Tragedy makes men break while others break records. This was my conclusion and takeaway after reading this book. The author, Lydia Mazzi Kayondo-Ndandiko presents to the reader,a story of determination, resilience and hardwork following a tragedy in December 1992 when her father George William Kayondo went to be with the Lord under unclear circumstances. Lydia,who was 14 at the time and an only girl in a family of boys was presented with an uphill task on how to carry on.
Daddy’s Letter
During one of the visitation days at Mt St Mary’s college Namagunga, the Dad did not make it but wrote her a beautiful letter with the poignant words, it read in part, ‘my daughter,read very hard because books don’t lie,In my days I did and urge you to follow suit’ These would be the words that have forever propelled Lydia in her studies. She writes that she was an average student but became a top perfomer later returning to Gungas in A level and later securing a government Sponsorship for her undergrad. Among others, remarks from relatives that she later learned like ,”Lydia can never make it, she has grown up around boys and with so much attention from the boys in the schools where her father worked. You know with girls, without boys around, things do not shift”kept her going perhaps to remind her that she had a point to make in a society that thinks less of the girl child. Perhaps to give a little background, She writes about the centrality of God in her life “I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and savior in senior one at Mt St Mary’s college Namagunga. I do not remember the exact moment. All I recall that we were in a classroom for a Christian fellowship, the gospel was preached and I was one of those who said that prayer” Through out the book she cites scripture and mentions how it has been important to her life. She writes about how serious she was with her doctoral program, “In 2009,I traveled to Sweden while I was four months pregnant. I stayed there for four months undertaking research and doing research as part of my PhD. I traveled back on an eight hour nonstop flight when I was eight months pregnant. All this in the struggle to improve myself and earn another degree” This is the writer remembering the dad’s letter and living the dad’s wishes literally
Madam Ruth Kayondo (Jajja)
The writer States the support system that the mother has done ever since the passing of the Father. Now for context I do stay at the author’s home in Gayaza and she is Jajja to me and often times, I ask about the author and her family. She always attends the morning service at Wampeewo Church of Uganda which is adjacent to where she stays. It’s been the Lord’s faithfulness to educate all the siblings of Lydia but most importantly to instill the values in all of them. I promised the author that I would write a mini review and here we are.
The author writes,” There’s always light at the end of the tunnel, For this particular tuñnel, the light is so bright. My Father’s death made me;had it not happened the time it did, my life might be a complete different story altogether”
One of the greatest takeaways from the book is how much you react to a situation, you can choose to cry and sit in pain. Lydia did the opposite, she rose up to lead a life which she later documents for the next generations to read and know that Tragedy makes people break while others break records. Lydia Mazzi Kayondo-Ndandiko has broken a record with this book
About the Author
Lydia Mazzi kayondo-Ndandiko is a senior lecturer and Head of Geomatics and Land Management Department of MUK. She is also a zonal pastor under Worship Harvest Ministries
Mwene 