When I was a boy, I was told not to cry, Because I was taught, "Boys don’t cry." I learned to control my emotions, Never letting my tears flow down my cheeks. As a teen, I faced intrusive thoughts That held me back in my studies. I was teased and bullied by schoolmates, While teachers discriminated and insulted me for my marks. Each word and action Carved a scar deep in my heart. When I became a young adult, I felt the ache, the tender sting, In quiet places where changes cling. I woke at night, my sheets turned cold, A mystery unraveled, still untold. I felt the throb, the unfamiliar strain, A silent turmoil, a nameless pain. I walked this path, unknown and bare, Through fleeting shame and courage rare. I faced the nights and dreams that fell, Through aches and growth, I stood well. For in this pain, a truth I’d see— The boy I was, becoming me. I graduated, Relished my academic years, Fulfilling half my dreams— No
Phiona Mutesi is an Ugandan Chess player. She has represented as a Uganda at four Women's Chess Olympics, and is one of the first titled female Ugandan chess players.
Before becoming the Chess Champion, Phiona's life was a full of struggle and several problems. Phiona was born in poor family in Kathwe slum in Uganda. Her father died of AIDS. She was drop out from school at the age of nine because her family didn't had enough money to sent her to school. She and her family sold Maize in the street market. The situation of the family was very bad. Lack of food and money was the major problem. Poverty and recurrent floods make life hard for the thousands of people living there. And getting out of the slum is even more difficult.
One day she found a chess club in the neighborhood. From there she started to play the chess. It was in a chess class run by coach Robert Katende that Phiona and many other children like her learnt something they could apply to the rest of their lives. Katende calls it "tactical play." His classroom is full of kids gathered around chessboards, playing games, with intense focus.
At first, Phiona wasn't interested in the chess lessons. She was busy working, but her older brother Brian had signed up for Katende's chess program. And one day, the desire for a free meal became so overwhelming that Phiona followed him. That day she did a lot more than just fill her stomach, she discovered that she had a talent for chess. It turned out to be a life-changing moment. In 2010, Mutesi played six rounds on board two and one round on board one for Uganda at the women's event of the 39th Chess Olympiad, held in Khanty Mansiyk, Russia. She scored one-and-a-half points from the seven games she played.
As of 2012, she was a three-time winner of the Women's Junior Chess Championship of Uganda.
In 2013, she again played in the National Junior Chess Championship in Uganda and reached the finals against Lutaaya Shafiq of Makerere University. She won the under-20 girls category but not the open category.
Mutesi represented Uganda at the 2014 41st Olympiad and the 2016 42nd Second Chess Olympiad.
In 2012, a book was published about Mutesi titled The Queen of Katwe: A Story of Life, Chess, and One Extraordinary Girl's Dream of Becoming a Grandmaster and authored by Tim Crothers.
In 2016, Mira Nair directed a biological drama future film called "Queen of Katwe" which depicts the life of Phiona Mutesi.
Phiona Muthesi is now a good inspiration to many girls. She is remembered by the name "The Queen of Katwe".
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