Life without hands: How Nambi overcomes hardship

BUYENDE - Despite being born without hands, 40-year-old Scovia Nambi of Butaswa village in Bugaya sub-county, Buyende district, has defied hardship to support her young family. 

The mother of two sons uses her feet to dig, shell maize, wash, peel cassava and sweet potatoes. 

Patrick Isiko, the Butaswa LC1 information secretary, is amazed at how Nambi manages to do work. 

“The way her feet hold the knife to peel sweet potatoes and cassava amazes many people,” Isiko says. 

Nambi is always jolly, but behind her smiling face is a soul that has endured a lot of pain. 

She told New Vision that she learnt to be self-reliant to relieve her mother of stress. 
“My mother, Toafu Nabirye, took care of me from childhood. I decided to become self-supporting in order to relieve my mother of the burden of taking care of me,” Nambi says. 

She adds that the turning point was when Nabirye had to change her pads during menstrual periods. 

“I got concerned and ashamed when I saw mama changing my pads. I decided to find innovative ways of doing it myself,” Nambi adds.

Digging 

Instead of waiting to beg for food, Nambi grows her own. To dig, Nambi inserts the handle of the hoe between the armpit and the false hand and then uses the big and second toes of her foot to hold the hoe and dig. Sometimes, charity organisations and individuals help her with basic needs.

Nambi holds scissors using her feet to cut textile materia. (Credit: Tom Gwebayanga)

Difficult childhood 

Born 40 years ago to the late Patrick Mukembo and Nabirye of Busiima village in Mbulamuti sub-county, Kamuli district, Nambi had a difficult childhood.

She says seven years ago, she that she started adopting unique techniques to cope with the environment. For example, unlike her peers who would pick things using hands, she would have to bend and use her mouth. 

As Nambi became an adolescent, she started using her feet to do many tasks, including holding knives. Supported by her mother, she started digging in their family backyard to grow food.

Tailoring skill 

Besides the domestic chores, Nambi trained in tailoring. Nabirye says her daughter secured the tailoring course at Butiru Vocational Rehabilitation Centre in Manafwa district, through a group of well-wishers. She trained for eight months. 

She now sews school uniforms, such as dresses, shirts and pairs of shorts. In tailoring, Nambi does not require anyone’s help to hold the scissors or even design fabrics. 

Nabirye also uses the false palm (finger) to insert the thread into the needle’s hole.
She has since built a house on Kamuli-Kagulu Hill road in Butaswa village, Bugaya sub-county in Buyende district using her earnings and support from well-wishers.

Nambi takes her clients’ measurements on her own. (Credit: Tom Gwebayanga)

Daily routine  

Nambi’s daily routine starts at 6:30am, when she wakes up to prepare breakfast for her children and later escorts them to school. She then proceeds to the garden. 

At around 10:30am, she starts preparing lunch and later goes to her tailoring workshop in Butaswa trading centre. 

When schools open, Nambi suspends garden work to make uniforms for pupils of St. Paul Junior School Butaswa, plus Lunar and Bugaya primary schools. 

Kolostika Magana, the Buyende district vice-chairperson, is amazed by her resilience. “Nambi can even mingle millet bread and posho. Her sons help her to put the saucepan on the fire,” he says.

Marriage 

As a young woman, Nambi never got any marriage proposals. Around 2008, a resident of Bukulube in Nawanyago sub-county, Kamuli district, who was childless, offered to marry her. 

“He promised to look after me,” she said. However, three years later, while Nambi was expecting her second child, his drinking became excessive. He started sleeping in drinking joints and asked to leave his home. 

“I left and delivered my second child in a rental in Butaswa trading centre,” Nambi says.

Worst experience 

Nambi says the worst incident was the death of her eldest son, Patrick Mukembo, who was reportedly murdered in a school dormitory. “He had been offered full O’level bursary at the school, only for her to be called to pick his body,” she says. 

The cause of death was not explained well to her. “His death will pain me until I join my ancestors.” Nambi’s health is not good, since she suffers from a haemorrhage. 

“The exorbitant medical, detergent and welfare costs have almost led us to abject poverty,” she said. Nambi appeals to Good Samaritans to come to her aid using 0754237474 and 0751313854.