Where villages have bizarre names

If you are to make profits from your business, you are better off establishing it on a main road such as Gayaza Road. Photos by Rachel Ajwang.

What you need to know:

While Gayaza is steadily developing, it is not yet a good business area.

I have always thought Gayaza was very far away. So, on the way, I was wondering how much fare I was going to be charged. As I feared to get lost, I took the seat next to an old woman hoping she knew the place.

Location
However, when I alighted from the taxi after approximately 30 minutes at Shell Fuel Station Gayaza, I realised that the place was about 17km from Kampala in Wakiso District and I only paid a fare of Shs2,000. Since I knew no one in the area, I asked around for the LC1 chairperson and they directed me to Godfrey Musoke, the chairperson of Gayaza A. He said Gayaza is divided into Gayaza A and B and has villages like Kibizi, Kimwanyi and Namamonde whose names were derived from the activities that took place in those areas in the past.

Gayaza is neighboured to villages like Kasangati, Kyankima, Kyetume and Kabanyoro. It covers an area of 400 hectares as William Yiga, a resident and chairperson Gayaza B, estimates. Some of the common businesses in Gayaza are salons, bars, retail shops, restaurants and people selling food stuffs. The has fuel stations like Shell, Caltex and Balibawo Clinic.

How the place got its name
Like most places that got their names from what happened there some years back, so did Gayaza.
Yiga, who is in his late 40s, stresses that the name was derived from the slow pace of development in the area. He notes that Gayaza Church of Uganda Secondary School contributed a lot to the name, Gayaza, because the school was developing at a slow rate compared to Buddo S.S yet they were set up at the same time. Because of the slow pace people described it as “essomero eryo lya bagayavu belele” a school for lazy people, hence the name Gayaza.

Security
Esther Nakato, the officer in charge (OC) at Gayaza Police Post, says police sensitises the community against offences such as theft, domestic violence, burglary, assault and opium smoking to create alertness thereby preventing crimes. “We also conduct night foot patrols ,” she adds.

Facilities
Gayaza is also home to several other health facilities whose charges are afforded by low class residents. They include Gayaza Diagnostic Centre and Balibawo Fracture Clinic.
Gayaza High School and Makerere University Institute of Agriculture are among the few educational institutes in this place. Gayaza Church of Uganda is one of the worship centres found in the place.
While in Gayaza, the best place to shop from is Gayaza Market which houses both retail and wholesale shops plus glossary shops.

Development
William Yiga says development around the place has quite changed compared to the early days where all roads were full of dirt. Wattle houses have also decreased with many commercial buildings and residential houses coming up.

However, if you are planning on buying land in Gayaza, you are better off using it for residential or farming purposes because besides bars, other businesses are slow since many people do shopping in the city or Mpererwe. But if you insist on starting up a business like a restaurant and supermarket, among others, make sure it is situated on the mainroad.