16th September 🎂🎉🎂

Jacob wrote this to me on whatsapp. But I felt like I needed to share it. He is my best friend and a brother. I call him my Professor😍

LET ME ALSO PRAISE A GREAT WOMAN!
Perhaps the coincidence of Leah’s Birthday, with the aftermath of Bless’ recent loss is a consolation that all will be well, for her name, Tuhame rightly translates in the affirmative with a call to remain strong (in difficult times). May be, it is meant to cheer us up, and remind us of the hope we need to keep alive. Otherwise, the African sensibility would bar us from any celebration before our loved ones – deceased in the near past, have been fully embraced in the bosom of Abraham’s warm and eternal chest. In Buganda, before the funerary (okwabya olumbe) is done, no ceremony, be it baptism, and at worse, wedding can take place despite claims of any pre-scheduling. Yet, Leah’s birthday presents an extra and compelling narrative to the moral veneration of our departed beloved ones. In her name is a consolation in times of sorrow, to remain calm and composed. It convinces us to retain hope, beautiful hope in life, at a time when giving up is no longer a preference but a priority. For how else should we interpret the contradiction of the events amidst us – one sad and the other, requiring bliss?
So, let me also praise a great woman – a woman of valour.
Our history, coursed in both tears and glee, is one worth celebrating. 2010 comes to mind first. Fast-forward, October-November. The UNEB heat is drying up and cracking the shells of our sleep. Leah’s hand-outs have become Leah’s hand-outs. To chance on them, you have to pray for the unsleeping spirit of Dalton and Danthan. Those who read them for Mocks have testimonies. I have my Physics distinction, as an example. (Leah come for your omujiiko). Gezira is making rounds. Phaye wants to kill somebody over it. Y’know the academic octopuses – Henry-Ian-Kenan stylo have predicted its inevitability in forthcoming Bukenya. But still, to read Leah’s hand-outs you have to befriend Lucky. If not, you have to first befriend Mutsyaba to get to Lucky or use the longer chain of using your ka-friendship with Taak to get to Ian, and then get to Leah, direct or Lucky. Or even the longest of befriending Salim to get to Fauza, and then to Fauza’s in-law, Sharifah, so you can get to their family friends such as Henry, and Ian, and using that Rubaare axis to get to Leah’s hand-outs. I read and reason out this complex chain from one primary angle. Leah not only brought academic excellence to us but also the whole class together. And because of Leah we are still here, together. What priceless name can we give to you, daughter of the soft hills of Rubaare? With how many candles can we celebrate the day earth received an unmatched princess, and friend?
Some best friends are worth not sharing with anyone, and it is that very envy that so much pulls me from the league of saints – that we have to accept sharing you with the world. Yet, we realise you were not created for us only, but for humanity. Favoured and blessed is the womb that birthed a jolly little angel like you, Big Sis. Our friendship has graduated over the years and I am grateful each day that passes for who we are (and continue to be) to each other. I celebrate you my gentle dove. Happy Birthday!
My wishes for you are as vast as your dreams for the future. May you continue to be a beacon of hope and love for generations to come! In, and from you, we have found reason to carry on – to laugh like we have never been wounded – to love like we will never be hurt. Inspiration is all we have gathered from you. Long live spirit of the most precious young lady I know. In all your works, may blessings abound. Laugh on Leah, for yours is the glow that exemplifies God’s marvelousness.
Let me pause to cry a bit, for the undeserved chance to call you friend. God, thank you for Leah. May you please keep her in our life, forever! We thank you, for you have done it.