RITA

On 1st December 2015 I set out to the outskirts of Bushenyi, Igara West to be specific. It is one of many Journeys I have gone and I will go on as I film my latest documentary titled LEADER, a hot piece if I must say myself.

While In Bushenyi I was to follow one of the Member of Parliament aspirants, a former classmate of mine in the watoto church SCL class. Horace Muhabuzi would be picking his nomination forms the very next day and had invited me along to have a front seat for the event. (Horace is one of my subjects in the film)

We set off from Kampla at around 2pm and Bethan (Horace’s old lady) is gleefully waiting for us (my colleague and I) at the Bus Park in Mbarara town. She drives us the rest of the way to Igara West in Bushenyi district. A frail looking woman with a solid British accent, I worried if she would survive the storms in Uganda’s political race. Our light banter on the way only emphasises my suspicions as I find her to be a remarkably humble and gentle soul

We enter the far-flung Igara town at around 8pm or 9pm (I am not quite sure) and we wait for Horace to join us by the roadside which is lined with a seemingly endless entourage of old fashioned Kiosks and stores. A few minutes later Horace waddles to the side of the car am sitting at and voices a hearty welcome, “Hello Esther, I am happy to see you” his oversized coat immediately testifies to the toll the elections are taking on him.

Together we go back a distance in the direction we came to Ishaka town so we can grab some dinner before heading home (There was no dinning option in Igara town). Horace ushers Shemie (The colleague I mentioned earlier) and I to a poorly lit local restaurant called ‘A typical African restaurant’ and their motto ‘Quality makes the difference’ as we make our way into the restaurant, several men shout out ‘MP!’ To Horace and murmurings of ‘Muzungu’ escape one or two people as Bethan follows behind. They only have goat stew left so we all have to eat goat stew, much to Bethan’s disappointment who lets on that she is not a meat fan at all.

At the dinner table, I make my concerns known and tell Horace that he has lost a notable amount of weight since I last saw him. He says something like ‘Yes I know, I don’t eat well because there is too much work. This is my first meal of the day for example’ …..

The food is anything but the advertised ‘Quality makes a difference’ motto by the restaurant owners. Shemie and I joke about this but Horace barely cracks his face and continues with his food silently. Suddenly am ashamed, here we are complaining about the food our gracious host is paying for and yet even he, in his high status is swallowing every bite gratefully. After everyone has had their fill of the food, I quickly prance onto business and ask Horace about tomorrow’s plans which I learn is basically ‘Get nominated, procession through town and big party back at home with the locals to crown the day’

At night I toss and turn in my bed as I attempt to become one with my blanket, the cold from the hills of Bushenyi forsaking all pleasantries to get to know me. The common flu also vies for my attention, eventually I manage to ignore both and get some sleep

In the morning, a prayer and a bible listen later I manage to get out of bed by 8am. We are staying with Brian (Horace’s cousin as Horace didn’t have enough room in his house) a bachelor so ‘understandably’ most of the comforts in life are absent from the beautifully furnished bungalow. Hot water is one of them.

The music is playing loudly on my phone so my constant whimpering from every contact my body makes with the seemingly refrigerated water is covered up.

Bethan hoots at the door a few minutes past 9am and apologizes for not honoring our 8:50am appointment set the previous night (Of course we didn’t even notice or mind, but good luck convincing her of that). We Jump into the car and proceed to Horace’s home which should be 5minutes away by car or a 30min walk. Along the way Bethan takes the time to greet everyone (a grandiose contribution on her part as we would later learn … being an introvert and all…) a few minutes down the road she stops by the edge of the hill we are on and points down the Valley, that is the secondary school (Horace and Bethan started both a primary and secondary school years back, the secondary school is the only one in the area as far as your eyes can see) I am excited, it is an impressive school

The car pulls in to this neat tinny home, Inside Horace is walking up and down on phone, he manages to pause and say ‘Welcome’ Then walks out to continue his conversations. Bethan remarks ‘He is always on phone these days’ Bethan herself looks tired but very committed to seeing the cause through.

Bethan is watchful of all the details and makes sure that Horace’s posters are well poised on the range rover/ Land rover (not too good with cars) that comes to drive Horace on the big day. We are almost late, but make it just in time. A few missing details with Horace’s papers but the team quickly rectifies it and he makes it! Horace is nominated and congratulations are all around him

The rest of the day is eventful to say the list, disputes here and there but Horace shows outstanding character in being able to keep his cool and quench the fires. The procession around town is fun with a band of musicians signing songs they composed in their show of support for Horace, two full trucks of village supporters, an entourage of cars and the rowdy though seemingly patriotic boda boda riders …about 70 of them (a new trend with Ugandan politicians) Shemei and I get in on the fun as well and I even get to film from a boda facing backwards ^_^ (Don’t tell my mother)

The party back at home is also successful and Horace makes a heartfelt speech about his roots and his earnest desire to serve the people. At the end of the day, crowds have to be chased away from Horace’s home so that together with Bethan they can have some time to rest. Nolonger a frail woman in my eyes, Bethan is a fiery Spirit, her quite strength having proven key support for Horace to succeed.

We are allowed inside the house being ‘Special guests’ and for purposes of filming. A gentleman called ‘Steve’ joins us together with another woman. We learn the Steve is Horace’s brother, even though both Horace and Bethan are evidently tired, they pace about the three roomed house trying to get us refreshments. It is a good day, I had gotten all the shots I wanted and am quietly impressed and inspired by these two selfless leaders.

The next day I have one more interview with Horace before heading back to Kampala, both Horace and Bethan’s phones are off, I presume they are sleeping however nearing 10am a fatigued Horace walks through the gate, Phone and Charger in hand, their small solar system was not sufficient for the night.

Bethan is already off to work with one of the school directors and Horace has come to pick us up. The interview is done as we traverse the wide country and Horace is bubbling with plans and projects he has to help the people in his constituency, even though he is tired, you can see the life and fire in his eyes, it is burning brightly, and he is beside himself in his love for the people. Horace tells us of his plans for better roads, a clinic at the secondary school so that both children and locals can have access to medical care instead of having to travel miles away, his plans to reform the rowdy youth who resort to the boda boda business because of their limited or no education…

In the middle of the interview a gentle man from the campaign team comes to inform Horace of visitors who are coming to see how they can help him with the schools, he lets on that he is “Too Hungry” but the visitors can come anyway, he doesn’t request for the interview to be concluded but stands still awaiting my next question. I feel bad as I have unwittingly overworked him, I notice the skin peeling off his lips and make a point to summarize with the last two questions

We reach the primary school and Horace manages to grab a bite and heads on to his house (a few meters away from the school buildings) to prepare for ‘The Visitors’ Shemei and I decide to get a few pictures of the school before saying our final goodbyes to the aspiring MP. While filming I wander into one of the busy looking classroom and find that they are preparing for ‘speech day’ so we open our camera lense wider to capture the sweet and vibrant presentations. It is while filming these presentations that I meet RITA …

With each presentation, my camera lenses manage to dwell on this incredibly talented young girl (4 or 5 years I figured) at the end of the presentations I ask my colleague Shemei to help me find her as I couldn’t see her in the room and I want to know more about her (Shemei knows the local language … Rukyankole and I don’t)

A fellow classmate goes out to find her and brings her to us, I ask Shemei to tell her that I think she is very talented and maybe next time we are back, she can be in one of our films. She barely responds to this, Shemei continues to probe her and we discover she is called Rita Ainembabazi (which means she has grace), she is 8years old, and only her father is alive. We also find out that she loves reading and she would read more books if they were there to read, when she grows up she wants to be a nurse because she sees a lot of people suffering and they have no medicine. We ask her if she knows about God and she says yes, we go on to ask if God has ever spoken to her and she again says yes, he said ‘Don’t worry I am with you’ … But here is the question that causes floods of tears to swell up in my eyes … Shemei asks her if there was anything she could get in the world at the moment, what would it be? She sheepishly smiles away and whispers back “Meat” … when Shemei translates her response to me am astonished!! … Meat? Meat which means nothing to me and almost everyone I know meat which is barely eaten and thrown away in homes and at parties, meat!! Which we had simply forced down our throats just the previous supper … meat!!! Is all this little girl wants ?

Rita goes on to tell us that she last ate meat last Christmas, and chicken, she last ate it when her mother was alive. I can’t explain it but my heart ‘goes out to this little girl’ if there was any restaurant in the proximity I surely would have taken her to eat her feel of any meat she wanted.

Unfortunately, Rita’s story is not unique at JJ Primary School in Igara west, it is the prevalent story and the stories only get worse with each child. At JJ Primary, students pay 8,500 Ugandan shillings per term and 60,000 Ugandan shillings at the secondary school. The 8,500 goes to lunch for teaches and maintenance of the premises, the teacher’s flimsy salary comes from donor funds (the teachers too are a gem). Meals are not available at the schools so students have to run back home to grab something to eat (if there is anything to eat that is)

As we continue our interaction with Rita my hat goes off for Horace and His wife who have sacrificed their time and resources to making sure that the neediest of children in Igara West have a chance at knowledge and skills that can get them out of their crippling poverty. Dedicated and passionate, both wife and Husband are found in every detail of these schools, choosing to build a tiny home on their vast lands and giving up the rest of the land for the schools, spending every waking moment to see to the progression of the school …

My thoughts wander to the starving people in Karamoja, The abused children in Masaka and the streets of children hooked on drugs all over the country … These, are a handful of the many evils in our nation that are as a result of bad leadership!

In anger, I think to myself that many leaders should be lined up in front of a firing squad … especially in Karamoja where abject poverty and famine has been the order of the day for decades! Even though majority of Uganda’s natural resources are found in Karamoja. I still don’t understand how people can die of famine in a country where food is so plentiful that it rots in the gardens in some parts of the land. It completely BAFFLES ME!!

I also think about myself and majority of the people I know who sometime make a sport of eating, seldom sparing a thought to the hungry across the plains. I think about the countless people engrossed in simply making more money to live larger, never letting go of a fraction of that wealth to a cause. How many times do we complain, how many times do we throw tantrums about the most senseless things … yet if we would bother to look reality in the face even for a second, we would realise that our lives are completely useless if they are not benefiting another living soul

If you met Rita, her bright smile would momentarily fool you, but a closer look at her small frame would quickly reveal the pangs of life she has had to endure… How many problems are we oblivious to simply because we don’t care to know …

Horace did not give out any sugar or soap or even sacks of money, he has simply gone out to the people with his earnest inspiration to serve and a history of committed service in his stride. All funds in his campaign are from family, friends, well-wishers and his personal savings

As Horace’s former schoolmate at School of Community Leadership at Watoto Church, I now better understand his reason for enrolment and am in awe! !

Like everyone, I am a leader and I want to promote great leadership and governance with this film so that everyone gets the best of things in life. This film will be premiering a few months after the 2016 Uganda presidential elections. I still have a number of interviews to record all over the country and at the end of it all, I hope this film is a mirror for everyone to analyze and evaluate their place and role in leadership

If you would like to support Horace on his Journey to Parliament you can contact Horace’s campaign manager Wilson-0759011149 or Innocent-0703168321

But before that, please join me in giving a standing ovation to all the leaders doing right by their people and God who commissions them. Let us all commit as well to being the change we want to see in communities … cheers!

I leave you with the lyrics to Jehovah Jireh’s Primary School anthem (A heart warming tune if you are ever blessed to hear them sing it)

“… With the Spirit of one another, we shall try to prosper … let us join in the struggle with the spirit of one another … let us wake up for we know there’s no time … For JJ school to move forward let us wake up for we know there’s no time … We are the Children of Jehovah Jireh, we shall maintain our roots … For JJ School to move forward let wake up for there’s no time …”