This is my 1000th article on the Kawowo Sports website.
For the past five years, seven months and fifteen days, 7 Kent Lane Kamwokya, where the Kawowo Sports office is located, is a place I have called home.
I have had the amazing pleasure of being a part of a talented, innovative and hardworking team of some of the best sports journalists and creatives in Uganda and surrounding areas.
I have also had the immense privilege of learning and expressing myself in the craft of sports journalism on the biggest digital platform in Uganda and surrounding areas.
It has been a journey of many highs and lows. Together, we have achieved a great deal of success and progress. In your midst, I have made some regrettable decisions and costly mistakes.
But overall, I’ve enjoyed some of the best days in my young adult life.
Formula One’s greatest racing driver of all time Sir Lewis Hamilton, in his first interview after joining the world championship’s greatest team Ferrari, said: “I am really conscious of the fact that there are only a handful of special first times in life. The first kiss, the first date… the first time of school, the first time at a job.”
Kawowo Sports brought numerous special first times in my life.
My first job; at a time when I was not sure what the next step in my life was going to be. Switching from an engineering career to which I had dedicated all my academic life to a journalism career I had always dreamed of.
My first solo trip outside Uganda; to watch the 2019 Safari 7s in Nairobi — a city I fell in love with and have met some of my closest friends. The tournament I had gone to party ended up being my first assignment as a sports journalist.
My first flight; to cover Uganda at the 2022 Rugby World Cup 7s in Cape Town, South Africa. It is true what we say in my mother tongue that ‘okutambura n’okureeba’ (loosely translated to English as ‘travelling is seeing’). Touring other countries and experiencing other cultures has been fun.
I was a fan of Ugandan sport, and will always be. As an accredited journalist through Kawowo, I gained access to people and places here in Uganda and all over the world. I witnessed history being made by our world class athletes and felt the raw emotion of competitive sport. Money cannot buy some of these “I was there” experiences. It is humbling but also inspiring.
What an unforgettable time I have had with Kawowo!
I have learnt that journalism is a responsibility. To oneself and to the public. It is my ethical responsibility to seek the truth and provide fair context of the events I am covering.
This is a responsibility I continually strive to uphold, even when nobody is watching.
Today, I take this humble opportunity to officially say goodbye to a special chapter. To my colleagues at Kawowo Sports and our other media brands. To Maggie, the most important person at office.
Please keep up the game-changing work and open doors policy for all in our industry.
And also to all the people who have read or listened to or watched my work on the website and on social media apps.
Please continue supporting and consuming the work of small newsrooms.
I also wish to say thank you. From the bottom of my heart.
Thank you!
