Iganga’s Ibulanku is the most populated village in Uganda
Jul 09, 2010
HE yells on top of his voice as he helplessly paces around the court yard at their home in Ibulanku, Iganga district. <br>Getting no attention, the two-year-old Nasif decides to throw a tantrum.
By Chris Kiwawulo
HE yells on top of his voice as he helplessly paces around the court yard at their home in Ibulanku, Iganga district.
Getting no attention, the two-year-old Nasif decides to throw a tantrum.
It is 4:00pm and Nasif has not had lunch. “Food is just about to get ready. Be patient,†Nasif’s mother, Jamila Nankuba, yells back. Nasif’s five other siblings are persevering.
Nankuba and her husband Moses Saalwa have seven children. Nankuba got the food late because her husband took long to return from work.
Saalwa, is a casual worker just like Nankuba.
The family of nine lives in a ramshackled mud-and-wattle house without any mattress.
Their house is perched on the edge of a small piece of land measuring 20 by 40 feet in Ibulanku ‘A’ zone, which Saalwa inherited. At the edge of this grass-thatched single room is their unroofed toilet. Malnutrition, poor sanitation are written all over the faces of the family members.
Much as universal primary and secondary education are available in Ibulanku, none of the children goes to school and this, Nankuba says, is because they cannot afford scholastic materials and uniforms. So, their eldest girl aged 16, has since eloped with a man.
Amazingly, 38-year-old Nankuba still wants to have two more children.
Her family is just one of the many that face similar, harsh living conditions in Iganga district, but are still expanding every other day.
In the same village, Hadijah Byogero and Mawaz Menyha also live on a small piece of land measuring about 50 by 50 feet with their seven children. Byogero would have loved to stop having children but she, too, is ignorant about family planning.
Ibulanku is the name of the sub-county, the parish and village of an area that has one of the highest population pressures in the country.
Ibulanku sub-county had a population of 38,197 people in 2002. The area mostly grows sweet potatoes, maize and cassava mainly for subsistance. There are patches of rice grown for sale.
Most residents have large families.
Out of the total population in the sub-county, 22,045 (56.4%) were illiterate. This partly explains why a big percentage cannot appreciate family planning.
UBOS statistics also show that some 22,299 people in Ibulanku sub-county (57.1%) are Muslims. By implication, Muslims constitute the biggest number of residents, and under the Muslim faith, a man is allowed to have up to four wives.
This also contributes to the population increase in the area.
With a rise in the national population from 24.2 million people in 2002 to over 33 million people today, the population of Iganga has also increased to 709,700 people, with 50,100 in Ibulanku.
Family planning
At 41%, Uganda’s unmet need for family planning is the third-highest in the world.
Unmet need is a disconnection between a woman’s fertility preferences and what she does about them.
Both monogamous and polygamous families in Iganga have large numbers of children.
Ibulanku ‘A’ zone chairman Sheikh Muzamir Maganda says many people have large families because they do not go for family planning services, yet the services are available at Ibulanku health centre IV. Ironically, Maganda also has a large family with 19 children and two wives.
“Many people lack basic needs like food, clothes and beddings,†he says.
Maganda, 54, observes that most people have resorted to selling off their land to buy food and other basic needs.
Others are left with small pieces because they have distributed their land to their children. On average, a monogamous family in Ibulanku village has seven children.
Maganda himself is in a dilemma as he does not know how he will divide his four-acre piece of land among his 19 children.
His first born is 32 years while the last born is five years old. He is paying for his second born at Makerere University Business School, while the majority of the children are still in primary school.
But his wives are still giving birth.
Poverty
With the biting poverty, The Hunger project has come in to rescue the residents. The NGO gives farmers loans in form of seeds, which they pay back monthly. “If you get a loan of sh500,000, you pay back sh600,000 after 10 months.†This means they pay back sh60,000 every month.
Ibulanku sub-county boss Yazid Aziz Muwaya says the high population is a result of people’s ignorance about family planning. “Even if you tell them, they will say that their duty is to produce, God will provide for the children.â€
Muwaya says apart from rice farming, there is no specific income generating activity in the area. He says the food that locals grow is for home consumption and at times it is not enough for the families.
The LCIII boss says they have sensitised residents through community assistants and the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) workers to engage in rice farming but very few have responded.
HE yells on top of his voice as he helplessly paces around the court yard at their home in Ibulanku, Iganga district.
Getting no attention, the two-year-old Nasif decides to throw a tantrum.
It is 4:00pm and Nasif has not had lunch. “Food is just about to get ready. Be patient,†Nasif’s mother, Jamila Nankuba, yells back. Nasif’s five other siblings are persevering.
Nankuba and her husband Moses Saalwa have seven children. Nankuba got the food late because her husband took long to return from work.
Saalwa, is a casual worker just like Nankuba.
The family of nine lives in a ramshackled mud-and-wattle house without any mattress.
Their house is perched on the edge of a small piece of land measuring 20 by 40 feet in Ibulanku ‘A’ zone, which Saalwa inherited. At the edge of this grass-thatched single room is their unroofed toilet. Malnutrition, poor sanitation are written all over the faces of the family members.
Much as universal primary and secondary education are available in Ibulanku, none of the children goes to school and this, Nankuba says, is because they cannot afford scholastic materials and uniforms. So, their eldest girl aged 16, has since eloped with a man.
Amazingly, 38-year-old Nankuba still wants to have two more children.
Her family is just one of the many that face similar, harsh living conditions in Iganga district, but are still expanding every other day.
In the same village, Hadijah Byogero and Mawaz Menyha also live on a small piece of land measuring about 50 by 50 feet with their seven children. Byogero would have loved to stop having children but she, too, is ignorant about family planning.
Ibulanku is the name of the sub-county, the parish and village of an area that has one of the highest population pressures in the country.
Ibulanku sub-county had a population of 38,197 people in 2002. The area mostly grows sweet potatoes, maize and cassava mainly for subsistance. There are patches of rice grown for sale.
Most residents have large families.
Out of the total population in the sub-county, 22,045 (56.4%) were illiterate. This partly explains why a big percentage cannot appreciate family planning.
UBOS statistics also show that some 22,299 people in Ibulanku sub-county (57.1%) are Muslims. By implication, Muslims constitute the biggest number of residents, and under the Muslim faith, a man is allowed to have up to four wives.
This also contributes to the population increase in the area.
With a rise in the national population from 24.2 million people in 2002 to over 33 million people today, the population of Iganga has also increased to 709,700 people, with 50,100 in Ibulanku.
Family planning
At 41%, Uganda’s unmet need for family planning is the third-highest in the world.
Unmet need is a disconnection between a woman’s fertility preferences and what she does about them.
Both monogamous and polygamous families in Iganga have large numbers of children.
Ibulanku ‘A’ zone chairman Sheikh Muzamir Maganda says many people have large families because they do not go for family planning services, yet the services are available at Ibulanku health centre IV. Ironically, Maganda also has a large family with 19 children and two wives.
“Many people lack basic needs like food, clothes and beddings,†he says.
Maganda, 54, observes that most people have resorted to selling off their land to buy food and other basic needs.
Others are left with small pieces because they have distributed their land to their children. On average, a monogamous family in Ibulanku village has seven children.
Maganda himself is in a dilemma as he does not know how he will divide his four-acre piece of land among his 19 children.
His first born is 32 years while the last born is five years old. He is paying for his second born at Makerere University Business School, while the majority of the children are still in primary school.
But his wives are still giving birth.
Poverty
With the biting poverty, The Hunger project has come in to rescue the residents. The NGO gives farmers loans in form of seeds, which they pay back monthly. “If you get a loan of sh500,000, you pay back sh600,000 after 10 months.†This means they pay back sh60,000 every month.
Ibulanku sub-county boss Yazid Aziz Muwaya says the high population is a result of people’s ignorance about family planning. “Even if you tell them, they will say that their duty is to produce, God will provide for the children.â€
Muwaya says apart from rice farming, there is no specific income generating activity in the area. He says the food that locals grow is for home consumption and at times it is not enough for the families.
The LCIII boss says they have sensitised residents through community assistants and the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) workers to engage in rice farming but very few have responded.