We all have dreams. As children, we dream of being astronauts or firemen. Soldiers or nurses. Musicians or actors. As we mature, we become more focused and either choose a career in life or settle for one. We either choose for ourselves or allow others or circumstances to choose for us.
The dream is on, to be a doctor or a mechanic? Acileo Muwanguzi 12-years-old could be your technician to rely on in the next course of life when you have a fleet of cars parked in your compound and you need a technician to rely on.
Yes, Muwanguzi – Winner, as literally the name is translated, may be young and not a “mechanic” or a “doctor” in the future as he wishes but never underestimate the power of words.
A 21st century Jewish Rabbi shared this striking statement about the power of words: “Words are singularly the most powerful force available to humanity. We can choose to use this force constructively with words of encouragement, or destructively use words of despair. Words have energy and power with the ability to help, to heal, to hinder, to hurt, to harm, to humiliate, and to humble.”
Think of the power words wield and the impact words can make if we become more intentional about encouraging our sponsored children. The right words make all the difference. That’s all Bravo is doing to this boy!
When you choose to think positively and so speak, you will be on Muwanguzi’s clientele list when he drives to your home to give back life to your car(s) and the fleet of motorbikes lying dead in your figurative compound. Or, he will come back to his home with a white gown and the stethoscope, a medical tool around his neck to listen to his father’s heart if it is beating back to life.
Oh yes! Am cruising you into Acileo Muwanguzi’s virtual reality world, the orbit of realities and possibilities that, prevailing circumstances have no place in your space but where you’re going matters.
“I want to be a mechanic in the future and repair cars and motorcycles and anything that comes my way that requires my expertise,” he told a TV Reporter in his one-on-one interview after hitting the new opportunity.
When he was saying bye to his daddy who suffered a stroke and is ailing in his wheelchair lying hopelessly in a single-room-dilapidated house in Kasangati, Buyinza Zone, Gayaza Road 15KM from Kampala, Muwanguzi at least doesn’t show that he is done with the world.
Speaking full of hope and happiness, he declares to redeem his aging father with a lot of expectations he will gain from going back to school, thanks to Bravo Shoes under their Bravo Shoe Community Support.
“As we picked Muwanguzi Acleo to go and resume his education he had abandoned school to look after his father who had suffered a stroke. We are happy that he accepted to go back to school,” said Brian Yesigye the CEO of Bravo Shoes.
The Bravo Shoes Community Support Organisation was able to stock all the necessary school requirements for Muwanguzi a Primary 5 student and he was treated to a beautiful lunch at Café Jevas before he headed to join his new schoolmates at Namuwaya Education Centre where his scholarship is sponsored by Bravo Shoes Community Support Organisation.
On 06 August 2021, Muwanguzi was shown on the national television, Spark TV looking after his father before he broke down in tears pleading for help and one door of opportunity opened. At least for education! His daddy was hit helplessly by a stroke and could neither talk nor walk, the 12-year-old boy had to sacrifice school and take care of his family for the last few years.
Before he was taken over by the organization to continue school until when he finishes university.
His father Aloysious Bangula, 72-years-old is among the over 300 new stroke patients recorded since 2019, from195 in 2015 and in 2013, the figure of Ugandans reportedly to have suffered a stroke and were undergoing rehabilitation was 104.
Muwanguzi faces the tough challenge of taking care of his father with a health complication not familiar with poor families.
The old man is now under the free care of Biyinzika Ministries in Mukono treating High blood pressure and stroke by Dr. Ismael Musiime who commended the boy for his responsibility so far.
“We may not get a remarkable improvement if we live all this to the boy,” he said.
To understand Bangula’s condition, Dr. Ibrahim Bukenya, the Managing Director of the Uganda Stroke Foundation says despite the rise in reported cases, there’s still an information gap as far as strokes are concerned. Many Ugandans he says never know when they are suffering from a stroke.
“Many people who suffer from stroke do not know they are going through it when it happens. Even when they are rushed to hospitals, some of them come to us when they do not understand that the condition can be revered with physiotherapy. Some think it is a death sentence,” says Dr. Bukenya.
A stroke is a condition that affects the brain. It occurs when blood flow to the brain is reduced or blocked which then stops oxygen and the flow of nutrients to the brain. As a result, brain cells start dying hence the inability of somebody’s parts to function as expected.
Figures from the health ministry show that the number of Ugandans suffering from stroke has been on the rise and figures from the Uganda Stroke Foundation show that from 2013 to date, an increase of over 100 percent in the number of stroke cases has been recorded in the country.
