Annual Leave, Self-Love

So this week I am on leave. I have to say this is the most point less annual leave i have ever taken, with absolutely no planned engagements outdoor. Nevertheless, i said 'sisemba nakyo', a Luganda saying that translates; I will not let this bring me down or i will take this bad and use it for good. So then i decided to use this week for self grooming for both myself and my daughter. Not just any grooming, but special stuff we have both never done. I unplaited my hair (which had become bushy through the braids) and did a one natural treatment i have only read in blogs, the Egg and Mayonnaise treatment. I must say the thought of egg in my hair was daunting at first thought but it turned out to not be soo bad afterall, considering the amazing hair results. Never felt my hair so richly nourished. And as a bonus to my happiness, did the same for my daughter too. However by some bad luck, power decided not to show up in our village that day. So after rocking the Lockdown hairstyle for 2 days, i finally give up on looking cute (and fighting fritz), i remembered Maria. Oh Maria would definitely save my troubles and fingers crossed that she is COVID-19 Free. :) So Maria is the lady at a local salong i sometimes go to for hair styling, when i can make it to my usual salons in Town and Ntinda. And save the day she did! I called her and she was more than happy to come home and plait us both and a friendly fee (though after paying i thought it was abit exorbitant considering i washed and dried my own hair and had my own braids. But Oh, the look on my daughter's face when they started plaiting her and after seeing her head fully done. Priceless! It was her first time in her knowledgeable time to plait her hair professionally, apart from mummy's usual knots. First night sleeping was a bit difficult but she was determined to make it work :) plus we both woke up not sore anymore. Ps, today we did our Pedicure and we are pleased with that too but nothing much to write home about, since we always do that.

Day 2 - Random thoughts, exercise

This Morning I was tempted to make more Mandazi after throwing away all the sour ones but after a hard thought, i decided to give myself time to recover from the embarrassment. :(

Work was busier than the earlier days of this week for some reason. More meetings and more emails to respond to. Also a lot more people called me for IT support. I guess reality is beginning to hit for many. The realization that 'we are not going back to work any time soon so whatever you're up to, you better find ways of making it work'. Or maybe the realization that after this season, the remnants of COVID-19 will also survive on survival for the fittest. Will there be jobs for everyone or only those who have proven themselves to their employer that they can face the new times? I saw new times because nothing will remain the same after COVID-19 for sure. For example will people still go to bars to drink or will they opt for the home drinking they have been accustomed to in the lockdown? So the salesperson who is used to branding at bars and moving in their car all over the place, will they sell the same? Or the IT department that has been supporting 300 on-site users; if managers realise that their staff can actually work from home and deliver, who will the IT people support on site? Or if they support at home, will they do it the same way they 'always' do it on site? The times after COVID-19 for sure won't be the 'as always' times.

Anyway, had a good day on the whole. Wound it up with stretching exercises on my Yoga mat, assisted by Tabi and her neighbourhood Friend Michelle, who is about 7 years old. (Yes my daughter is still playing with neighbours - and dont judge me) :)

And as i write this, finished my discussion a bit earlier than usual so decided to Pen my thoughts.

Cheers!

Day 1 - Sour Mandazi, bird feeders

So day 2 of the second lock down yesterday; this is how it went:

I got up early to finish my Mandazi baking before starting to work. See i has done the dough the day before but ran out of time because i had to start a zoom discussion which we hold daily with my classmates at 7 PM. This particular day we were discussing Financial Management, which happens to be my most troublesome subject so we agreed to start an hour earlier than usual. And poor me, i had forgotten all about it and started making Mandazi because i was craving them. So i abandoned this along the way and went for the discussion and by the end of the discussion at 10 PM i was proper exhausted. And silly me, little did i know that it was not a good idea to leave dough standing overnight - unless off course you are making sour cookies. :)

So that's how my first Lock down Mandazi adventure went down. Sour as Lemon!

Nonetheless, i proceeded with my day to work, work and work. Had several meetings along the way, trying to take regular breaks in and out of the house to ensure both my eyes and skeletal system is taken care of.

Day 1 highlight was the basket bird feeders i made with Tabi, out of the many baskets i have collected in my house overtime from the Valentines and birthday flowers. For some reason they look the same year after year :) so i was able to make two identical bird feeders. We could use a bit more wild life to cheer the mornings for sure.

Optimism 111

I am tempted to start this newsletter with some exclamation of surprise or frustration, like “wow” or “argh.” Apparently, life can change suddenly, and some things we took for granted yesterday can be out of our reach today. 
Imagine a band of microscopic viruses taking the global charts in just one hit and taking their world tour wherever and whenever they are unwelcome. And what do we need to do to bring this band down?... nothing... Nothing but staying home, washing our hands, and taking precautions whenever we should. 

So under circumstances not by my own choice, the usual optimistic me decided i will stay at home yes but i will not do nothing. Today is day 1 of the second, 21 day lockdown in Uganda, imposed on the country by the Corona Virus - Covid-19. The first lockdown having lasted 14 full days, i was still doing something everyday but i missed recording in detail, perhaps because i initially thought the days would pass and end so quickly.

As a working mother and an MBA student, Life was starting to get out of hand until the band of little viruses made their grand entry into Uganda, enroute DXB International airport. Now don't judge me but i am actually thankful to God for Covid-19. Here's my 5 strong reasons why, in no particular order..

1. This time of the year is a particularly busy season for my workplace and i almost every time was failing to make time off work for school. Always the last person to enter class, everyday. If you ask me i don't even know half of my lecturer's names. So i can use this time to know who is really teaching me. Are they even worth my time? But seriously, now i can say i have some time to breathe.

2. Even busier is the MBA program. Not sure exactly how i survived semester 1 of my first year, this semester was starting to feel like the mountain i will only climb in my dreams. I mean do these people actually know that they teach all working students? Or maybe i am the busiest of them all and my classmates are all ok. But no way; the amount or retakes registered in the last semester can tell it all. One particular Course unit got over 100 students retaking which is not a good sign. At MBA level, i believe that None willingly registers for a course to fail it. So we were kinda forced to take a break, which gives me time to catch up with what i may have missed in class while i was busy at work.

3. My Daughter has such a strong memory. when you tell her something, it's as though you have proper written it down in her head. So since i told her about Corona Virus, it just cant get off her lips. From telling her friends not to touch her while playing, to actually praying, ' Lord we thank you for Corona Virus'. So yes i actually stole this from her. After listening to her prayers, i sat and thought- maybe there is actually reasons to thank God for Corona Virus. And my reason number three is the fact that i have, like Frozen's Elsa, for the first time in forever spent so much time with my daughter. Oh, what a joy!

4. Renewed Vitality. If you sometimes get busy as i do, you know there comes that season when you feel all energy is sapped out of you. You struggle to get out of bed to go to work, reach work and work with your eyes on the clock and then as if that is not enough, drag yourself to class after work, wondering when all this will be over. So i was at this point in my life. But now; yes i still have to work- but in the comfort of my home and with no effort made to look in a certain way.(yes, being a woman!) I feel new and i want this a little longer - If only it would people were not dying! :(

5. Creative rejuvenation. Believe it or not, everybody has their creative side on the inside. In the past two weeks, in my efforts to make sure my daughter stays off TV, the things i have made and engaged her in are incredible. I have made a kite out of a polythene bag, baked cupcakes in the microwave, made bird feeders to bring more birds to our garden, built toy houses and dolls and so on. Some of these have not exactly turned out so well (especially the baking) but i am so proud of being able to do it with my daughter, and off-course the opportunity to try again.

I thank you God for Corona Virus but please let your people not die.

In the next 21 days, i will try to write a daily update of how the day goes, not because i am a good writer but because i believe this is history worth writing.

Tusaba gavumenti etuyambe

Hazy morning today in Kampala! They say it's evidence of pollution but I also think because it's a hilly city so we get a bit of morning fog. But I shall not worry about that, if I cant change it, I cant and shouldn't worry about it.

I will only play my part, especially on the pollution bit. Most of the people I know will just look on and blame the government and everyone else but them selves. But I, Doreen; I will not throw rubbish anyhow (though I know the rubbish collectors will still dump it carelessly because of lack of regulation), I will plant a tree/flower when I can, in my village, when I build a house etc. and I will not pick a kaveera (polythene bag) from a shop unless I have to.

So imagine if  I encourage 10 of my friends to take the same approach. and they encourage 10 of  their friends each. Maybe in future we will wake up to clear skies every morning, except off course when the Lord blesses us with free showers. And imagine people just keep shouting ' tusaba gavumenti etuyambe' (we ask the government to help us) But they still go ahead to clear bushes to build their mansions or huts  whichever and they pave it all the way for their air polluting cars, without planting a single tree around it. Yes I agree the government needs to regulate, but we all have equal responsibility. If not for you, then for your children and children's children.

This is where I think we need government etuyambe: I weep (well..almost but not entirely because I am one of those people that never cry) every time I pass by any government designated industrial park. You see most of these places are former wetlands. They used to be lush green, typical for Uganda but now they are almost unrecognisable. Surely these investors owe Ugandans some thing in return of the free land. Some thing as simple as protecting our environment. All the government needs to do is asking them to plant a certain number of trees for every acre of land they operate on. The concrete is not helping us at all, not mentioning the fake products being manufactured behind that concrete.

But what I am I saying..i may not be able to ask the government to implement some of these things but I will do my part in making the environment safer for the next generations. And I pray and hope that someone else takes it the  same way too..and maybe one day someone who knows or is known by the government will also do something from the top.

Let me get back to work now..I have a big role to play in keeping it!

So I am here sipping my mug of Green Tanganda tea in a hotel after a long hard day of interviewing for this position in a country not my own, where I was exported for IT Support, of antivirus installation (who created viruses anyway? People are so evil. huh! But I am the sort of person who looks for the positive in every situation so I choose to look at it like another way of creating jobs for this poor tech crazy generation) And believe me or not, I am an IT Manager, a good one I hope but I am not tech crazy. I like to find a balance.

Imagine if there were no viruses! How many people would be unemployed? I know a good number of people employed by SS businesses who just wake up everyday and their job is to fight viruses. Then lots of companies that actually survive of sale of all sorts of antivirus, firewalls, recovery software etc. So we say.. well done to the virus creators and all other malware for that matter.

Maybe I would also be unemployed if there was no malware, or maybe I would be more productive coming up with ICT4D innovations or maybe being unemployed would be a good thing because I would be at home looking after my sweet little 2 year old instead of being here speaking fake Shona and saying 'Horite' to every statement for the sake of blending in and sounding Zimbabwean. I love this world of IT especially when things are working out fine, like they are now, and oooh how I love going places! But I dearly miss my daughter. Christ gave His life for me, and she is the only human I would give up my life for. Abandi, no beef.

But what's this post about? Lol. Just random thoughts of a working, travelling mother.

I'll take a shower now and go back to my O365 e-learning.

Have you ever been there and you have lots of random thoughts but none to share them with? If you're a woman, you know what am talking about. Our minds are constantly buzzing, meandering, rushing and boiling. Kinda reminds me of the River Nile sometimes. :)

So this blog is long long overdue. I am yet to trace my other blogs which I've started before and lost but hopefully this one will stay.
It's basically for putting my thoughts down at times like this when I am seated alone in my hotel room, more than 1000 miles away from home. Whether I've gone for work or holiday, there comes a time when I am alone. And being an introvert these times are many- and don't get me wrong; alone but not lonely. I love 'me' time and I enjoy my random thoughts to the extent that sometimes I lol by myself. I also used to col (Cry Out Loud) but not anymore. Now my Chains are gone and I am set free indeed!

So Hopefully I will, 10 years from now lol reading this again and seeing that I have persisted with the writing.