We all have that one thing that we turn to when in doubt, when all is lost, when in need and are as confused as can be, for some, it's a person in form of a friend, lover, wife, sister, cousin, name it, for others it is a habit, they pray or smoke or slip into boring routine after boring routine until they find themselves.
For me however, it is not a place, person or habit, for me it is Music!!
Music and I have been in a relationship since I was 5 and I can gladly say we have never broken up or ever had reason to. The crooners might be different but if a song has melody, rhythm and groove, I am all for it.
As a matter of fact, I am suffering withdrawal symptoms from being away from my player too long, so am afraid I must end here and go out to my evening with just "Music and me"
Monday, 18 January 2016
Wednesday, 15 October 2014
What The Hex Going On?
Hex - Interesting choice of word but contrary to what you're thinking right now, I am not referring to the TV series or the board game or the witchy Juju that is cast on a guilty or sometimes innocent victim with the intent of leaving them under a curse or am I not? It looks like recently in my home town every Brenda, Sheebah and Cindy is under a spell, I mean how else would you explain one nude picture scandal after another? Allow me stop you in your answering tracks by volunteering an answer of my own, they are auditioning for "Who wants to be the next Kim Kardashian?" Could they be looking for spontaneous popularity because let's face it, sex (Nudity) sells.
But maybe, just maybe it's not the popular with the problem, perhaps the problem lies elsewhere, flashback to high school,Economics class, remember that lesson on the market forces of demand and supply, well I think here they apply, think about it, if we the consumers just didn't buy into it, I mean all the nudity, sex tapes, senseless music together with it's videos et al, if we ignored it and just didn't buy or comment or even blog about it, there would be no market for it, there would be no demand and therefore no supply. Demand really is equal to supply, who knew I would have my economics teacher to thank for this observation?
Honestly I feel like we have browbeaten the popular into selling us nudity, they have started becoming creative, have you ever heard of "nudity for charity?" yeah ridiculous, I know but what can they do, they need to stay in our good books by showing us the goods for a cause like alleviating and reducing breast cancer, so take a picture with no bra and post it on social media to help create awareness, we have turned them into porn stars, I swear and then we have the audacity to sit back and retort, see what has become of our generation, see what has become of our generation indeed and so I ask again what the hex going on? Are both the consumer and supplier bound? Are we cursed? Can we escape it? You tell me.
But maybe, just maybe it's not the popular with the problem, perhaps the problem lies elsewhere, flashback to high school,Economics class, remember that lesson on the market forces of demand and supply, well I think here they apply, think about it, if we the consumers just didn't buy into it, I mean all the nudity, sex tapes, senseless music together with it's videos et al, if we ignored it and just didn't buy or comment or even blog about it, there would be no market for it, there would be no demand and therefore no supply. Demand really is equal to supply, who knew I would have my economics teacher to thank for this observation?
Honestly I feel like we have browbeaten the popular into selling us nudity, they have started becoming creative, have you ever heard of "nudity for charity?" yeah ridiculous, I know but what can they do, they need to stay in our good books by showing us the goods for a cause like alleviating and reducing breast cancer, so take a picture with no bra and post it on social media to help create awareness, we have turned them into porn stars, I swear and then we have the audacity to sit back and retort, see what has become of our generation, see what has become of our generation indeed and so I ask again what the hex going on? Are both the consumer and supplier bound? Are we cursed? Can we escape it? You tell me.
Wednesday, 5 February 2014
Tuesday, 29 October 2013
Am Ok
Friends are not just forgotten in a day or two, it isn't just alright after that...
Just when I think I have gone through all of griefs 5 stages, I regress and slip in to them all over again. I am going round in circles.
A voice whispers, "Do not mourn like those without hope" and I am trying, I really am
I guess all I can do is allow to go through these motions until the Lord sees it fit to relieve me of this burden.
I miss you Mark, I do and I am tired of pretending that it's okay because it's not so today, I am telling myself, Becky
Am I okay?
Ask me again tomorrow
Monday, 21 October 2013
GONE but NEVER FORGOTTEN
The year is 2013,
And in this year my friend died.
Only a month stood between him and his 26th Birthday,
I know he was anticipating it from the way he talked about it for reasons I now will never know.
Its said that death comes for us all
I just never expected it to come this soon for him
See Mark has had what many would call a nightmare of a life
Orphaned at 6, he was left to the care of his elder brother who also was taken away from him a few years later and his education was left in the hands of the colourful Watoto, thankfully they helped him acquire his Higher Secondary certificate.
Like us all, he saw it fit to take a whack at his longest enduring dream.... MUSIC
For it, he walked from Nakulabye to First love Studio's in Ntinda everyday and eventually recorded a couple of songs here and there. They might have not seen the light of day but his popularity grew with every performance he had at Gospel Night at TLC, It was clear that his future in the Gospel music industry was bright albeit all around him was humble as was his character.
Fast forward to the year 2009 when he walked into the PowerFM offices confindent but not overbearing, friendly but not a boot licker, proud yet still all together humble. First Impressions really do matter because even now with him being gone, this is the impression I still hold of him. The song he dropped off that day went on to become a hit, "Church boy" was loved as were all the other hits off the same album that followed, Mufirako, First priority et al.
A lot of people have profiled his music speaking of how it touched them in tough times, maybe it's because he sung from his life experiences, to thousands he gave hope because he had been through it and survived and through it all he had formulated a friendship so true with his maker that it influenced his life through and through.
Mark ceased to be just an artist to me when I met him at a home where I go to attend share group and there we shared life experiences and became fast friends and upon our new friendship I grew to understand why this very seemingly small man had a rather grand future.
See he had a heart of "Gold". That he had been crushed more than once by life and friends is painting his story rather mildly but that didn't weaken his resolve to tell the story of a love so strong, it held him through it all and can hold others too. He never wavered or minced his words. Mark was and always will be a Church boy, it mattered not who he was talking to or who asked why he christened himself church boy, he always smiled that wicked grin of his and answered, "I am a Church boy and Christ is my First priority" but his were more than just words, he was a doer, he believed in getting the love of Christ out there, one action at a time whether through school outreach or a good deed or just listening to you after you have heard a bad day or a phone call just to pray with you because he senses all is not well.
You see W.E.Cummings said it all when he said, "May your life preach more loudly than your lips"
And Mark's life did just that.
Music and God being everything to him, he wanted to go back to school to study sound engineering and theology, in the meantime, he practised his new found skills in music production at his music label "Bronz wall music" but believe me he had other passions which included writing (Music specifically), swimming and many more which is why when I was called on Saturday afternoon with the news that he had drowned I was more confused than convinced that this news was circulating. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Mark was a world class swimmer, there was no way he would have drowned. First instinct prompted me to call him, got no answer, proceeded to call up a few other people and the sound of their grieving from the other end convinced me of what I had been denying for an hour.
He was GONE................
My last words to him were,
"Gwe fala, make sure you write that wedding song you promised me because its happening soon"
Not, I love you but the above phrase
who says Goodbye like this?
For the past 2 days I kept on hoping to wake up and find this nightmare gone but with each passing second, i realise he is not coming back
I cannot attempt to convey the extent of my grief
I never got to say Goodbye!! and this grieves me so.
He wanted to see the body of Christ work together so badly, its all he talked about for months and I hope that someday this dream can come true for his sake.
George Elliot once wrote, "Our dead are never dead to us until we have forgotten them"
We have just got to remember his dream, his vision
GONE but NEVER FORGOTTEN!!
Rest in Peace
My friend
Until that glorious day when we meet again
In my heart you'll stay
You always said, "I bet I can fly because I know Christ"
Well, Now you can.
And in this year my friend died.
Only a month stood between him and his 26th Birthday,
I know he was anticipating it from the way he talked about it for reasons I now will never know.
Its said that death comes for us all
I just never expected it to come this soon for him
See Mark has had what many would call a nightmare of a life
Orphaned at 6, he was left to the care of his elder brother who also was taken away from him a few years later and his education was left in the hands of the colourful Watoto, thankfully they helped him acquire his Higher Secondary certificate.
Like us all, he saw it fit to take a whack at his longest enduring dream.... MUSIC
 |
| Mark narrates his life story at Power FM presents |
Fast forward to the year 2009 when he walked into the PowerFM offices confindent but not overbearing, friendly but not a boot licker, proud yet still all together humble. First Impressions really do matter because even now with him being gone, this is the impression I still hold of him. The song he dropped off that day went on to become a hit, "Church boy" was loved as were all the other hits off the same album that followed, Mufirako, First priority et al.
A lot of people have profiled his music speaking of how it touched them in tough times, maybe it's because he sung from his life experiences, to thousands he gave hope because he had been through it and survived and through it all he had formulated a friendship so true with his maker that it influenced his life through and through.
Mark ceased to be just an artist to me when I met him at a home where I go to attend share group and there we shared life experiences and became fast friends and upon our new friendship I grew to understand why this very seemingly small man had a rather grand future.
See he had a heart of "Gold". That he had been crushed more than once by life and friends is painting his story rather mildly but that didn't weaken his resolve to tell the story of a love so strong, it held him through it all and can hold others too. He never wavered or minced his words. Mark was and always will be a Church boy, it mattered not who he was talking to or who asked why he christened himself church boy, he always smiled that wicked grin of his and answered, "I am a Church boy and Christ is my First priority" but his were more than just words, he was a doer, he believed in getting the love of Christ out there, one action at a time whether through school outreach or a good deed or just listening to you after you have heard a bad day or a phone call just to pray with you because he senses all is not well.
You see W.E.Cummings said it all when he said, "May your life preach more loudly than your lips"
And Mark's life did just that.
Music and God being everything to him, he wanted to go back to school to study sound engineering and theology, in the meantime, he practised his new found skills in music production at his music label "Bronz wall music" but believe me he had other passions which included writing (Music specifically), swimming and many more which is why when I was called on Saturday afternoon with the news that he had drowned I was more confused than convinced that this news was circulating. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Mark was a world class swimmer, there was no way he would have drowned. First instinct prompted me to call him, got no answer, proceeded to call up a few other people and the sound of their grieving from the other end convinced me of what I had been denying for an hour.
 |
| Mark in Tanzania with Sami Kay |
My last words to him were,
"Gwe fala, make sure you write that wedding song you promised me because its happening soon"
Not, I love you but the above phrase
who says Goodbye like this?
For the past 2 days I kept on hoping to wake up and find this nightmare gone but with each passing second, i realise he is not coming back
I cannot attempt to convey the extent of my grief
I never got to say Goodbye!! and this grieves me so.
He wanted to see the body of Christ work together so badly, its all he talked about for months and I hope that someday this dream can come true for his sake.
George Elliot once wrote, "Our dead are never dead to us until we have forgotten them"
We have just got to remember his dream, his vision
GONE but NEVER FORGOTTEN!!
 |
| Mark performing at Phatfest 2011 |
My friend
Until that glorious day when we meet again
In my heart you'll stay
You always said, "I bet I can fly because I know Christ"
Well, Now you can.
Saturday, 5 October 2013
Wednesday, 3 July 2013
THE PROOF IS IN THE NUMBERS
Over seven billion people walk the earth, 37,873,253 of them are Ugandans. Two million of these, minors lured into marriage every year according to a report compiled by UNFPA, UNICEF,WHO and The World Bank.
Anyone below the age of eighteen in Uganda is a minor but majority of the girls in her rural areas are married off before their fourteenth birthday. It goes without saying then that the rate of teenage pregnancies in this country is sky high and the causes though several pale in comparison to the main one, "Early marriage". I need not remind you that this is a human rights violation but to aid your better understanding of this evil, let me put things in perspective for you.
The girl child has had to battle with a lot the world over, its no mistake that women are considered a minority group even to activists but the plight of the girl child in developing countries is far worse than that of girls elsewhere in the world and sad though it makes me, Uganda is such a place.
Girls here are thought of as property, good only for dowry to their guardians, educating them is more an inconvenience than an investment and sold in to marriage by the very people that are meant to protect them, these girls are robbed of not only their childhood but of their right to choose whom and when to marry, a right to study and have a fair chance at getting a decent job.
Five years ago today, I had the fortune of volunteering with a christian N.G.O (Arise Africa International) that specialises in planting churches in Busogas rural areas and sensitises women in the part they can play towards development and it was there that I met Fatima,a mother to two and fifteen. She like many of the girls had come seeking free medical attention for their children and themselves for they could not afford the services, sadly though for some of them and Fatima, it was already too late, she married off by her uncle at twelve bore her first son shortly after she turned thirteen , a year later came her daughter. She was forced to dig and sell her produce, there after she was to hand over all her earnings to her husband who would give her a meagre portion to cater to family welfare and with the rest, he married two other girls who in turn joined Fatima's cycle. All six of them are HIV positive, they earn not more than a dollar a day and for them all hope of survival is none existent but Fatima and her co-wives are the lucky ones, thousands of teenagers in Uganda's rural areas die while giving birth for one, they are too young to deal with this and there are no amenities to facilitate safe delivery for them.
So death, disease, poverty and oppression awaits most of the girls living in rural areas because early arranged marriages are a cultural practice even the urban living teenager indulges in sexual activity quite early and often a time it's unsafe, blame this on the media that parents them and the total lack of sex education.
With this in mind, how do we rectify the gross error of teenage pregnancy?
Relief can only come if the girl child is deliberately educated for this will delay any form of early marriages but also increase her chances of making better choices as pertains her spouse,health plan, career and growth also if schools,religious institutions and Development partners took the initiative to sensitise communities about the dangers of teenage pregnancy and the benefits of delaying it and parents/guardians made sure they gave their children proper sex education, then there might be a glimmer of hope for the Ugandan girl
Anyone below the age of eighteen in Uganda is a minor but majority of the girls in her rural areas are married off before their fourteenth birthday. It goes without saying then that the rate of teenage pregnancies in this country is sky high and the causes though several pale in comparison to the main one, "Early marriage". I need not remind you that this is a human rights violation but to aid your better understanding of this evil, let me put things in perspective for you.
The girl child has had to battle with a lot the world over, its no mistake that women are considered a minority group even to activists but the plight of the girl child in developing countries is far worse than that of girls elsewhere in the world and sad though it makes me, Uganda is such a place.
Girls here are thought of as property, good only for dowry to their guardians, educating them is more an inconvenience than an investment and sold in to marriage by the very people that are meant to protect them, these girls are robbed of not only their childhood but of their right to choose whom and when to marry, a right to study and have a fair chance at getting a decent job.
Five years ago today, I had the fortune of volunteering with a christian N.G.O (Arise Africa International) that specialises in planting churches in Busogas rural areas and sensitises women in the part they can play towards development and it was there that I met Fatima,a mother to two and fifteen. She like many of the girls had come seeking free medical attention for their children and themselves for they could not afford the services, sadly though for some of them and Fatima, it was already too late, she married off by her uncle at twelve bore her first son shortly after she turned thirteen , a year later came her daughter. She was forced to dig and sell her produce, there after she was to hand over all her earnings to her husband who would give her a meagre portion to cater to family welfare and with the rest, he married two other girls who in turn joined Fatima's cycle. All six of them are HIV positive, they earn not more than a dollar a day and for them all hope of survival is none existent but Fatima and her co-wives are the lucky ones, thousands of teenagers in Uganda's rural areas die while giving birth for one, they are too young to deal with this and there are no amenities to facilitate safe delivery for them.
So death, disease, poverty and oppression awaits most of the girls living in rural areas because early arranged marriages are a cultural practice even the urban living teenager indulges in sexual activity quite early and often a time it's unsafe, blame this on the media that parents them and the total lack of sex education.
With this in mind, how do we rectify the gross error of teenage pregnancy?
Relief can only come if the girl child is deliberately educated for this will delay any form of early marriages but also increase her chances of making better choices as pertains her spouse,health plan, career and growth also if schools,religious institutions and Development partners took the initiative to sensitise communities about the dangers of teenage pregnancy and the benefits of delaying it and parents/guardians made sure they gave their children proper sex education, then there might be a glimmer of hope for the Ugandan girl
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