Learning how to ride a bicycle was the true measure of manhood

I was born in 1963 in a dispensary in Amuria District at a time when being born in such a facility was a privilege, considering that it had one of the best maternity services in the county. I grew up in a large family of 48 children from five mothers, my mother being my father’s eldest wife.

Our family was relatively affluent by village standards of the day; it was endowed with plenty of food throughout the year. My father was such a hardworking man that he was a household name across the county as the greatest cattle trader with the biggest grocery shop. However, amidst the comfortable life, my father never detached us from the wider community and made us see home as open to everybody. He was also extremely generous.

Thanks to his association with educated men (despite being illiterate) like policemen, headmasters and agricultural officers, he valued education and ensured that all his 48 children and several other relatives’ children attained the best education possible- the reason I went to prestigious schools like Teso College, Aloet and St Mary’s College, Kisubi.

Hungry for challenges
I was a naughty, extremely playful child, but brilliant in class and a go-getter. At home, I had a good attitude and a very competitive spirit. My garden was the cleanest, I emerged the best in hunting and even in filling pots with water, I ensured I was the first to finish. However, I enjoyed cock fights from morning to evening.

I would instigate cocks from my grandfather’s home to fight with ours. The same was true for bulls. During the cattle grazing periods, as the other herdsmen brought their bulls to drink water, I selected the giant bulls and initiated a serious fight to the point of the bulls bleeding. While others watched fearfully from tall trees, I picked a lion’s courage and held the tails of the bulls to re-energise them.

On two different occasions, I dug out a scary egeri geri (Ateso for monitor lizard) from an anthill but the most deadly one was a huge and fierce snake which despite being smoked out refused to leave the anthill. While older people stood terrified in despair, I picked a hoe, unaware which hole it would use to exit and dug it out. When I look back now, I see how reckless and audacious these and more acts were, but God’s protection kept me from harm’s way.

Finding a career path
Looking back now, that desire to be in intense and challenging situations and daring to venture unto places most people fear has had a huge impact on my success today. I am a go- getter, regardless of the risks and challenges. Once I am determined to achieve something good, I shall get it at all costs.

Even in my aspirations, I admired rich agricultural officers because of the praise my father heaped on them, but I wanted to do the hardest subject combination at Kisubi, so, I chose PCM, but my brother-in-law forced me to do Biology in S.6. Having missed a lot for one year, I gave it a shot, but somehow lost out on Physics and Chemistry as I invested more time and energy on Biology.

Consequently, during university admissions, I missed my dream courses, Human or Veterinary medicine and found myself studying agriculture. I failed the first two semester exams because I felt the world crumble on me. The reality of doing a course which was no where near my dreams took me time to get over but I saw light at the end of the tunnel.

A bright future
I then aspired to work with World Food Programme in Rome, Italy by becoming the best agriculture student ever in Makerere University and indeed in my final exams, I emerged the second best student in my faculty. This opened doors for me as I got six juicy job offers at once but zeroed on the post of Banking Trainee with the defunct Uganda Commercial Bank from where I was among the top three Africans to scoop a World Bank scholarship for a Masters in Business Administration specialising in finance from London School of Economics and later on Mater of Science in Investment Analysis.

As I said earlier on, my childhood was full of self confidence which sparked the desire to achieve and impress my parents. I was also very good at making friends. This seed was planted during childhood just like that of creativity and desire to achieve and be successful entered me much early in life.

I had role models as a child and out of the many teachers I have had, my Mathematics teacher, Mr Okedi at Okwalo Primary School stands out. He was extremely smart, organised and brilliant. The other was Joseph Almeidha, then Headmaster at Buganda Road, actually I would rank him my number one childhood role model. He believed in bringing out the best in every individual and knew every student’s weakness and strength.

The most memorable bit of my childhood was telling time at school by waiting for buses coming from Soroti to Amuria; we would anxiously wait for the bus to remind the teacher it was lunch time and for evening lessons, there was a talisman delivering letters across sub counties.

My milestone was learning how to ride a bicycle as it was the measure of true manhood in the village. Also, buying a goat at an early age from proceeds of cotton I sold was great; this was after handling my garden well.

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