Nakaddu
87 years old
Kayunga District
We met Nakaddu in the afternoon. She was roasting ground nuts under the shade of a coffee
tree. As soon as we arrived, she welcomed us and motioned us to sit on one of her stools.
When we asked her about the Senior Citizens’ Grant Programme, she told us:
I don’t get the money, but I don’t know what to do. So, I listen to what the LCI chairperson says,
and I wait. I stay here alone. I can no longer dig. My arm is not okay. I cook for myself.
Those ones (pointing to the neighbours) give me some food. But when I get some small money
from my son on the times he comes, I send some boys to fetch for me some water.
But my son rarely comes here. He has now taken about 5 months without coming here. You
know when a son gets married, they become lost.
At this point, a member of our research team, Kitaka Patrick, interjects, saying “But sons love their
mothers—they can never disappear like that!”
Nakaddu just chuckles and replies:
My friend, everyone has their own heart; [and] who loves a poor person? But I have nothing to
do. I stay here and eat what I’m given. I don’t have cups, no plates, I have no bed sheets.
May be if I got some money like my friends [through the grant], I can also buy some of those
things. But I’m here living like I have no people of my own.
38
Chased Away and Left to Die