How youth in Rwenzori region have improved their skills, lives

Youth in Ntoroko District being trained on how to repair motor boat engines recently. The intervention has helped several youth out of unemployment. Photo by Felix Basiime 

By FELIX BASIIME

Posted  Thursday, December 3   2015 at  02:00   http://www.monitor.co.ug/artsculture/Reviews/How-youth-in-Rwenzori-region-have-improved-their-skills--lives-/-/691232/2981598/-/ynu5ll/-/index.html

IN SUMMARY

More than 1,000 youth in the districts of the Rwenzori sub-region have been trained in vocational skills that are changing their lives. The vocational skills have multiplied and the graduates are now providing employment to fellow youth in their communities.

Jolly Tumwebaze, 18, lives in Nombe village, Karugutu Sub-county in Ntoroko District. She dropped out of Primary Five at Harugongo Primary School in Kabarole District in 2011 due to lack of school fees. Born in a peasant family, she remained at home where her main preoccupation was doing domestic chores.

She had lost all hope of doing something else for a better future until some NGOs threw at her an olive branch through trainings.

“I was trained in March in bakery, I prepare chapatti and cakes. Every day, I earn Shs10,000, which I save and buy a goat every month” says Tumwebaze.

“On a good day, I earn Shs25,000. I no longer bother my husband to buy everything at home, I also contribute to the family budget”

Another youth, Salimu Mutalinga, 18, also from Nombe village in Karugutu, has five bee- hives and harvests 15kg of honey from each hive every season. Each kilogramme is sold between Shs15,000 and Shs20,000 locally.
“Through Ride Africa, I learnt how to make bee hives and before this programme (Youth in Action). I was just digging” Mutalinga says. Each modern bee hive is at Shs70,000.

Mutalinga has acquired the skills and now trains other youths in bee keeping.
“I also train others in apiary for a fee, my students pay me Shs20,000 per month to teach them, I also harvest honey for others at a fee of Shs5,000 per hive, I bought the costumes”.

Tumwebaze and Mutalinga are among hundreds of youths in Ntoroko, Kasese and Bundibugyo districts who dropped out of school until NGOs like Ride Africa, Fura, ANNPCAN and BAWILHA started work in the Rwenzori region four years ago.

Many youths in the area have acquired skills for various jobs including repairing motor boat engines, bakery, soap making, apiary, among others.

Up to 1,080 youths from Kasese, Bundibugyo and Ntoroko districts in August were passed out in Bundibugyo after acquiring various skills for self employment.

The youths first trained for five months conducted by Ride Africa in Ntoroko District, FURA and ANNPCAN in Kasese and BAWILHA in Bundibugyo with funding from Master Card foundation and Danida through Save the Children International.

This month, 1,237 youths from the region completed courses in saloon management, building and construction, bee keeping, metal fabrication, carpentry and joining, electrical installation, and tailoring, catering, soap making among others.

Youth from Rwebisengo and Kanara sub counties in Ntoroko District have also acquired skills in finance management, which have helped them to increase their savings.

Groups have been formed and registered at sub county and district levels. Among the members, there are savings and credit facilities (loans) which has empowered them economically.

Nefigi Tumwine says, “In the next 10 years, I will be counted among the rich people of Kanara Sub-county because I got a firm foundation through financial literacy and leadership trainings.”

Tumwine, 24, lives at Katanga A village, Kanara sub county; he is the chairperson of Kanara Youth Network.
He is among the lucky youths who benefited from Ride Africa with support from Save the Children under youth empowerment support project.

He had lived a hard life before of earning a living through fishing activities at Lake Albert after having dropped out of school at the age of 18 in Senior Three.
Having acquired financial skills, he saved Shs200,000 and started a palm oil business.
From this he accumulated Shs300,000 and started a fuel-selling point in July 2014.

“By the end of March, I had accumulated Shs 500, 000 as capital which enabled me to start another fuel selling point at Butungama, a neighbouring sub county” he says.

Selling fuel by the road side is a brisk business in the remote areas of Bundibugyo and Ntoroko districts as fuel pump stations are only on the main road at Karugutu trading centre in Ntoroko and in Bundibugyo Town. 

Many local businessmen in Fort Portal Town load fuel jerrycans on taxis to Ntoroko and Bundibugyo.
Tumwine adds, “With this business, I have been able to employ someone whom I pay Shs200,000 every fortnight and he is in charge of the Katanga business.

“I have not only provided employment to fellow youth but I am able to support my young brother who is in Senior Four at King Jesus Secondary School at Mubuku in Kasese District.
“Every term I pay Shs270,000 and cater for his up keep”.

Tumwine is optimistic that his brother will study up to university because his business is growing. He is planning to start a goat rearing project to diversify his income.

Children in schools too in Ntoroko have been empowered to participate in decision making and now demand for their rights and hold duty bearers accountable in their respective sub counties.

“This is achieved through involving children in child rights clubs and holding of children’s parliament” says Margaret Kabasinguzi, the programmes officer for Ride Africa in Ntoroko.

In Kanara Sub county, Ntoroko District the children’s councillor presented a number of issues to the area LC III council and technocrats demanding for resource allocation to monitor and follow up cases of child marriage and abuse, drug abuse, child labour especially in the fishing villages and high school dropouts.

“This prompted the sub county leadership to allocate Shs1.5 million in the sub county’s budget for this year to monitor children’s issues and programmes,” Kabasinguzi adds.

Ntoroko Woman MP Jennifer Mujungu says the projects have transformed the youths in the countryside.
“The skills the youths have acquired have helped them transform their lives through income generating projects by managing their finances while many have made savings in Saccos,” Mujungu says.

He adds, “The other skills have helped them to create jobs for themselves.so they can earn a living, I commend the NGOs for the job well done”.

Nahabweki: the woman with five sets of twins

Teddy Nahabweki (R) with her youngest daughter Ruth Kiiza, a Primary Three pupil at Nyakasura Junior Primary School. Kiiza wants to become a nurse. Photo by Felix Basiime.

By FELIX BASIIME & SCOVIA ATUHAIRE

Posted  Wednesday, December 2   2015 at  02:00 http://www.monitor.co.ug/artsculture/Reviews/Nahabweki--the-woman-with-five-sets-of-twins/-/691232/2980718/-/v35ka4z/-/index.html

In Summary

Teddy Nahabweki’s dream was to have as many children as she could. And indeed she tried. At 60, she has had 18 children, including five sets of twins, but her life has not been as fruitful

Teddy Nahabweki, 60, is a mother of 18 children, including five sets of twins. One would imagine she would be happy with her offspring but it is far from it.

Her dream was to have as many twins as her womb would allow until age caught up with her. But, of the 18, death has robbed her of 12.

The single mother is a resident of Ibonde village, Nyakasura, Karago Town Council in Kabarole District.
She lives in a small room with her two children at an old house belonging to Bishop Jimmy Katuramu of the Pentecostal Church, Fort Portal. The church minister was kind enough to give her a place to call home at no cost. This has been her place of abode since 2002.

The four-bedroomed house accommodates three other families. Nahabweki and her two young children, a girl in Primary Three and a boy in Primary Six, survive on a meal a day. It is obvious they live from hand to mouth.

Determined to survive
On a typical day, she starts her mornings by doing household chores.

To make ends meet, Nahabweki hawks porridge locally known as Obushera bwekinga. “I prepare the porridge from millet and sorghum. Then I get a boda boda rider to take it to the selling point, which is about four kilometres from home.

On a sunny day, her porridge sells out but on cold days, which is often than not in Kabarole District, she has to take it back home.

To increase her profts, Nahabweki distributes the porridge to local grocery shops and resturants. On a good day, she can earn Shs20,000.

“I started this business in 2012 with 10-litre jerry can and when customers liked the porridge I doubled the production.
“This business is what has enabled me to survive and care for my children. I am able to provide food and pay school fees for these children.

She adds, “It is very challenging to get all these from my small business because when it is cold day, I incur losses yet my responsibilites do not change at all.
“Because of these uncertainties, we survive on one meal a day which is supper.”

Asked if these conditions are not harsh for the children, Nahabweki says her children are used to the prevailing conditions.

The situation at home
The living conditions in her home speak for themselves. There is no chair or table in her room. The room is bare, scattered with a few utensils and mattress.

Her last born Ruth Kiiza, 8, has learnt to put on a brave face even when she has to go to school on an empty stomach.
Fortunately, this has not affected her grades. The little girl is an excellent pupil.

“I was the second in class last term but I am aiming at the first position this term. I want to be a nurse so that I help other people,” Kiiza confidently says.
To realise this dream, her mother needs a miracle.

Fate
In spite of these challenges, Nahabweki is sad that she did not have even more children.

“If had resources, I wanted to produce as many sets of twins as possible before menopause. Doctors told me that I was able to but I had to stop because the relationship with my husband was volatile.”

Her host, Bishop Katuramu, says Nahabweki needs help from well wishers so that her children can have a brighter future. “This lady gave birth to twins five times, the husband did not care which led to the loss of some of the children. I gave her shelter but this is not enough, she has other needs,” he says.

Appeal
“I appeal to government and any Good Samaritans to come to my rescue, help with my children and settle me on a small piece of land,” that is all Nahabweki mutters when you ask what kind of help she needs. “At times my children do not attend school because I am unable to provide for their school fees.”

Advice
“Young girls should not rush into marriage but listen to their parents, she says, adding, “People cautioned me about the dangers of early marriage at 18. I wish I had listened to them perhaps my life would be different,” she adds.
“Had I followed my mother’s advice, I would not be living in such a mess,” she says.

“Wives whose husbands are providing at home should thank God. I also advise especially the women to leave bad relationships as soon as they realise that it is not ideal for them. It is better to leave while you still can before you make more mistakes.”

Most prolific mother ever in the world
The officially recorded highest number of children born to one mother is 69, to the wife of Feodor Vassilyev (b. 1707–c.1782), a peasant from Shuya, Russia.

In 27 confinements, she gave birth to 16 pairs of twins, seven sets of triplets and four sets of quadruplets. Numerous contemporaneous sources exist, which suggest that this seemingly improbably and statistically unlikely story is true.

According to The Gentleman’s Magazine, the case was reported to Moscow by the Monastery of Nikolsk on February 27, 1782, which had recorded every birth. It is noted that, by this time, only two of the children who were born in the period 1725–65 failed to survive their infancy.

The twins and her blotted family life

Nahabweki was born to a family of three in Mutolere village, Nyakabande in Kisoro District. Her father died when she was two-years-old.

“In 1972, my mother moved us from Kisoro District, my elder sister and I to our maternal uncle’s place in Kyomukama Village, Kyaterekera, Kibaale District. The following year, I got married to Matias Sebunyenzi.”

In 1974, she gave birth to her first born, a boy who unfortunately passed away.
In 1975, she gave birth to her first set of twins. Both were girls, but one later died. The surviving twin, Magdalene Nyakato, grew up and is now married in Kagadi, Kibaale District.
In 1976, she gave birth to her second set of twins, both boys, Isingoma Luke and Kato Mark who unfortunately passed on as well.
In 1977, Lady Luck smiled on her and she gave birth to the third set of twins, both girls, Josephine Nyakato and Margaret Nyangoma

In 1978, she gave birth to Mariam Kiiza. The following year she miscarried her what would have been fourth set of twins.
In 2004, she gave birth to the fifth set of twins, a boy and girl. The girl died but Daudi Kato survived. He is in Primary Six.

In 2007, she gave birth to her last born, Ruth Kiiza who is now in Primary Three.
“Of the 18 children I brought in this world, only six have survived,” Nahabweki laments.
“In 1982, doctors advised me to stop producing. There were so many wrangles at home and our relationship was not a good one,” she shares.

This explained why she separated from her husband.
“In 1983, I separated with my husband because he was a drunkard and could not provide for us. I am born again and I could not bear it any more. I decided to go back home.