115 and still going strong
Aug 20, 2009
<br>SHE is frail and whimpers like a baby whenever someone touches her. It is evident she feels pain all over her body and when she lies on one side she does not want anyone to help her change positions.
By Gladys Kalibbala
SHE is frail and whimpers like a baby whenever someone touches her. It is evident she feels pain all over her body and when she lies on one side she does not want anyone to help her change positions.
Katalina Nnalongo Nakalema’s relatives and her daughters who double as her caretakers claim she is at least 115 years old.
She does not know when to wake up, go to bed, or when to eat. Nakalema’s daughters, who have been by her side for over a year, lift her out of bed every morning to bathe and feed her.
The tea she used to enjoy whenever she returned from her garden at about 11:00am back in her hey day is now only forced into her mouth.
This offends her so much she often tells them off. She tries so hard to shout at them, but only manages to murmur. What is surprising is that Nakalema does not forget to say the grace whenever she is given food or tea.
Nakalema’s four surviving daughters sit around her in her room and recount the last 80 years they have been together. However, their mother is not interested in what they have to say. She often stares blankly into space.
Nakalema barely has any flesh left. She says she is tired of life and wants to join her friends who are long dead.
Her husband Yakobo Zake Walakira died over 60 years ago. Nakalema had 14 children, including two sets of twins. One set died in infancy. One of the surviving twins died two years ago.
The children and grandchildren of up to the fifth generation say Nakalema has seen regimes of past leaders including Buganda kabakas Chwa, Muteesa I and Muteesa II.
Her relatives say she was surprisingly strong until about five years ago when her health started deteriorating as a result of old age.
Nakalema’s love life
Unlike most young girls, Nakalema did not have a normal childhood. Her mother died when she was only 12 years, leaving behind a seven month-old-baby, Ernest Serrwadda, for young Nakalema to raise.
Nakalema remembers that one day, as she trekked six miles to get milk for her brother, she narrowly survived being hit by a bullet that was fired by a white man as he tried to kill a guinea fowl.
In 1918, when her brother was old enough to sustain himself, she left her father’s home and went to stay with her ssenga (paternal aunt), who invited her over so she could find her a man. Apparently, the ssenga was concerned that Nakalema was getting too old for marriage.
She tried to matchmake Nakalema with a number of suitors who, however, declined to marry her, claiming at over 20 years, she was too old. A few months down the road, Nakalema was impregnated by her ssenga’s husband. Although women of that time were used to having co-wives, even their relatives, Nakalema’s ssenga was offended by her betrayal.
She reportedly hated Nakalema so much that she sent her out of her husband’s home with her children when he passed away.
Nakalema did not get married again because she had many children, most of whom were still young. She left her husband’s home in Kibanda and settled with her children at Serwadda’s home in Lwaggulwe village near Kalisizo in Rakai district.
Today, most of her children are long dead, leaving 90-year-old Maria Namagembe, 86-year-old Daliya Nantume, 80-year-old Pasckaziya Nakaayi and Paul Wasswa, 70. Namagembe, Nakalema’s first-born, says when her mother was still strong enough, she would wake up early, go to the garden and return home at 11:00am to have breakfast. “Whenever we asked mum to take tea before going to her garden, she would say she was not a thief or a lazy person who needed a meal before working.â€
For the last 10 years, Nakalema’s attempts at digging have failed. She has always ended up sitting down and pulling out the weeds from her garden.
Last year she was still able to walk slowly in her compound, with a hoe but her legs could not carry her far. Her weak back could not allow her to bend either.
Today, she complains of pain in her legs and spends most of her time in bed, reciting the rosary.
Stephen Kasujja 70, Namagembe’s second born and Frederick Kiwanuka (47) are all smiles. Each of them claims to be the most loved. “She has been great to us all. I feel sad when I travel from Kampala to share jokes with her and she cannot recognise me,†Kiwanuka says.
SHE is frail and whimpers like a baby whenever someone touches her. It is evident she feels pain all over her body and when she lies on one side she does not want anyone to help her change positions.
Katalina Nnalongo Nakalema’s relatives and her daughters who double as her caretakers claim she is at least 115 years old.
She does not know when to wake up, go to bed, or when to eat. Nakalema’s daughters, who have been by her side for over a year, lift her out of bed every morning to bathe and feed her.
The tea she used to enjoy whenever she returned from her garden at about 11:00am back in her hey day is now only forced into her mouth.
This offends her so much she often tells them off. She tries so hard to shout at them, but only manages to murmur. What is surprising is that Nakalema does not forget to say the grace whenever she is given food or tea.
Nakalema’s four surviving daughters sit around her in her room and recount the last 80 years they have been together. However, their mother is not interested in what they have to say. She often stares blankly into space.
Nakalema barely has any flesh left. She says she is tired of life and wants to join her friends who are long dead.
Her husband Yakobo Zake Walakira died over 60 years ago. Nakalema had 14 children, including two sets of twins. One set died in infancy. One of the surviving twins died two years ago.
The children and grandchildren of up to the fifth generation say Nakalema has seen regimes of past leaders including Buganda kabakas Chwa, Muteesa I and Muteesa II.
Her relatives say she was surprisingly strong until about five years ago when her health started deteriorating as a result of old age.
Nakalema’s love life
Unlike most young girls, Nakalema did not have a normal childhood. Her mother died when she was only 12 years, leaving behind a seven month-old-baby, Ernest Serrwadda, for young Nakalema to raise.
Nakalema remembers that one day, as she trekked six miles to get milk for her brother, she narrowly survived being hit by a bullet that was fired by a white man as he tried to kill a guinea fowl.
In 1918, when her brother was old enough to sustain himself, she left her father’s home and went to stay with her ssenga (paternal aunt), who invited her over so she could find her a man. Apparently, the ssenga was concerned that Nakalema was getting too old for marriage.
She tried to matchmake Nakalema with a number of suitors who, however, declined to marry her, claiming at over 20 years, she was too old. A few months down the road, Nakalema was impregnated by her ssenga’s husband. Although women of that time were used to having co-wives, even their relatives, Nakalema’s ssenga was offended by her betrayal.
She reportedly hated Nakalema so much that she sent her out of her husband’s home with her children when he passed away.
Nakalema did not get married again because she had many children, most of whom were still young. She left her husband’s home in Kibanda and settled with her children at Serwadda’s home in Lwaggulwe village near Kalisizo in Rakai district.
Today, most of her children are long dead, leaving 90-year-old Maria Namagembe, 86-year-old Daliya Nantume, 80-year-old Pasckaziya Nakaayi and Paul Wasswa, 70. Namagembe, Nakalema’s first-born, says when her mother was still strong enough, she would wake up early, go to the garden and return home at 11:00am to have breakfast. “Whenever we asked mum to take tea before going to her garden, she would say she was not a thief or a lazy person who needed a meal before working.â€
For the last 10 years, Nakalema’s attempts at digging have failed. She has always ended up sitting down and pulling out the weeds from her garden.
Last year she was still able to walk slowly in her compound, with a hoe but her legs could not carry her far. Her weak back could not allow her to bend either.
Today, she complains of pain in her legs and spends most of her time in bed, reciting the rosary.
Stephen Kasujja 70, Namagembe’s second born and Frederick Kiwanuka (47) are all smiles. Each of them claims to be the most loved. “She has been great to us all. I feel sad when I travel from Kampala to share jokes with her and she cannot recognise me,†Kiwanuka says.