Meet Sara Kisauzi, aka Nalweyiso, or mother-in-law

It was pleasant right from the first call seeking an appointment for the interview. Sara Kisauzi, better known as Mother-in-law, Nalweyiso, on NTV’s local drama, Deception, or the “Richard, I’m leaving you” actress in a telecom advert, speaks to me like we have known each other for ages.

“What is your name? Kiyaga? Then why are you disturbing me with English, we should switch to Luganda,” she says, laughing, on phone, sounding nothing like the evil mother-in-law she acts on TV. “Luganda is quite difficult. Let’s switch to English see if we can sustain that,” she asks in the next call to confirm the interview. We ultimately plan to meet at her home in Bunga, about two kilometres off the Kampala-Ggaba road.

Face to face with Nalweyiso
Clad in a strapless yellow top, a blue jean skirt and culture sandals, complete with the trademark Afro she dons in her TV roles, she happily ushers us into her expansive and richly furnished home facing Lake Victoria. She is even chattier than she was on phone, filling us in on what she had been up to that day as she awaited our arrival. “When you are here, I want you to feel free. This is your home and you are my children,” she orders, heading to the kitchen to get us some fruits.

A quick look around the house reveals a well to do family, well travelled too, going by the accumulated mementoes in art pieces carefully strewn around the house. Pictures hanging off the walls inside the house reveal that Kasauzi is daughter to veteran engineer Washington Sentongo, and is married to Dan Kasauzi, a medical doctor, with whom they have two daughters and a son.

In the kitchen where she later invites us to join her, she serves us tea as she continues to ready things around the house, explaining that keeping busy may be one of the reasons she has kept stronger than most 69-year-olds like her. “I do not wait for my house help to clean my house. Then what is my role as a woman? I do the work that I am supposed to do to allow her time to learn skills away from this job that will be useful to her in future,” the first born of 13 children explains.

This amiable Kasauzi, settled in her marriage and content in her role as home maker is nothing like the husband-abandoning wife or evil mother-in-law roles she so convincingly plays on screen.

The realisation of a dream
This acting, she says, is a realisation of a dream that started in Kasauzi’s 20s, after she participated in a radio play, “Doctor Kiddugavu with Marion,” as a nursing sister. “That was the most listened to programme at the time in the 70s and it earned me some recognition and roles in stage acts,” she recounts. Kasauzi was then pursuing a diploma in nursing at Mulago Nursing School. She adds, “We were few girls who could brave the stage because of cultural barriers and when we stepped on stage, the theatres filled to the brim. And I was no an ordinary girl,” she jokingly adds, in reference to her physical beauty, which, jokes aside, undeniably stands out. “Would you leave out such a girl while picking people to appear in a play?” she adds, directing me to a black and white portrait of a younger even more beautiful Kasauzi that hangs off the wall. Other plays she has appeared in include; Kawuulu, and Namwandu wani among others.

Scoring the mother-in-law role
Kasauzi’s acting career took a back seat for a while after she started a family and spent years abroad studying, working and rasing her family, until about five years ago. “I was driving home in the evening when I heard an advert on radio where Mariam Ndagire was calling for auditions for actors and actresses in the age bracket 15-65 and I decided to take it on,” she reasoned.

She has since featured in Mariam Ndagire movies; Hearts in Pieces, Where We Belong and Dear Mum, and a TV drama series Because of You. For the role that seems to have attracted her the most attention in Deception, she says she was approached by NTV and she took up the role. “My son has not married yet but I would never want a woman to go through such an experience. I know a person who went through that situation for 15 years and it is one of the reasons I act it, hoping this person will gain some consolation from watching it,” she tells of her only personal connection to this role.

One on one

What has been your most resounding role?
Nothing comes close to the mother-in-law (the character in Deception as Nalweyiso). People will not like Nalweyiso but she is sending a message. There is a lot of trauma that mothers-in-law are causing in families, but few people speak out. People should wake up because the rate at which mothers-in-law are damaging relationships is worse than promiscuous men.

And the funniest?
That role in the Warid advert (Forever bonus), I liked it. It was short but people noticed it. I wish my partner and I got an opportunity to do skits on contentious issues like the Marriage and Divorce Bill. People would probably understand them better.

How have you been affected by the roles you act?
I get noticed, with people waving at me wherever I go, but because I would like to be a “semi celebrity,” I will try to keep low as possible. I really enjoy life as a mere Ms Kisauzi who can walk barefooted around the village, I still want to be a normal person.

How do you want to be remembered?
I want to be remembered as a person who loved and wished everyone the best. At the end of the day, having the people we love happy is more important than even money.

Are there social or political issues you feel strongly about?
Hypocrisy. Most people in this country just do not wish others well. You cannot trust anyone, be it relatives or strangers. I have learnt that people take advantage of your kindness and plan to hurt you.

There are not many women in their 60s that look like you. How do you pull that off?
[Laughs] I’m a reflection of my environment most of the time. Sad people make me sad just as the young, energetic and happy people among whom I live these days, rub their effect on me.
Many people my age are sick and they will be crying over this and that and I cannot stand that. Give me one reason I should not be happy when I am doing what I love to do the most (acting). I also design my own clothes, as I studied a design course in Dublin.

Did you have any specific goals that you wanted to achieve in your life?
I really wanted to be a good home maker as my mother.

What is your trick for succeeding at your stage roles?
I put myself in the position of character that I am acting, I can feel some ones emotion and I really get into it and that is how I come out to be the best.