The tomato, not yet ripe

I am not a regular cook but there are things that are obvious when it comes to cooking. Cooking is not a “men’s” thing people tend to argue but the best chefs in Uganda are actually men. In my little unknown kitchen I try out two tomato soups. Strictly tomatoes not the packed tomato soup powder in sachets. I have a garden in the backyard of my simple house and I grow a good number of tomatoes.

In the first soup, I sliced green tomatoes that were hardly ripe into small pieces and dropped in hot cooking oil. This was after I had dropped the onions in the same cooking oil. The tomatoes took so long to get ready because of their hardness. But I waited. Within 15 minutes, the tomato soup was ready. I put the soup in the bowl and took it to my wife to taste and tell me how I’d done. She tasted and immediately spit out the soup.

“Yaaaaaak” she said out loud. She was as if spitting fire.

 “What a waste,” she added. “Why did you use unripe tomatoes?” she furiously asked me. (She is the one who actually looks after the garden)

So I apologised, took the soup and sent it down the garbage bin. I had wasted such a good number of tomatoes and now they have become useless.

So I tried out the second tomato with ripe tomatoes. Sliced them into small pieces and used exactly the same process like the previous soup.  Then I walked to my wife and gave her the soup. She tasted, smiled and said “this is some good soup hun.”

“You’re a good cook my darling,” she said as she hugged and gently kissed my forehead.

The trick this time is because I had used ripe tomatoes. Much better tomatoes. I wanted to try out the third tomato soup but this time I could hardly touch these tomatoes. They had ripened and gone bad. The stench they had is one I couldn’t stand.

The unripe tomato is representative of that person who is just not ready to support a cause. Once they are put out there, they are immediately bundled into huge vehicles and taken away. Quashed to no return just like the same soup was sent down the garbage bin.

The ripe tomato is that which represents people who are ready for a cause. Ready to die to defend what they believe in. They can fight the fight. They cannot easily be shoved away because  they know what they believe in.

Ugandan’s at this stage are like that unripe tomato. They are not ready for the cause. But just like the tomatoes in my garden, ripening is a process and surely Ugandan's will also get to that point. Tomatoes also tend to ripen faster when placed under some conditions. The same way with Ugandan's being kept in a particular situation and they could be triggered by this situation and react.

Little Imaginary country

Littered streets, drunken men staggering out of a roadside bar and glide into their fuel guzzling SUV’s parked under a rugged roof. They drive on the garbage filled roads, oozing sewerage from septic tanks with the streets majorly deserted being patrolled by rats. Street lights have become home to the owls. The men drive to their homes. Homes far away from the sewer filled city.

Their wives wait at home. The food gets cold. As they wait, their heads become too heavy and they sleep in the couch. She cannot go out. A prisoner in her own house as she can’t leave since beggars wait on the outside. They need food. Food she has but cannot offer.

The husband is speeding knocking lampposts and garbage bins. He approaches his 16feet gate but the beggars are as many as the Vultures that surround a carcass. He cannot stop, he drives through with the protection of the community protection unit. They shove the people out of the way until he gets into his 1000 acre estate.

The drunken men all own huge estates part of which are sitting on land where the begging people were shoved, pushed and at times killed. All they do is to wait for food to be thrown over the hedge from rich man’s home. This how they wait as no-one seems to care. Their children wail, they have no food and those that have gone to school but can hardly read nursery rhyme. They have been denied the education and barely receive the healthcare they deserve.

The commander of the Vampires that are used crack down on the resistance 

Blood sucking Vampires  have been deployed to suck the blood out of anyone who seeks to challenge the drunken men. Blood would be sucked out of them and they'd be left harmless and restless. They would soon become the enemies of the people.

Every five years, the rich men seize to be animalistic, they return to being human. They begin to care about these people. They are offered free food, free clothing and are promised the same things every five years. They accept all these but at a price. The rich man wants to be in control again. To control the vast resources. The rich man says he will make the life of these people better but because of their beggar status all they care about is now. They now begin singing praises for the man. And for the next five years their status will change by less than a percentage point.

The beggars also rely on those who have been fortunate to have better lives. But they are also under the a spell. The spell of fear, the spell of being comfortable with what they have. They are like the rich men but the difference is that they are not in control yet they can be of influence. Some wine and dine with the rich men. They have been put under a spell.

This is my little imaginary country...

Black "not" Swann

Another night, another day
Body rolls around the bed
Twists left and right and left and right.
Face looks side ways and upwards.
The clock keeps ticking, the dogs constantly patrol the red tainted night.
The roof shudders only in the little boys thoughts.
The room is too loud as the world is asleep.
mosquitoes buzz around the bed. He covers his face.
But not for long. He feels he has been suffocated.
Blanket close to the nose that leads abrupt halt to his breathe. His thoughts and his fears.
Then the pictures appear. Slideshow format. He can't control them. One by one they appear. He can't stop them. Then tears slide out of the deeply embedded glands. The tears are red. Red like the colour of the earth. Red and unsolicited.
He can't see the tears. One of the Images made the boy shed red tears.

A little girl alone by the ocean, with fine winds blowing over the ocean forming currents that constantly slapped the sandy beach.
There she stood. Alone. Bleeding. She had bruises all over her body. Someone had done this. In the picture she is pointing a finger at him. The little boy.
' You did this to me. I trusted you. We were friends but see what you did,' the girl constantly tells the boy.
The he remembers the girls name, Natalie. Its Natalie Portman. He remembers her role in some movie but he shrugs it off. Because he knows he did something wrong. He hurt her in some way.

He weeps thick blood. Because he knows he has done something wrong. He doesn't know he is suffocating but then there is a loud bark by the dogs outside and he suddenly wakes up.
He is standing by the bedside of the girl next door.
In his hands is a red like fluid. And on the bed there she lay, helpless, motionless and peaceful.
The blood was his own.
 He had a three inch pencil in his own skin. All he said was
"Perfet, its perfect"

Post written on one of those insomnia nights. about 3am. totally not thought through.

A Brand New day for Benon. Where are the rest?

Benon Mugumbya’s latest album is a complete knockout punch to his peers who are yet to offer us quality music. Brand New Day (Alunaku Olupya) is the name of the album with 16 tracks. It is a fusion of finely tuned instruments and Benon’s rich vocal ability. It’s masterpiece of World Music for Ugandan music considering we have previously looked at Bands and people like Tshila and Maurice Kirya to give us such music. Unfortunately I do not download Ugandan for the support of the cause, so there is no way I am going to sample some of the songs. But I am sure you can find the music in the supermarket(Uchumi) or buy it online.

All the songs feature respectable instrumentalists like Kinobe, Davis, Micheal Ouma, Maloe Klaasen, David Mukalazi, Winstone Mayanja, Edwin Mugyeni, Hakim Lukwago, Allan Okilla and Kaz Kasozi. Perhaps you could be let down by Micheal Ouma’s dominance on the album as he plays the Guitor, Akogo and Tube Fiddle. He has also produced some of the songs on the album.

Benon got inspiration to take this musical journey from Ethiopia where he interacted with some Rasta Lady who made him realise that his music needed a new path. The fusion of instruments and his good vocal ability Benon is proof that one big decision can pave way for quality music that we have been denied. I am not the biggest fan of local music that is so cliché because some music is proof of total laziness by some artists and producers to be innovative to produce unique tunes. Ofcourse Benon has the "art of music" and that is why he can afford this journey.

The title track to the album is Olunaku Olupya with features Tusker Project Fame season four star Davis Ntare   and James B on the vocals. The song starts with a cock crow in the morning, and then the birds begin to also hum in the background as the drums and guitars are together synchronised. Benon then glides in singing that today is a brand new day.

This is the album cover. It was officially in stores on December 10th 2010

 “its time to rise and shine”, “Its time to start all over again”, “Don’t give up today is a new day,” are some of the lines that can be picked up from this song. The song for me explains his path from the music that he was doing to this new line.

Omwaana Lwaaki Akaaba is the Title 2 on the album is a tale of the suffering child and he is asking why is that child weeping? Navio is also featured in this track.

The humble gentleman from Swangz Avenue has an album if listen to provide some sort of inspiration and some points of thought for the industry but also provides nice tunes for that one loves musical tunes.

I have particularly fallen for track number five which is Hope. The vocals in this song are done by Benon and the ever amazing Estar Mahye.  It fuses some Luganda, Runyankole and English to provide the hope that the song provides. “Don’t loose your strength, have perseverance and don’t worry yourself with thoughts.” Are the lines of the chorus I particularly picked from the song. Be Strong is the emphasis of this one for there to be hope.

There is also Gwe Kimuuli Kyange (You are my flower) which is some sort of love ballad that can pass for a Jazz piece. He praises this girl for her beauty and that she is his flower. The song is a tale of him telling this girl to allow him to marry her because when she is happy he is happy. Benon displays he can hit the high keys in this song. He does this with so much passion and trust me this song is way better than many crappy songs people play on their weddings.

The album released sometime in December at BodaBoda where Benon played all the 16 tracks with a band was a complete knockout blow for the ones who thought there were in his league. I am sure if you were to listen to these songs, it won’t be on radio apart from BBC, Touch FM, Vision Voice and maybe on Sanyu FM.

Other songs on the album are Hope, Singa Kisoboka, Hold On, Because of you, I know, Ani Yaali Amanyi, Guno Omukwaano, Gwe Kimuli Kyange, Rise Up ft Keko, Truly Believe, Ye Osobola (stand up), Show me love, Now am shining and Mpenzi We.

60 seconds or not of fame with Mckeith

It was the one the biggest mentions on Ugandan Girl's blog. There was so much hype around it. Her 60 seconds interview mentioned my name and I got approached by all these news wires looking to interview me. I mean who would think Sanyu FM's Seanice, Capital FM's Kassuja, NTV's Rosemary and Tina (Rendezvous), UBC's Lulu, WBS's ummmmmm don't remember her name would be interested in my interview. And by the way Isha Shassey of CNN came with her colleague Collin McEdawards looking for that interview. The 10 questions for 60 seconds.

Heart thumps fast, couldn't feel my pulse as they placed all these microphones on me and make up so I could look too good.


1. What did you want to be when you were growing up?
That's a good question. You know as you grow up its like evolution is working its way. Something like reality kicks in and grabs that, that you wanted to be and gives it to somebody else. At first I wanted to be a driver, then I kept on growing up and that changed to me desiring to be a doctor. Ofcourse thats where reality kicked in with Chemistry and Biology plus physics. I also had a stint at wanting to become a Geologist.

 2. What’s the best piece of advice you have ever been given? 

Hmmmm. Interesting question. Something like "don't start what you cannot finish." But I doubt its the best piece of advice I have been given.

3. What’s the best piece of advice you ever gave?

I give advice to people everyday. I can't exactly remember which one was the best. But there is one that I think I offered.

"You too young to commit yourself to this non-paying job"


4. What do you most enjoy about your job?

I am yet to start working after resigning at my old work place. (Long story)

 5. Who would you most like to have dinner with?

Uhhhhh. Any beautiful  lady who can have descent conversation with me. Maybe also with Dan Brown, Simon Baker, Cote De Pablo, Micheal Whiteley, Aristotle (RIP), Thomas Hobbs (RIP), Ousmane Sembane( RIP)... The list is endless

 6. What has been your most embarrassing moment?

I have had many of those too. But the most embarrassing was ummm let me see. I kept a lady waiting for an hour and on that day I was supposed to meet her sister. No follow up question on this please.


7. Who is the most important person in your life?

All people who play a role in my life are important. I can't exactly find one who is more important because everyone in my life plays a different role.


8. What’s your worst regret in life?

I wish I could tell you that I can only answer that off-the-record but I cant. But here is what I think. For everything that happens in my life I get to understand the world around me better.


9. Who is your role model?

Professional - Richard Quest. I have many Role models.


10. If you could be one person for a day, who would that be?

Rupert Murdoch.

 Anyone who reads this blog has been tagged to this post and can do the 60seconds. Unfortunately this is more than 60 seconds for me....

My country, My pain

It’s quite painful to watch a scene in a movie and if directly juxtaposed to the situation in my country it’s all the same. Blood sucking vampires in the movies feed on human blood of course there are those that seem to have an antidote that prevents them from feeding on human blood.

My country has played some of the games Lehman Brothers or even Enron used to take investors money and give themselves huge bonuses. They made huge financial losses but this never reflected in their balanced sheets. Has my country’s government taken the citizens and gambled on the tax payers’ money also? Just recently a supplementary budget was passed with ease (approx Ushs605b). Extra money for the government to spend to on I don’t know what since I am not employed by the government. Of course there is the economic question of our time that the more the government spends, the more the money that trickles down to the people. This places more money to the people and means they can spend it. The more the people spend, the greater the taxes the government will get through Value Added Tax.

This sporadic spending however will however less likely trickle down to the people who need it the most. It has taken the Ministry of Health over two weeks to bring a Yellow Fever Vaccine. Really!!! And a press conference is called to announce the arrival of the vaccine.

But why? Isn’t there like preparation for breakouts of such “common diseases.” So then how come some ministries are able to return money to the treasury like the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA). How come the Office of the President always gets money from the supplementary budget? This time they got Ushs547b. What is it that they spend on?

The traditional leaders bill that has made the headlines on our local tv channels and the front pages of our newspapers is not going to improve service delivery despite it being passed or not. Should this be the focus of the country?

Questioning government on issues of service delivery has become increasingly tasking and it has begun to sip into society. Do the people put the government to task to deliver basic social services? If they did they we would probably have different MP’s in our parliament. It has become like a cycle. I know there are people out there who tend to distance themselves of issues and as long as they live their lives that’s it. This is not a bad thing but atleast feel some pain for the country.

Think critically of something other than yourself. Take concern of what happens in the society and try to say something (Taking note that we have different ways of showing concern). The Church, the businesses, the leaders and the young seem to be tuned into a mode of being self centred. It’s painful to watch a society gliding into different extremes yet something can be done.

It may also be too painful that some people realised that no matter what they do, a government will always turn a deaf ear. So what does that pain do? I grab a fiction novel, pluck earphones into my ears and scroll down my ipod and listen to the latest music, check my Facebook and Twitter account all in the name of wanting to be me. Like the whirlwind rises dust, my pain does the same. The pain of being a Ugandan at this time.

The wailing letter 2010 wrote

Dearest Mckeith  and your readers,

I trust you are well. I watched you people kick me out on the 31st of December and trust me it was very heartbreaking to watch.  Before I left, I decided to write you something small. It’s straight from my heart.
I am locked up in a prison with no walls. Just a tiny window. My ungrateful acts led me there. Now am struggling. To deal with my problem. To deal with my issues.

When I close my eyes, it’s you I see. Wishing I could turn the clock back. Turn it to the time before. For if I Hadnt then I would not be living with that guilt within. That night has become a nightmare. I have not been myself since. I have lost you. I have that part of me that I offered you.

You have taken it away. In my heart I regret. A part of me also thinks u knew what was going to happen. You knew I would want to do it. But somehow to deal with this I think you needed to blame someone. You needed to hate me. You needed to find a way of staying away.  That is what you decided to put in your head. I accept, coz u probably want this over.

I feel like I have become something else. You are scared of me. Scared of what I could do to you. I didn’t think it would ever get to that. I have lost my emotion. I feel drained. At whatever cost you are trying to erase me. I am too but it is proving to be tasking. I love and I miss u but there is nothing to do about it. I feel like needing a rest. A rest without drama.

I am jealous of 2011 but what can I do. All I want is for you to be happy. Gladly greet all your readers and tell them I wish them the best 2011. I can’t believe I am crying but I need to go.

Yours Truly 2010

P.S. I enjoyed the good times that we had though. I cannot recall many of those times because we barely had any.

Note from the skies

From the clouds I can see shinny little rooftops (Atleast that’s what I see). Staring through a window the size of Kobe Bryants shoe I also see a tail wing (I stand to be corrected on this). From this level am thinking it’s the future. The future of which if re-incarnation is to be believed I will have to take part.

From the skies there is so much comfort. Ofcourse it’s pretty scaring when there is turbulence. I would predict in the future we would refer to those as speed bumps. Yes am serious. Our cities are so crowded, the traffic and sea of ever changing human nature. Up in the clouds, I feel like settling on one of those clouds, holding a note book and scribbling down the chapters of my book. I slowly take my mind off things and human nature that tends to evolve. My brilliant little mind spins into action.

View of clouds along the Rift Valley. I wanted to sit on one of them.

The skies a littered with round shaped clouds and on each I see human beings wanting to stay away from the dirty, filthy, noisy and rusty cities. There is silence in the clouds. Time to think and time to read.
Then very soon in the future, families start moving to the skies. The rich can afford constructing in the skies. There are estates beginning to litter the skylines it starts getting choking for those who were silently trying to read.

The rich own private jets that take them to earth where they have their offices. The skies are littered with airlines now and they need to be regulated because there is so much traffic since the rich and powerful have taken to the skies. The peace that I had picked from the skies has now been taken away again. Now worry comes back, thoughts make a return and deceptiveness takes centre. I am now off to find a new peaceful place where I am not suffocated by a none-reading generation.

It’s time for that big decision. Taking on a new challenge, a new job and this is because where there was no happiness. And Until I find it, the sky will not be the limit because my dream is further than that.


Now Playing

Home - Goo Goo Dols
The Catalyst - Linkin park

aargh!! No Freshlyground

The freshlyground tour of East Africa was put off late yesterday as people in Dar-es-Salaam prepared for the show and I hate to say this. Its off.
Local organisers say its still on but a chit chat on their website says that tour is completely off.
For reasons beyond their control. Yah Beyond my control too now I have to re-plan my weekend.

They also tweeted this BAD NEWS FOR OUR EAST AFRICAN FANS: Our concerts in Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya (8, 10, 11 Dec) have been cancelled... 

Now am out of here. They are saying maybe next year. Is there an album launch somewhere this weekend?
Even Phat fest is on Friday. But Why? 


I still have my playlist with some do-be-do..... :) 

Freshlyground for Uganda concert

Yet another live concert in Uganda and this time it is one of my favourite African band, Freshlyground. Another African act from the South African band, Freshlyground. They will be performing on the Ugandan stage on 11th December 2010. The show comes just a week after the American Jazz saxophonist Bobby Ricketts performed in Uganda. Earlier the same organisers Bohemia Concerts brought West African music sensation Salif Keita to the Ugandan stage too.

Freshlyground has seven band members that are from around South Africa, Mozambique and Mozambique and are usually referred to as an afro-fusion band. My favourite album is Nomvula for mostly the songs: Do-be-do, buttercup and I am the man. Do-be-do is one song I keep singing along while stuck in traffic or in order to feel good. Once you listen to it, please let me know what you think.

They have worked under the Sony BMG Records which shows how good they can get but most of all is their performances with the now deceased Miriam Makeba. They have also worked with the “todi” song sensation Oliver Mutukdzi plus the famous Femi Kuti. Now for a band that started in the early 2000’s this surely shows how good they are.

Ma’cheri their 2007 album is also quite interesting with my favourite Arms of Steel, Baby Tonight, Pink Confetti and Fired Up. In 2010 they also released another album called Radio Africa and ofcourse not forgetting their very first album Jika Jika. They have done various tours around the world and coming to Uganda lets hope the show will be worth it.

The challenges have be limited (or no) publicity these Bohemia concerts have had over the months, the lighting for the concerts has also been a little poor and finally my hope is that the show doesn’t get postponed like the Bobby Rickets show.

“We chose this band because that is what the East African community want according to the research we did. We have opinion formers who we send questionnaires when determine who next to bring and 65% of them said they wanted to some of the songs off world cup records and Freshly Ground with their Waka Waka were on top of the request,” said Desire Julia K Barugahare from Full Circle the local organisers told me this week.

She also added that for the festive season, let East Africa region should be merry and end the year in good merry mood.

“It is going to be one of those shows that they will remember for life and a good cap on 2010,” Julia added.

Freshlyground will be performing alongside “Deodato Siquir from Mozambique” and tickets will be sold for Ushs 80,000 in advance, 100,000 at the gate, 150,000 VIP from Uchumi Supermarket (Garden City), Quality Supermarket (Ntinda), Victoria Supermarket (Bugolobi)Cafe Javas, Good African Coffee (Lugogo). So be at Theatre Labonita on 11th December for this concert that I am optimistic will be fantastic.

Scribe in Transition.

Take two. This blogger has been inactive for while. Not because he has a writer’s block but because the paintbrush cannot work on the keyboard. Take another two. Grab a napkin and simply wipe that face of the sweat brought about by the smoldering sunlight. Someone once told me that a bold head can be as a result of the scorching sun. True or not true. The latter is what you should believe. Does this whole paragraph make sense? Take two.

So, this scribe is taking a break from this whole journalism thing. The one and a half years he has spent in this field well, his bank account is in the red. Yes. In business, if you are in Black then it’s good but in the red it means the business is struggling and probably has debts or its value has dropped. (You will need to write that down)

 It’s a tough decision but at times some decisions have to be made. Life is about choices (Its also a cliché by the way) and staying alive in this world is also required. Spending long days, nights and energy patching up that story so that East Africa gets to know the opportunities within the region.
This scribe is now in transition for now. He needs to survive. His social life went to the dogs, he worked too much and all for tiny piny peanuts that always came two months late. Life has to go on. The last few months have become very intense and a decision had to be reached. Take two.

Yes. He quit his job. He is now working a volunteer writer for the same newspaper atleast until the end of the year. For that he knows that he is doing because he has passion for what he is doing and what he loves. But does this put food on the table. No. Christmas is a few weeks away and he cannot even do shopping for anyone in the family. A slave to his job has deprived him of that which he deserves. So he will be leaving. Taking that break will probably present better opportunities that the job had deprived him of.

The theory (it cannot be found in any book) is that this dude believes he is worth more than what he has been offered and when one says media managers may be responsible for the current trend Journalists turnover, it is so true. It may look like pride, but this dude believes that he is way too young to suffer yet there are opportunities around him that are willing to recognise him for what he is worth.

"Take Me Out" by Atomic Tom LIVE on NYC subway

 They lost their instruments!!!!!!!! But then they used the Iphone Instruments to play this song.... :)

Away but BRB

I will be back to blogger and Twitter on Monday 4th October. I have been and still away on Holiday somewhere..... Hill Climbing, bird watching, reading, thinking............by this waterfall....

Oh Baz amma be reading the whole new domainwhatevername you may call it but the Awesomeness is yet to hit me. Bookmarked it like Tumwi did. And Tumwi, am still trying to ingest Blacula so am staying closely away from your latest post............. Hey els, you know I cant wait to be back. (I have your sandwich in exchange for some pictures) . World Peace forever..... :). Then there I was reading Observer on a lazy Tuesday evening and I saw himself The Rogue King........with Nigel 5..... Dude kudos kudos......  Brother Nev......I was there too..... Did you see the pixels by DT? Then there I was. I  was reading Sunday Vision on Tuesday....(weird huh) and then I saw, her self...... Darlyne with a byline on the Bayimba International Festival of the Arts and then am like huh......ok.... so warrup.....and then I read..... (No mention of Rachael K). or and then some dude called Harry II something something something, thinks the Uneven were not worth or worthy of an arts performance.... Or well they do..... FYI Bayimba is an international thingy...... Yah, no time for ranting....
Ouch, Rachael has been getting all the negative publicity but the question is can she really sing? I think she tries....atleast way better than Mya of BLU-3 its now BLU-1. So I asked Lady Sinister whether Rachael K can sing.......and all she could say was............. "I'd rather hold a used Napkin or Pamper than listen to........."
Truth be told (cliche) I did not ask her, but considering the intro to her latest post, then I made my own little conclusion.............. The Stories of Things Yah am also excited about African Writers but am worried about African Readers and a generation that is totally not reading.....(true story).
Enough for now. Need to get back to this 1500 piece puzzle........so please stop distracting me.....

Playlist.
Back to Black - Amy (who) Winehouse.....

Miss Not

To read more logon to bayimba.org.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mein Traum

                                (Aero Beach Entebbe  sometime last year. Picture by Me)
                                
When I look at the orange skies while resting in the sand on a Sunday evening at the beach, I ask myself.
“Why is the sky so beautiful?”

In my mind I find this had to answer so I just keep staring. When I start dreaming I never want to stop, because the dream is as beautiful as the one I am seeing. If only I could Leornardo Di-Caprio walk into my room and plant a dream/idea in my brain, then things would be less like they are now.

Clogged in thoughts of the clichés that “Dreams can come true,” is something I am less likely to believe these days.

I have no Choice but to say, one day I will dream and this dream will be real. I will touch it, feel it, grope it, hug it, spin it and most of all I will know that it is true. But before that happens I will just keep dreaming.

A scribes' fortune

Young, energetic, a dreamer, ambitious are some of the few descriptions can define this young journalist. Growing up he often took clippings of his favorite writers and columnists, placed then in his file together with the old stamps and old money he used to collect. Taking mid-school fence jumps to go and buy a copy of the days Newspapers. Clutching onto the "Fourth Estate by Jeffrey Archer." A book he read over and over. He is looking forward to the professional career and once it started it didn't look like what it is, well atleast not on the surface.

There is whole murky world in the media . What you see in the papers, watch on TV and listen too is the sweat of some highly underpaid journalist. Journalism became his interest after during his O'level when he couldn't mix chemical components.
( C + CH = CH2) hmmmmmm

He then focused on becoming a journalist. 8 years down the road he is now in the industry but if you very well know the phrase "things are not as they look" then you will know what happens. Journalists have come under pressure for not digging deep and for being lazy. But if anyone knew what goes on in the industry then they would want to return and gulp there own words.

Journalism is about working hard and loving the job even when you are not paid. Having your name written against a story is something to be proud of. But then the blood sucking work is very hectic. Journalists are not supposed to receive handouts from anyone but in our industry they do receive the handouts (brown envelope). This is an envelope that compromises you. But why would they take the envelope. Because they have had their hands burnt, they are earning peanuts. Some have gone to the extremes of begging for money from whoever it is that wants publicity. Others remain patient and actually love the job they are doing. Others are used and dumped after they haven't been paid for months.

It takes a patient person to grow to become a good journalist. A celebrated one. Its not about the CNN award or any of those. Its being respectable and knowing you are good at what you do. The young man who sleeps for 5hours, spends his time researching is treated like some piece an unknown citizen.
Often there is so much journalists do and they go away without being appreciated for what they do. The information they dig up from there sources is hard to get but do people want to know that.
The boy has been in the industry for 3years now and he has seen what goes on and what happens. The best grow to become very respectable journalists, others buy their way to the top and others cannot take the heat so they jump out and find alternative sources of income.

A journalist thrives on optimism because he knows no matter what he will get a story. That optimism explains the patience that runs in the blood that he waits for the time when things will work out for him.
Being livid doesn't help and he tries much not to be. We live in world where consumerism is on the rise, well unfortunately this life the young journalist will not afford. He will probably go buy a movie from some cheap place and spend his weekend buried in some books. His social life is inactive he attends and event only if he is invited to one.

Staring at the desktop as he types story after story of the rich men in Kampala, CEO's and the private sector institutions, he wonders how long he can stand this. He however looks at the people who are influential to his life, and knows the whirlwind will come, the tornado will scratch the ground and leave it bare but he might just manage to keep standing. So every night before he goes to bed, he knows that there will be a morning where he will repeat the same routine until this one day he get an opening.

He knows that his misfortune is somewhere, but can he be that patient for it?

Not again

World shut out, dreams thrown out and yet again it has been blown. The sleepless nights, as he slowly turned the pages and expected to start a new chapter in life. This chapter has to be deleted. Again. Wiped away. The morning was jolly as he knew the next day would come with its fortunes. He hadn't felt alone in a long time and he wanted to keep that way. He has been happy for things have been working out. Expect for that job that doesn't seem to pay on time.

The morning is plain. He has been awake. The birds have suddenly not woken him. He has been awake. He is tired from his sleepless night. His neck hurts each time he tries to turn it around. The whole day he looks jaded and out of sorts. Everyday he is awake, he thinks about the princess. Up in the castle. He supposed to go get her from up their and bring her down. So he can be the prince. This however wouldn't describe his sleepless nights.

He thought he had ceased his opportunity, until a tiny little mistake changed everything. All that time he spent working out how it would end just faded away. He watched the papers burn and go up flames. What a waste. They say things happen for a reason. This he wants to believe. Hope has been his drive but its gone now. All the hard work is stuck in the ventilator and squeezing itself outside.
And as the sun sets on that Sunday evening, his dream has gone with it.

Limit on Human Mating

It was a bright Sunday as I did my laundry. Samsung phone Radio tuned to the BBC. The details of the show. Very interesting topic on the Communitariansim. We have people we call heroes. They alter the state of being by doing the most noble of things. In this particular segment of the show "the forum," one of the panelists is asked in 60 seconds to suggest something that they would want to do to make the world better.

"My 60 second idea is to limit human sex to two months per year. The human species is one of the few species that mates all year round. And here are some of the benefits of reducing the mating seasons to the two warmest months of the year.

1. It will promote better health. Human babies will be exclusively born in the warm season and winter related problems among newborns will not occur.

2. This will help to reduce anti-social behavior. Spend Saturday night in the city centre, and you will see alot of attention seeking behavior that is to do with attracting individuals of the opposite or the same sex. limiting this anti-social behavior to two months will be a major relief to society. Do you know how our society will be with 10 months to focus on how to improve our society without any interference from our LIBIDO. 

3. The two months would then be turned into a massive carnival and all kinds of joy for those who want to participate in it." German musicologist Dr Daniel Mullensiefen

Seriously this would be a big ask. No sex for 10months  (unless its virginity).  This is very unrealistic. I Imagine Padlocks would have to be made to keep people away from sex.
How would one suppress sexual urges? That would be making us like animals yet we are humans.

Annual mating season for Humans. I would Imagine billboards carrying adverts of the countdown to the Mating Season. Then the carnival being arranged like a concert that would usher in the two months of mating. Very funny.By the way it would also boost on sex tourism. People would save money and travel to the place they want to celebrate their Sex carnival.

We would probably see Sex Strikes led by Sex activists who would demand for the return of the normal mating to return. We would also get the Sex Crackdown Unit in the police and the intelligence.
But this wouldn't work. Just Imagine it for one moment. Its just too funny to be a realistic idea.

It reminds of Janthan Swifts 1729 satirical short story A Modest Proposal. In the short story Swift appears to suggest in his essay that the impoverished irish might ease their economic troubles by selling children as food for rich gentlemen and ladies. 

When theives are among us.

Am dreamer and in the near future I look forward to having my own children running around the house.
Walking or driving the kids to school. Playing in the compound , shooting toy guns and going for birthday
parties at the neighbors.
Changing diapers, telling them off when they are in the wrong and talking to them about the things the Heaven
would clearly describe.

I am not yet a parent and maybe not so soon but am a grown up. Some nieces and nephews look upto and take me as someone responsible. They are always asking me about my job and my reply is always "work hard and you will get better a job than mine."
Am not saying I didnt work hard but just to show them that hard work pays. There is this specific niece (she actually looks like me) who always asks to many questions.
"Do you have a girlfriend?"
"I need a dress for my birthday, will you buy me one?"
"Can we bet? You love your girlfriend."
"Why are you a journalist? Doesn't a lawyer or doctor make more money? My dad is doctor and he already has two cars. He is still young."

There are many more questions that my niece will always ask me and each time I have an answer. As a child I always asked questions.
Education is one thing and today I went to pick my niece from school. Am her guardian because her parents leave atleast over 500miles from Kampala. They stay in a rural area that doesn't have quality education. I know Universal education upcountry is really pathetic. My niece is in boarding school. Yes. Primary one. And its Sir Apollo Kagwa Old Kampala.

When I went to pick her up she had some fungi infection and her body and wounds. She had lost so much weight. She looked tired and really drained. I remember the opening term of the season when I took her to school and she was healthy. Spotless with no fungi infection. Smiling and she was pretty excited about school.
Children are usually excited about going for their holidays but clearly on her face I could tell she wanted to leave this hell hole.

On the day I took her to school, I paid alot of money at the School canteen that it could take her two terms to finish this amount of money. I left the Matron of her dormitory with clear instructions that if anything happens she should let me know. Unfortunately she never calls yet some airtime is one thing I provide. Am the one who makes the calls and she never told me that my niece was having this fungi infection.
My niece told me about the dirty shower rooms, rest rooms and the terrible food. The school fees unfortunately doesn't match the services these children receive.

My rant against Sir Apollo Kagwa Old Kampala is that they need to style up and stop reaping us off. The child's mother who is my sister told me that she is rethinking and will have to change the school.
"I want to go to Namagunga boarding school. This place they do not care about us," my niece told me.


Talking points:
Working on a new Job application

Playlist:
Some MJ song "They dont really care about us"

  

Be there