My personal statement.

Everybody in my class was supposed to write a personal statement regarding themselves. Here is mine.



My personal statement… okay, this is where I am supposed to write about myself. Okay (deep breath). Should be easy, right? No! It must either be the wealth of material one has regarding oneself and their experiences or just plain old modesty that makes this so difficult. Just express yourself, advice I am getting from that little guy that whispers into my ear continuously.

The complexities of expression often accredited to the brain bubble up from the depths of the soul. That wraps up Art for me. That’s it. Marriage of the soul and mind is the essence of the mechanics that are manifested on the surface to make me, Malcolm Bigyemano.

I know… pretty deep. But what to do? There’s no other way about it- it is what it is, I am what I am. I am an artist. Well… maybe that sounds (or looks) rather arrogant on my part, being a sixteen year old with no professional experience. A chick, though, need not fly to be a bird. It’s something there- engrained in the very genetics of the bird, so that when the time is right and its wings have grown, the bird can spread them and soar.

That is what school is for, I believe (I also believe you are getting the impression that I am a highly opinionated person), to take what each of us has within and tend to it and grow it, so that when the time is right- the potential within each ad every one of us can be reaped.

I am a naturally creative person, the kind of person that prefers to look at things being done and figure out new and more interesting ways to do them. I try to infuse creativity in whatever I do: in my writings, in my drawings, my designs- everything.

My French Teacher, Miss Peninah Nakyeyune, has always said that I go a bit far in my quest to be different with my pieces. While practising for my Continuous writing paper in French, instead of writing about how my family threw me a surprise birthday party, I preferred to talk about how my family had been gobbled up by their own platefuls of mutant beans when they tried to eat them.

Look at it this way. There are over six billion people on this planet- SIX BILLION! How easy is it to be swallowed and submerged by this whole wave of people, each and every one of them (indisputably) striving to come out on top? For that reason, I think creativity is that missing ingredient- the difference between three mundane clones and The Powerpuff Girls… you get my point.


Music has also had its way with me, I must say. Hip Hop is the genre that has surrounded me since my childhood. It’s like looking down at your two fore-limbs and saying, “Gee… I’ve got hands.” Because it is such a part of you that you might have taken its presence for granted. I grew up with the likes of Naughty By Nature, De La Soul, Common, Nas and lately; Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco and The Cool Kids.

What’s the significance of this?
These are people that represent what I am about. Straight from De La Soul’s soulful consciousness to Kanye’s creatively controversial style- they are artistes who are not just terribly skilful, but also unafraid to be true to themselves, even if this means breaking away from the status- quo.

I want to go into Media, generally, as a career path.

At the end of my third term in Year 10, I was given internship at NTV, a Ugandan television station. I learnt from then on how Film and television was able to melt all art forms into one expressive piece of work. One is able to blend video clips, edit them, throw some graphics on that and blend in the right score for an art form (whether informative or simply entertaining) that encompasses all spheres for a multi dimensional effect.

Well, yes, I have to admit, working in the Media seems not only a whole big bunch of fun at work, but I have come to realize the power that the media has. Thirty, forty years ago, if you looked at a child’s role- models and the things that influenced the child, it would be their parents, teachers and friends on top of the list.

Make the same inquiry today. You might get shocked.



The world is spinning a bit faster nowadays. Parents are working so hard for their kids that the truth is, they don’t have much time for those very same kids. That’s a chapter in mine and the auto-biographies of many other children of my generation. The media “helped grow us up.”

Since my childhood, I, like many children around the world, have been surrounded by the Media. It comes in all forms and sizes: Television, Radio, Print Media and lately, the internet. Like many kids, I loved cartoons. I used to watch cartoons from between three to four hours in the afternoons when I got back from school. With time, I saw myself graduate from just watching Barney and Friends, Teletubbies and Tweenies, to being immersed in Dexter’s Lab, Rugrats, The Powerpuff girls and Animaniacs to being blown away by more gritty animation series such as Men in Black, Transformers, Mummies Alive and Samurai X.

Yes, if anybody thinks I am eccentric, I won’t blame them for blaming the cartoons. The characters were made so dynamic, the settings so bold and colourful… How could they have not influenced me?

Whenever a detrimental trend is detected amongst the youth (see substance abuse, violence), the media is blamed for it.

Who would not want to be a part of something so powerful and to have the power to control it? Barack Obama’s election victory and ability to attract droves of young people to the polls was attributed to his ability to harness the media and take advantage of its full capabilities. I believe in my ability to do that. I believe I will be able to stand at the helm of the Media machine and wield its power for my own good and the good of the general public.

That is where I stand. Atop one hill, coming to the end of one phase of my life and watching as the rest of my days become more apparent to me, with the thinning of the fog. The geographical relief of my future sprawls before me. What was thought to be its twilight is only the dawn of the rest of my life.


Let me know wat u think about it. PEA(E.