By Cynthia Ayeza, Uganda: The morning was beautiful and warm…and still. No birds chirping. Baaba had not woken up after she last slipped in to what seemed like a light sleep. “No one would ever know. She had to protect Patrick”, she thought. The usually siren-laden hospital, with excited voices, coupled with occasional interruptions by a hallucinating patient all escaped […]
2,935 total views, 2 views today
By Cynthia Ayeza, Uganda: Baaba shot up into a sitting position, arms suddenly flinging wildly and setting off the beepers on the hospital machines. She began to reach for her chest, then her neck…gasping for air as if she couldn't get enough of it. Baaba began to cry. She was alive. “I am alive. I'm alive…I'm…alive…” she cried uncontrollably. The […]
3,135 total views, 5 views today
By Cynthia Ayeza, Uganda: I know I shouldn't have walked out but I had to. We had been clear about the future: no children! Period. I did not love Baaba. I do not think I love her. I am incapable of love – loving – or whatever it is people call it. I like her. But that is just about […]
3,166 total views, 3 views today
By Cynthia Ayeza, Uganda: We know the right thing to do; it is the doing the right thing that messes with us. But what would the right thing to do be when a child is unwanted, and worse still, when the unwanted child is all forms of deformity? How do you accept what your eyes cannot believe and what your […]
3,203 total views, 3 views today
By Cynthia Ayeza, Uganda: I am not one to fall in love. In fact, I do not believe in love. It is quite alright if others believe in it, and in fact, I encourage it; but for me – for myself, it is not my kind of thing. I suppose to believe in love, I would also be admitting to […]
3,301 total views, 4 views today
By Cynthia Ayeza, Uganda: Life is a gift. New life, even so. The thought that something…someone is growing in you – that you are manufacturing a human being. Making a baby can be fun – usually people aren't really necessarily setting out for that – of course some do. But for me, it was different. It was my first real […]
3,253 total views, 5 views today
By Cynthia Ayeza, Uganda: Sometimes life deals us blows, and some blows can knock the breath out of us, while others leave us for dead. Seeing Baabi lying in the hospital bed, still and lifeless…yes, lifeless…she looked lifeless – as if death had already stilled the air-induced up and down movement of the human chest was…could be…a blow, I suppose. […]
3,068 total views, 4 views today
By Cynthia Ayeza, Uganda: I knew something was wrong the moment I stepped out. The air…the atmosphere around me changed. It seemed different. Colder. I felt a chill run through my body. I clung to my baby a little tighter – could I give her any more protection than our current predicament? I should head back in and wait until […]
5,618 total views, 6 views today
By Cynthia Ayeza, Uganda: In a world that has long appropriated, supported and defended a vulgar masculinity, we should not be surprised when women resort to using the only means possible to attempt to defend their own humanity. Let not the world be surprised when women strip naked to appeal to you to listen. Were there other ways to appeal to […]
4,895 total views, 6 views today
Cynthia Ayeza, Uganda: Is there such a thing as freedom of speech in this day and age? It is a myth! It appears to me that freedom of speech belongs to those who own the economy; those who are already in a position to defend themselves should they say something suable. The only other category of people who can exercise […]
5,683 total views, 9 views today