the Humanist view

Ten years from now I will have achieved the milestone of living up till the current life expectancy of Uganda.

I dream that I will be in my happy place.

Not forgotten by the hundreds of cultural children that I have trained and mentored during the course of my contribution as a development change agent.

I dream that those younger than I, positively impacted by my actions, will continue to be concerned of my wellbeing .

There is a folk song in Ateso, the language of the fourth largest first nation of Uganda, Iteso, my people, whose lyrics go something like:

“When you see an old woman dance, she has eaten (name of good food according to her)”

And so it is that youth under my mentorship and training made this old woman dance last night at supper.

They had gone out on fieldwork and for the day, each one was given their feeding allocation to utilize as they wished. That was their group decision, they are self-governing.

Five of them decided to collaborate, pooled their monies, bought food items, prepared the food for them to eat together as a group of five.

And they decided to surprise me with a gift, a serving of their food.

The best rice, potatoes and beef I have ever eaten …

I remain over joyed many hours later.

The gift of food from Odikor, Akora, Kimtai, Ngoya and Logit is the epitome of food as a love language. I feel loved by these my cultural children.

What every instructor, mentor and teacher wants to know, is whether their learners are listening and picking advice given.

The serving of food from my cultural children gave me more. It is the icing on the cake, so to speak. Confirmation that they are taking and actioning advice I have given to them.

Specifically so, on cash management and financial literacy. They made a good financial decision.

I remain overjoyed showered with the language of food!