; it is warm and genuine.

We had a lot of self-awareness. We lived for the present, while planning for the future.

I believe that is why the WhatsApp group of former staff at Rainbow is one of the most peaceful WhatsApp groups I am in. I do not feel agitated or attacked by any of the posts.

There are groups where people's intent is only to distress and destroy.

This one is different.

The Golden Years of Work.

Now, about that staff photo.

Why do teachers always pose the same way?

Bless!

Bev

Rainbow International School Kampala staff (2001-2002).

Your Time Is Here

 There was a time when all my friends seemed to be succeeding in their writing apart from me.

One of them won the Caine Prize for African writing, another won the Africa Region Commonwealth Short story Prize, another spent a year in Senegal being mentored by great West African writers.

They were in the newspapers and they were soaring, from upcoming writer to well-known writer.

It was not until I gave birth to my first born and I detached myself from the outcome of my desires and began to truly look inward, that the Beverley Nambozo Poetry Award began. I became unstoppable. Without searching for it or pining for the recognition, it came in floods.

Journalists sought me. People invited me to places to speak. Schools honoured me as an icon and many people began to shed off their own inhibitions and establish themselves as poets and arts entrepreneurs.

Marianne Williamson said that when we let our lights shine, we give others permission as well.

I searched inward and not outward, and the results were magnanimous.

It is so easy to become distracted when it appears that everyone around you is succeeding and you are left longing for validation.

Search inward to what is meaningful to you. Search inward to what is valuable and important to you. The rest will follow.

And you will be elevated into greater ideas, into spaces with esteemed people all over the world.

And all that you dreamed will come in like a flood.

Manchester BBC Radio, 2013

And your dreams will grow bigger, as yoiu help others grow their dreams as well.

With David Oyelowo, 2015

Bless!
Bev