Chiefdoms, saccos and rules: The street life you never knew

They dot the verandahs of some buildings. Many on cardboard boxes in the biting cold night. Most have been branded rebel children who found comfort on the streets. How wrong you have been, not all children sleeping on the streets are rebellious. Among these are adults who find it cheaper to sleep for free on the streets.

It is not free. It comes with a cost depending on the worth of your valuables. The cost goes to night guards for custody of wallets and mobile phones.

Why stay on the street
David Kachope, 36, says he works in Owino (St Balikuddembe) Market but is reluctant to say what exactly he does there. He has been sleeping on the verandah of Tourist Hotel for one-and-a- half years. He uses a single sheet to cover him, and a pillow made out of a pair of old well-polished black shoes in a green kavera. This is more for protection than a pillow.

“I once rented a house in Kawala, when I went to the village to see my family I was robbed clean. Henceforth, I gave up renting. I keep my clothes with a laundryman in Kisenyi, who also provides a bathing place,” Kachope explains.
Not far from Kachope is Musa Kabenge from Kawempe who has been on the streets for less than a year. The 21-year-old sleeps in Nakasero which is his night work area.

“Before I sleep I buy some produce especially fruits and vegetables which I later sale to restaurant operators in the morning for a small profit. After, I go to Katwe to look for scrap.” That night, he had bought some lemons. “Today I have got lemons; I vend fruits and vegetables.” Kabenge says his stepfather drove him to the street because he stopped him [Kabenge] from going to school.

For as little as Shs 1,000, Kachope says his phone and wallet are safe with the askari. Asked why Nakasero and not any other place, he is quick to say, “there is safety in numbers. Though one can be pickpocketed while sleeping it’s not easy to be attacked by goons because there are many people around going about their business.”
For Kachope, sleeping on the street is a worthwhile sacrifice.

“Life here is hard but it is the price I have to pay for my family in Mwenge village, Kyegegwa District.”

Safer areas of abode
From Nakasero area, a section of Luwum Street is dotted with people sleeping, especially children. It is the safest area downtown at night. At Yamaha Centre on Luwum Street I find group of street children; some snoring way in their jute bags while others are awake.
The four; Bernard Semakula, Fred Miti (Biggie) Wilson Nkalubo, and Isaac Elukamu engaged in a lively conversation. I stand by pretending to wait for someone as I eavesdrop their conversation. After a couple of minutes, I edge closer and join in the conversation.

There is no sign of substance abuse. Standing close to where they are seated Semakula pushes up for me to sit. I do not disclose that I’m journalist but one interested in learning about street life.

Two youths with sagging jeans pass by looking at us keenly and the topic turns to them. It turns to be my breakthrough with them. I learn that there are different groups and territories on the street. I’m told that the two who have just passed by belong to a group which attacks people. The old taxi park is their base at night.

These groups are like chiefdoms each with its own rules. The group at Yamaha Centre on Luwum Street hosted me from 1.48am to 5.52am as they prepared to start the day. Semakula is the group leader elected by the members. As we part ways I’m invited to come back at night. I honoured the invitation.

Street chiefdoms
Clusters of sleeping street children at night are like chiefdoms. Each has a code of conduct. Chiefdom leaders are elected by show of hands. The top three leaders at Yamaha Centre have a street life experience of 21 years between them.

Semakula says in his domain, they are each other’s keeper. “Once we find that you use drugs or even smoke, we expel you. We don’t entertain habits such as stealing and loitering at night. All members have to be here by 11pm,” says Semakula. Failure to abide, one is expelled from the group.

To give me a variety, Semakula wakes up one boy and sends him to call James. James Ogutu is a one-man chiefdom at the extreme end of the same building on the stairs to the old park. He has been on the street for four years. He keeps his ware with the guard at Temuseo Plaza at a fee. These people rejected me because I drink kavera [gin packed in sachets]. I don’t like other groups because they smoke marijuana and sniff aviation fuel.”

During day Ogutu runs errands in the taxi park.
“I have a small business which I operate between 7.30 pm and midnight when KCCA officials retire. I sleep for a few hours and work for some extra hours until 6am.” His stock of handkerchiefs and men’s socks is worth Shs30,000.

KCCA officials could arrest him if he operates during the day. “There are men who come early either having forgotten to wear socks or have dirty ones, they buy new ones from me.”

Survival kit
Each ‘chiefdom’ has means of survival. “We are neither violent nor thieves. Though all street children are branded thieves, in our group we are not. When we see someone stealing we run to police and report,” says Semakula. They have established a relationship with the police post officers at the Old Taxi Park.

Most street children adopt street names as a survival tool. Nkalubo who deputises Semakula says within their group each member is identified by a number only known to group members. “When we are out there, we use our numbers.

When some children commit crimes, they use other people’s names. When police carries out an operation based on names, innocent children are arrested.”
There is a routine on the street as is at home. “We leave the street by 6.30am before KCCA patrol and take our beddings to KCCA park opposite Watoto Church. We pick them after 8pm,” Semakula explains. The beddings include jute bags and a few cardboard boxes.

They go about different works. In the evening, Semakula says those who belong to the saving club take the money to the cashier before she leaves her stall. The rest of the team either goes to Nakivubo Channel behind Container Village for a bath or to Kisenyi where they pay to shower and change clothes.

Feeding
They are mindful of where they eat for health reasons. “We don’t eat anywhere; if the place looks very dirty we don’t eat because it costs us when one of us falls sick.”
In some cases, street children act as unofficial guards where they sleep. In one incident, they foiled a shop break-in when they alerted police.

“A man opened the first padlock with ease, when they took long opening the next, we suspected something was wrong. One of us pretended to be going for a short call across the road and tipped off the police which arrested them. We would have been accused of the act.”

Challenges

Life on the streets has its dark side. Health is a big challenge but KCCA health centre in Kisenyi is their only solution. Semakula says at the centre though not turned away, they part with something small. “We have to talk nicely to the nurse, and also make sure we appear presentable,” Miti explains.” They have had cases, he adds, where one has to be admitted.

“In such cases, as a group we designate one person to attend to the patient. The rest look for money and contribute towards food, we also have to buy at least a bed sheet to be used at the health centre for the sick person.”
I visited the centre and inquired from the front desk whether they have handled cases of street children. The nurse says they don’t discriminate clients.

“By virtue of the hospital’s location such children are expected and we cannot turn them away. They are like any other patient,” she explains.

Street Sacco
Some of the children at Yahama Centre have a savings scheme. From their different jobs such as running errands in Owino (St Balikuddembe) Market and porters at construction sites in the city centre, they save money.

“We save Shs 500 everyday with a certain woman in Owino. Every Saturday evening after bathing, we go to her to tell us how much is on the account. We have so far saved Shs 1.6m,” Semakula says.

Facts
I crosscheck their facts at the Old Taxi Park Police Post. I visit the post towards 3am. After an hour-and-half chat with the officer it turns out, the boys are honest. The officer is quick to point out where the best reformed street children stay.

“Boys who sleep at Yamaha Centre are good. The have helped us fight crime, recently they reported a robbery and we got thugs breaking into a shop. Not every street child is a thief. Some of them come here for counselling. I think the public should change its perception.”

Walking through the Owino labyrinth, Miti and Semakula lead me to an elderly shy lady operating a secondhand clothes stall. They introduce me as their friend. When I ask about the boys’ savings she can only talk if I’m not a journalist. “Yes they give me money on a daily basis Shs 500 each and I have slightly more than Shs1.6m including what they gave me yesterday.”