Joshua Kato
12 October 2002
Kampala — Two years ago, 70 year old Anastasia Namisango was just like any other old woman. A wrinkled face, hidden behind 1960s spectacles- nothing greater than a local women's group leader. Today, things are very different. She is a teacher trained in the USA. Namisango is the old woman who captured the attention of delegates during July's women's summit at Makerere.
When she begins to talk about the A-Z of computer business, you realise she is a very intelligent woman. Remarkably, she dropped out of school in P4.
Namisango speaks with a soft voice, but very audibly. The humour that she adds to her lessons makes them interesting. Holding the mouse of the computer, she told her class of about 15 women and 10 children that the gadget is called akamese, to the amusement of the class, who are in awe at the wonders of the computer. She teaches the women through a project organised by the International Women's Tribune at Nakaseke Telecentre.
Namisango is one of the most sought-after women in Nakaseke Sub-county, Luweero District. Every person knows her well. Namisango lives deep in the village. You need to ride or walk through twisted tropical thickets, dodge huge pot-holes and bending coffee trees before you can get to her house. No reason to worry though: Children and elders alike will direct you to her: "Onoonya ono omukadde eyagenda mu America (Are you looking for the old woman who went to America)?" a man asked me. He was so surprised that the boda-boda man did not know such a famous woman's home.
The house itself is an old wattle structure, which she occupies with several of her grandchildren. A genuine smile of welcome is always on her face, punctuated by two or three missing front teeth. A mat and an old wooden stool are all the furniture she has.
Living like the average rural woman is what makes her strong: "I have always lived like them. I will always live like them. This is what makes it easy for me to identify with them," she said.
The greatest turning point in all 69 years of Namisango's life came in the form of a CD-ROM project at Nakaseke Telecentre in Luweero District. There is another centre at Buwama. The programme is co-sponsored by the International Development Research Centre.
"When the project came to Nakaseke, most of the women looked too afraid of the computer technology," Anne Walker, executive director of the International Women Tribune, said. They looked at it as a thing for the elite, but not for ordinary village house wives, whose nearest go at technology is the use of a hoe or panga.
"Anastasia was the first to move out of the fear for computers and step forward," Walker said. The co-ordinators of the project were so impressed by this that she earned herself a trip to the USA in October 2001 for more training.
She was the US for the launch of the CD-ROM project, which is intended to help women in rural African communities fight poverty using the basic resources they have. This was her very first time to board a plane, leave alone go near the airport. She is still gleeful in recollection of that moment. She pulled out an old khaki paper and tossed it to me. It had inscriptions in Luganda, showing how she moved to the USA. It reads: "Bwewava E Luwero, nogenda Entebbe, Bwewava Entebbe nogenda Nayirobi, Bwewava e Nairobi nogenda e Bulasozi, Bwewava e Bulasozi nogenda Nuyoko, Olukiko lwali mu yunitedi nesonizi pulaza atte wasula mu Roja simisi hotel." Namisango keeps this paper deep in her black travelling bag.
Her classes begin at 2:00pm every Wednesday. By the time the first of her women students walked into the computer section of the Telecentre, she was busy arranging her lesson plans: "I am going to teach them about pig-keeping," she said while holding a disc, with the words Okulunda Embizi Ezamagoba,"
On top of the computers, she also has a television and radio at her disposal. On the day The New Vision visited, the speakers of the computers had a problem. It looked boring: "We are used to the audio version rather than reading from the screen," Nuru Kizza, one of the participants said. They complained of eye pain from gazing at the computer screens. Nevertheless, her classes continued.
"You have to work very hard. What I am giving you now is just a beginning of your long journey to prosperity," she told them, pointing at the coloured computer screen. She has great magnetism.
The CD-ROM project is slowly changing the lives of the people. The information on the CDs is in Luganda, much to the benefit of the women.
It has titles like Okulabirira Emwanyi (looking after coffee), Okulabirira Enkoko (looking after chickens) Okunonya Akatale Kebintu Byo (Looking For Market for Your Produce) and many others.
"What I hate is fellow women crying about poverty when they have plenty of land to work from. This is why I don't only teach them here, but also in their homes-practically," Namisango says.
One wonders how she manages to shift through her very heavy schedule. The Telecentre is about three miles away from her home. She has to walk or- if she has money- use a motorbike to teach these women every Wednesday. On top of that, she teaches women on different days of the week in villages as far as 10 miles away.
"I have to go to Nakaseta, Kibaale, Kassajjombe, Lukyamu..." she told me. "Transport is my main problem," she added. She says she needs about sh5,000 daily to operate effectively. Now that she will start earning money from the International Women's Tribune, this problem might be reduced.
Another problem is that of the computers. The Telecentre has five, which the ladies use. However, they are also used by other Telecentre visitors: "Sometimes they break down," Namisango said.
Namisango boasts of having trained at least 115 people, most of them women from Nakaseke.
The women call her their light: "She has showed us that we can use the resources we have to develop. She works with us like a mother, a grandmother. She is a very nice woman," Joweliya Nampala, a mother of six, says. Nampala currently has two acres of bananas, some chickens and a pig, all thanks to Namisango's work.
Nuru Kizza, mother of five, has attended for two months: "At first I feared the computer, but the situation is now different. I have learnt a lot about agriculture and public health," she told me. Nuru said she had a new meaning to life.
"We had an inferiority complex before, but we are now changing," Catherine Nalubwama, mother of seven, says. She has benefited a lot from grandma's lessons. "I have learnt modern farming. I have learnt how to keep my home clean. It is a very beneficial project to us," she said.
Nalongo Jane Kibuuka, LC3 councillor, Nambega village, Kassangombe, is a long time admirer of Namisango: "You just look at her and know that she is sharp and for women development. I just wish the project had came earlier in her youth. We would be far different now," she said.
Thanks to the 70-year-old, widow, mother of six and grandmother of over 20 with a vision of changing the society around her.
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