The binding codes of exercise

FAMILY VALUES. Fagil Mandy, the chairman of Uganda National Examinations Board, is a father of six and grandfather of 15. The author and education consultant tells of his thick and thin as a family man.

I refer to myself as a senior parent. I’m married to Florence Nyakana, however, I earlier on had a wife who passed on in 1993. It was such a trying moment for me and the rest of the family. Nonetheless, I have been with Florence for the past 19 years and we are still going strong.

Our family values
As a family, our most significant and core family value is sporting and physical education. This has been carried on from back in the day. Every morning, it was and still remains a habit that as a family, we all go jogging. Even now although my children are far away, the practice has stuck.

Also being the extended kind of family that we are, I made sure we each had strong interpersonal relationships with each other. We ensure that each one is accountable to the other whether it is in regard to work or any other aspect in life. We even decided that at least every Good Friday; we should all be together as a big family. This way, we always keep bonded together.

Invaluable principles
I have grown up as a man who works very hard and this is exactly what each of us as part of the family does. We all believe in working towards the achievement of something. My wife has been instrumental in ensuring that each of us respects and adores God and that is one of the principles we ultimately treasure.

Worth of notice is also the fact that as a family, we believe that only the best is good enough. Actually, in one of my books, my daughter tells of how I scolded her for being only one mark ahead of the second person. She scored a total of 294 marks and the next person had 293 marks. To me, this was a total embarrassment that could not be condoned otherwise it would make her comfortable with mediocre scores.

The various hurdles along the way
I got my first child while I was in Senior Four which at the time was a shame to my whole community and my school as well since I was a head boy there. It seemed accidental but I was not ready to let my child grow up as an accidental child. Back home, I had lost trust among my parents and colleagues and this was challenging. Even when I married my wife, it was quite hard to put the pieces of the story together. However, being the born again Christian she was and still is, she prayerfully ignored my past.

It has also been very hard to keep the family together especially now when age is catching up with me. The Children are also wide spread across the globe. Some are in Ukraine, Canada, Kenya and other US. As a family, we are designing an internet connection where we can all keep in touch with one another. My son is an I.T Specialist and he is working round the clock to see that it turns to reality. The most challenging aspect is when I want to direct my children and my grand children in the right moral path. Here, it is more than a wrestling game from the confession in the taste of movies to the type of meal one wants to eat.

Fondest moments
1997 is unforgettable for me. It was then when I had a chance to meet all my children together with their families. In total, there were about 27 people including wives and children. It was such a happy moment as I reconnected with my children.

I am happy about the progress my children have made since each one of them is doing something good to bring bread on the table. However, I do not think we have reached the landing site. Even with 16 children, I feel that I still need more and I am also looking at how to make my grand children better than my children which is why only God will stop me from writing more books.

Top tips
1.Being a parent needs rebranding and redesigning oneself. Always have it in mind that you will teach your children to become what you have become.
2.No child grows up by accident. There must be a design. If you lure him/ her into accidental growth, then you might as well be an equivalent of one who dumped their child in a grave.
3.You might want to check out a few parenting details in my books on parenting.