NAMILYANGO COLLEGE'S PRESENTATION OF PART 1
This is the first part of the project. We have included some brief introduction. The students involved are:
1. Musuza Jackson -18 years
2. Kazinda Mathias -18 years
3. Muhereza Abel -17 years
4. Kyabagu Paul -18 years
BRIEF INTRODUCTION:
Namilyango College is located in a rural area 2 km from Seeta town. Seeta town is located 16 km on Kampala-Jinja highway. Namilyango College is a boys boarding secondary school with both Ordinary level and Advanced level. The ages of our students range from 13 to 19 years. The school follows the British system of education.
Adjacent to Namilyango College there are three primary schools and a Catholic Church. Of these primary schools one is for boys boarding, one for girls (day & boarding) while the other one is a mixed day school. Most of the children from around Namilyango go to the day mixed school because they come from poor families and can hardly afford the fees in the boarding section. Those children who complete Primary Seven (P.7) hardly join Namilyango College for similar reasons. There is no student from Namilyango College whose home is within 3 km from the school. The rest of the students come from the major towns in Uganda. The exception to this are relatives of teachers at this school.
To the west Namilyango College there is a government owned forest reserve called Namanve Forest Reserve. The eucalyptus trees from here are usually bought and taken to Kampala for use in the building industry. To the south of the school (about a half kilometre away) there is a railway which links Kampala to Mombasa. Here there is a small shanty town called Kisenyi nicknamed "Ashante" by our students.
In Kisenyi some of the houses are built on the Railway land reserve while others are built on the church land on which they cannot built permanent structures. We therefore chose a house on the railway land. Note that the church owns much of the land around our school. These people on the railway reserve are staying there illegally.
THE HOUSE WE CHOSE
We chose Richard’s house to represent all who have built on the railway land reserve to highlight their plight. The house is made of bricks which he made himself from the school land while he was still working as a librarian at Namilyango College. He could not afford to buy a plot of land to build on so he opted for “free” land on the railway land. His neighbours also have brick houses. His house has two bedrooms and a sitting room. There are two small stores attached. There is a small kitchen outside in which they use firewood for cooking. This kitchen is less than ten metres from the rails. The house has corrugated iron roof. There is no fence around the house and the houses here are very close to each other. All houses in this locality do not have fences.
FAMILY SIZE
Richard’s family consists of 7 people: Richard, his wife, one son and four daughters. Do not expect some pets here. People can hardly feed themselves so they cannot add on another obstacle to compete with over food. Only “edibles” are kept i.e. a few chicken, a goat or a pig. The only few who keep dogs are those near the forests where there are some wild animals.
INCOME
Richard is working as a librarian in one of the schools in town. He rides his bicycle to Bweyogerere town from where he takes a taxi to Kampala. His wife sells alcohol and at times rears a few pigs. On weekends the wife takes the children to dig on the forest land where the trees have been cut. Note that the forest authorities allow these people to plant some crops where they will have cut trees till the trees are to some height. Crops planted include cassava, sweet potatoes, beans and maize. Some of the gardens are on the church land where they are using it illegally. Some surplus food is sold. Other residents sell firewood and charcoal while others work in the schools around as cooks, etc.
SCHOOLS:
The eldest daughter together with their son go to day secondary schools in Mukono town which is about 6 km from Namilyango College. His son could not go to attend school at Namilyango College because the parents, like many others here, cannot afford the school fees and could not even get the required entry marks to enter the Namilyango College. There is not a single kid from here who is in the boarding primary school at Namilyango. Similarly in Namilyango College there is no student who comes from within a radius of 3 km.
FOOD AND DRINK
The diet in Richard’s family consist of fish, matooke(bananas), cassava, maize meal and beans. Meat is eaten once in a while. What is common here is fish from Lake Victoria. There is no piped water here. Water is drawn from a spring which is about a kilometre from Kisenyi. This contrasts sharply with the two boarding schools (which are half a kilometre away) which have their own pumps and piped water. In addition these two schools have electric power from Owen Falls Dam and standby generators.
COMMUNITY STRUCTURES:
There is a catholic church at Namilyango where Richard’s family attends every Sunday. Richard attends mainly on big days like on Easter and Christmas. Recreation facilities are not available in Kisenyi. When Namilyango College is not in session (i.e. during holidays ) that is when the children from around come to play football using the school football grounds. They organise competitions against other villages.
COMMUNICATION:
There is no telephone, no computer and no e-mail in Kisenyi. However there is a radio in each household.
