“Sometimes the place you’re used to is not the place where you belong.” That is am amazing quote from the Disney movie Queen of Katwe.  If you have not seen this movie yet you have to trust me when I tell you that you have GOT to see it! It is such an inspiring movie with so many valuable life lessons in it. I was lucky enough to watch it on my flight back from Washington DC the other day and I loved that it was family friendly so you can watch it with your children of any age. This movie is definitely among my all-time favorites.

It is a true story of a young girl named Phiona Mutesi who was raised in Katwe, an impoverished village in Uganda. She is being raised by her single mother because her father passed away, her mother is caring for her along with her older sister and her younger brothers. As a girl Phiona meets Robert Katende, a former soccer player who now teaches children how to play chess in order to teach them valuable life lessons that can be learned from the game of chess. I love all the chess analogies they use to teach about life in this movie.  The man teaching them is lovingly referred to by the kids as Coach.

Phiona begins to excel in chess and Coach finds a way to enter her into competitions and his wife begins to teach Phiona how to read and write so she can study chess manuals.  Phionas mother is fearful of encouraging her daughter’s dreams because she is afraid she will just end up disappointed, but as time goes on she cannot help but see that her daughter has a gift that may allow her to escape her life of poverty.

I am not going to give any spoilers as to what happens in the movie because I REALLY want all of you to watch it and see for yourselves. It is such an intelligent and inspiring movie and it is fast paced enough to keep you totally engaged throughout. When the movie ends you will walk out of the room feeling so uplifted that you will never regret spending the two hours to watch it, I promise!

The quote at the start of this blog says “Sometimes the place you’re used to is not the place where you belong.” Coach goes on to say, “You belong where you believe you belong. Where is that for you?”

What a powerful quote. And there is so much truth to it. Sometimes the place we are used is NOT the place we belong, and it’s important that we are able to recognize if that is the case for us. Because ultimately we belong is where we believe in our hearts that we belong…it is up to each of us to decide for ourselves where we want that to be.

“Where is that for you?”

~Amy Rees Anderson