Juggling work, career, family
What you need to know:
Many hats. Marion Nankya Wasajja is the communications officer of Insurance Regulatory Authority. She is a professional marketer, who also works with the Nabaggereka Development Foundation. She is the wife of Prince David Wasajja of Buganda Kingdom. She had a chat with Nicolas Akasula.
Monday
The first thing I do every morning is to make the sign of the cross, and pray. I am pursuing a Master’s Degree in Business Administration and Management and each day and early in the morning, I spend 30 minutes reading. I prepare the children for school and I prepare to go to work. I hit the road, drop them at school and I head to work.
Mondays at work are comprised of general staff and departmental meetings. After meetings, I set targets for the week. Part of my work involves harmonising my tasks with the chief executive officer’s schedule, because the communications unit works and reports directly to him. After work, head home to prepare dinner for family.
Tuesday
My Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays almost have the same schedule. However, sometimes, as a communications department, part of our work involves going to the field to raise awareness, engage in sensitisation campaigns about insurance and carry out outdoor exhibitions. Our work is to make people fully understand the concept of insurance, appreciate its benefits and sign up for different insurance packages.
Thursday
It is a day set aside for report writing, sharing updates of tasks and conducting a weekly evaluation exercise for tasks undertaken. After work, I go for Rotary fellowship at my club. I belong to the Rotary Club of Kampala – Ssesse, and fortunately, our fellowship starts earlier.
Fridays
While the rest of the days are action-packed, Friday is less intense. I use this day to plan for tasks for the coming week. On Fridays, I leave earlier than normal time to attend lectures. My lectures begin 6pm and I study on Fridays and Saturdays. Adult education is not for the fainthearted because I have to juggle family, a day job, studies and Buganda kingdom initiatives and activities.
Saturday
This whole day is spent at campus. Lectures start at 8am untill 5pm. After lectures, sometimes I catch up with my friends for dinner or coffee and to laugh off the week’s stress, in case there is no major activity to attend to. Saturdays is also my salon day. I go for my manicure and pedicure. Sometimes, I make time for weddings or traditional functions and kingdom activities. If I cannot attend, my husband represents me.
Sunday
This is a family day. We rise at 9am, have breakfast and head to church. Once we are back from church, we decide whether to go and visit my mother, who lives in Nalumunye. We normally do so on Sunday afternoons or we decide to stay home. I spend time to go through my children’s books to track their progress We also do homework together. I also love TV, and always watch movies or news I spare some time to take the children for swimming and I jog in the evening. It helps me sweat the week off, stay in shape and keep sane.
Titbits
“I am also a farmer. I grow coffee and bananas and I must find time to supervise the farm. I am also the patron of ‘Thrive a woman Uganda’, an organisation which deals with women suffering from cancer and advocates for screening.”
