I was being rejected because I'm more experienced in arts and acting
There was no money in arts and also the jobs I could qualify for, I was being rejected because I’m more experienced in arts and acting. The pressure on my ailing career appearing as a warning before all people was also haunting me. I prayed, and because nothing was happening, I lost even the little hope I had left. But beyond the shadow of a doubt, I decided to drag myself back to the drawing board. I went back to National Theatre to recharge my career batteries, to meet more artists and to create ways of how to make impact in the profession I had chosen. The more I met other people the more I felt hope returning. Whenever I met younger actors who looked up to me as an inspiration, I felt stronger and resumed work. I sat down, thought of the challenges I’d faced as an actor and I knew I wasn’t alone. I felt there was need to find solutions. For far too many, the dream has dissipated and so has our will to make progress on it. This is what led me to creating Benda Bookings. This was to tackle the challenges actors like me face in this slowly growing acting and film business in Uganda and East Africa. Challenges like knowledge of how to get acting better to compete well, management, branding actors, representing actors, booking actors for producers, platforms for actors to practise even when not on commercial projects etc. This is why I started. We can’t always control our environment, but we can control how we respond to it, and that’s what helped me. Every time I think and remember my challenges in the past and present as an actor, it inspires me to mentor or advise a new young actor in the business. I believe that if someone is to improve the standards of acting and the actors’ lives in the region, it either has to be me or the movement I have started or I am part of that.
