THE HARVEST IS RIPE

This is a picture of a banana plant/tree that is heavily laden with fruit.  For a while now, it has been carrying this load - even through the (hopefully) just concluded dry season in Uganda. On several occasions, I asked our shamba boy whether the plant was ready for harvesting, and he always answered in the negative.  I warned him at some point that the plant is about to start ripening and this would make it unpalatable as a meal.  He however kept assuring me that it was not yet ready. This morning however, I noticed that the fruit had started ripening and I asked him to cut it down whether he thought it was ready or not.  If we delay any further,  i thought, the birds of the air will certainly come and enjoy the fruit.

This scenario made me think about the Lord Our God. He has asked us to bring in the harvest of souls to Him but we keep on thinking that it is not yet time or that we still have time.  There is often that #One person who God has consistently convicted us to talk to about the Good News of the Gospel of Christ, but of we have thought it is either inappropriate, scary, too early, or other reason like we don't know what to say or we have given many other excuses like the people who were invited to a feast in Luke 14:16-24 (NKJV) below

16 Then He said to him, “A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, 17 and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’ 18 But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.’ 19 And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.’ 20 Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ 21 So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.’ 22 And the servant said, ‘Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.’ 23 Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.’ ”

Sometimes when we wait too long, the fruit ripens ( the first stage of decay) or the birds of the air come and consume it ( a symbolism of death if i borrow from the interpretation of Joseph in Genesis 40: 16 - 18). Sometimes it is distance that makes it very difficult for us to share this incredible good news. In so doing, we miss out on obeying God and His Commands to us. As a result, many spend days in depression, poverty, bondage, sadness, and other forms of poor living - and even death- simply because of our excuses and disobedience. This is most unfortunate especially when he says that "Obedience is better than sacrifice" ( 1 Samuel 15 : 22). God had commanded that King Saul destroys the Amalekites but Saul spared Agag, King of the Amalekites). Note that the Amalekites were the first nation to attack the Jews as they left Egypt. In Deuteronomy 25:17-18(NKJV), the Lord said  “Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you were coming out of Egypt, 18 how he met you on the way and attacked your rear ranks, all the stragglers at your rear, when you were tired and weary; and he did not fear God.   It is because of this that God sought to punish the Amalekites ( Exodus 17: 16). He knew that they would always seek to destroy the Jews. 

However, due to the disobedience of King Saul, the Amalekites arose to extinguish the Jews, hundreds of years later,  through their descendant Haman the Aggagite.( Esther 3).  Take note that an Amalekite also sought to take credit for the death of King Saul in (2 Samuel 1: 8- 10). It is no wonder that as soon as David knew who this man was, He had him extinguished for inter alia, God's command to the Jews ( 1 Samuel 1 : 13 - 16).  This means that when we do not obey the Lord, we condemn or expose many people to the risk of the "birds of the air" and "ripening."  It is therefore important for us to obey the call because God knows that when more souls are drawn back to Him, their future is secure and they shall have life "more abundantly" ( John 10: 10).  

Consequently, we need to obey the call of the Lord to reach out and spread the love to all and sundry.  In Matthew 9: 37, the Bible says that 'then He (Jesus) said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. 38 Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” Are you a laborer or a Bystander? Let us go out and harvest souls for the Lord. Let us wait no more. Let us avoid a situation where they will be eaten up by the birds of the air or if they ripen and because useless to the Kingdom

The Harvest is aplenty

#The One Campaign

Weird People

Weird People

By D.R. Ruhweza

They are weird people

I swear to you

They are

I tell you

Weirdos just

They work so hard

Make lots of money

Get promoted

To enviable positions

Then give it away

Who does that?

Don't they see?

The times have changed

There are new cars to buy

And better houses to build?

Weird people

Weird I say

Can't they see?

There are new iphones on the market?

Gucci bags and Luis button shoes?

New ipads and Macbooks?

There they go

Spending hard earned monies

Misusing their contacts

To give

Always giving

Making us all look bad

They pay to serve

Stupid just

No business acumen I say

They can't even allow

A moment's rest

Looking for project this

Project that

Looking for disadvantaged people

For potholes to fill

For sick kids to heal

For hearts to mend

For trees to grow

Hey

What's up weirdo's

There is a better Vacheron Constantin watch to buy

The rolex is over rated now

I saw an amazing diamond ring to purchase

No? You wanna be a major donor?

What for?

Ofuniirawa?

Weird is what you are

Look at them

Pot bellies and all

Dressed up in ballerina dresses

Mbu Song and Dance competition

Leave that for the Kindergarten kids

There are cool cocktails to sip

At the Golf Course

What? You want to raise funds for VijanaPoa?

Idiots these guys

Weird I say

I saw another one

In crutches and bandages

Mbu charity walk

Leave that for the Nabagereka

And her Katikkiro

Come let's party

At the beach

You do that too?

How?

These guys are so annoying

They make us look bad

"Four way test" this

"Four way test" that

"Presidential toasts"

"Let us be upstanding"

That's bad grammar by the way!

Mbu Rotarians

Service above self

Serving humanity

Ha

Yet again

I give it to them

These weirdos

Gladiators against polio

Bulwarks against ignorance

Missionaries of medicine

Healers of poverty

Magnanimous being

These

And boy do they love to have fun

But that is for another rant

Vive le, Vive le Rotary!

Vive le, Vive le Rotary!

Truth is our right, love is our might

Vive le Rotary!

Lovers

Under the Moonlight
They Stood
Still
Face to Face
Hugging tight
Oblivious
Silent
Warm
Lovers

p.s. For Her. Happy Birthday. -06.02.2019

IT IS A LEADERSHIP ISSUE

IT IS A LEADERSHIP ISSUE

The state of affairs in one’s environment may oftentimes be frustrating. It could be the state of the road network, the security in the area, the poorly performing economy, road driving gone nasty and reckless, badly prepared food in the school or even anarchy in the nation.  We all have faced some disappointing situations in our lives and at the back of our minds, we have known that this situation could have been averted or something better could have been produced or done.

A lot of theories have been raised regarding why these things happen in one’s environment and not in another’s.  Sometimes they happen in one’s nation and not in another. Theories related to unemployment, colonialism, imperialism, slave trade, mis-education, lack of education, poverty et-cetera have been postulated to explain these scenarios.

To be fair, there have also been good things happening – be it winning a trophy for a prized competition, excelling in an examination, winning over a loved one, making a discovery, reaching the peak of a mountain, finding well maintained road networks, a working telephone system, good internet access when you need it the most, well groomed fields, a well managed farm, a company that is running and succeeding over and above its expected outcomes, etc.

The same question as to why these  good things happen is often raised – good genes, belonging to the right tribe or nationality, having access to money and resources, careful planning and execution, living in a nation that  is gifted by nature, favouritism, nepotism, corruption, name it.  

While all these reasons may have a part to play in whether things are going right or wrong, there is always a limitation to these arguments; For example, corruption does exist in varying degrees all over the world and therefore it cannot be solely to blame for whether things go right or wrong; the assumption that one might belong to a better social group or ethnicity might have a part it plays in the way one might succeed, but not all those in a hitherto well perceived social class succeed – for example, women in the United Kingdom only got to earn degrees as late as May 1869.  

In one of the richest nations of the world – Saudi Arabia- women were only allowed to drive on the 26^th of September 2017!  The Civil Rights Act of USA which outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin was only passed in 1964.  Before it, and indeed after it, there was continued “unequal application of voter registration requirements, racial segregation in schools, employment and public accommodations.”[1]  So, much as America (USA) is famed as the land of opportunity and the fulfilments of dreams, it is still on the journey to “Uhuru.”[2]  

There is no dispute that slave trade must have been a horrendous experience, but why have some nations started making leaps and bounds in development and reconciliation, while others have not? Imperialism and colonialism were terrible, but why do the mainly African francophone states (that were formerly colonies of France) continue to use the West African CFA franc and Central African CFA franc as ‘pegged to the Euro’[3] and guaranteed by the French treasury?[4] still using the  states continue to I can reiterate meant of these scenarios that explain the gap in the different excuses with regards to why things happen.

While I must reiterate that all these theories might not be totally wrong, I have grown to believe, that the bottom line is leadership. Like John Maxwell says, everything rises and falls on leadership. We shall discuss this further in my subsequent blogs.

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[1] See Civil Rights Act of 1964 available at Wikipedia.org

[2] Swahili for total independence

[3] See Francophone Africa’s CFA franc is under fire, 27^th January 2018

[4] See Lamine Konkobo., ‘ African protests over the CFA ‘colonial currency’BBC Africa

When you see greatness, fan it (Part 2)

When you see greatness, fan it (Part 2)

Per Daniel R. Ruhweza

... In the beginning, I thought it was such a punishment and inconvenience to do all this work. (Please note that we used to have house work and farm work in this time too). Nonetheless, there were benefits that we begun to enjoy- most importantly was having access to this huge world of books to read in addition to interfacing with the Senior boys from all over the campus that we would not have met quite easily elsewhere.  

With hindsight, I didn’t know that these opportunities were stretching me to become a better person in the end.  I am equally reminded of how I used to take my two younger siblings to a different school before heading off to my own school. The challenge was that public transport was difficult to access in those days.  Our country was recovering from a civil war and therefore few taxis plied the route from Makindye to Kampala Old Taxi Park and from the Old Taxi Park to Kitante Primary School. 


On several occasions, we had to literally fight with adults (often sneaking underneath them to get in before they did) to enter the taxis. I always aimed for the seat behind the driver because it was then possible to have both of my sisters ( who kept a comfortable distance away as we fought) sit on the Kememe ( a usually hot place because the engine of the vehicle was located there). My little siblings would then easily join me and we would be off to School. I was therefore unintentionally ushered into positions of responsibility and leadership.

Back at Mwiri, my experience in Senior One prepared me to become the leader I would later be in various spheres – at the dormitory (Waako House), the Student  Clubs – Boy Scouts, Wildlife, Red Cross, Scripture Union and others. I was so involved in this so much so that my class teacher – the late Mr. Bazibu – would then write in my report that I should make academic work my priority.  I was livid by that comment but later realised that he was right – I had taken on too much responsibility and although my academic work was alright, it would have been affected if he hadn’t intervened. 

Whilst it is true that we need to fan the greatness in an individual, it is also important to control the fires when they begin to roar otherwise, they can easily destroy the forest or those around them.  By limiting and refocusing my attention back to my books, Mr. Bazibu stepped on the brakes of my erstwhile roaring fire. I appreciate him. 

In the same vein, I applaud my mentors and those who saw the leader in me when I was still a young and naive adolescent. Miss Justine Luba ( class teacher Senior 1 b), Dr. Samuel Kirya Samuel ( Compound and Preps Prefect at the time), Mr. Samson Okhwayo ( Chapel and Library Prefect), Aguma Innocent (Wako House Junior Prefect, Joshua Mugabi (Scripture Union mentor), I thank you all.  It was a privilege and honour to know you when I did.

Senior Two presented a unique situation for me. I discovered that there were quite a lot of opportunities for me to engage outside the classroom.  That will be the subject of my subsequent blog ....

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[1] Our water heating gadgets were clearly not safe for use. Often times the building circuit because of the “suicidal” overloading of the sockets

When you see greatness, fan it (Part 1)

When you see greatness, fan it (Part 1)

Per Daniel R. Ruhweza

Leaders, like cream, always rise to the top. I have often seen it in the classroom. They look it, they act it and often it happens without a lot of hussle.  It is not always as easy as i make it seem here but one does notice it when a group of people come together. There is that one person sometimes two who naturally begin to lead the conversation or usher others into action. They seek to harness their colleagues into vessels of change or into cheeky action or mischief

So, anybody passionate about leadership should always be on the lookout for such leaders and harness them. Fan that flame. Be it in the class room, or out of it, one notices it. The anointing of leadership is like honey. Bees need not be preached to about honey. They will come. So it can be argued that to an extent,  that leadership is  gifting for some – it is inherent in them -  although I must quickly add that it needs to be harnessed and fanned into the powerful flame that is needed to make this world a better place.

So it was with me at the Great Busoga College Mwiri. I was a tiny lad right from Primary School, experiencing boarding school for the first time in life. I was hardly a week there when two of the School Prefects (they all were in A level as opposed to what is there today) approached me at different times.   One appointed me to become the Compound Special Boy while the other appointed me to become the Library Special Boy. I had no idea what these responsibilities were about and had no choice to buck out anyway.

Trouble was that they were not relenting on their choice and it was left to me to figure out how I was going to attend to these duties.  Remember, I was quite tiny and my voice had not even broken out yet.  How was I going to deal with boys much bigger and more threatening that I?  I found out quickly that I was required to distribute slashers and other compound cleaning equipment to the boys on Tuesday and Thursday late afternoon so that they would clean the compounds allocated to their respective classes. This was called ‘Class Parts.’  


I was also required to wait for the boys to be done with their work and take stock of the tools that had been taken out.  There was a register and I had to tick off each boy’s name that returned a tool.  So while the rest of the boys, having hastily slashed their portion of the compound would rush off to prepare for dinner and then go for night preps shortly thereafter, I was left to wait and register all the slashers and hoes before I could leave. Oftentimes, I missed my dinner and sometimes would arrive late for the night preps.

Night preps would then be the time for my next assignment. I rarely had my preps with the rest of my classmates save for my friend Alex Jakana, with whom we served as Library Special Boys in the Main Library (we caĺled it Damascus).  Our duty was simple – ensure that no books were taken out of the “Main Section” of the Library without being signed for.  That was the easy part – the most difficult part was when we had to wait for the boys (and the men of Senior Five and Six (sic) to bring them back before would leave.  


Officially preps ended at 8.30pm or sometime thereafter. However, we often had to wait till much later in the night when the mainly senior class students, who were desirous of reading further into the night, stayed on.  We would then lock up and walk back to our dormitories.  I literally would rush back to my dormitory especially on those nights when I had missed my dinner, so that I could prepare something to eat (normally millet porridge which we called Kyuugyi) before falling asleep. It would be tougher in case I had run out of sugar or millet flour or in case I failed to find a water heating gadget.[1]

TO BE CONTINUED ....

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[1] Our water heating gadgets were clearly not safe for use. Often times the building circuit because of the “suicidal” overloading of the sockets