Acknowledgements

I first want to share my appreciation for our late Dad, Eliazali Naighano Bulamu(1929-2015), who raised our family in a multicultural environment.  At the Ikulwe Farm Institute, were workers from a cross-section of Ugandan tribes, Kenyans, and Caucasians like Mr Peter Taylor, and Fredrick Bateman, from the UK and US, respectively, who converged.  I, our eldest sister Elizabeth, and eldest brother Patrick, were all under 12 years of age, and had joined the Young Farmers Club at the Institute. 

Elizabeth

Later, at nearly the age of twenty-two, he led me from our birth home in Nsango to our ancestral land of Bwembe.  It was at this beautiful place located north of Lake Victoria, and where a beautiful bay named in its honour that a lot happened in my life.  There, at the age of twenty-three, I met nineteen-year-old Elizabeth.  This beautiful person became the love of my life.  God blessed us with a big extended family. 

Scannia

Several years later, Reverend Father Anastasios Isabirye, then a young theologian fresh from Athens, Greece, came to visit his sister in Bwembe.  We talked about education together.  He encouraged me to start a school from scratch, in my own home.  He was also, at the time , building a boat by Bwembe Bay.  Being passionate about visual arts, I offered to paint the boat and decorated it with a Saint Nicholas Icon, on each side.  He named the tiny school St. Barbara -Bwembe.  

In brief, life in Bwembe was the inspiration for the book.  I was a fisherman, a local politician, and a self-proclaimed headteacher of the tiny school.  St. Barbara Primary School is currently aided by the Uganda Orthodox Church and the Government of Uganda.  It boasts of a capacity of around 800 kids. 

Visual Arts

In later years, I joined a local newspaper called Kodhieyo, as a cartoonist.  It was there that the idea of drawing a storybook came to my mind.  Months later, I secured a decorator contract at the then, newly established  Jinja Nile 4-star Resort Hotel.  I found the place very conducive for concentrating on my story-book, too! 

When I moved to Canada, the first item packed in my bag was Effort for Comfort cartoon work.  The year was 2004.  While in Toronto, I participated in the Niagara Falls Host and Immigrant Artists Program.  There, I met three professional artists, who helpd me navigate through new places; Dave Dyment, Roula Parthenou-Dyment, and Allison Hrabluik.  I soon learned that producing an animated cartoon book, would require far a lot more skills than I had.  And plenty of money too!  I was disheartened, but did not give up. 

In 2017, while working as a janitor at the Saguaro Camp, in British Columbia’s back country just two hours north of Fort St. John, the idea of writing the story instead of drawing it, came to my mind.   The zeal to tell my story overpowered the fears of lacking what it takes to be an author.  I simply thought there was enough craft for me to sit down and do my thing.  It would not be easy though.  I took it slow. 

I am grateful to my young sister Despina Namwembe for her constant words of encouragement. 

My exclusive appreciation goes to Mr Vern Thiessen, the globally renowned playwright and author, who consistently spared time from his very tight schedule, to read my manuscript.  He loved my story and style. 

Finally, I would like to thank the entire professional team of Tellwell, for publishing my story.