What God gives a person that truly amazes me and what I will never take lightly
Abange mwe, there is something that amazes me more than degrees, more than papers, more than big English spoken with a nose.
Amagezi Amazaale. Omukisa. Ekisima. Omusika Mpewo.
That thing you are born with. That thing no school teaches. That thing science cannot give you in a laboratory, even if you wear a white coat for 20 years.
If God — Allah the Almighty, through the gods of Kifuuta Katooke Kyotera Buddu, through the black waters of Naludugavu and the singing winds of Lusakalwamese and Ninzi — has blessed you with this wisdom, this luck, this Ekisima, and you fail to kneel down and thank Him, my friend, you have sinned greatly. You must repent, fast. You will need to repent so that you see heaven without passing through purgatory.
Because Ekisima is not small. Ekisima is a visa to heaven.
I walk. I observe. I sit by roadsides abroad and at home. And what pains my heart, what cuts me deeply, is this: I see many people, many businesses, many marriages, many dreams failing not because they are poor, not because they are lazy, but simply because they lack Amagezi Amazaale.
Many households today struggle to function and eventually fall apart like a badly thatched house in rain. Husband and wife fighting every day like two cocks over maize. Why? They lack the wisdom that no university can print on a certificate.
Even financial success seems to favour a select few who possess this gift, Omukisa and Ekisima, as reflected in their wealth and the cars they drive: clean, shining, humming. I often ask myself why so many educated people with degrees struggle to make ends meet.
I have my OB, same school, same class, same engineering drawing board. In geometric construction, he was better than me: perfect angles, perfect circles. But I have employed him for 27 years now. He works for me. Why? Ekisima. Omukisa. The gods gave one more than the formula. The wind blew for one.
I never, ever take innate wisdom and luck — Ekisima — lightly. It is an extraordinary gift to anyone fortunate enough to possess it.
THE KITCHEN DOES NOT LIE: AKATOGO AND ENKWAALE
Take cooking. This is where Ekisima undresses itself naked.
Some people prepare food for sale, only to watch their customers disappear like morning dew. Why does the katogo, that sweet mixed local food that you sell, go bad before 11 am? Why does it smell like regret?
Apply some innate wisdom, my child!
If you normally put one onion in your food, try adding ten more so that its aroma arrests passers-by, so that a boda man stops without knowing why. I am not making this up; I observe these things as I walk past food vendors during my overseas trips in Dubai, in London, in Johannesburg. Aroma is marketing. Smell is invitation. Smell is Ekisima.
How can you prepare a completely tasteless sauce and expect customers to return happily to your eating place? Food must have character. Sauce must have soul.
Take the partridge, enkwaale. Small bird, despised. But when I fry it using my innate wisdom, when I add my secret timing, my salt, my fire, my patience, you would think it was chicken. You would hardly tell the difference because I understand my craft. I know when to cover, when to open, when to whisper to the oil.
Entayi wali okaliddeko? Have you ever tasted something that makes you close your eyes?
If you lack wisdom, even chicken will taste like paper in your hands. If you have Ekisima, even enkwale tastes like a feast for a king.
WOMEN, BUSINESS AND THE STAGE
Let me share a simple truth that will save many of you:
Owning a hair dryer in your salon does not guarantee good service. A machine does not bring customers. Amagezi Amazaale does.
If you burn a customer's hair through careless handling, you are responsible, not the machine. The machine is there to make your work easier and faster, but you must combine it with your own innate wisdom, luck — Ekisima — and professional skill. Otherwise, you are just a woman with hot metal burning people's destinies.
Even when a man loves you, demonstrate the wisdom you possess and watch how you captivate him. Don't become stuck in your narrative just because you hide in street wisdom: mbu tugila tulindako, kabulanyanna. Don't be a roundabout where every man passes, hoots, and goes. Stop being a stage for rehearsals.
You must be the stage where a man wants to stop and build his house permanently.
Women are often more innovative than men, but laziness holds some of you back. I have encountered women who have impressed me with their innate wisdom and luck, and I commend them. I salute you.
When it comes to hair, I rarely see women who have relaxed their hair taking proper care of it and styling it well like my Maama Rebecca Apophia Naidoo used to do. That woman! She would oil, comb, plait with patience, with Ekisima. Her hair spoke before she spoke.
Those who have mastered the art of caring for and styling their hair today deserve praise. I salute you because you have demonstrated the innate wisdom that turns an ordinary skill into something valuable. Never take that gift for granted. That is Ekisima sitting on your head like a crown.
FOOTBALL, LEADERSHIP AND THE CUT OF YOUR CLOTH
My friend, innate wisdom and luck are just as important in football. Without it, you may never lift a trophy, even if you have eleven professors on the pitch.
You can have eleven educated legs, but without the one boy who has Ekisima — the one who knows where the ball will fall before it falls — you will lose. Look at the World Cup of this year. The team with more wisdom, more luck, more Ekisima won. Not just skill. The gods were with them.
Consider the person leading this nation, Mzee Museveni. He applied considerable innate wisdom and luck — Ekisima — to win over people in Luwero. It is not easy to spend 5 years in the bush, eating roots, sleeping in rain, being bitten by mosquitoes the size of beans, even for an educated person. Yet, through the wisdom and luck he applied, he rose to power and has remained firmly in office.
Governance has defeated many leaders because they lacked Amagezi Amazaale. No matter how educated you are, you will struggle to win the support of those you lead if you lack this gift. Eventually, the people you lead will grow tired of you.
Look at history; it does not lie:
Idi Amin Dada, with a simple Primary degree, ruled 9 years.
Professor Yusuf Lule, with PhD, not more than 6 months.
QC Godfrey Lukongwa Binaisa, learned lawyer, not more than 2 years.
Museveni, without a PhD, has ruled 41 years and still going, still speaking, still commanding.
What is the difference? Ekisima. Omusika Mpewo. The wind chooses who it blows for. The gods choose who they lift.
Even in the way we dress, we must apply innate wisdom. Without it, you may end up wearing clothes that clash or look awkward, like a scarecrow in a wedding. Be careful, my friend, to choose clothes that suit your natural body shape. The way you dress influences how people perceive and respect you. When you look neat and smart, you command respect. The waves of appreciation settle on you from the lakes of Kijanibarora and Bbale Kifuluma.
Clothes don't make a man, but Amagezi Amazaale tells a man which clothes to wear, which colour matches his skin, which shoe fits his journey.
SPIRITUALITY, CHARACTER AND LEGACY
In everything you do, let innate wisdom guide you. In everything!
Those who lack it struggle and sweat unnecessarily. They push a stone uphill every day, and every night the stone rolls back.
Even in prayer, innate wisdom matters. You cannot approach God carelessly and expect Him to grant your requests. You cannot come with noise, with greed, naye naaba ku mwetango, ebombo, olwezza bisumulukuke — don't think with empty drums Heaven will open.
If you pray without thought or sincerity, you may not receive what you seek. Whether you worship or attend Mass in a Catholic parish, innate wisdom and luck remain important. When God sees someone praying with wisdom and sincerity, with clean hands, He grants their requests through the gods of Kifuuta.
Amagezi Amazaale is precious to anyone who possesses it. You must go to shower eKyoogo to claim it; you must thank the gods for it because it is not easily acquired.
Personally, when I stand beside someone who has this gift and look into their eyes, I can recognise it without asking a single question. Even in casual conversation, a person's innate wisdom reveals itself through what they say. And even when eating, someone who lacks wisdom and acts out of sheer greed, grabbing meat like a hyena, will struggle to earn the affection of others. How you eat shows your Ekisima. How you talk shows your Omukisa.
As for me, I thank God, the gods of Kifuuta Kyotera, my Creator, for blessing me with wisdom. I praise Him for this gift. I have also passed it on to my children; may the Lord be praised for the wisdom that runs through my bloodline, keeping my gods and tradition customs flying together.
Some people mock me, saying I don't have a PhD in literature or Engineering, yet I surpass them by far in wisdom and luck — Ekisima, Omusika. Who, then, would dare look down on me? Look at how I make people smile, learn while reading my classical language and Engineering skills. Even when I speak on the radio, people stay tuned rather than switch to another station. Those days, I would find lines outside waiting to greet me, to shake my hand, to say, "Oracle, you have spoken."
Innate wisdom and luck — Ekisima — are the foundation on which I stand. It is the true wealth God gave me, and I am grateful to Him.
It is difficult for someone to offer me a job and for me to turn it down on the grounds that it is beyond my abilities. That would only happen if my innate wisdom had deserted me, which it cannot because I inherited it from Jjajja Naidoo, the man who survived the Man-Eaters in Tsavo National Park, Kenya, while doing his engineering work as the railway line engineer, and from Jjajja Muguluma, Petero Kizza wakulanume, men who travelled by foot and bicycle in 1918 from Kifuuta Katooke Kyotera Buddu to Naziba Sseguku Entebbe Road with no money, no map, only Ekisima in their pockets.
That journey of 1918 is still walking in my blood. That Ekisima still cooks in my enkwaale. That Ekisima still styles my words.
The Oracle of Kifuuta Katooke Kyotera Buddu drives the gods of Naludugavu and Lusakalwamese to his offspring by God Almighty Allah.
So now I ask you, my child reading this by phone light in Kampala, in Kyotera, in London:
Do you have Amagezi Amazaale?
Do you have Omukisa?
Do you have Ekisima?
If you have it, thank God, use it well, feed people well, dress well, pray well, love well.
If you don't have it, walk with those who have it. Sit near the fire where Ekisima burns. Learn to add ten onions. Learn to fry enkwaale like chicken. Learn to be the stage, not the roundabout.
Because in the end, degrees will fill your wall, but only Ekisima will fill your stomach, your house, your bed, and your legacy.
Never take Ekisima lightly. It is heaven's own spice.
The Kifuuta Oracle, grandson of Tsavo and of the 1918 walkers
