Know your hood : Gayaza

Located North- East of Kampala 20km away by road, Gayaza Township in Wakiso District is a jewel in the central region.

Renown for playing host to many a coveted secondary education schools in Uganda, Gayaza remains an icon in a number of ways. Adjacent to Kasangati township, Gayaza habours a feel of composed countryside with not only steady growth but also development.
The largely residential area began its journey a few years into the 20th Century, when a handful of shops and schools opened up, owing to the missionary activities at the time, imposing a change on the overly-spaced neighbourhoods and turning the bushy alleyways into well-developed pieces of magnificent architectural work.

Background
In the 60s, a local chief of the area named Nsodo indulged the king’s subjects whom the palace officials sent to gather the then His Highness’s gifts from the three counties of Buganda. According to Mr Vincent Mudoyi, the Gayaza-Kyetume B parish LC1 Chairperson, Nsodo would avail liquor to the messengers and get them drunk to purposefully divert them from taking the ‘amakula’ (the king’s gifts) to the palace, items that he would later illegitimately own other than taking them to the designated destination.

The Kabaka asked: “Abasajja bange begayaaza bwe bagenda ewa Nsodo.” This means that the king realised all the messengers he sent to fetch his presents from Nsodo’s home instead, became too lazy or reluctant to do their job. From begayaaza _ “lousing or lazying around,” the area was thus named Gayaza.
Nsodo was corrupt and for that matter, the king punished him by mutilating his ears.

Sought-after education
In the far past(1900s), girls’ education was limited only to Christian instruction including catechism classes and Bible scriptures. However, after Gayaza High School broke the odds in 1905 as the first-ever all girls’ school in the area and beyond, the move was a crusade that kick-started the struggle to promote feminine academia in the country. From four students to 40 and later to 100 of them, the pioneer school set standards for other future players in the field. It is no surprise that later entrants such as Our Lady of Good Counsel, Grace High School, Ntakke SSS, Yonani SSS and St. Julianna SS, too, are giants in education.

Also, the 22-acre Kiira Farm Training Centre offers not only innovative agricultural demonstration to the youth, but also gets them acquainted with skills in cookery, tailoring, poultry farming and horticulture (planting and catering for flowers.

For one interested in commercial agriculture, he or she may not have to look further to improve on his or her crop yields given the presence of the National Crops Research Centre at Namulonge, which is mandated to generate improved seed technologies and control of garden pests.

Fresh foods
A substantial number of people do subsistence farming and supplement their harvest with fresh foods from the area market, leaving the prices quite affordable to even the poor since foods are in plenty. Mr Joseph-Mary Tomusanage, a resident in Gayaza-Kyetume B parish elaborates on the same:
“The price of food stuffs is relatively low and affordable to a common person if one compares to those set in the city centres.”

Finance
Banking is easier with the presence of Stanbic , Opportunity as well as Centenary banks, which are located in the trading centre. Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs), MTN and Airtel telecom mobile money points in the area, too, ease e-financial transactions.

Health
The Church-founded medical facility, John XXIII health centre IV, in the trading centre offers health serices to the people in Gayaza. Drug shops, clinics and pharmacies supplement healthcare in Gayaza. Given that the area has a handful of health facilities, residents often opt for Kasangati Hospital, a Shs500 distance and is 3km away.

Housing
Gayaza is largely residential and fairly spacious. “Many of the residents are landlords,” says Ms Nuru Nabatanzi of Nakwero parish. She indicates that rentals are minimal but where found, a room goes for Shs50,000 and two rooms cost between Shs70, 000 and Shs100,000 a month. She adds that some apartments are sprouting up to cater for those who would want to rent. Dues for commercial rooms range from Shs100,000 – Shs150,000.
Mr Mudoyi says land in Gayaza is largely Church-owned and the institution hardly sells it but offers leases to interested parties. Individuals who own mailo land sell plots and can take a Shs5m or Shs 3m share for a 100 by 50 piece.

editorial@ug.nationmedia.com