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Marthias

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I met Marthias on July 22, 2003 in Kampala. He was 15. After walking together for some time, he handed me this poem.
Remarkably, we stayed in touch via email and then Facebook, until 2013, when our paths crossed once again while I was staying in Cape Town. Marthias, then 25, was in school, with a goal of someday becoming a lawyer.

Following is: My Home (2000) - a poem about Uganda by Marthias Mulumba Finidi -
(I have tried to preserve a bit of the formatting as well.)

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A Poem by Mulumba Matia (2000)

MY HOME

This is my home Uganda.
This is the land for me.
This is the place where my heart is at rest.
This is the land for all that is the best.
Here I am alive and free.

This is my home Uganda.
With mountains, with valleys and hills.
The deep dark forest where nobody goes.
The thick green swamps where the wide Nile flows.
The western lakes strange and still.

This is my home Uganda.
Full of the flight of the birds.
The Crested Crane, the Eagle and Dove,
Spinning their cries to the sky up above.
Music of songs with words.

This is my home Uganda.
Full of beasts that God made.
The golden Lion and swift-footed Deer,
The Elephant grey and black is here
And the Leopard who lies in the shade.

This is my Country Uganda.
Here I was born and I will die.
Here is the house I built with my hands,
The trees I planted, the crops on my lands
Grow fruitful beneath a blue sky.

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Marthias, Lungelo, and Bob - Waiting for the ferry

robben island ferry
June 9, 2013

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Modified: March 9, 2014 (from uganda2003.html and ugandapoem.html)
Created: March 8, 2014