Elsie Namagambe: A teacher with many hats

Elsie Namagambe (left) with her young football team. She juggles coaching football with being a head teacher and says she does not envision herself quitting any of the two. Courtsey photo

The eldest daughter in the family and fourth child in 12, Elsie Namagambe was the knight in shining armour of her siblings at the height of the NRA Liberation War. Her story is that of perseverance. She says growing up in war-torn Luweero in the 1990s did not make it easy to have big dreams.

She assumed the role of mother to her siblings from her polygamous father handing her complex roles. Her father was later killed in the 1980 war. The five-year bush war is estimated to have claimed the lives of about 500,000 people, including combatants and civilians.

“There was not much hope. I cooked for the whole family and going to school was mostly impossible,” she said.
Fuelled to succeed by hunger, she feasted on hope mainly from having faith in God and her mother.

“The boys had gone to seek refuge elsewhere and it was me taking care of everyone else since we had left our home in Wabusaana (in Kikyusa Sub-county because of the war) to come to our step mother’s house in Luweero Town,” she adds.

Luckily, government called all children affected by the war for free education and she left. This left her mother to dig people’s gardens to feed the rest of the family as Namagambe went to live at a teacher’s home where she worked as a maid at Luweero Boys School.
She missed school for up to three years and at 11 in 1983, she resumed studies in Primary Three at Luweero Girls.

It was during that time that one teacher she recalls as Madam Kayizzi inspired her to become a doctor, something she has not achieved yet.
Her story is not an exception. It is what most war children went through but it would be unrealistic to think she did not have to beat odds.
In 1985, after missing the second term, her maternal aunt, Magdalene Zansanze picked her to study from Ssempa Primary School. Those that stayed back never continued with their studies.
To her, growing up during tough times was the fodder that challenged her to start leading in class.

Dismal performance
But she regrets her performance in Primary Leaving Examinations. One of her peers gave her a leaked paper only to realise it was a wrong one during the exam. She came out with Aggregate 11 which she considered poor performance.

“My friends went to the schools I wished I had joined such as Nabisunsa Girls and Gayaza High School but I was accepted at Old Kampala Secondary School. I later came to like it,” she recalls.

Joining an urban school exposed her to a cultural shock. She was forced to sit behind in the class as students sat according to their performances.
But she was later to become popular in school with her excellent performance as a bright student who was also active in netball, athletics, handball, the Scripture Union as well as music, dance and drama.

But all was not rosy as she kept struggling for school fees. She remembers that time with sadness. Her aunt was low on finances yet she chose to keep in school.

Plan B
Namagambe thus spent sleepless nights figuring out how to pay fees.
She started vending pancakes, became a netballer for hire as well as a coach for fellow students.
But the struggle was overwhelming as she normally did not sit her end of term exams despite regular interactions with the head teachers.
Most times, she would get examination papers from friends after exams with two other friends to keep testing themselves.

After completing high school, Namagambe joined National Teacher’s College, Nkozi. She made extra money by coaching students and part-time teaching in Buwama.

After completing her diploma in 1996, a group of nine Makerere students hailing from Luweero, started a school, Naluvule College School, and she was appointed first head teacher, a role she still holds today.
“We wanted to be a positive force to our roots,” she said. Three years later, she completed her degree in Education Management and Evaluation at Kyambogo University.

Heartbeat for sports
In addition to her academic pursuits, Namagambe started a football academy called Crystal. Since it was hard to attract good coaches in a rural setting, she learned basics of coaching and refereeing from her friend Henry Kalule. To-date she is a Caf-C licenced coach who handles her own school team even though her qualifications from America rank her high.

In 2008, she trained in America with Majidah Nantanda and Dan Kiwanuka.
Namagambe still has big dreams. At 49 years, she still yearns to become a doctor and have children of her own.
Aside from her administrative work, she teaches Chemistry in A-Level and Senior Four in addition to being an administrator in Luweero Football Association.