LIKE her father there is something unique about her facial expressions. While her late father had a trade mark of a mischievous wink, she has a guarded smile.
At first sight, Tess Rushedge would pass for a 15-year-old adolescent. If she dressed in a school uniform, she would pass for a Senior one student. And during the interview I never asked about her love life. But she could not let this pass.
As I wrapped up the interview, she gave me a stern look as she pressed her bag with un-easiness as if she was itching to say something.
“How come you haven’t asked me about my love life,†she asked with a grin. “Do you have a boy friend� I shot back. But her answer was equally intriguing. “I have two men in my life,†she said as she tapped her finger nails.
For a moment she kept quiet, and then added: “My two year old son, Troy and his father, Kule Enoch, who works with Kasese Cobalt Company.†Then she suddenly laughed out loud before asking me with a rather sarcastic gesture. “Is that funny?â€
Tess Rushedge is funny, naughty and yet very unpredictable when you are speaking to her. Her character depicts a lot and perhaps shows some of the genes that she inherited from her father, the late Dr. Emmanuel Tumusiime Rushedge, popularly known as Tom Rush or the Old Fox, who passed on recently at the age of sixty seven.
Tom Rush relished expensive and good things for much of his life. And it looks like his legacy lives on in his daughter. From her character and mannerism Tess loves good life and keeping jolly all the time. The 23-year-old student is slowly stepping into her father’s shoes as a shrewd cartoonist.
She started watching her father at the age of four. Since then she has contributed to many of the jokes her father depicted in his cartoons. Since her father passed on, Tess has crafted over 50 cartoons mostly about love and relations in homes which are yet to be published. And, she admits, her love for drawing cartoons is from her father.
“I always watched Dad drawing cartoons and I got interest at the age of four,†she says.
The short jolly girl of medium size looks like any other girl. She spots blonde hair, smiles a lot and loves talking a lot. As she walks she comments about anything that passes her way. “My passion is about issues relating to families and relationships,†she said.
A friend who accompanied her for the interview described Tess as very stubborn and naughty. You wouldn’t start an argument with her and win.
Like her father, Tess is not in the cartoon business to make a fortune. She says it is her pastime. Actually she says her dream is to become a manager of a big corporation one day. She wants people to like her cartoons. “I want to keep entertaining and also to keep the legacy of my father,†she says.
As she narrates her first step into the cartoon drawing world, she emphasises that one of the things she learnt from her Dad was humour. “If there is good humour in a cartoon, it becomes addictive and you will keep yearning for more,â€
At the end of the day she wants to go down in the books of history among great women cartoonists. Her cartoons will mainly cover family issues and relationships in homes. She detests politics. Charged with her father’s' characteristic blend of satire and humour, she promises to be relished and one of the leading female cartoonist of the times.
Born 23 years ago in Kabwohe, Bushenyi district, she spent her early childhood under the care of her grandmother. At the age of four, she started living with her father until the time he died. Tess is a student at Uganda Institute of Information and Communication Technology, Nakawa pursuing a diploma in Human resources management. She completed her primary education at Nkumba primary school in 1998, after which she enrolled at Green Hill College in Mbarara where she completed her O-levels in 2002. She later did her A-level at Mbarara Modern Secondary school.
Old fox legacy lives on...
