mr. sseruyange RonnieThis is a featured page

mr. sseruyange Ronnie - F.S.C.U My name is Seruyange Ronald, born in 1983 in Kogobe village – Kiboga district. My father was called Senyonga Charles who I first met in 1985 the very year he died. He was killed by his colleagues who he was training some business skills. These friends who later shot him in Palisa up his business. I found when they had already buried him. My mum was called Tatu Nabagala. My mum lived in Kitintale while I lived with my grandmother in the Village. My grandma also died in 1986 then my mum took me with her to Kitintale where I started school up to P.3. My mum fell sick in 1992, she became so weak that she could not even take me to my late father’s home yet I could not remember the place. My mother got worse and we had to go back to her mother’s place. She was the only person who knew my late father’s place. Before she died, she called me into her bedroom and told me, that when I become 10, I’ll be able to get to my father’s place. She told me to go to Kampala (taxi park) ask for taxis going to Kireka and tell the conductor to stop me at a Shell station next to the school of the lame (disabled). She told me, around this place lives my grandmother (Father’s mother) who is a popular businesswoman and sells alcohol. She’s called Rose. My mum later died and I was left with her younger sister who was also sick. One day our neighbour lost his money and alleged that I had stolen it. He came to our home, took me to his home, and beat me for the whole day asking me to give him his money. He left me to go late in the evening when it was even raining after realizing I had not taken the money. When I tried to sleep, I just couldn’t and was all asking my self why the people at home had not asked this man why he had beaten me. I had a lot of pain and wounds on me because he had beaten me for the whole day. This is when I remembered the directions my mother had given me of how to reach my late father’s place. But at this time, I did not have any money on me. My auntie asked me whether I had returned the money they alleged I had stolen. Then she told me I wouldn’t stay there if I were a thief. I told her I had not taken the money. There were some hens at home that I asked my auntie to sell and get me transport to go to my father’s home. She refused me to go because she thought I was still young to travel alone. She later development cancer of the breast and also died. After her burial, Abas, the only son my aunt had was taken and every one abandoned me claiming that I was a thief. I was left alone. This was still 1992. They took all the things that they could except the gardens. Then I got three cocks, which I sold for 6,000/=. When I returned home, I found my other aunt, Nalumansi Khasfa who wanted to take me with her. While I was sleeping, I remembered what my mum had told me about my father’s home. In the morning when they went to the gardens, I left and boarded a taxi to Kampala for 3,000/= since I had the money from the sale of the cocks. I boarded off at Kasubi thinking I had reached Kampala because of many cars and people. Here I found men who were playing gambling games who told me if I put any amount you would get twice as much. I also put all the money I was left with and they took it all. I did not know where I was and I was hungry. There were people who were selling oranges and they had thrown some bad ones in their bins. I picked these thrown oranges and had them for my supper. Waited until it was getting a bit late, then I started following cars in order to rich Kampala. The next time I asked, I had reached Wandegeya Police Station at around 8:00 p.m. I asked some man to direct me to where I was going. He realized I was lost and directed me to Police for help. The Police officers gave me some food for prisoners, a blanket and where to sleep. I slept until morning then I was put on a taxi to take me to Kiboga stage. I also disappeared from the man because I did not want to go back. I just wanted to go to my Dad’s place. It got dark again and I realized people were getting fewer and I was also feeling hungry. I saw some children sleeping on the veranda near the bus park. I also sat near them and eventually slept up to morning. I felt more comfortable with these children who also convinced me to go with them to Kisenyi. One of the boys deceived me to wash my shirt and thereafter he stole it. I now had no shirt but just a pair of trousers. I met a boy on the streets called Wanyama who told me that his father had shocked him with electric current so he (Wanyama) ran away and was living on the streets. Wanyama had one big T-shirt in which we would both sleep since I did not have any shirt then. We slept in the t-shirt for a full week but after that Wanyama told me to leave, as he was no longer sleeping comfortably. I started sleeping on my own with nothing to cover myself. After some time I started doing some odd jobs like carrying sacks for the shopkeepers and I was able to get a shirt for myself. After 3 years, I met Sulah, the guy who had hit my jaw in the name of welcoming me to Kampala. This time it was not I he bullied but Wanyama and poured tea on him. Since we had grown and seemed a bit bigger, Wanyama suggested that we beat up this guy. We immediately jumped on him but we were no matches for him and he beat us badly and chased us from the street we were staying. That day we moved to the spot where Shoprite is now. During the night as we were sleeping, Sulah put stones all around the canvas under which 20 of us were sleeping and left a small opening for us to get through. He then told us to come out with the money we had referring to especially Wanyama and me. One of the boys told him that we were not there and Sulah covered the small opening and left. Thinking that he had gone for good, we went back to sleep only to realise that he had just gone to the petrol station to get petrol to burn us. He started pouring it on the canvass and then lit a fire. When the heat got too much and the boda boda people started shouting and telling us to come out, we tried to get out of the canvas but were un able to as there were still stones all around. However as the canvass caught more fire we were able to escape but Sulah was ready waiting for us. Everyone who came out went right into the Sulah’s waiting arms. He made us seat down and asked us for money. As we were still wondering what to do, one of the boys jumped on him and the rest of us escaped. We went back to Ben Kiwanuka and started planning how to revenge on Sulah. Wanyama suggested that we attack and beat Sulah at about 1:00 am in the night. He went ahead to say that we should beat him, as street children do not as normal children. We agreed and set out to look for Sulah at about 2:00 am. We went to Owino market and picked up boards and I hid mine in by jacket. We then headed to Queen’s Way round about in search of Sulah. On getting there we realised that we would be out numbered if we tried anything as he had his friends who would have killed us had we confronted Sulah. We went back to sleep however we promised ourselves that we would get our revenge. The next day in the evening, Sulah came to Ben Kiwanuka and found us taking tea and he grabbed my chapatti and demanded to know why we had wanted to beat him up. Wanyama got scared that there was going to be a fight and expose us to all people that we were not what we said we were but another lot of street children. We decided to wait till town was clear of all the normal people and left with street children and prostitutes. At about 1:00 am we set out to look for Sulah at Kyazo Street where we found him playing cards. Wanyama was wearing a long coat, which he had got during the kabaka’s coronation, which he said that he needed as he was going for war. We found Sulah and he tried to run away but we told the boys he was a playing cards with to stop him. We beat him so much and made him pay for the mistreatment we had suffered at his hands. We then tied him up, dragged him towards Entebbe road, and threw him in a drainage system. While we were still there a local defence officer who knew whom we were stopped as but we refused and started running. When we started running he started shooting and he shot and killed one of the boys we were with. This shocked me very much and I stopped and walked back to see if my friend was okay. He was dying and blood was coming through his ears and mouth. The boda-boda men then told me to run for my life as the local defence man was sure going to kill me if I stayed. By this time I was standing next to a drainage channel and I jumped in. on seeing this the local defence man started firing at me in the tunnel. He kept shooting and I kept running and as I run one of the people whom I could not recognise told me to lie low. When I did this bullets kept flying above my head and they only stopped when the man was convinced I was dead. I spent the night in the drainage channel. The next day, I went to the Entebbe stage in Old Park to wash my face only to find that police had rounded everyone up and that the police was looking for me to arrest me. The police was looking for me as the local defence man had told them I had killed the boy he had shot. For the whole of 1996 I was on the run from the police but they never got me. I was not able to see Wanyama for the whole year and neither did I ever see Sulah again. The next year that president Clinton came to Uganda was another interesting one for me. By this time the police had stopped looking for us and with time my friends on the street started asking me why I was not going home but I knew I could not as I did not know the way there. The day Clinton came I way in Kisenyi watching a movie only to come out and find an empty place full of military police and dogs. Owino was the same story .I went and picked my jacket from where I used to keep it and moved to Ben Kiwanuka to look for my friends and there was no one. One guy told me that they had rounded them up and were locked up. I then looked for where to go and I went to the new park. As I was entering a policeman grabbed me and started asking me where I was staying .I told him the truth and he took me to a container in which they had put people .It was full of oil in that when they threw you in you would just slide .The other guys started complaining that it was over crowded and oily and the police decided empty it and remove the oil. Everyone was taken out apart from me .I held onto an iron bar and when they overturned the container to remove the oil. I slid out and moved away through the tires of a car. I went to Queen’s way round about pushing a taxi, the place was full of police and I fell into the drainage channel. I started walking from Queen’s way while bending on for a long time, I met another channel and followed it. I reached one that was very slippery, I put off my jacket and sat on it. I did not where I was going instead this channel took me to Jinja road and my jacket got lost in the water. I cleaned myself but couldn’t get onto the road as I saw the policemen and military people about As I sat and waited, I remembered what my mother told me that if I got to the age of 10. I should leave the village, go to Kampala, get a taxi to Kireka at the Centre of the town, and ask anyone for my grandmother. I however I didn’t have any money and I couldn’t to anyone who wasn’t a street kid. The next day I stayed down there as I was very dirty so I couldn’t go onto the streets for fear of being caught. I stayed in this place for two days eating fruits that came with the drainage water. After two days the town calmed down but I was so hungry that I couldn’t stand. I then moved back to Ben Kiwanuka and was grabbed immediately, I was happy because I was hungry and I was sure they were going to give me food. Whenever I was grabbed, they took me the CPS and I wasn’t scared because I was use of the place. They sent me to Nsumba home for delinquent children where we reached at night and they gave us food. However I missed the street in that I asked some children how to escape from the place and they told me that they didn’t know the way as they were brought in lorries. I told them not to worry because I would lead them and that very night they brought us in, I told those who wanted to go to follow me. One of the boys told me that one of the staff members had a car which he used to take eggs up to the main road and this boy had gone in it sometime but didn’t know which way led to Kampala. I told the guy that he should lead us to the main road and I would be able to tell which road led to Kampala. When we reached the main road, there was no one to ask, I first told them the wrong route which led to Masaka and after walking for a kilometre we noticed that there were no cars going that way. We then met a truck with Irish potatoes, we asked the guys for the way to Kampala and they told us that we were going the wrong way. When we reached the road leading to the home where we had been one of the guys said that he was tired and went back. But I was very determined, so we kept on moving and after we had moved a short while it became morning. Meanwhile the boy who had gone back reported us and the staff member with a car came following us but we hid in the banana plantation. He didn’t see us so we kept moving and we met the truck drivers that had told us the right direction who gave us a lift. After moving for a while they were stopped as a roadblock had been put to stop us and take us back. They got the rest of the kids but I stayed as I had hid myself deep in the potatoes. The guys were good enough not report me and I came back Kampala. I came back to town and found many street children and I became their leader for a long time till 1999. By the time the rest of the guys came they found me the leader. In 1999 they arrested me again and this time I was taken to Luzira because I was now of age. I was with my friends Alex and John, on the day they arrested for being idle and disorderly. John told me that he had got a place where we could stay but I didn’t need help from anyone. We argued and John went to Cornerstone Foundation “ Youth corps farming” that is October 1999. In the morning, we went to watch movies where we usually went and as we were entering he told me that they would round us up that day. We watched one movie and in the middle of the second one, a car parked outside. The guys came in, asked us why we were watching movies in the morning and for our identity cards. Since I didn’t have an identity card, I tried to run but was pushed by the guards at the door. They handcuffed me and took me to the police station in Kisenyi. They asked me what I had been arrested for; I told them that it was for being idle and disorderly. They first took me to City hall and the Judge sent me to Luzira because he was tired of seeing my face. They took me to Luzira for the first time and saw the place I had always wanted to go to. We reached at night and we were given where to stay. They made me do a lot of work the following day but I didn’t mind being in Luzira. After two days they gave me a convict number 5446 and I was given a slasher to slash. The warden who gave me the slasher told me that I should always remember it, but I forgot. At parade time they asked me for my number but I had forgotten and so he beat me. I wrote it on my body using a matchstick so that I wouldn’t forget it. I started hating the place that I had once liked. I was brought back to court after 14 days and I had lost a lot of weight. I begged the Judge to forgive me and after pleading guilty, he gave me 20 days. I went back to Luzira, asked other prisoners how to escape and they told me that I would be shot. During that time a certain guy tried to escape but he was shot in the leg and was brought back. He was made to step in a cell filled with water for a week and he rot. I asked if there was an alternative route or way of escape. I was told that for one to get away they had to be sick and admitted. One day I went to work, in the place called Kasese in the prisons. We had worked for along time and at about 11:00 am I started asking myself why I was working then I realised that I was working for nothing. Then I decided to stop working, the person who was making us work came and told me to work but refused. I told him I didn’t want to work. He went and told the warden who told him to come beat me. By this time I had resumed working since he was unaware he came behind me and beat me. I pretended that I hadn’t heard, he beat for the second time and I asked him why. To which he replied that he had been told to do so. I pretended as if I was going to slash but instead I cut his neck, he fell down and blood started oozing out very fast. I raised the slasher to finish him off but other prisoners stopped me. He was rushed to the clinic. The warden then called me and told me to leave the slasher where it was. I first refused till a military man told me that he would shot me if I didn’t. I did because I feared military police as I had seen them kill my friends. The warden then tried to beat me but before he could another warden came along and asked him why he was going to beat me. The other prisoners came to my rescue and told him that I had done nothing. He then took me to the sleeping quarters, wrote my number on the board, and told the guards not to let me out during working hours, as I would make other prisoners escape. He said this because he felt that I could do anything, as I had nothing to lose. I went to my cell and wondered what to do but meanwhile my days were passing. I did not anything because everything had gotten to me. The chairman of the room asked why I had not eaten and he wrote me a note, which I took to the clinic where I was given a bed. It indicated that I had a stomach infection and I was given Dallos every morning. Seven days to my release I was sent out of the clinic. When chrismas came they gave us watery rice and soup. On the eve of New Year, my number was called and I thought that the guy I cut had died. When I reached, I was told that I was being released and I walked till town where everything seemed new. It was like everyone was looking at me as if I was a stranger, I asked where everyone was and they told me that a Christian group had taken them. On that day I slept on the street, asked God for forgiveness and thanked him for having left prison. In the morning, Alex Murungi looked very healthy and so I asked him where he was staying. He begged me to go with but I refused because I did not want help. There was nothing I wanted apart from my friends who had become like my brothers. He stuck on me and I wanted to go with him. I reached where he was staying but the other guys did not want me to stay. All I wanted was a place where to stay with my friends. Uncle Rukundo came and greeted me but I thought he was one of the boys, after that he went inside where Alex told him about me. I was tired of the street and was told about the rules governing the area then I was allowed to stay. After one week, I had to go to church but I was scared and claimed that I did not have what to wear but uncle gave me his trouser and shoes. This was my first time to go for prayers and I did not know how to pray but I later found out that I was not the only one. There were others like me who did not know how to pray and all the while we kept our eyes open and one of the boys even stole from a woman in church when people stood up to sing. I went to church so many times in that soon I got bored and stopped going and have lead a life outside church to this date. I left the street on the 3rd January 2000 but I still kept going back to check on my friends but with time this stopped. I also came to regard the Cornerstone family as my family. I was taught how to live and share with other people. In 2002, I decided to go and look for my family and I told a certain man who encouraged me to go a head and even drove me to Kireka, as I feared getting lost in a taxi. I went straight where my mother had told me to go and I asked but they told me that my auntie was at her mother’s home. They then directed me to this place. However I could not communicate well in the normal Luganda and first went to ask some boys who were playing ludo. They however did not know my grandmother but told me to ask at a certain shop. As I approached the shop there was a girl who looked like my sister Sarah. I called her but she turned and abused me so much in that I started apologising for the calling. The old lady who was in the shop asked me if I knew the girl I had just called. I told her about my story and how I had thought the girl looked like my long lost sister. She started asking me about my background and told me that the people I could be looking for might be the very girl and her grandmother who had the same names as the people I had been telling her about. Their house was directly opposite the shop so I walked right into their compound. I found them starting to eat lunch, my auntie is the one who saw me first as she was seated facing my direction. She started crying but my grandmother shouted at her to stop. She however told her to turn and look at her grandson. She turned looked at me and thought I was another cousin of mine who stayed in Mukono. She went back to her cooking and asked me if I had remembered her after a long time and come to visit her. My sister however corrected her and told her I was not the person she thought I was and then I told them who I was. Everyone started crying and my sister gave me a seat. I was so overjoyed in that I could not speak. I just sat and looked at everyone without saying a word. I just wanted to be alone so I told them that since I had seen them I would go back and visit another time. They could not have it so I spent the night their being told about my relative and other things that had happened since I was away. The next day they took me to see the house that my father had left for me and my sister and it had been used to pay fees for my sister. They told me that if I wanted it I could have it I did not want it. My grandmother then told Sarah to take me to see all my other relatives all over Mukono. Everyone was so happy to see me in that one of my grandfathers’ gave me a plot of land. I went back to Cornerstone and have never told my family that I was ever on the street. I am grateful to God for the time I spent at Cornerstone where I was taken as a child and gave me a focus in life. I even got a chance to work in Ministry Of Gender, with an office and a secretary and I was able to help other people like me to leave the street. Uganda Heritage Roots has done alit for me as I have learnt to smile. Through the activities we are involved in I am able to find a joy within and a reason to smile and even make other people smile. That’s the story of my life though very funny and a bit strange it is true. There is surely hope in life for everyone even people like me.


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