A shoe in the latrine and barefeet at a wedding.

Joseph Walugembe, the Director of the Uganda National Cultural Centre (National Theatre) wanted to be a lawyer because he had a knack for arguing. However, today he doesn’t regret making his living in the arts.

I was raised in Wakiso District in Namayumba village. I am the fourth of 13 children. We would have been 14, but one of us passed away. My father was a teacher and because of the nature of his job, we stayed in different places. My mother was an embroiderer. She mostly worked on Indian sarees.

I spent the other part of my childhood in Kungu village near Mutunga. I remember when I was growing up, I was close to my sister Herodius Nawatti. She is the one I come after. I had a good relationship with her because she was capable of keeping secrets. To-date, she is not just my sister, but also a friend.

I loved playing football very much, I was always part of the youth groups in which I also sang and acted. I was a very responsible child, always a leader both at school and home. I joked a lot, but always got time to lead others.

The best gift I got from my father, were Bata shoes. He gave them to me after I scored first grade in Primary Seven. There were not many students in my school that had shoes.

My childhood friend was Sarah Nanfuka. I don’t know where she is now. I don’t see many of the friends I had in primary school. I see mostly those that I met in secondary school.

My most cherished moments were when I was in the school choir where my father was the choir master with my brothers and sisters. He was also in charge of the debate club and I was part of that too. I saw him most times and I remember those moments clearly. I was argumentative and dreamt of becoming a lawyer, but later I ended up in the arts.

The day I will never forget in my life is when I first performed at the school speech day in Namayunga Primary School. I played the role of Abdul, the wise man. I also performed a traditional dance. I had all the lines and according to the audience I acted very well, from then on, I was nicknamed Abdul at school.

When I was still a child, I never allowed to be punished before I had an explanation of why I was being punished. I had a tough time one day with my grandmother. She wanted to punish me yet I wasn’t in wrong. She was in wrong. She simply wanted to punish me because I was a child. I still remember that up to now.

Our father didn’t beat us though. He often scolded us instead. But there was a time he beat all of us, the children. I challenged him so much because there was no clear reason why he had to beat us, it was a group punishment. I told him he could go ahead and punish us but I had not acknowledged it.

The saddest thing that happened to me when I was staying with my grandfather in Gayaza. We were preparing to go for a party at Grand Imperial Hotel and my shoe fell in the latrine. So, I had to go to the wedding bare footed.