With shanty education, ghetto youths turn to drugs, music

Ghetto life is hard to decipher. If you have lived there before, you would be damned to think that education isn't for you even when the books are right there. You are psychologically trained not to care. Those who manage to beat these odds and study, indeed, stand out like a sore thumb. This is the story of a one Rogers Twinomujuni, born and bred in the Kamwokya ghetto.

Twinomujuni scored 15 points in the recently released 2012 Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) exams. The 18-year-old studied History, Economics, Divinity and Art a school in Mityana.

He was raised as an only child by his single mother and has spent the better part of his life in the ghetto because of the readily affordable accommodation (shs.20, 000 a month). As his mother went on rounds of engaging in small jobs like washing clothes to sustain the family, his son was slowly but surely being indoctrinated in the ghetto culture; taking drugs, speaking Rastafarian or foul language and balancing trousers.

While in Primary six, what begun as an experiment on drugs under the auspices of peer pressure has become a thorn in his flesh. He sometimes missed school because of hangovers and although he wants to break the habit, it is difficult.

“Once your mind is open to knowledge, the ghetto mentality slowly begins to die, but given your environment you seem to be the only conscious mind there and are hardly taken serious,” he says.

Slumped upon a paint ripped wall in the ghetto’s quadrangle, he engages his friend, Tony Kiviri in a conversation. During our conversation, he repeatedly lobbies for help to go back to school. In fact, their self proclaimed ghetto president, Simple Wizard Omulogo Enyo always encourages them to study although he has no means of providing for them.

When the day falls, Twinomujuni and his friends gather for puffs-mainly marijuana and cigarettes and alcohol. Although he wants to get rid of this environment, he is stuck because it is home.

“Everyone wants what's best for their children and this type of environment sure isn't,” he says.

 “Fortunately I've been blessed to look past the situation I'm in. I know that this will not last forever and I welcome anyone willing to sponsor me for further education. I am willing to study!”

The challenges

For 15-year-old Hassan Singoma, aka T-Spike, inadequate food and lack of school fees forces him to do drugs. Singoma claims to be a senior two student at Kololo High School where he is on the evening shift.

“I am not frequent at school because they keep chasing me away for fees arrears and lack of uniform. I have only one uniform and it’s very old,” he says.

T-Spike did not waste any time in puffing his marijuana laden cigar. Donned in a thick white sweater and brown shorts, he lifted his right leg over the white chair he was seated on and begun to puff. I felt nauseous; like my insides no longer safely rested in me.

However for him, it is one way of drowning his sorrows and improving his voice. This custom notwithstanding, T-Spike has been arrested thrice by the police.

“Several times, the police have raided this neighbourhood and rounded me and my friends calling me a brute and that is the misconception the public has about us. We do drugs because we cannot afford food and don’t want to steal,” he recounts.

In fact, when he sets his mind on reading books, he chews Khat (mairungi) a common narcotic leaf, to keep him awake. Like Twinomujuni, T-Spike is lucky to be the only one studying among his two siblings.

However, he is hopeful that he will finish school and become a musician and film maker. Considering that his education is at stake because of lack of school fees, T-Spike is working on a movie, Boda Boda Theft,  due for release this year.

Finding solace in Music:

Because many of the ghetto youths have little hope for education and face discrimination because of the stereotypes attached to them, many are seeking a career in music.

Nashil Kawooya, a school drop-out and friend of T-Spike earns a day’s wages from being a Disk Jockey (DJ) on mobile vans. The 26-year-old has been at it for three years now and is using some of his monies to pay Spike’s fees.

“I was once like many of my brothers here but luckily, I was sponsored and managed to attain education and get a job. I am now working in this community to promote a healthy lifestyle through music,” Kawooya says.

He is however distraught that many of such youths have a negative attitude towards work and are more interested in drugs. However, he is determined to change these attitudes (he started with himself by cutting off his dreadlocks and ending drugs).

Currently, many of the youths spend daytime recording songs from the Didac Studio. In fact, a one Black Ice and T-Spike entertained us to a reggae song: We Need  Understanding and Peace.

The wonders of rehabilitation:

Didas Mwesigye the programme director of Teen Challenge Uganda, a rehabilitation site for teen addicts says rehabilitation starts in the mind.

“For one to start the recovery process, one should acknowledge there is a problem that he/she wants to get rid of,” he says.

Then one is subjected to counselling programmes while being offered medical care. At Teen Challenge, the rehabilitation programme, only for males, runs for a year at a cost of Shs200,000.

“When these youths come here, we ensure that they do not use the substances they were using before and assign them a counsellor and day’s duties to keep them busy,” Mwesigye says.

Samuel Akankwasa is a story of a wretched street life turned sweet. After dropping out in senior one from St. Mary’s College Bushorooza, Kabale, he took to the streets, an escape from his treacherous life of physical torture at home.

After days of scavenging for food and facing off wild cats at disposal sites, he took to drugs. Loitering was the order of the day and he finally managed to escape to Kampala on a bus.

Tired of his lifestyle of drugs, he looked for his relatives for days on end and managed to stay with a friend he had known throughout primary school. This old boy introduced him to Watoto Church where he met Mwesigye.

Moved by Akankwasa’s story, Mwesigye took him on in the rehabilitation programme where he has been for the last nine months.

Today, the chubby, prayerful and unruffled, 18-year-old Akankwasa is a new creation from the malnourished and dirty street boy. His English is fluent without a trace of slang and he can ably read and write. 

After his 12 months, he wants to become a gospel musician.

As I bade farewell to my new found ghetto friends, a thought quickly shot in mind.

“In the ghetto, the decay seems to seep into everything here, you see it on the streets and in the structures herein but not necessarily so in the hearts and minds of the people living here.”

Like the adage ‘Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime’ emphasizes, government and community initiatives should engage in rehabilitating and educating these youths to improve their lifestyles.

ninsiima@observer.ug