The Poverty Game: Elevating African Sports (Part 4)
A couple of years back, I reached out to my Class Old Girls’ WhatsApp group and suggested that we form a savings group. There was a lot of reluctance, and in fact, it was a total failure. Part of the reason is, we are young adults, and everyone understands how the economy is hot for our age bracket. Most of us are/were unemployed, most had just completed university, and of course, we survive big on the hustle culture.
The Poverty Game: Elevating African Sports (Part 3)
Remember, there will never be another you. Read that again. There will never be another you. Similarly, in terms of sports, there will never be another LeBron, Messi, Ronaldo, Wilt Chamberlain, Jordan, Candace Parker, Aja Wilson, Jimmy Enabu, Okello Allan, or Siya Kolisi, name them all.
The Poverty Game: Elevating African Sports (Part 2)
This brings me back to where we started with this series, the abject poverty most Ugandan athletes live in. These players all look great suited up in club jerseys, but their shoulders are heavily laden with questions and doubts about what they will have to show once they are done playing. Beyond the good-looking pictures in jerseys, and smiling by the airplane in yellow and black track suits, these athletes have grievances and most hold onto the hope that maybe a miracle like an European or Arabian team or “any other developed” country will pick them.
The Poverty Game: Elevating African Sports
Not so long ago, a basketball personality in Uganda got married, and incidentally, he married an old girl (OG) of mine from high school. Definitely, in our old girls’ groups, despite failing to be productive, “tea” will never miss. Someone shared pictures of the happy couple, and this gave us an adrenaline rush of something to blabber about for as long as anyone had something to say. The biggest question in the group was, “Do basketball players in Uganda earn enough?” Everyone questioned the man’s financial ability to marry a woman of her stature.
Tailgates, Mascots, and More: Fan Experience as a Catalyst for Sports Growth
Marketing and fan experiences are intentional activities that our sports industry needs to tap into to grow bigger and larger. There are games that try at this and have tapped into this, but they could do even more with the potential they have. Adam Silver, NBA commissioner, “In this age, the term ‘engagement’ has developed several meanings. For fans, it is no longer about what they see on the pitch or on the court; it’s also what they see off it, and quite often online.”
Posho in America
If you are ever traveling or relocating to the USA, food should be one of the things you are ready to relearn, as you have to adjust to the American taste buds. Something most Africans do, is to bring dry portions of that food they can’t live without. I always carry my Bushera, enkombe, daddies, groundnuts, and supreme posho.
The Dead Hens: Black Tax
I arrived in Kampala during the evening rush hour. The taxi was headed to the taxi park downtown, so I didn’t have to go all that far since we passed through Kireka, and I would connect to Kira from there. We stopped opposite the Total Petrol Station (that busy junction) and began the process of offloading all my luggage and chicken. A man appeared from nowhere and imposed himself as the porter of the stage.
I vividly told him off, “Ssebo, ndeka!”
Facing the Fragility of Life: Saving Barbra’s Eyesight
Nothing prepares you for this adulthood phase, where our bodies start to feel things we can’t explain and medical bills become part of our budgets.
Devil’s Lake: A Town Run by Angels
Once the school year started, the basketball year started. Unfortunately, I was still recovering from my right leg ACL surgery and wasn’t cleared to play. Fast forward, once I was cleared to play, I tore my left ACL. My life crushed. I didn’t have a great roommate or a close friend. I felt lonely. I was then less of a crybaby, but I felt like I was one of God’s forgotten kids.
African Sports and Juju
So I asked him, “Why did you leave?” He told me about the stories of juju in the league. The funniest story was during a heated-up final game series where the opponents were believed to have smeared some form of juju at the entrance to the arena. When his team was tipped off, they were all mandated to enter the arena through a window. I laughed so hard at the superstitious idea.