I never saw myself as a leader while growing up. I always tried to avoid leadership roles and the spotlight, except when I played football. That changed when I joined Pugu Secondary School.

My classmate ran for president of our secondary school and won. He chose me as his deputy minister for health. That job had the awesome perks during the day of going to the kitchen and tasting food before everyone else. I also had excuses to go late to classes or leave early from class.

At night, the same job involved chaos. It meant taking students to the dispensary or hospital if they felt unwell or thought they might be getting sick. The process involved waking up the teacher on duty, the driver, and the nurse. Then, staying at the hospital until the patient felt better or until the doctors admitted him.

It also included arranging food, drinks, clothes, and other care for the sick students admitted outside the school. Sometimes we would have four cases a night; it always felt like me against the world.

The school had more than a thousand students, making it hard for anyone to notice or recognize you. I was dealing with a lot of sick students during the night and tasting food during the day, but many people never knew me. Sadly, most of the people I helped during the night even used to forget me when they were well and healthy.

I remember one day there was an inter-class football match, and the captain of my class didn’t know me. A few weeks back, I took him to hospital at night because he had diarrhoea and stayed with him till morning. He didn’t recognize me either as his fellow player or minister of health.

It used to bother me a lot. Then one night, while I waited for a student to be admitted, I talked with a wise teacher on duty. He has been at the school for many years. 

He has gone to hundreds of hospital visits and listened to thousands of student matters. He said he sometimes meets his students in the streets, and they do not even bother to greet him.

Sadly, he noted that some of his students are now big leaders in the country. Yet, they never returned to say hi or acknowledged what he had done for them. He said humans are too focused on themselves to pay attention to others.

I could relate to that statement at the lowest level with my exposure to the students. I realized that when I took people to hospital, they were often too sick or in pain to notice the help I provided. 

They were so hungry at lunch and dinner that they didn’t notice my role in tasting the food to ensure it was of high quality and safe.

That lesson stayed with me my entire life. It laid the groundwork for not worrying about others’ opinions or expectations. Feeling like it’s you against the world is a waste of time. Most of the time, the world doesn’t even know you exist.

Worrying about starting small or fearing laughter after a failure is a waste of time. That world doesn’t pay attention when you start; they will do that when you win.

I embraced the notion of focusing on what I could control and do. Either the world is noticing or not. It is not about me against the world; it has always been and will always be me against myself. It is my role to make sure my present self wins against my past self.

Stop thinking that the world is coming after you; people are so busy with their own lives to pay attention.

It has always been you against you. 

#iThinkSo

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be free from suffering.

May you find peace and joy.

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Rogers Katuma

Financial Artist, Senior Adventurer, Occasional Storyteller, Amateur Golfer, Baby Pianist, and Rookie Chessman.