Never Too Late

Description

Images of loneliness, seduction, unfulfilled dreams and torn lives emerge on the pages of this anthology to challenge readers to search for answers for a better life. The authors use The Role of Christianity as the running theme for most of the stories. This is a unique and interesting collection of stories about the life of teenagers. The stories, set in Uganda, offer rare insights into the emotional turbulence and social crises that usually remain unrecognisable and invisible to adults.

Sujets

• Collection
• Collections

Informations

• Publié par: Femrite Publications
• Date de parution: 01 juin 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9789970480005
• Langue: English

Extrait

Never too Late
Edited by
Hilda Twongyeirwe
and
Aaron Mushengyezi (PhD)
FEMRITE PUBLICATIONS LIMITED
KAMPALA
FEMRITE PUBLICATIONS LIMITED
P.O. Box 705, Kampala
Tel: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]
www.femriteug.org
Copyright FEMRITE - Uganda Women Writers Association 2010
First Published 2010
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior permission of FEMRITE-Uganda Women Writers Association.
Individual writers retain copyright of their stories
ISBN 978-9970-700-23-3
Printed by:
Good News Printing Press Ltd.
P.O. Box 21228 Kampala, Uganda
Tel: [phone]
E-mail: [e-mail]
Contents
Introduction
Hanging out at Dazzles
Constance Obonyo
Each Cloth I Sew
Flavia Zalwango Kabuye
The Running Dream
Barbara Oketta
Hope Each Day
Brenda Lubwama
JJ
Nakisanze Segawa
This Bump on My Head
Juliet Kushaba
The Greatest Ugandan Novel
Dennis Daniel Muhumuza
Life Goes On
Lillian Tindyebwa
It s Never too Late
Constance Obonyo
Till We Find Our Voices
Hilda Twongyeirwe
The Second Family
Lillian Tindyebwa
The Last Laugh
Ernest Tashobya
Serina
Rose Rwakasisi
Time to Act
Hilda Twongyeirwe
Hair Cut
Beatrice Lamwaka
The Pact
Glaydah Namukasa
Notes on Editors
Mushengyezi Aaron
Dr. Mushengyezi graduated with a Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut in the USA and is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Literature at Makerere University. He is a specialist in children s literature and child literacy. He has authored Twentieth Century Literary Theory (2003), co-edited Africa in World Affairs (2004), and contributed articles on literature for children in several journals and books including The Oxford Encyclopedia of Children s Literature (2006), Performing Community: Essays on Ugandan Oral Culture (2008), and Performing Change: Identity, Ownership and Tradition in Ugandan Oral Culture (2009). He has also contributed short stories in several anthologies including Michael s Eyes: The War against the Ugandan Child (2005) and The Mermaid of Msambweni and Other Stories: An Anthology from Africa (2007). Aaron has won many awards including a Postdoctoral fellowship from the African Humanities Program of the American Council of Learned Societies and an award from the Ford Foundation s International Fellowships Program.
Twongyeirwe Hilda
Hilda grew up in Kacerere village, in Kabale district. She has co-edited two publications aimed at making heard voices of marginalized women; Farming Ashes (2008) and Beyond the Dance (2009). She has also contributed short stories and poems in different anthologies including; A Woman s Voice (1998) , Words From a Granary (2001), Tears of Hope (2003), Pumpkin Seeds and Other Stories (2009), Talking Tales (2009), Painted Voices (2008 2009) and Butterfly Dance (2010). She has published children s books in Runyankore-Rukiga courtesy of Longhorn publishers. In 2008 she was awarded a Certificate of Recognition by the National Book Trust of Uganda for outstanding contribution to children s literature for her book Fina the Dancer (2007). Fina the Dancer is used as a Reader in Primary Schools in Rwanda. Hilda holds a Diploma in Education, a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Social Sciences and an MA in Public Administration and Management from Makerere University. She is currently the Coordinator of FEMRITE - Uganda Women Writers Association.
Introduction
The Teens Anthology project, was born out of the need for FEMRITE to generate literature for positive change, aimed at addressing different challenges faced by society today. As a creative writing community, the challenge was how to write stories that had to carry a message for positive change, without compromising creativity. And the reverse was true; how to be creative without compromising the message. The risk was high, but we took it.
Never too Late has 16 stories that tackle themes of sex and sexuality, courage and ambition, love and betrayal, teenage pregnancy, loss, homosexuality, HIV/AIDS, drug abuse, incest, parental care or the lack of it and defilement. All the stories are set in Uganda although the themes addressed can be anywhere in the world.
FEMRITE - carried out a five-day training workshop during which participants were tasked to generate short stories aimed at influencing positive change among young readers. The theme of the project was: Literature for Positive Change; The Role of Christianity . Other aims of the workshop included; encouraging writers to explore Christian writing as a means to social stability, providing participants with quality writing skills, providing an interactive environment for mentoring and peer review, inspiring new and upcoming writers and providing participants with space and time to write.
FEMRITE is indebted to Ms Jo DiStefano Kapus who strongly identified with the theme of the project and agreed to fund its activities. Jo also participated very actively in shaping the project and developing the manuscript. She was such an inspiration and a blessing to work with in our pioneer project that deliberately addressed social challenges using Christianity as a tool.
Jo supports other Christian related projects in Uganda, which include On Fire for Jesus Library in Jinja. She supported the teens anthology because it promised to positively impact on hundreds of children that will access and read the stories. All the stories are tied together with the message that it is never too late... We are very grateful to Jo s friends, Paul and Drucilla Senkungu who worked with her to support the project.
We indebted to the editorial team that worked on the stories and to all the writers that submitted stories for the project. Wanting to publish is one thing but getting quality stories to publish is another.
Let s keep writing,
Hilda Twongyeirwe Rutagonya
Hanging Out at Dazzles
Constance Obonyo
Have you happened before? I mean happening at Dazzles? Has anyone asked you this question and you were lost for words? Fret no more.
It was in March 2006 when I realized I was in love with Mark Daniel Otim. Or was I infatuated with him? I think I was in love. I was in Senior Two then.
Mark Daniel - he was the most gorgeous guy I had ever seen. The soft, light flawless skin, the white of his eyes, oh, so clear! His French cut hair style was always neat and cut close. He was clean shaven, except for the thin moustache that encircled his chin and lips. He had a unique bounce to his walk. And then there were the muscles.
Every boy I knew envied Mark Daniel for his muscles. The girls swooned over him. I got all the news about MD from my elder sister, Brenda. Both of them were in Senior Four and happened at Dazzles, a restaurant that happening boys and girls frequented during the school holidays.
Mark Daniel and the boys spend hours at the gym. That is why they are so well toned. That is why he looks like an American Marine, Brenda would say in her conversations about the happening places and the happening boys and girls.
MD s height and body size also worked to ensure that all the happening boys and girls about town noticed him. He used Denim cologne. That was what all the happening boys aspired to use. He wore only classic jeans like Wrangler and Levi Strauss. He also wore colourful baseball caps, shirts and trainers that praised American teams like The Chicago Bulls, or designer T-shirts from Hugo Boss, Puma and LA Gear.
The orders at Dazzles were for chips, chicken, sausages and the like. Woe to anyone who dared to order for katogo in whatever form. They would be branded common.
I was only Brenda s little sister, whom no one ever noticed. I never happened. I was also dark-skinned. Brenda once told me that MD prefers light chocolate-skinned girls and that he would never date a girl without a full figure. The fact that I was skinny hurt more than you could ever imagine.