Mark Mwesiga's Blog

Julius (left) speaking to Mark in November 2019. Julius Emukule, 17 is a tall, handsome, confident and brave ‘young man’. He is athletic and therefore a fast walker.   The distance from his home village of Morekebu in Kwapa sub country to Tororo Hospital is about 8 miles. This is the distance that he has walked many times back and forth during three harsh episodes of his young life. He recounts the episodes thoughtfully with 'stature' of an old man. In one of the tribes in Uganda, there is a common proverb that can be paraphrased as ‘ stories of tribulations are not only told by elders but even by children who have lived through trouble’ . Of course, the norm is that it is the old who tell stories. All sorts of stories. In fact, for this particular tribe, many homesteads still have fireplaces where young children gather every evening to listen to the escapades of their grandparents.  The life story of Julius is an adventurous one. He tells it brashly and with th...

Let me tell you something. I belong to an investment group with some acquaintances. This came up as a friendly thought by one of us and I am glad that it is revolving into something. When we started, all of us were quite serious about the idea. We agreed to meet once in two months and to make some monthly deposits to a joint bank account. The first four months we superb! None of us defaulted on deposits and we all attended meetings. You could say we were on fire for the thing. Six months down the road, things started changing, people gave excuses for not coming to meetings. We had one of two missing every time we met. The one who we had designated secretary would not write minutes. Instead, we would try to recall action points of the last meeting and go on. It became a little vague but we pushed on until the end of 2018. In all this time, one particular member was the most unserious (that is if there is something like that). She missed meetings or she reported late at ...

Just last evening, I took a chair to have some look warm tea with honey at the place near the road. Its a bit raised and one can see cars as they pass the busy Entebbe road. Actually, I think its a great business idea. A place for tea for people looking for an evening. It could be that they are a couple or just someone alone from work wanting to enjoy some tea and a cookie. How about that? Anyhow, as I had my tea, two ladies approached. They wanted to take a table near mine bu t preferred that the waitress arranges the chairs in some way. The waitress had just picked my order and was heading to the machine. That kind of machine that they punch in orders. it looks like a small TV on the wall. I think it sends a message to the chef once it punched. I like the whole idea that the waitress doesn't have to shout Tea and cookies! The machine does that. So one of the ladies spoke in a rather harsh tone..." can you get us a place to sit ?" Please nyabo (madam), we are cust...

Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. Ecclesiastes 3:11 I like to think about things past and reflect. In my free time, I get hold of an old book that I read those days and just run through it quickly. I just feel good about it. sometimes this evokes a feeling of triumph.    I mean, I just remember how God has led me through  seasons and all I can say to Him is.."I will trust in you always Jehovah - Shalom " .  Do you write down your prayer requests? If you do, pick up your hidden notes and look at 2, 3, 5, 10 years ago, you will be amazed. You will find that God has answered every prayer. It's actually ok that you don't remember all. By our nature, new things come. So we forget that, what we wanted badly and now want something new or better. One thing for sure that I have proved through my life experience i...

A smartly dressed lady with posh makeup on her and driving a sleek vehicle just committed a small mistake on the road. Bodaboda men have her. All sorts of abuses to her. The taxi I am using is just near there. The driver is calm and quiet. the conductor jumps off walks quickly as if to help the lady shield off the bodaboda men who are increasingly abusive. Infant, they are shouting insults. The conductor joins the choir. I can tell you, this is a master at this song! The boy can abuse! The lady is looking at him with sort of an intent gaze. This earns her more abuse...her eyes, nose, shaved eyelashes, painted hair, painted lips, nose ring, etc... In a while, a traffic police lady shows up, its all cleared quickly and we are on the road again. Affect about 10 meters away, the driver stops, moves to the "conductor's door' askes him to hand over all the money he had collected and pulled him off the taxi... The driver tells the conductor to leave immediately! H...

Sometime last year, I had resolved to come over at least once in a week to share something on work ethic. But I failed. I have been very busy of late. Somehow, things to be done continue to pile. A day passes and I only realize that I didn't accomplish all on my to-do-list. One morning, I will stop doing this list of thngs to do in a day. I will just hadle things as they come and at the end of the day go home not to remember anything until the next day. This must happen soon. But that's not the story. It is here. I met a long time lost friend, she had great stories for me. You know those stories that date way back in time. This is a particular friend that I met way back after campus. We walked together a jouney to work. Yes we walked on foot to work. If this sounds funny, then you just dont know how cool it is to pray along the paths! Every nice vehicle that passes, you take, every nice perfume of someone waiting on the road for taxi, you take, and other things you will fi...

Barbra the beautiful bride on Dec 24th 2018 We just had a mevoluous season! Okuhingira Barbara. Then her wedding to her beloved Justus and all that comes with it. Barbra my young sister is the only girl among my mothers children. I hope this is good English. We are four boys and her. So my mother produced the five of us. My mother is a strong woman. I need to cross check this fact but I think before her early 30 years of age, she had all of us here and about. My father got her just in time. She is therefore still beautiful and energetic. You can read about her in my other pieces on my blog . Before I found Omukyara  the two: Barbra and my Mother were the only women of my life. Later on, my friend Humura joined. I now have four of them. I also have other two sisters and a brother. So add to the five I mentioned earlier on. We are a a big family. Of the women of my life, Omukyara and Humura occupy more space on my mind because they are full time partners. Now Bar...