From grass to grace- Kisakye’s journey of resilience

From 32 children to 1,000 pupils, a reed classroom to brick and mortar classrooms, it has been a journey for Ms Cissy Kisakye, the proprietor of Kaweesi Memorial Primary School.

As early as Primary Six, Ms Kisakye had a vision to become a teacher. Drafting it on paper, she shared it with her teachers who later showed it to the then-District Education Officer. Thrilled by her dream, he paid her school fees for the remaining time in primary. “However, after Primary Seven, while I wanted to pursue my dream, due to lack of guidance, I branched off to nursing. Nonetheless, the teaching bug bit hard and before long, I was back to teaching to become a Grade III teacher,” she says.

With three children to educate and her tuition to pay, Ms Kisakye needed to find ways to make it happen. Digging potato heaps, crocheting items such as chair covers, and making Christmas cards, she made it happen.

During her probation, she went to Nakatete Baptist School, which though deep in the village, Ms Kisakye poured efforts into the job to make a tangible transformation by the time of her departure. For instance, she introduced the Scouts and Girl Guides group which emerged winners on their first appearance at Kaazi (1993). “We also dup sweet potato heaps and built houses for the elderly. That was my way of teaching them to take care of the ageing,” she says.

Despite putting her all into the trade, towards the final exams, word had it that they had not done probation. In essence, they were ineligible for the examinations. “I thank God for the teacher that stood up for us, enabling us to graduate as diploma holders,” she says.

With the hunger to experience better, Ms Kisakye opted to move to the city. However, the grass was surely not greener on the other side because, for one-and-a-half years, she got no pay.

All this while, passion drove Ms Kisakye to create impact. She later moved on to start a school in Mperererwe to fulfil her childhood dream. However, the only children she got were of very low-income earners as the rich in the area did not deem her fit to tutor their children. “For a year, all I got were slow learners. I supplemented my earnings with knitting chair covers to get rent for the house we were using. God was merciful and we finished the year. However, the experience was not worth repeating for another year hence returning to Masaka,” she says.

Ms Kisakye approached Hope Day and Boarding Primary School, in Masaka Town and was given an interview with a focus on three aspects - classroom demonstration, preparing a scheme of work and writing on a stencil. “They were so amazed with my stencil writing that I was given the job immediately. In appreciation, once again, I was so engrossed in doing my job that some teachers asked me if I was always the teacher on duty or the school director. My response was that I had come to teach and was doing just that,” she reminisces.

After six months, the school held a meeting to pick a deputy among the teachers and the lot fell on Ms Kisakye, without any lobbying. After a year, her employer went abroad, leaving the school, for the next six months, in Ms Kisakye’s hands. “On returning, he was amazed with the school’s general results. However, the desire to start my school still burned and three years later, I decided to return to Butambala. Using my pay, I bought 20 t-shirts, books, colouring pencils, pencils and files to start my journey in 1998,” she says.

It started in Ms Kisakye’s father’s house with 32 children who increased to 51 by the end of the year. The dilemma at hand was how to widen the space hence approaching a white man she had heard helped schools with a start-up fund. However, he needed a commitment from her of Shs7m, which she did not have. “Deep within, I knew that even without that money, I would teach children hence returning home to see how to use what was available,” she says.

In 2000, Ms Kisakye opted to use reeds from a nearby swamp to create her ‘school palace’ starting with three classrooms and roofed using black polythene and papyrus. Unfortunately, the roofer damaged the polythene during installation. “Rainy seasons were our worst because when the skies opened, the classroom leaked forcing us to seek refuge in my father’s house,” she says.

Among the children she taught (in 2000) were prominent people such as Mr Godfrey Luyobya, the Nakawa Division Speaker, nurses, and clinical officers. “After a while, we had 300 children which meant getting more reed classrooms. For a year, I taught P1 and 2 together and the amazing thing was while those in P2 revised, those in P1 got the P2 concepts which greatly helped them,” she says.

After a while, in 2001, Ms Kisakye started a boarding section with one child (Mr Hamidu Kabubi) who had become a pain to his sibling hence wanting to take him to the village. Ms Kisakye’s motherly instincts kicked in, taking him on as her pupil at no charge for a term. “On seeing the transformation, his sister agreed to start paying his fees. I then got another pupil came and this also enabled me to get school fees for my biological children. With time, I also got 30 orphans whose school fees came from the profits I made off the 270,” she says.

Eventually, her father’s plat was too small for the numbers. That pushed her to get a bank loan to buy land. She buffered that with money from the sale of a (40*70) land parcel from her mother. The land she opted for had nine plots (one acre) that Ms Kisakye bought in phases. “The process entailed borrowing to buy each plot, repaying before getting another and this took one year. I also got soft loans, which eased the process,” she says.

In 2002, she started making soil bricks to build two classrooms, supplementing this with wood to create more classrooms. Then, by God’s grace, the former Butambala county Member of Parliament, Mr Ibrahim Kaddunabbi gave her 30 iron sheets for the roof.

“After primary school, I have taken some of the orphans to nearby secondary schools, continuing to cater to their academic, and personal needs. I am proud of being a teacher because I have paid school fees for my children and several others. I am thankful that when educating these children, I look at giving them holistic education such as behaviour, sports,” she says.

Other attributes

Ms Kisakye is also a netball instructor because while upgrading, she did Maths and Physical Education. She actively engages in these games and in 2018, Kaweesi Memorial School won the District under-14 trophy.

“We also do music and have composed songs with one of my teachers, Mr David Taliwago. At the moment we have 20 songs and have participated in music school competitions. Most of these are either educative such as ‘morals’ but also celebratory as the one used during our 25 year anniversary. I advocate for these because they help build a child’s talent,” she says.

Religious Education is another crucial aspect of the school because Ms Kisakye wants the children to revere God as the author of all. “I have seen children who were not doing well improve for better because I tasked their fellow pupils to pray for them,” she says.

Ms Kisakye has also rented land for digging, which makes catering to the school and her dependents’ food needs easier.  The latter includes those dumped by parents and those whose parents cannot afford to pay their school fees. This work is done under the Source of Hope Children’s ministry which was registered in 2004. “I am lobbying that the children get incremental assistance to supplement my efforts,” she says.

Covid-19 pandemic

Many school institutions were affected by the pandemic as some closed. Ms Kisakye is thankful that they are standing. “I had kept some money in the bank which supplemented the produce from our gardens. I also got income from my rentals,” she says.

When schools reopened, most parents had no money but also, most teachers had gone. Getting back to her default settings, Ms Kisakye filled all the gaps until they got replacements.  “That was a taxing time for me that I started sleeping at school to better serve. Additionally, the new teachers needed skilling while some were used to the Covid-19 lacklustre living which needed putting in a lot to bring them up to speed,” she says.

Triumphs

The children come from within Bulo Trading Centre such as Kasasa, Kalo, and Malele villages but those in the boarding section come from as far as Kampala, Wakiso, Gomba, Entebbe and Mpigi. Ms Kisakye thanks the Lord for bringing them this far. “We have an extra building, graded the compound, and cemented the classes that had a soil floor. We also bought more beds because, before Covid-19, some children slept on the floor,” she says.

Ms Kisakye adds that it is a miracle that despite being in a predominantly Moslem community, this Christian school is thriving. “He has enabled me to come this far. We are thankful that from reeds we have a storied building as well as an office from operating under a tree,” she says.