By Emmanuel Gyezaho
This week, British Council organised an outdoor event aimed at showcasing musicians from across the Commonwealth.
Below are a few pictures from the event:
Musicians on stage:
Delegates having fun together:
Ugandan local DJ J Kazoora smiles for the camera with a couple of friends:
Two ladies enjoying the time of their lives:
CHOGM 2007 brings great memories to my family. Mzee Dawson Wambi, my father, is a retired headteacher now 87 years old. Sitting in his home in Nsinze in Namutumba district he had this to say to me.
” In 1954 when I was the Chief Scout, I shook hands with Elizabeth when she came to Jinja to open the dam. She was a very small girl. She spoke in a very small voice. I opened the door of her car. She moved out like this (he demonstrates)I shook her little hands. I stepped back and saluted her before handing her over to the authorities. (He salutes and gestures as she hands me over to feel the pride of the moment.)
“There were no photographs given to me so I can’t show you.”
“Today,” he adds. She is completely changed. The voice is very much the same but she has grown” he concludes.
I walked back to my own home only to find my children three and four years old discussing the Queen’s visit. They told their mother that when the Queen comes to Uganda, we should allow her to sleep in their room and share their beds. They vowed from that time on to keep the room clean and the beds dry. That was four months ago.
When Her Majestay arrived, the two ethusiastic children were fighting off a terrible cough. “At school we were told the Queen will come to Uganda. We would like to offer her our bedroom.” They insisted while on their hospital bed. “Why should she stay in Munyonyo hotel when we can sleep here and she uses our room at home?” The boys asked.
“Yes, she will come home.” I replied emotionally.
Come the D-day, the two boys were still on drip under going treatment. But the picture of their expected guest brought back some smiles. The picture of Her Majesty the Queen was another medicine .
“The Queen Elizabeth is here, I said while handing over the picture to them.”
They chorused, “Put her here in our play room. After hospital tomorrow, we shall go and bring her home…”
How wonderful it is that a grandfather and his grandchildren have such sweet memories over such a long generation. Isn’t this a ‘commonwealth’ of human sentiments?
Mr. Dawson Wambi (1930 - ), the Chief Scout who welcomed and shook hands with Queen Elizabeth II at Jinja in 1954 can be reached on Telephone 0712210101