Nabumali aim to regain lost glory

Husnah Kukundakwe is undoubtedly the most popular para-swimmer in the country. 

Her success has inspired her former coach Collins Wasswa Matovu to encourage more handicapped children, across Uganda, to swim.

One such budding swimmer is Nabumali High School’s Joshua Okoth, who cannot stand but learnt how to freestyle across the width of the shallow end (5ft deep) of the institution’s 25-yard pool in just two weeks. 

“I showed him pictures of several para-swimmers and told him he could do it too,” Matovu, commonly referred to as Jaja Coach, shared during the Uganda Swimming Federation (USF)’s visit to the refurbished pool in Mbale last Saturday.

Matovu was in the 109 year-old school for over 40 years ago and was one of the outstanding swimmers that graced the pool that was inaugurated in 1964. But the political turmoil in early 1978 meant that the school could no longer import cleaning chemicals from Kenya.

“Eventually, it became dirty and dark. A boy got stuck in it one day and the school only realized he had drowned and died when he could not be traced in the dormitory that evening,” Matovu recounts.

The pool was closed and that remained the case for over 40 years. But the old students of the school championed by Matovu mobilized resources to refurbish the pool, which was reopened in January 2021 and is now managed by coach Joshua Kutosi and patron Simonpeter Adongu.

“You cannot imagine the small things the pool has done for us. The levels of escapism have reduced as some students are engaged while others go to watch them,” headmaster Daniel Douglas Kaima, says.  According to Kutosi, about 200 students have showed interested in swimming and diving since the pool reopened up. “We are amazed and want to commend the sacrifice and job done by Mr. Matovu. I mean this is a government school but their (government) priorities might not be sports and especially not in Nabumali.

Pledging support

“We want to pledge our moral and technical support. We wish it could be financial but we have our own challenges,” USF president Moses Mwase, who went on to tour Bugiri and Jinja mapping out places with swimming pools, said. 

With such a facility, USF believe Nabumali has done 50 percent of the work they need to become a regional powerhouse. But they were also urged to train more coaches and lifeguards to close the technical gap.

National Council of Sports (NCS) chairman and Uganda Olympic Committee (UOC) Dr. Donald Rukare was in tow and promised to extend sports management programs to the school. He also urged them to open up the facilities to the community surrounding the school.

“I was able to swim because as a son of a lecturer at Makerere (University), we had access to facilities. I know schools can be protective but I hope there is a strategy to open up to the community, starting with the children of teachers.

“You have a goldmine here and with the right vision and strategy in terms of partnering with the local government and corporate bodies here (in Mbale), you can become a sports powerhouse again,” Rukare said after touring other fields, some of which might need refurbishment, in the school.

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