Climbing physical, personal and collective mountains

There is indeed freedom that comes with taking your thoughts and putting them down the way you want to and Asiimwe does that. She breaks free from what many others do and starts her story where she wants to start and ends where she wants to end.

You will meet Asiimwe at the point in her life some years back when she was becoming the head of a foundation, in Chapter 1; a pre-teen Asiimwe in Chapter 4; and a fresh faced young woman looking to make her mark in this world at the start of her career in Chapter 6.

This keeps you turning the pages as you are keen to know where next she will take you. I suppose a subtle message she is sharing is that it does not necessarily matter the age we are. Each experience is profound and what matters is the lesson we take from it.

Third is the raw honesty in the book. In telling one’s story, one must be able to share the good and bad, the successes and failures, the highs and the lows. The authenticity that comes with this cannot be understated, something Asiimwe understands.

And so she tells us about the successes in her career, the achievement of climbing mountains and the great friendships she has enjoyed. She also tells us about the deep dark depression she went through, the isolation she has felt as a leader and dealing with the difficulties of family relations.

In six chapters of the book, Asiimwe talks about the six mountains she has summited, with three of them having the highest peaks in Africa. It is no mean feat at all and one cannot help but be impressed by what she has done and the space of time within which she has done it.

But even as you read about her experiences climbing to these peaks, you get the feeling that the mountains she means to focus on are those that are metaphorical and which surround us daily – the emotional, intellectual, spiritual, collective, personal and more. These are the mountains that can break us if we do not know how to prepare for, scale and motivate ourselves to summit and descend them.

In each chapter, Asiimwe juxtaposes a physical mountain with a personal (or collective) mountain she has faced. She weaves a thread taking us to the slopes and treacherous paths on mountains such as Rwenzori and Muhabura, stops halfway and suddenly takes us to other scenes such as the time she was in a state of depression or when she found herself having to help women being treated unjustly with the odds stacked so highly against them.

She reminds us that some mountains will be difficult to climb, but we must put one foot ahead of the other, pause, stop to appreciate what is around us, accept help from those willing to give it and then press on.

It is clear to see what passions ignite Asiimwe: justice especially for women and minorities, dignity for all humanity, and representation for the invisibles. There are more, but these stand out sharply. Her insistence on seeking justice drives her and she makes several references to the Bible and what God asks of each of us as far as being just, especially for those undermined, ignored and forgotten.

Asiimwe writes that these are some of the things that as organisations and individuals we must take responsibility for in our homes, communities and countries.

 Many stories stand out but, the one that leapt at me was when Asiimwe was asked by a woman, Peace, to help be her “puliida” (pleader) in a land case.

The woman said Asiimwe did not have to even say a word or defend her cause, but just be present at a meeting with her family who seemed to want her off the land of her deceased husband.  Asiimwe went ahead to the meeting. She did not say a word but her presence as a lawyer made a big difference. That woman retained her land. That hit me and I had to ask myself, “Whose puliida have you been of late?” This and more are the questions this book will get you to ask yourself.

Facing Mountains is a book that is written well, coherently (even if not chronologically), and honestly. As a memoir, it might look like just the personal experiences and reflections of the author. But it is more. It is a book that gets us to learn many things, especially the fact that we can “climb mountains, scale mountains and face mountains.”