Happy 50th Birthday Albert Senkubuge Kitamirike
A friend of mine told a very beautiful joke about forgetfulness after the age of 50. The only problem is that I can’t remember who that person was. I have always convinced myself that I may have turned 50 but I am not yet scatterbrained. Then something happened this week. I forgot one of my greatest friend’s birthday.
This was supposed to be a milestone birthday and because this friend of mine lived thousands of miles away, I had planned to surprise him with a call on the morning of his birthday. However, it looks like the more I prepared for it, the more my brain decided to get preoccupied with other things. A week before the day, my mind meandered off and that was it. The next time I remembered was on 1st March, a whole four days later. You should have seen me when I recalled, I wasn’t sure if I had indeed forgotten. I checked all his social media accounts still convincing myself that, surely, I was not this bad yet. I hoped that one of them will pop up a different date, a date that had not yet passed. None of his accounts has his birthday, and that did not surprise me. Now that I had hit a dead end, I picked up the phone and called up a brother, one whose memory I trust is better than mine. He wasn’t any better, all he said was that he suspects it is in February, ‘but we are in March now’, I grumbled while asking him to put his act together. He has also passed his 50th Birthday, so I am not so surprised that he did not offer any better help.
I had now remembered that it is indeed in the last week of February, but is it 24th or 25th February? My mind was still playing games with me. “This is a birthday we have celebrated for years, why am I getting confused about it?” I ominously asked myself. “Is this what it means being forgetful after the age of 50?” I speculated. While still engrossed in those thoughts, a text that put me out of my misery arrived. “I have asked him, it is 25th February and it passed” – Louis stated the obvious.
To our friend, Albert, I profusely apologise on behalf of the group. Being the youngest in the group, may have brought you some benefits when we were all younger, but it looks like now that we are older, you will have more work to do – to remind us of things.
In commemoration of the 25th of February, the date that he was born, allow me pay tribute to our friend, Albert Senkubuge Kitamirike.
Another one of those fine-looking young men with beautiful souls I found at Makerere College School, Albert is different from any other member of the group in more ways than one. Yet, he blends in well, never complaining or making any other member of the group feel awkward around him. I have never discussed this with him, but I believe I found Albert at a stage when he was transitioning from who he was as a teenager to who he eventually became as a youthful adult and later a fully grown man. I have heard many stories of the escapades of most members of the group during their teenage, and he was an active participant in those adventures. Yet since I met him in 1989, ASK as we sometimes call him has been a different man. Very unassuming, quieter than most of us and a devout born-again Christian, you would not know that he is in the room or that he has an opinion on a subject unless you prodded him.
Albert taught me to appreciate fine music. Before him all music, was good and the stronger the beat, the better it sounded. I was what many music braggers would call a kidandali fan. I was kind of a music junky. I listened to everything from kadongo kamu, to lingala to pop and American country music. Albert introduced me to fine singers like Gerald Levert, Barry White, Peabo Bryson, Johnny Gill, Bebe and Cece Winans etc. Now, I appreciate music when I listen to it. I can tell a good voice and understand the different instruments being used in a song. I am no longer an ordinary listener to music, although it may disappoint him that I still love listening to all kinds of music from kadongo kamu, lingala, hip hop, soul, etc. At my age, I even find the latest craze ‘amapiano’ interesting. I am still trash when it comes to music, I believe. Sorry Albert.
One other exquisiteness about our group is that although we are all Christians, we come from different denominational backgrounds in Christianity. I was born in an Anglican family and have largely practiced Christianity as an Anglican. Some friends are Catholic, and Albert is born-again During our days at Makerere College School, Albert invited and introduced us to KPC (now Watoto) and all of us joined him in prayer and worship at that famous Church at the corner of Kampala Rd and Bombo Rd for a while. Coming from strictly an Anglican setting, I found the type of praising and worshipping at KPC refreshing and gratifying. Perhaps, it resonated with my youthfulness at the time. I looked forward to going to Church every Sunday. Louis, Robert Kiwagama and I were regulars, and, on a few occasions, we were joined by the others. Somehow, we have since all retreated to our traditional churches. I don’t know whether it is because Albert left Uganda, or we just grew old and lost our penchant for an ecstatic church service. Whatever the reason, Albert is still a good friend and always close to us despite the distance. He has celebrated and marked happy moments and sad events with us. It is as if he has never left.
At a more personal level, when my family finally abandoned London as our second home and returned to Kampala, we entrusted Albert and his lovely wife Liz to be the Guardians to our two children who still went to boarding school in Somerset. Every half term holiday, Ryan and Renee have been welcomed to the Kitamirike’s house and treated like family. On one or two occasions, Albert and his wife have had to drive a round trip of over 400km just to make sure that the kids are back in school safely. I couldn’t have wished for a more reliable friend. Whenever I return to London, I am welcomed by Albert and his family with love whether Albert is at home or not. There is a saying that ‘the fish rots from the head’………… Albert is such a good, amiable friend that his family automatically takes from him as the head of the family.
Thank you, Albert, for being a loyal friend over all these years and may you live to celebrate another 100 years. Belated happy birthday once again, and apologies from all of us for being so inattentive.
Comments