Nsereko: The hand that mends Nakulabye's torn hearts

Until October 31, New Vision will devote space to highlight the plight of slum dwellers as well as those offering selfless service to improve conditions in these areas. Today, Andrew Masinde brings you the story of how Tewo Nsereko has touched the lives of couples and street children

The smell of alcohol assaults your nose from a distance. The whole place is a beehive of activity. Welcome to Kiyaye Zone II in Nakulabye, a Kampala suburb, a place that never goes to sleep. 

Scantily-dressed girls position themselves strategically to hook clients. Dirty children rummage through garbage heaps, searching for scrap metals, empty mineral water bottles and milk sachets to sell and earn a buck. 

Women selling or carrying basketfuls of steamed cassava, sweet potatoes and yams, fried fish, rice and avocado are a common sight in Kiyaye. The food vendors take advantage of the high number of bachelors and drunkards, who ply the local paths or frequent the numerous local brew joints to earn a living.

The aroma of roasted pork, wafting through the air also beckons you to Kiyaye Zone II, giving you enough reason to stop at one of the pork joints to place an order. 

At pork joints, the young and the old mingle as they enjoy the delicacy. The slum’s buildings come in all sizes and architectural designs, ranging from mud–and–wattle shacks, tin lock–up shops to storeyed structures, all competing for space and attention.

According the residents, Kiyaye Zone II is mostly inhabited by low–income earners, including petty traders, taxi touts, food vendors, local brew dealers and casual labourers. 

Nakulabye is located north-west of Kampala and about 1km north of Buganda’s administrative headquarters at Bulange, Mengo.

According to folklore, Nakulabye used to be covered by a huge banana plantation, which was taken care of by the Kabaka subjects.

One day, the subjects caught a couple committing adultery in the plantation. This, in Buganda culture, was considered a taboo. The workers then made an alarm saying: “Nakulabye! Nkulabye! (“I saw you. I saw you doing it!”).

From that time to date, this place came to be called Nakulabye. However, there is little left of that big banana plantation.

The zone was named ‘Kiyaye’ because it used to harbour marijuana-smoking hooligans, who would rob people passing through from the city centre, to their homes. The area was, hence, called Nakulabye–Kiyaye, owing to its being notorious for crime and hooliganism. 

Deep in this slum is Tewo Nsereko, who has lived there for over 43 years and seen the place change to what it is today.

From the high rate of crime that characterises the area, the poverty or the children abandoned by parents, who spend most of their time in drinking joints, Nsereko has seen it all. 

In fact, it is the huge number of abandoned and orphaned children that forced her to open the doors of her home to them. 

“When my husband passed away in 1992, I was left with a big house and my children had grown up. So, I decided to use part of my house to look after the orphans. The fact that this is a slum, a day would not pass without people bringing in a child. From that time, I have looked after so many of children, but I can recall 30 children for whom I got sponsors,” Nsereko says. 

Those days, many people were robbed of their money almost daily as they used to keep it in their houses.  “Since I had seen my husband take the money to a small saving scheme in Nakulabye town, I started teaching people the importance of keeping money in the bank. 

“When the number of people, who shared my vision increased, I decided to start up a saving scheme. That is how Crane Citizen SACCOS was born. The SACCOS has helped me because there was a day robbers stole sh600,000 from me that I was planning to use to boost my cassava business.

I almost committed suicide because I had sold off my piece of land in Nabulagala to raise the money. When Nsereko taught me how to save, I joined the SACCOS. I am now one of the people who have benefited most from this venture,” Amon Byetungura, a cassava seller in Kiyaye zone II, says. “The SACCOS also extends low-interest loans to members, which has enabled many of them to start enterprises that have improved their livelihoods,” Byetungura notes. 

Nsereko says the group’s membership has continued to grow because of the benefits people get and due to prudent money-handling habits. 

Members buy exercise books where they record their savings and the deposits they make. The books are kept at the SACCOS, where they are free to go and check the savings without any restrictions.

“People are free to save any amount of money they can afford, from as low as sh2,000. When one wants to withdraw the money, they do it without any difficulty,” Nsereko explains. 

Nsereko, in collaboration with the area local council, has also started a counselling project to help couples with marital problems. It also counsels widows and widowers, and empowers them to cope with their situation. The project gives soft loans to widows and widowers to start income-generating ventures and repay when they stabilise. 

“There days when many people come for counselling at my house. When some come back to thank me, I see it as a great achievement for this community and myself as the brain behind the project,” Nsereko adds. 

She notes that many people with hitherto problematic marriages or stress, are now living in harmony.  “This gives me pride as I have been able to put a smile on people’s faces or been involved in improving their income.”

Nsereko, who is also the women’s affairs secretary on the local council committee is, however, alarmed by the level of crime in the area. She urges the Government to deal strongly with criminals, especially thieves, marijuana dealers and smokers. 

She observes that the Government has not done enough to make the area a safe place for citizens, especially children.  She also calls on the Government to control the number of street children, especially in Kiyaye, and harshly punish parents who abandon or mistreat their children.

She says many of the children on the street and those searching for scrap metals in garbage heaps are a result of careless parents and mistreatment. 

“I receive many children who say they were abandoned by their parents, forcing them to live on the streets and the slums or to collect scrap metal to earn a living. This puts their future at stake. The Government should come up and support individuals who are helping such children.

Flavour Bagalaliwo, one of the children brought up by Nsereko, says he ran away from his home because his stepmother used to mistreat him. He adds that when he discovered that his father was supporting the stepmother, he sought refuge on the streets. The 16-year–old was then aged six.

Peter Kauju, the Kampala City Council Authority (KCCA) spokesperson, says the authority’s development plan has a component geared at improving slums. 

He says the slum would be upgraded to city standards because the Nakulabye–Kiyaye is not far from the city centre.