My story I would not want to share (THE YOUNG MAN WHO WAS TOO SMALL FOR TV)

The year was 2004 the worst year in terms of pain so far. I had just come back from home still nursing pain from a major crisis I had suffered. The feet were still paining and knees hurting. Coming back to catch up with school in Form 2 then, our Fine Art teacher had left home work which I could not finish because I had come back a day before handing in.
The tall and slim teacher came to class and asked everybody to show him the work has done. He came to my desk which was two desks from behind. My head was resting on the desk and tried to explain to him that I was from a major crisis. He insisted that I produce the work. He started to punch me in the head. He looked down to my feet and found that I was putting on open not boot shoes which were part of the school uniform. The Fine Art teacher ordered me to remove my shoes and walk out on bare foot. I never resisted and walked as he said. I had hope that the Deputy Head teachers would save me since they knew the reason why I was not in complete school uniform; that every time I put on boot shoes my feet sickled and swell.
I walked to their offices which were a stone throw away from our classroom. I found one of them in office and narrated to him my ordeal. He never gave me time to explain but chased me away. Feeling confused I walked away in tears on my bare foot on a ground with small stones piercing my feet which made my movement difficult.

My feet that sickle

After failing to get someone who could advocate for me I decided to be my own advocate. Something I had to do for 4 and half years I spent in high school after that incident. But while as a child I used to listen to radio and there was a program which I tuned into immediately after school and the presenters were always defending the rights of people especially children. I grew up knowing that the defenders of human rights are journalists.

From the “bare foot” incident I resolved to become a journalist and dropped my engineering dream. I knew no one was going to defend the rights of people with sickle cell disease except a journalist. I saw my self as a journalist to do that job. I started on the journey to prepare myself become a journalist whose mandate shall be to defend the rights of sickle cell warriors.

After my high school waiting to join the University I gave a first shot at journalism. I went to Sembabule to try my luck at Hon. Sam Kutesa’s Radio, Mbabule FM. Going to the station was also not an easy task. Finally I got a slot to be interviewed. I had two programs to present in my mind, my first priority was health talk show as you know that’s what took me search for a career in journalism. The second choice was sports. I was told by the Programs Director who was interviewing me that there was no slot for health program. I decided to go for the second choice sports. One, two, three start he told me to start and he did the sound test. After the sound test I was told that my voice was not good. I left an angry young man.

"Never fear to enter any office because of your size" words from my uncle

Time came to apply for University studies and Mass Communication was my first choice. When the admission list was released my name was nowhere to be seen. I gave up on my dream to become a journalist. I decided to go business study.

In the second semester of my first year at the university I met Hon. Ibrahim Nganda Ssemujju by then he had just left The Observer newspaper and founded his monthly magazine The Education News. He asked me be the reporter from my university which I first refused because I had believed I was not supposed to be a journalist. I later accepted to do the work on freelance terms.

In 2012 May I was in my final semester at the university. Urban TV advertised the auditions for the next presenter (Rated Next Season I). I emailed my application and was invited for the screening. There was over 2,700 applicants for one position. My intentions were not to win but to try. I could not beat 2,700 people NO WAY. 

My turn came and when got on the screen one of the judges told me that I was “too small”. I left without presenting the idea I had. I never got a chance to talk.

A year after I checked on my Facebook Sicklecell Drive Uganda and I had a message from Urban TV inviting me for a morning talk show Urban@Dawn to talk matters of sickle cell. I decided to confirm my attendance but was still remembering the “too small” incident. I never failed to try and give a TV interview a chance.

Early in the morning I went to the station and was told to wait from the lounge for the presenter to come and talk to me. After a couple of minute the host Mary Luswata appeared and greeted me. She told me how they had looked for someone to talk about sickle cell and could not find one. It was not visible in her eyes that I was going to be small. We entered the on air studio and did the interview. I remember it was towards World Sickle Cell Day (19th June). 

Never fail to try. If I had not tried to go for a TV interview for the same station that had rejected me that I was small I would not have done other TV interviews.