THE HEAT OF A FRYING PAN By Robert Bake Tumuhaise Life resembles a bottle neck; it’s impossible to pass through it without force and pain. As a single-mother taking care of three children, what Nyamishana went through was almost comparable to a baby trying to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro while carrying a sack of sugar on its head. In her words, she felt like “an elephant trying to walk with the legs of a mosquito.” On several occasions her heart was ripped by financial punches that made her feel like one half of her was being frozen in a fridge while the other half was being roasted on a frying pan. But she knew that, as Dr. Robert Schuller puts it, tough times never last; but tough people do. She lived to remember one afternoon when she was left with a twenty thousand shilling note with which to acquire some sanitary pads, food and a few other items. As she passed through the sitting room to go to a nearby shop, she found Turyasingura, her youngest son crying because he had not completed his schoolfees and the teacher in charge had warned that the next day he would be sent home if his dues were not cleared in full. The teacher had gone ahead to mock him, making fun of how his mother who was a celebrity could fail to raise such little money. It was a heart-breaking sight. Nyamishana couldn’t afford beholding her five-year-old son suffering psychological torture like that. She returned to her bedroom, shut the door behind her and wept bitterly. Thereafter, she wiped her tears and returned to Turyasingura, smiling as if nothing had happened. She embraced him and promised that his issue of schoolfees would be handled. “Hope is the only rope that can pull you by your hand out of your problem, while despair is a noose that can hang you by your neck on your problem. The lens of fear magnifies a small anthill to look like a huge mountain while hope reduces a proud mountain to a miserable anthill.” Her mother’s words encrypted in her heart three decades ago became as important to her as a life-support system to an ailing patient. Nyamishana ensured that none of her children ever got to know the depth of the internal turmoil she was experiencing ever since their father abandoned the family. The next day she borrowed money from Suzan, her friend who was a businesswoman, and cleared the school dues. Nyamishana and Suzan had a lot in common. During that stormy period of abandonment from her husband, Nyamishana received a lot of support from Suzan, especially in the area of her children’s education. One day, the two ladies were in Suzan’s car, driving to Entebbe when they noticed a double-cabin pickup following them at a close range. It did not cross their minds that someone was trailing them until Nyamishana got a mysterious phone-call. “Hello,” Nyamishana picked the call. “They are after you. I overheard them planning to kill you today and make it look like it was an accident.” “What are you talking about?” “Someone was paid to follow you and knock you down. They want you dead.” “Which ‘they’?” asked Nyamishana in a trembling voice. The call was cut off. That day the telecom network was worse than usual, so all efforts to call back were futile. On peeping back, the same car was still following them. Nyamishana warned Suzan to increase her speed and branch off at the next junction, but before they could branch off, the pickup had knocked their car and they were rolling down the hill. Some Good Samaritans who were watching rushed to the scene only to find that Suzan had died on the spot. Nyamishana was rushed to hospital unconscious. After three days in a coma, the doctors wrote her off. In their estimation, she was to die within the next 48 hours. Some of the media houses in Kampala started rumouring that she was dead and her fans began to wail. While the people in the hospital were watching her heartbeat, waiting for it to stop so they could go for burial, the half-dead Nyamishana found herself in a new world. It was like a dream, like a vision. She was part of a large audience in Memphis listening to Dr. Martin Luther King Junior give his speech on April 3rd 1968, the night before he was assassinated. Her heart stopped beating as Dr. Martin began to conclude his speech: “We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountaintop…Like anybody, I would like to live a long life…But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And he’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. And I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.” Suddenly, Nyamishana’s heartbeat resumed five minutes later. She was no longer in coma. Her lips were mumbling repeatedly: “I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.” Rarely do people cheat death in such a manner and remain the same. Nyamishana had met face to face with death, and now, she was no longer afraid of death. Not anymore. Not after death had robbed her of her close friend Suzan. She was now ready to die and live for her dream. She had stripped herself of all fear. ……… This piece is from my latest inspirational novel titled ‘TEARS OF MY MOTHER; The Success Story of Nyamishana, the First Female President of Uganda’. This book has excited the entire continent of Africa, causing many to believe that indeed anyone can raise themselves from dust to global significance. You can get a free copy of this book by taking advantage of the promotion that’s going on at WORLD OF INSPIRATION whereby you buy a ticket to next Wednesday’s Forum at Shs 40,000 and get a bonus of any inspirational book or DVD of your choice. If you are in Kampala, passby our office at MM Plaza T33 or call me directly on 0704666851 / 0712868424 and I will ensure to reach you wherever you are. For those who want to buy the book on its own, it goes for Shs 20,000. Stay inspired and blessed!
Posted on: Sat, 30 Aug 2014 06:01:32 +0000
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