Alex Ndawula wanted to be an architect

My childhood.Veteran presenter Alex Ndawula used to save his pocket money to buy records and that was the stepping stone for Uganda’s all time best radio D.J .

I was born in the United States in New York City in 1963. When my father passed on, we relocated to Uganda, I was eight years then and I spent one year at St Mary’s College Kisubi before crossing to Nairobi and then to Namasagali for my High school and finally Nakawa Technical Institute from where I did Marketing.

I think my outgoing character and to some extent, my not exactly settled early childhood is the reason I was very social with a big base of friends. I was, just like today, very open and frank and I had a voracious desire for fun. I was however, hardworking and responsible, my hobbies like playing music rotated around what I do today (radio presenting and D.J) so I began shaping the all time best radio D.J I am today while still a child. Of course, I cannot share in a national newspaper at what age or class I was naughty and least what I did, and that should not mean I have regrets for I do not really have regrets in life.

My idea of fun as a child centered on playing basketball, swimming, playing music and I loved to read. I would collect comics and novels from friends after all, we used to have standard books which everyone or at least most of us in class had to have read. This upbringing has had an impact on me because in my scope of work, I have to research and be well informed, fortunately, it all began when I was a child.

Originally, I had aspired to be an architect, but you know in life there are times when the scale of luck does not tilt in your favour. When I finished my A’levels at Namasagali, architecture was no longer sponsored and no other school in East Africa, apart from Nairobi had an architecture department, that is how I found myself at Nakawa. Well, I would not really say I was inspired by anyone, may be I inspired myself! I had always been in love with designing and that was groomed further because in P.7 we were taught commercial Art.

My life as a child has quite significantly impacted on the person I am today, first in a way, because my father passed on in my early age, my mother worked hard, took me to the best schools from where I acquired quality education for which I am grateful, to her (she now lives in the U.S with my sister). I preferred to work in Uganda. I got to meet and interact with the so called children of the filthy rich and my old boys are also doing well in their professions. My network of childhood friends is so wide that I cannot exhaust all of them.

Looking back at our childhood, I want to think that there is a fundamental problem with society today. Back in the day people cared about one another, we would go for prayers and there after visit family friends, I had so many uncles and aunts who had no biological inclination to us but because of that nucleus of society, even today I still take them as my relatives. When you assess the children of today, it is an absurd situation. They are not just lazy and good at wasting time messing around, but also they do not seek knowledge let alone read widely and wisely. My mother instilled in me the reading culture at 10 years; she would force me to read old newspapers and journals. Today’s children have no hobbies other than dancing and partying. In our time, we would request to go out, the family was actively involved in our lives and upbringing.

My saddest memory though is not living with my father, but thankfully, my mother was such a phenomenal woman who worked hard and tried her best to raise us well. One thing I fondly miss about my family days is the habit of catching up with friends. In this day and age, everyone is too busy to check on one another.
- As told to Ivan Okuda