Najjengo: Celebrated actress committed to the craft

To veteran screen and stage playwright and actor, Hajji Ashraf Ssimwogerere, Elizabeth Lilian Najjengo is a unique, committed actress, fast at grasping scripts, executing roles and easily adaptive.

Najjengo is one of Uganda’s promising actresses. She has starred in the televised drama series titled Ssuubi in which she acted as a nine-year-old Vivian, Keeping Up Appearances as a 11-year-old Sarah, The Agreement as an 18-year-old shopkeeper, Muzukulu Wa Wakayima as 10-year-old Vivian and Struggling Faces as an eight-year-old Daisy, and a film that was inspired by a real-life experience.

 To veteran screen and stage playwright and actor, Hajji Ashraf Ssimwogerere, Elizabeth Vivian Najjengo is a unique, committed actress, fast at grasping scripts, executing roles and easily adaptible.

Najjengo is one of Uganda’s promising actresses. She has starred in the televised drama series titled Ssuubi in which she acts as a nine-year-old Vivian, Keeping Up Appearances as  11-year-old Sarah, The Agreement as an 18-year-old shopkeeper, Muzukulu Wa Wakayima as 10-year-old Vivian and Struggling Faces as eight-year-old Daisy, and a film that was inspired by a real-life experience.

 “It is a true story about a girl. We (with Zinga Yaffe, the company that manages her) had gone to Kalangala for some other business. As we interacted with people, I picked a conversation with a girl who told me she was being abused by a teacher at school. It was very sad,” Najjengo recalls.

Inspiration

Later on she shared the story with the crew, each of them was touched. On return to Kampala, Zinga Yaffe met and decided to script a film as part of their responsibility in fighting child abuse.

The abused girl was in Primary Six. Najjengo took on the lead role in the film.

 “We believe that we have a role to play to make our society a better place. The little girl could not defend herself because she had little knowledge about what was happening or the impact. This propelled us to research about what was happening on the Islands. There are many people who are  struggling in such a situation, and that is how we generated the title Struggling Faces,” Zinga Yaffe director, Balaba explains.

He commends Najjengo for passionately investing her soul in pulling off the role. The actress has also had her share of stage performances, including an adaptation of Paul Kilimutu directed by Deo Ssebuffu in which she acted as Rosa at Uganda National Cultural Centre (National Theatre), Mawotto e’ Mawotto directed by Ssebuufu at the same venue, Engalabi ya Nadduli directed by Ashiraf Ssimwogere at Bat Valley Theatre and Theatre La Bonita and Kyosiga directed by Ssebuufu at Uganda National Cultural Centre. 

The start

Her acting career began nibbing in primary school when she got involved in music, dance and drama (MDD) school fetes. When she joined Mengo Senior School, she concentrated on acting. Her tutors spotted her and gave her roles for plays that were staged at interschool competitions.

Like that, she was required to bring her A-Game on and stand surety for her school winning. In effect, she got better and spirited. Today, it is easy for her to take on different roles; a child, girl, a teenager, stepmother, loving sister and convincingly impress her directors.

Balaba spotted Najjengo after putting up a good show in a stage play titled Mawotto e’ Mawotto.

He explains, “In art, there is that spot which every individual has. It can be called the hidden potential which can be discovered or supported. Najjengo already had an opportunity for people who had seen the potential in her. It needed to be seen, grown and moved to greater heights.”

He had seen her screen play on Suubi and she was good on stage too. She was still in school and it would be easy to groom her.

 Alex David Ssebuufu of Pride Performers, met Najjengo as a student at Mengo SS when he was doing his internship. He interacted with her as a drama trainer ahead of their MDD interhouse competition.

“That was when I identified her talent as an actress. She requested me to join our drama group,” Ssebuufu recalls adding, “Because she was still studying, I kept postponing until she one time surprised me by showing up unexpectedly in her full school uniform with a friend at the National Theatre. I could not lie to her anymore.”

They sat and talked about her admiration for art and then sought consent from her guardian so that she could go for rehearsals.

Maiden appearance

Najjengo then started rehearsals because we were preparing for a play  and her first role was a mother of a very stubborn son,” Ssebuufu relates and commends her, “she pulled off the character well to the admiration of seniors in the field such as Hajji Ashraf Ssimwogerere. Since then, the rest is history.”

Playwright and theatre director, Fred Musisi Munagomba has worked with Najjengo on different projects as a director. Munagomba says the actress is passionate, committed and professional.

“I have directed her in stage plays, screen plays and radio dramas. In all three areas, her talent is really amazing,” he comments.

Her drive

Najjengo says she respects art as a profession. As such, when she is given a role to play, she concentrates on reading, understanding and internalising a script right to the depth of what the playwright means and wants to achieve.  For example, in Struggling Faces, she has to morph her character from jolly to sad in order to bring out the solemnity of the thematic concerns of moral decadence perpetuated on her as an innocent soul that is split between respect, loyalty and losing her chastity in a society. Here, she cannot find anyone to open up to until a stranger starts a conversation with her and gives her confidence to open up and share the pains within her mind and body.

Najjengo has been acting since 2016 when she split her time between day-schooling and chasing her acting career.

Plans and role models

 Today, she plans on working on dream projects locally, with people she looks up to,  such as Ann Kansiime whose works she has been watching and following for years from the time at Fun Factory screened their stage content in a programme dubbed Barbed Wire.

“Ann Kansiime had this character when she was acting as a child, it was very interesting. I liked her acting on stage too. Her characters matched those in my very first play. It was like a dream come true.

I later got a chance to watch their live skits and was surprised that she is a down-to-earth person,” Najjengo says of her favourite Ugandan actress and role model in the arts industry.

Her dream is to have a one-on-one with her and then act on the same stage with her.

For now, she ardently follows her on social media and watches her on stage.

Away from acting

Besides acting, the 25-year-old actress likes having a hearty laugh, creating TikTok videos, reading novels to feed her imagination and fantasy projections as well as doing make-up.

“Vivian is a strong woman who cares about her  relatives and encourages them to progress. She is a strong pillar in the family and I predict a bright career for her,” Annet Nanvuma says of her daughter.