WHY NOW?

THE POWERS OF THE UNIVERSE

On October 7, 2016 at about 5:31 p.m. local time, I was attacked by two fierce domestic security dogs at a residential home in a suburb of Kampala City, Uganda. During the attack, I literally flew over the staircase that leads from one level of the compound to the other, landing on a gravel surface on the lower end – palms first. The dogs took their own flights, I presume, but in microseconds of my landing, one of them had sunk its two-inch left canine into my right calf. It was all happening so fast that I didn’t even feel the sharp penetration, only to try to get on my feet and I realized I had been tagged. After several seconds of kicking, yelling, roaring and more biting; I was left with a torn calf, a shallow cut in the back of my right thigh, a badly damaged shapeless piece of fabric from my once stylish pair of jeans, a scratch on my chin and several other injuries and bruises all over my body…

This action-packed scene followed a private French lesson inside the house, with my student – a Chinese corporate, who happened to be the master of the ruthless canines. It was our fifth meeting for the class. I had been recommended to him for French lessons, by a journalist friend of his, who had known about my teaching qualification during an interview about a theatre production Ga-ad!, in which I was a member of the cast…

On June 15, 2016, I successfully auditioned for a role in Ga-ad! – a play-poetry production by Silent Voices Uganda. Performances were at the Uganda National Theatre Auditorium in July and August 2016. I attribute my success at the auditions, partly, to the tips I received that afternoon from Rehema Nanfuka and Gladys ‘Gdah’ Oyenbot. The duo also successfully auditioned for the same, and I was privileged to perform alongside such selfless and talented actresses. I had come to know of this audition through a WhatsApp forum for Yat Madit Cast&Crew.

I met both Rehema and Gdah, for the very first time, during the last phase of auditions for the NTV Uganda drama series Yat Madit, where the three of us were successful, and are on the amazing cast. The show was directed by Irene Kulabako, who had been my director in three previous projects; and is my maiden director for film…

On August 8, 2016, at a farewell dinner for Patrick Ssenjovu – a fellow member of the Ga-ad! cast (travelling back to New York, USA), the playwright and director of the production Judith Adong, coined an intriguing phrase in her farewell message: ‘…Patrick being on Ga-ad!, for me, it’s another sign of the power of the destiny.’ She went on to explain, that each event is connected with another in the past and leads to another in future; relating how she had met Patrick the first time, in the U.S. I have since paid more attention to the possible justification of her rather philosophical remarks, and this has led me to constantly look into ‘the power of coincidence’ with such open-mindedness.

Now, pause right there, look back at just the last six hours, until you clicked this post and read it to this point! Destiny or Coincidence?!

Mikono Juu!

During my childhood, play was one of the things that inspired me to leave my warm bed – coming with my father to take his herd out to the fields top of the list. That did not happen for many years though, [my daddy] departing this life when I was just six years and four months old.

Like for many other kids, irrespective of family status and/or background, my father’s eternal physical absence was a life changing experience – yes, at that tender age. Play in our family was one of the affected departments. Our mother took charge, and by circumstances I believe, became a more strict parent. Even in that situation we still played; and we really played.

With siblings two to eight years older and two to four years younger, there were quite enough playmates from our house. But we would go ahead to team up with kids from the neighborhood. Home ground was the safest, considering the circumstances.

Some of the games we played are Hide & Seek which has local names like ‘TAPO, KWISO BAADO’, dodge ball locally known generally among some Bantu communities in Uganda as ‘OKWEPENA’, soccer with a ball made from dry banana fibres or sometimes ‘entanga’ (the smaller relative of the watermelon, from the gourd family), family role -playing, rearing domestic animals modelled from clay, driving vehicles modelled from various materials including clay, wood, broken bicycle spokes, parts of certain plants et cetera. Naturally there were games favored by girls and those favored by boys, but there were also games that brought us all together, sometimes attracting even the adults.

I cannot easily measure the value of play in my childhood days but, I’m certain that it played a tremendous role in shaping what’s now the older version of me. I still play, a lot in fact.

Over the years, the world has changed, in the name of civilization and development, and if there’s anything this has left as a strong mark, it is the transformation of family structures. As a result, the way children play has also been affected. To be exact, it is now less physical, even less interactive. Whereas most families particularly in Africa still lead a rural life, the traditions have not quite remained so rural. Therefore, the imbalance of physical and mental activity in play should not be considered to be affecting only urban dwelling communities. But we should note that it will be found to be more serious in such families with higher standards of living, or those in the closest of their neighbourhood.

Ideally, it should be easier for a kid to learn things faster today, given the improved modes of communication and learning aids: Video, Television, Telephone/Smartphone, Smart Board, Video Games, add yours. The challenge is that such avenues are usually more mentally engaging than physically or otherwise interactive. This can be attributed to mainly, the inadequacy or the lack of supporting material to enable the children practise sufficiently the mental activities in a way that promotes discovery learning.

What we can argue for is that the world continues to change, very fast and generally for better, and society must simply cope. I’d like to be a part of a global discussion on how we can make play more realistic to the key players – the kids, in their respective unique social setups and circumstances too, without taking away too much of its precious interactive fabric.

Who am I?

 

A few days ago I went for an audition at one of the major production houses in Uganda. Having been the first participant to arrive at the venue, I was called in first. It was just the Director and I, in his office. He chose to handle it in what he himself termed a ‘chit-chat’ manner. About one minute into our interaction, he put to me: ‘So, tell me about yourself…, your personality’, he said. This sounded so heavy, I took a breather.

One of my main objectives was to impress, first chance. The task at hand was to package my response neatly; to achieve the objective, without losing sincerity. So, I started with the fairly straightforward positives about me, praying that he’d interrupt before I swam towards the negative end. Well my prayer was not answered, in my time at least, as my listener kept this steady gaze of undivided attention! I went all the way, hence.

When I was done, he said that he was amazed by my approach because, on several occasions when he did that, no one chose to go so far. He expected a response of one or two short sentences.
Whether I impressed or not – he said he liked my expression, one thing caught my attention in this experience: How well do I know myself? With description as brief and as sincere as possible, what larger image of myself do I have?

As one approaches the late years of their third decade in this life, it should become clearer to them who they really are. It should be more than ‘…my name is Daniel ‘River Dan’ Rugaju…’, but as straightforward. What better knowledge than of oneself!

So, tell me about yourself…, your personality.

WELCOME NOTE

 

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Welcome to Each Page! Most kind regards to all our visitors; now and in the future.

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Thank you!

River Dan Rugaju.