What does it mean to be a ‘Museveni kid’?
<b>Francis Mugerwa, 21</b><br>I have four siblings and I am the eldest. We all put up (read live -ed) in Busega with my daddy and mama.
Francis Mugerwa, 21
I have four siblings and I am the eldest. We all put up (read live -ed) in Busega with my daddy and mama.
In my family, we are always arguing about which programme to watch on TV. My younger sister loves the designer shows, my kid bro loves motor sport and I love soccer. Being the eldest, I usually leave (the sitting room where there is DSTV) and go to the bedroom and watch WBS or NTV. We also argue a lot over what to eat. My brother loves fish but me, I do (prefer) peas. My mama does not ‘catch’ (read ‘eat’ - ed) food at home. She is always out at that time. She is a business woman. She leaves for work at 8:00am. In the evening when she closes, she gyms out (read goes to the gym -ed) before coming home. We have a village. It is in thingie --- Gayaza. Sometimes we do village in Bukusu. Bukusu, I really don’t know in which district it is. Is Luwero a district? Anyway, I have only been there once in all my life but my brother who died of malaria at Mengo Hospital when we were kids was buried there. My mum hates that hospital. She never goes there. Nowadays we go to Kadic Hospital.
In my free time, I like hanging out. I usually go for drink ups. I drink but ‘small time’ (read ‘a little’- ed). I drink 2-3 bottles of Smirnoff. That’s all. Like any young person I like going to Rugby Club (a hang out). I also love watching basketball, so I often go to YMCA for it.
I think one of the greatest things that has happened to Uganda in my life time is the music industry. Internationally, the greatest thing is of course a black man becoming the US president.
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Flavia Namayengo, 20.
My life has been tight, especially the years between P.5 and S.4.
My dad lost his job when I was in P.5 and did not get another steady one for many years after. I was a bright pupil, so my primary school allowed me to complete P.7 without paying school fees.
But after P.7, I learnt that the world was not a friend. The vacation ended and there was no money to go ba ck to school. I had to start working at 12 years. A friend took me to a bar which I used to sweep for sh2,000 a day. At the time, I felt it was a lot of money because it could do many things at home.
I did this for a month. One day, a lady called Irene Kiiza who now works with The Observer came to me and told me someone had offered to pay my school fees. She did not and still has not told me who that person was. Every term she received money for my school fees from that person. That is how I managed to go to St. Joseph’s Nsambya and later Gayaza High School.
I used to see other students with wonderful things but I just had to accept that I could not have those things. I learnt to appreciate myself for who I am and not for the things money can buy. My shoes would suck in water when it rained.
How it used to be
Patrick Luganda, 51, recalls the decade of his youth
In my time, the one thing that was very prominent was the insecurity and state-inspired violence. As young people, we still went to school and did our small jobs. We went for dances during the day because of the insecurity.
I once witnessed someone being put into the boot of a car. That kind of thing was so common that people were used to it. That day, people just hurriedly walked away from the scene, like they did not want to get involved.
I also remember the killing of my cousin, David Nkono, a veterinary doctor. It took us three days to find his body. It had been buried in Mabira Forest. The people around told us that they had seen the body but did not report it because they had been forbidden from making statements about finding bodies. So many of our agemates died young from gunshots. I remember an OB called Isabirye, he was killed at about 20. He would be 49 now. You could ask about someone, only to be told, “Eeh, that one died. Didn’t you hear of it?â€
They were hard times but it is not like every body was dying everyday. Life did go on. We still laughed and joked.
Civil servants continued to wear ties and struggled to keep driving their cars, buying fuel on the black market. One would tell the others, “there is a boy in Katwe with fuel but you have to make this sign otherwise the Police will get you.â€
We lined up for essential commodities like sugar, soap, cigarettes and even women’s clothes. Some people made some money by collecting these things and selling them at a higher price later.
Young people today have big dreams. They want to buy plots and cars. That was not so in out time. Today, a young person worries about how to get to work in the next 20 minutes. For us, it was ‘how do I dodge the bullets?’. We might find a roadblock or a dead body on the way. I think the big disadvantage young people of today have is AIDS.
I have four siblings and I am the eldest. We all put up (read live -ed) in Busega with my daddy and mama.
In my family, we are always arguing about which programme to watch on TV. My younger sister loves the designer shows, my kid bro loves motor sport and I love soccer. Being the eldest, I usually leave (the sitting room where there is DSTV) and go to the bedroom and watch WBS or NTV. We also argue a lot over what to eat. My brother loves fish but me, I do (prefer) peas. My mama does not ‘catch’ (read ‘eat’ - ed) food at home. She is always out at that time. She is a business woman. She leaves for work at 8:00am. In the evening when she closes, she gyms out (read goes to the gym -ed) before coming home. We have a village. It is in thingie --- Gayaza. Sometimes we do village in Bukusu. Bukusu, I really don’t know in which district it is. Is Luwero a district? Anyway, I have only been there once in all my life but my brother who died of malaria at Mengo Hospital when we were kids was buried there. My mum hates that hospital. She never goes there. Nowadays we go to Kadic Hospital.
In my free time, I like hanging out. I usually go for drink ups. I drink but ‘small time’ (read ‘a little’- ed). I drink 2-3 bottles of Smirnoff. That’s all. Like any young person I like going to Rugby Club (a hang out). I also love watching basketball, so I often go to YMCA for it.
I think one of the greatest things that has happened to Uganda in my life time is the music industry. Internationally, the greatest thing is of course a black man becoming the US president.
---------------------------------
Flavia Namayengo, 20.
My life has been tight, especially the years between P.5 and S.4.
My dad lost his job when I was in P.5 and did not get another steady one for many years after. I was a bright pupil, so my primary school allowed me to complete P.7 without paying school fees.
But after P.7, I learnt that the world was not a friend. The vacation ended and there was no money to go ba ck to school. I had to start working at 12 years. A friend took me to a bar which I used to sweep for sh2,000 a day. At the time, I felt it was a lot of money because it could do many things at home.
I did this for a month. One day, a lady called Irene Kiiza who now works with The Observer came to me and told me someone had offered to pay my school fees. She did not and still has not told me who that person was. Every term she received money for my school fees from that person. That is how I managed to go to St. Joseph’s Nsambya and later Gayaza High School.
I used to see other students with wonderful things but I just had to accept that I could not have those things. I learnt to appreciate myself for who I am and not for the things money can buy. My shoes would suck in water when it rained.
How it used to be
Patrick Luganda, 51, recalls the decade of his youth
In my time, the one thing that was very prominent was the insecurity and state-inspired violence. As young people, we still went to school and did our small jobs. We went for dances during the day because of the insecurity.
I once witnessed someone being put into the boot of a car. That kind of thing was so common that people were used to it. That day, people just hurriedly walked away from the scene, like they did not want to get involved.
I also remember the killing of my cousin, David Nkono, a veterinary doctor. It took us three days to find his body. It had been buried in Mabira Forest. The people around told us that they had seen the body but did not report it because they had been forbidden from making statements about finding bodies. So many of our agemates died young from gunshots. I remember an OB called Isabirye, he was killed at about 20. He would be 49 now. You could ask about someone, only to be told, “Eeh, that one died. Didn’t you hear of it?â€
They were hard times but it is not like every body was dying everyday. Life did go on. We still laughed and joked.
Civil servants continued to wear ties and struggled to keep driving their cars, buying fuel on the black market. One would tell the others, “there is a boy in Katwe with fuel but you have to make this sign otherwise the Police will get you.â€
We lined up for essential commodities like sugar, soap, cigarettes and even women’s clothes. Some people made some money by collecting these things and selling them at a higher price later.
Young people today have big dreams. They want to buy plots and cars. That was not so in out time. Today, a young person worries about how to get to work in the next 20 minutes. For us, it was ‘how do I dodge the bullets?’. We might find a roadblock or a dead body on the way. I think the big disadvantage young people of today have is AIDS.