"It was a wonderful experience interacting with you and appreciate the way you have planned and executed the whole publication process within the agreed timelines.”
Subrat SaurabhAuthor of Kuch Woh Pal
‘The Discarded Brick’, a three season trilogy, in two volumes, is set in Africa, Europe and North America. It is about the travels and experiences of the author. In Volume 2, Season 3, the author and his family return to his home country. Back in Uganda, he was initially welcomed by all with open arms, like the prodigal son. He works on several jobs for the government and in the private sector, till he settles for communication consultancy. Most of these jobs again involved travel within and outside the country. This included a stint in the United States, Greece, Germany and more countries in Eastern and Southern Africa. However, as his brother and guardian, who had earlier lost his only son inched closer to becoming an octogenarian, some of his immediate family members started treating the author like an intruder in their midst. Not everyone was happy to co-exist with him anymore. Fears and intrigue led to a family split, legal battles and irreconcilable differences. He and his siblings were treated like social pariahs that had to be avoided like the pest by some relatives, and this even sucked in some members of his immediate family, who imposed a perennial domestic banishment on him.
Emmanuel N. Mukanga
Born in 1953, near the shores of Lake Victoria in Eastern Uganda, Emmanuel N. Mukanga was plucked from his parents at the age of three and taken to the Ugandan capital, Kampala. At age six, he was taken to a primary school near Mbale in Eastern Uganda and at age nine transferred to Entebbe, a former seat of the British Protectorate Government. At 13, he joined a boarding secondary school, after which he went to University to study the Arts.
He worked at Uganda Television, but in 1976, he fled Idi Amin’s Uganda, starting an odyssey that would take him to over 26 countries in Africa, Europe and North America. He interacted with many cultures, however, when it came to a denigration of his culture at home, then a clash was inevitable. This awakened in him the questions, “Who are you? Where do you come from? What do you stand for?” Cultural clashes, intrigue and legal battles followed. He has included an epilogue reflecting on his life and existence and tracing his origins among the Samia-Luhya, astride Kenya and Uganda. He started compiling this book of three seasons in two volumes in May 2009 and completed it in October 2020 during the great COVID-19 pandemic, and after George Floyd said 12 times, in less than 9 minutes, “Mama, I can’t breathe.” He is currently a Communication and Knowledge Management Consultant in Kampala.
