Age of Zinc is proud to present the sixth instalment in a new memoir from the slums of Kampala, Uganda. Check back every week to catch the next part of the story!
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After two years life had at least changed for my mother. She had left the toilet. She was now moving up very quickly. All the farmers in the area would come to her. They would give her goods that she would sell. She was like a business owner. They trusted her. She would never eat your payment. She records all the transactions and expenditures. Even if she uses 100 shillings, she will them that she used 100 shillings for water, this is how much I sold, and this is what you told me you wanted to sell. She gives you back what is yours and also keeps what is hers. So life was very easy. She would also get free food, free vegetables, and in the market people liked her.
Even up to today someone is giving her 3 kilograms of sugar every week for free. This woman says she’ll give her sugar, soap, cooking oil, every week. As friends, my mother will also do some shopping and take things to that family because they don’t go down to the market. When she’s in the market she sees different things and takes to them.
Currently, she is the elected elder leader of Nakawa market. She has organized the market vendors into teams, which are now doing different sports. They have a netball team, a football team, and also a music team. They have set days in which they play, such as Monday and Wednesday afternoons, because at those times there are not many customers in the market. Organizing the vendors has helped create more attachment to each other. Today the vendors recognize her work and they appreciate her efforts to make the elderly more active.
