Grandmother Namukobe Lukia was born and bred in Uganda.
Her daughter produced five grandchildren. The eldest Tenywa told us about his grandmother’s life in Uganda.
Tenywa’s mother (Namukobe’s daughter) worked extremely hard throughout her life. She sold vegetables such as dodo, sukumawish and spinach to provide a living for her family.
Since she had no means of transport she accepted having to walk for many miles to sell her products.
One day whilst on her journey to market, she was knocked down by a speeding sugar cane truck.
Witnesses rushed her to the hospital but she tragically died on the way.
Only months after her death Tenywa’s father took a new wife.
She swiftly took over Tenywa’s mother’s role and at first she appeared kind but that soon changed. She began to bully and beat all the children.
Although Tenywa’s grandmother was not well herself, she nevertheless took the children to live elsewhere to be out of harm’s way.
Her son in law immediately cut off any help causing even further hardship and suffering. Their living conditions encouraged malaria which led to the traumatic death of one of her grandsons.
In order to scrape even a basic living, Namukobe and her grandchildren worked on the land for other local people but they stayed together and survived.
The family were soon attracting many other displaced children who Namukobe accepted into the family, helping them survive and teaching them to work hard and to care for each other.
Namukobe, now sixty-two years old, remains within that growing family but it is now her eldest grandson Tenywa who having inherited his grandmothers determination and commitment to protect others, now takes total responsibility for their community.
Tenywa William – linkedin.com/in/tenywa-william-084003225