“Who am I,” Phionah asked rhetorically, doing her best to control the avalanche of emotions vibrating through her. She was wearing an academic gown, complete with a hood on which dangled the characteristic green laces.
Last Friday that was, and Phionah had just graduated from Kampala International University with a degree in Business Administration. An achievement the only daughter of a poor mother in a place as remote as Bitereko, somewhere in Mitooma district, knew not would be hers, had her Uncle, Daudi, not sponsored her campus education.
And now Phionah vowed to go on and probably become the first woman PhD holder in Bitereko! With that glint of ambition in her eyes, I can see abundant vicissitudes of good fortune stalking her everywhere.
Phionah was sharing a class with her cousin, Sixtus - Daudi’s son, so it was understandable they got one graduation party.
Sixtus’s speech mirrored the joy of achievement too, but differently. His was animated, and sprinkled with humour and witticisms that were quite a delightful surprise to some of us who know him as a quiet, shy guy. When father looked son in the eye and asked to be paid back soon in form of a wife who would give him clever grandchildren, Sixtus thanked him heartily but asked, “for only 10 years” to make his father’s wish come true! Of course everyone burst out laughing, including his father.
He also talked about how life at school had sometimes “boxed” him, but how in spite of the “punches” he had gone on to triumph. Sixtus’s juxtaposition of life with boxing reminded me of heavyweight pugilist Joe “Smokin” Frazier who died recently, the man who brought new delights to my favourite sport with what experts dubbed the “leapin’ left hook” that famously earned Muhammad Ali his first loss.
Take a pause and think then what Joe’s joy of achievement was on that memorable day –Match 8, 1971? Maybe it’s high time we started looking at life as our boxing opponent. That way, you rise early every day, train more, work harder, and when it tries to throw jabs at you, it’ll find you ready –ready to duck and throw harder punches back. Nothing will scare you.
And you know what you’ll become? A champion! And you know what that brings? The deserved exultant joy of achievement!
Last Friday that was, and Phionah had just graduated from Kampala International University with a degree in Business Administration. An achievement the only daughter of a poor mother in a place as remote as Bitereko, somewhere in Mitooma district, knew not would be hers, had her Uncle, Daudi, not sponsored her campus education.
And now Phionah vowed to go on and probably become the first woman PhD holder in Bitereko! With that glint of ambition in her eyes, I can see abundant vicissitudes of good fortune stalking her everywhere.
Phionah was sharing a class with her cousin, Sixtus - Daudi’s son, so it was understandable they got one graduation party.
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| Phionah and Sixtus were overjoyed for the road that has been! |
Sixtus’s speech mirrored the joy of achievement too, but differently. His was animated, and sprinkled with humour and witticisms that were quite a delightful surprise to some of us who know him as a quiet, shy guy. When father looked son in the eye and asked to be paid back soon in form of a wife who would give him clever grandchildren, Sixtus thanked him heartily but asked, “for only 10 years” to make his father’s wish come true! Of course everyone burst out laughing, including his father.
He also talked about how life at school had sometimes “boxed” him, but how in spite of the “punches” he had gone on to triumph. Sixtus’s juxtaposition of life with boxing reminded me of heavyweight pugilist Joe “Smokin” Frazier who died recently, the man who brought new delights to my favourite sport with what experts dubbed the “leapin’ left hook” that famously earned Muhammad Ali his first loss.
Take a pause and think then what Joe’s joy of achievement was on that memorable day –Match 8, 1971? Maybe it’s high time we started looking at life as our boxing opponent. That way, you rise early every day, train more, work harder, and when it tries to throw jabs at you, it’ll find you ready –ready to duck and throw harder punches back. Nothing will scare you.
And you know what you’ll become? A champion! And you know what that brings? The deserved exultant joy of achievement!
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