From Teacher to 1st A.D

Last year was a rollercoaster for most of us and pretty much everyone was unhinged from their normal schedule, job or environment. If nothing changed in your life, consider yourself rather very fortune.

Professionally I am a teach of English/literature so before Covid, my job was to read books and passages and have them interpreted to my students. 9-5 , 6 days a week. That was the norm.

Teachers aren’t the most apreciated civil servants. Therefore, other than the affection you might develop for your students, there is nothing much to celebrate about the job it’s self. In fact, it is more draining for private school teachers than public school teachers. The latter’s assurance of their salaries makes them get away with pretty much anything, but for a private school teacher, you reap what you sow. So just like any exploited private teacher, I hoped this would change. And then Corona Happened.

I was still in Kampala when corona first hit Uganda. Schools closed, and then transportation was shutdown which meant from there on, i had to fend for myself on my little savings. By the end of the three or so months of lockdown, I only had transport to take me back to my village..so I did.

It’s not always the most pleasant thing to be in the village when you are at the age where everyone thinks you should be married. The questions come by in the most uncomfortable ways and you just want to vanish. In this case, there was no where to run to. It was either here or my work place which I had left as a result of the virus and bankruptcy. So again, I prayed it could all go away and it didn’t take long before my time came.

I received a phone call to help create an original TV series for DStv. You can imagine my excitement. As the caller went a head to reveal the details, I was already in my head packing the items I required for my journey back to Kampala for the writing workshop. This was my first paid writing gig so the anxiety and fear was at bay. In the taxi, I remember rereading the emails over and over again. I needed notes on the storyline. I was incredulously nervousness but I knew I wanted this, no, needed it. At the workshop, i did more of the listening than talking. Little did I know that in months to come, I would be assistant directing on this same project. Another BIG challenge, probably worse than the previous. I had never been on a set before.

In the history of this my life, I have never been on so much pressure and anxiety that i literally felt physical pain. If you have never been on set before, the assistant director (A.D) is the boss. You have to make the most difficult choices and decisions on set. Your duties include:

#1: Drafting shooting schedules, callsheets, and drawing storyboards.

#2: Ensuring required crew and cast are on set and have the right, scripts, schedule, location etc.

#3: calling the roll

#4: Liaising with the crew.

#5: Ensuring safety of the entire team

Find the job description here: https://www.masterclass.com/articles/what-is-a-first-assistant-director-job-description-and-responsibilities-of-the-1st-ad-on-a-film-set#:~:text=The%201st%20AD%20clears%20the,props%2C%20and%20cast%20are%20available.

There I was, fresh in the industry with no clue of how things are done but after what i had been through, I can assure you I was up for the challenge. My producer was kind enough to go through the basics of the job with me, but producers don’t have a lot of time so like any techy millennial, I googled my job responsibilities, some of which were had to comprehend so i kept inquiring from mr google. I believe once you self educate yourself, that knowledge sticks with you for a lifetime therefore, more than often I educated myself. It took me weeks to familiarise with the role. What made this job a nightmare was I was dealing with adults who like me, never had much set experience and yet kept consulting me on pretty much everything. I was drained and dehyderated. Hell broke loose when my cast and crew started falling sick day in, day out. The pressure was infinite and the production had to keep running, I had to make compromises on a daily. I felt my nerves, my voice,my tongue and my skin dessert me. Eventually, we all got used and things eased up a bit. I say a bit because filmmakers are soldiers in the real sense of the word. Morning to evening, they shoot.😂

Jobs that give us houses, transport allowance, food, medical allowance get us thinking we have arrived in life. But the truth is, this is an exploitative quality used to pay you pennies as they will remind you of these privileges to silence you each time you ask for more. In fact, they will go ahead to tell you you’re indebted to them and will threaten to take these so called privileges away In case you don’t comply. As you start to question yourself on how you will start a new life: paying rent, electricity, water bills and other utilities, you start to conform and settle for what they have to offer because you don’t even have enough savings to start with.

So on that cold evening when I called my parents to tell them I was going to write and direct films there on, I knew I was taking a big turn in my life. Yes I was afraid. Yes I was scared. Yes I was uncertain. And truthfully, Career change is one of the most scary things in the world. You can’t see the other side so you can’t measure the green of the grass. if you do, then you don’t have the certainty of how long the grass will remain green. Self doubt sinks in, fear of the unknown, anxiety, loss of friends, paranoia, change of schedule, environment, etc. You feel alone and these insecurities become your companion but, don’t let them win. It is okay to be afraid but unless you go a head and do it, you will never know. And the least you want to do is spend the rest of your life lamenting on how things could have been had you been bold enough to take that step.

I’ll say if things become uncomfortable, seize that moment and use it to make those difficult decisions you have meditated on for weeks, months, or years. Discomfort comes with a shift, swing it the right way and you might catch the biggest fish.

Photo credit: Google.

Welcome to the neighborhood.

I am more of a vanilla person. That is to say I am boring. I would rather spend the day in my house listening to my neighbors than go out. I recently changed career and moved into a new neighborhood. It is peaceful and quiet on most days and I absolutely don’t mind it. Nothing beats serenity. Unlike my former neighborhood where my neighbor’s kids deliberately left their homes to come to my veranda, bang my door, scream, collect all the dirt they could find (I am talking about bricks, sand, polythene bags ,stones, toys ) and make the place untidy , this neighborhood is different and I relish it’s abundant tranquility. I have never understood why those kids chose to displease me than their parents who bore them into this world but I guess it is part of being a child. Your reasoning can’t be questioned because you don’t have any. But in this case, I translated it into contempt. I mean, there is no reason for contempt right?😂😂

My new neighbor’s kids ain’t like that. There is only two of them and they are both girls so, less trouble. They come to my place in the mornings when their parents are cleaning up or have stopped them from messing things up. So they come to mess me up instead. They are torelable though. In most cases, they only play with remotes but as you might know, kids are tricky and can not be trusted. You never know when they will choose to change their mind so I am often on tenterhooks to make sure they don’t spoil anything, or get burnt and their mothers come for me.

Truthfully, I am not a kids person. I have never been. They are hard work and you have to be sober and on your feet to protect them from themselves and from you. Any single diversion of attention is equal to enormous damange. I have never been good at withstanding pressure so for that reason, i avoid them as much as i can but recently I delevoped a strange tolerance for them. Call it growth.

I have six neighbors, which means there are seven doors inside the muzigo. We all know, neighbors can be nosy and dramatic so I am going to tell you about mine .

#1 . She is a mother to one of my kid friends. Her child has ludede (a Lumasaba word to mean spoilt baby who cries about anything). Her mother’s absence means a whole day of crying, I dread such days. The mother is polite, inquisitive and very vigilant. When i first came to the house, she asked me to be vigilant and not to leave my door open whenever I am going out. She said the neighborhood isn’t as safe as it seems. She also told me about a neighbor just behind us who woke up to an empty house few days before my arrival. I commended her for the warning and took on the advice. She makes jokes about me everytime I do laundry because it rains on such days. She says she was once like me and her neighbours never washed on days she washed. I have no idea what this means but i clap back with, “it will always shine the next day”. So it’s more of our joke now. i too tease her about it. She asked about where I pray from and it so happens we pray at the same church, she said she had a feeling and wanted to ask me the day we met. Interesting! Right? she told me about the cell group in the neighborhood so we get along really well. She doesn’t beat her daughter because her husband promised to depot her back to her father’s home if she ever tried, which explains the ludede. Everytime I am leaving the house, she asks her daughter to tell me I am smart. I love her.♥️

#2. This one is a tough mother, she beats the girl on petty things. She has a temper and has no time for excuses for her child who barely speaks. She likes katogo for breakfast. How do I know this? On very many occasions, I have seen it boil on the sigilli outside the veranda. She likes to tell me to change/flip my clothes on the wire so they dry quickly or , she asks me to take off the ones that have dried even when she doesn’t need the space. My guess is, she doesn’t like me very much. Of recent she comes back very late in the night and goes early, I haven’t seen her in a week now. I wonder if she misses me😂😂

#3. This one is the famous one. Loud in speech and laughter. She lives alone like me. She has friends all over the neighborhood. In the evenings, they gather at her home and talk about culture, weddings, politicians, friends,children etc most of Which I don’t know but I still listen and hear their judgements. Other than the other neighbors, this one likes to prob. I recently learnt that she is a freelance surveyor which explains her questionnaires. When I asked her name , I was astonished to know she already knew mine. How? She says she heard one of my visitors call me. Weird right? She is surveying me😎. In our most recent conversation, she asked if I had applied for any jobs. I was speechless and i felt judged because She had never asked if I had a job in the first place. It seemed to bather her that i am inside my house all day doing nothing. For a surveyor, I am pretty sure she has terrible observation skills but anyway, I took the liberty to explain to her what I did inside my house to which she was shocked to hear but still insisted on letting me know if she heard of any job opportunities. I told her I would be very pleased. I am still waiting.😂😂

#4 This one is a new mother. Which is to say she is very busy but she has time to surprise me. When I asked about her child, she told me the kid was fine and went ahead to say the child was my tribemate. We had never talked before so I asked how she knew which tribe I was. She said she once heard me speak over the phone. One Sunday when I was washing, her husband told me  of how she had told him I am a gishu. He has been speaking to me in lumasaba since then. In the evenings, she runs around chasing a hen that was given to the baby by the relatives when they went to the village for Eid. It’s been weeks but that hen doesn’t know where it sleeps . So i help her chase it sometimes or hold the baby as she takes it to the store room.

#5 This neighbor is a man. Perhaps in his late 20’s or early 30’s. He is always speaking on the phone whenever i see him. Once in a while , his girlfriend and her girlfriend come in the afternoon. They cook, eat and leave by evening before he comes back. I don’t know how their relationship works but I think it’s interesting. On rare occasions, I see her leave in the morning.?????????

#6. I have never met this neighbor. It’s almost three months now and we haven’t crossed paths. He is never around even on weekends. He often leaves his clothes to be washed by the laundry lady. I see female clothes too but I don’t know if he is married or cohabiting. At least I have seen a silhouette of him but never of the wife. On days I have come back home late. I have found his car packed and lights on. He is a mystery I plan to solve.

Living in this neighborhood has taught me one thing. Mother’s like to talk. Mostly about their children and as I sit in my house listening to them, sometimes I think it’s unnecessary. If you ask me, I know everything about the kids in this muzigo. From how long they sleep to which food they eat, to what their fathers say about them, when they stopped peeing on the bed, what their mothers ate during pregnancy. Their bad/good habits. when they were first beaten. Who they look like. whose habits they possess. Which kind of medication they prefer. Truth is, women like to talk. So, i listen.

Do you have neighbors? What are they like? Which kind of neighbor are you? Please leave a comment.