PATHS TAKEN

I have always been fascinated with travel, setting off to paths unknown, experiencing a new culture, and food, getting immersed in the language, and just having the experience to last a lifetime. So when the opportunity to go study in Uganda came I jumped on the opportunity. No way was I going to miss this despite the lamentations of my old lady who was like “apana somea tu hapa USIU, utakuwa unakuja hapa nyumbani ata lunch...” (Read that in a thick Luo accent). I looked at mum like yo I am out of here the first chance I get like let me fly ma’ birds have to leave the nest at some point in time. One of my best mates who was studying in Uganda at the same time helped convince my folks to let me make the journey there. I was mad excited to leave home and experience living in Uganda, I had a brief stint in Entebbe while doing my A-level exams for a period of 3 weeks which was eventful, to say the least, though in an enclosed environment, meeting my first Ugandan crush and needless to say I wanted more. because of Kevin's intervention, I convinced my folks to let me spread my wings across the border. Also, my dad being posted in Uganda at the same time helped my case as he saw it as an opportunity to spend time together as I hardly saw him growing up. 

Ever since I was a wee young lad my teachers plus my dad had this idea that I had to go to law school, from then on my path was charted to fit this. Going for A-Levels was in line with this (though at the time I protested it). All this time I had dreams of going to a culinary school, growing into the next Gordon Ramsey trying not to call everyone a donkey and my plan B was to do a literature degree and a major in poetry. My old man thought I was being too altruistic judging from their generation that believed in those white-collar callings of being a doctor, engineer, or a lawyer to be the highest of careers you could aspire to. Well, me being me since the parents neither gave me the time of day nor asked me what I wanted to do and were shipped off to St. Elizabeth academy Karen ( where I met my lifelong friends not to mention a path destined to be me) I purposed to do my bare minimum not to get into law school. It worked out peachy, had a gap year before I joined Uni, and when I did by chance I registered late for the courses so I wound up being admitted to the Department of Development Studies. 

There I were, hoping to change my course to Mass Communication since Uganda Christian University did not offer a literature course or culinary so the closest to one of my passions was “mass com”. My old man thought I was going to apply for a switch to law yes. Quietly I sniggered laughing quietly to myself like you wish sir. Changing courses took a lot of time like 3 weeks into the semester meaning you have to attend classes while you wait for confirmation and in case it does not go through you still have a course to pursue. In my first class, I was seated there not expecting much going through the motions like cannot wait for the change until Miss Nabacwa, the lecturer for Introduction to development studies started the class. My attention was arrested and I was drawn to every word she spoke and the line “Development Studies is value-laden.” Immediately I knew in every fiber of my being this is where I was meant to be like there was a coincidence, no mistake it was by God’s design that I was there at that particular moment in time. 

This single day, that one-hour introductory lecture changed my trajectory and turned my life, my trajectory my perspective on its head. My curiosity grew exponentially like so eager to learn, so eager to consume this knowledge, and much more to be equipped for what the future holds. The feeling of belonging, of the need to learn more, to consume more did not overwhelm me but spurred me on. Looking back 14 years ago, I am thankful that I took the gap year, I went to A levels, and it was one of the courses available because I am not sure I would be the person I am today. Ready and equipped to serve the community, a volunteer at Marion school and a Mavuno Kids teacher more than that a financial consultant looking at building debt-free wealth programs. In the words of Master Ugwe (Kung’ Fu Panda) “There are no such things as coincidences.” I was where I was meant to be, a place where one of my passions would be satiated (I still cook, and yes contact me for a culinary trip.) If you ever find yourself on a path you never thought you would take, do pray and ask God if you are where you are supposed to be, more often than not you find that you have been “course-corrected” straightened to where you were supposed to be. In one way or another, you will find yourself on the path you were meant to take.