Knight Without a Castle

CHAPTER ONE

Preparation For Service

Preparation is very critical in all dimensions of life. Take the example of flying. It is almost traditional in some countries for passengers to clap after a smooth and safe landing as an expression of gratitude to the pilot for a job "well done." But what passengers don't realize is that the pilot's performance is predicated on proper preparation prior to the flight. Aviation experts aver that sometimes pilots take much longer to prepare for the flight than the actual duration of the flight. Whether the flight is 40 minutes or 8 hours long, the procedures are the same-medical check, flight data analysis, briefing, and aircraft check. Under no circumstances can the crew skip any of these steps.

The medical check is set to confirm that all cockpit and cabin crew members are mentally and physically fit to perform their duties. Usually, this includes a blood pressure check and a general examination. Should the doctor doubt the health condition of the pilot, additional tests may be conducted, including a blood test. Then, upon successful completion of the medical check, the crew starts the flight examination. The captain receives the flight data, which includes the route map, landing chart, weather forecast, etc. Along with the first officer, the captain calculates the necessary amount of fuel, depending on the aircraft load.

All this is done to ensure a safe flight that is devoid of problems. It is no wonder flying remains the safest means of transportation. Statistics indicate that as much as 99 percent of all aviation accidents are due to pilot error as opposed to aircraft malfunction. This points to pilots who overlook specific details at the preparation phase, which result in emergencies that they are unable to deal with mid-air. It also draws parallels with road transportation-the riskiest of all modes. This is because automobile drivers undertake the least preparation before settling in the driver's seat-certainly much less than that of their pilot colleagues-hence, the unrivaled tendency toward fatalities on the road. How we prepare ourselves at every stage of growth significantly impacts the nature of life that we lead. I consider the hardships I went through in my infancy and early youth as preparation for what I am today. I needed to be equipped in order to face the challenges and seek solutions for the folks I regularly encounter.

Chess Strategy: Gain Advantage

Play for the advantage. If you already have it, maintain it. If you don't have it, seek it.

Life Lesson: Find the Silver Lining

While difficult times can feel like a deep, dark hole that we can't escape, and we often wonder "Why is this happening to me?", there is always a silver lining. It's through the difficult times in our life that we are able to grow. It's when we are tested that we are able to rise, push through and come out the other side stronger, braver, and better.

Food for Thought:

Set a vision

Map out your options

Think ahead

Devise a plan

"Mishaps are like knives that either serve us or cut us, as we grasp them by the blade or by the handle."

- James Russell Lowell

Getting here was not an easy journey. My life's journey has been one typified by perseverance, enduring faith, hope against all hope, patience, humility, forgiveness, self-control, and a host of other values that have come to define the very purpose of my existence. Most importantly, it is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit; to the truth that anyone and everyone can transcend the most harrowing experiences of life and still find true meaning for living. It is possible.

If only humanity mastered the right thing to do in the moments when you feel like you are on life-support in the world's intensive care unit; when you have been written off by all and find yourself waiting for the inevitable to happen. Even here, you still can claw yourself out of the pit of despair and make it to the finish line, not as a passive participant but as a victor. On the other hand, I have also learned that losing is not the worst thing that can happen to you. Sometimes you need to lose in order to learn something. I trust that this story casts a ray of hope upon all who think that all is lost; on those who might eventually go through what I did, or perhaps even worse.

This story is really not about inventing anything new. The Lord Jesus Christ frequently used parables as a means of illustrating profound, divine truths. Stories such as these are easily remembered-the characters bold and the symbolism rich in meaning. Before a certain point in his ministry, Jesus had employed many graphic analogies using common things that would be familiar to everyone (salt, bread, sheep, etc.), and their meaning was reasonably clear in the context of His teaching. By the same token, sharing my life has been very pivotal in helping the disadvantaged children I serve to understand that anyone can emerge from any kind of situation, and even help others out through the process. That is the reason why it is crucial for every one of us to become what we wish to teach.

The Unpleasant Welcome

My birth was indeed a very unpleasant welcome into life. Having come into the world the way I did, rejection was part of my daily existence right from the outset. It was clear that I was an unwanted child; my teenage mum, Firidah Nawaguma, was not ready to bring me into the world, and the father I never met-whose name I never knew-didn't intend to sire me. That was never his plan, at least. I was simply an inconvenient truth to him, just as I was a disruption to my mother's education and young life. It was no surprise that I was declared persona non grata in my father's house at the pain of death, if my mother dared to take me there. My mother conveniently weaned me off her breast at the time I needed it most (I am not even sure if she breastfed me at all) when she got an opportunity to start again in life-this time with a new man who had a stable income. She couldn't wait for me to make it to at least one year before running off to her newfound love. Neither could she think about letting me tag along with her to the new marital home for fear of spoiling her chances. I was expendable to her; I had no value to the people responsible for me. I was like condemned goods that are not worthy of human consumption, and I was avoided like the plague by those who were duty-bound to defend me against all odds. How I wish the laws that address child-neglect were in place at the time, perhaps this wouldn't have happened.

There were no easy options for my young mother other than putting me under the care of her sixty-year-old mother, Aidah Namusisi. Looking back, I highly doubt she thought I would pull through and make it to adulthood under the circumstances. My grandmother had no reliable income worth talking about, other than what she earned by selling bananas from her small garden; but it was just enough to feed me and my other bastard cousin brother, Kiddu. I am not sure how she managed to buy milk to feed me after the premature departure of my mother, and who knows what I grew up eating during that time. I was probably following a fully-fledged adult diet at eight months. Anything was possible during my childhood, it seems. This made life challenging right from the beginning. However, it was a childhood that eventually turned out to be a training platform and a process of self-discovery as I wandered about with my grandma-in her late 90s as of the writing of this book.

Life was more of a chaotic mess in the jungle, with survival not guaranteed. Mine was a collage of contradictions that I was too young to fathom. But it was also one that engendered a kind of early awareness about the adult world and how to deal with any situation. There is a way, it seems, in which hardships awaken our survival instinct and enable us to mount the pedestal of our self-preservation. This was key in the manner in which I encountered life in the subsequent years, as you will notice.

We never really had a permanent address we could call home. Instead, we led a kind of nomadic lifestyle, constantly wandering in search of food. We possessed nothing, not even a chicken. Grandma once rented a small shack in Kiboga town, but her failure to keep up with the bills soon forced her to return to her home village in Kiwanda Kirangira. Luckily, she had inherited a portion of land from her family that we could live off. She built a single-room mud and wattle hut to give us shelter and tilled the land so we could grow crops. Several of her relatives were in the neighborhood, giving us a sense of community. This assurance somewhat alleviated our circumstances for the time being while my creative grandma hatched alternative plans for survival.

Before we could warm up the place, circumstances conspired against us once again. Suddenly, our lives were at stake with a high risk of death. Our transition coincided with the time when rebel forces led by Yoweri Museveni were waging a guerilla insurrection against the president at the time, Apollo Milton Obote. The flashpoint of this insurgency was the infamous Luwero Triangle. Kiboga is within the precincts of this triangle; thus, we were quite literally sandwiched between a rock and a hard place! The opposing forces attacked from opposite directions while we were caught in the middle with no idea where to run.

On one occasion, however, we...