By Aaron Oguttu
Young, and filled with some optimism, Ruth Nakyewe joined Makerere University in 1978 not to study but to seek a job. At the age of 16, she already lost hope of having an education since her father had a mental illness and was unable to take care of their family. Once she started working at the university, Nakyewe did not leave until 45 years later.. She retired recently at 61 in October 2023.
Her work started at Makerere Law School where she met a one Professor Abraham Kiyapi, who asked about her literacy background and she affirmed she was literate.. On his instruction, she wrote an application letter for a job as an office messenger. It took a while as her application was scrutinized to ascertain if she really deserved a job. The labor department then, now Human Resource (HR) released her letter of appointment after a period of three months of waiting. During this time, she was staying with her friend Josephine Nakanwagi around the Katanga slums, patiently waiting for her appointment letter. Even after she got the appointment, she still needed support for a few more months as her salary was not as adequate.
Hardly had she settled in, when the 1979 war broke out. She and Nakanwagi both fled Kampala but took different directions. Nakyewe says that she has never again met her kind friend who offered her accommodation then. She suspects Nakanwagi may have passed on during the war. Life became difficult as she kept thinking about her friend on her return in 1980. As the saying goes, time heals and she was able to move on with her life.
Ruth Nakyewe at Law School operating the phone booth
With a salary of Shs24,000, she was able to pay for rent and buy food and clothing for not only herself but also her family. “This was very little money but had a lot of value as compared to the present status of the economy then,” she says, adding that in 1986 with the takeover by a new government, her salary shot up drastically to Shs60,000. This gave her the zeal to work harder and show more commitment at her job as a cleaner. Around that time, she got engaged to Mr. Justus Kalyango and towards the end of 1986, they bore their first born.
Educating the children
Nakyewe also operated a phone booth as a source of side income while at Law School where students and most staff used to visit to make calls to their relatives and friends. When her children were of age, she started sending them to school and paying for their fees. She has 3 children, 2 of whom went to Bugema University and another who studied at Makerere University and graduated in 2014 with a Bachelor of Arts in Arts. Nakyewe has had to educate her children almost single-handedly having lost their father Kalyango in a motor accident in February 1991. She has however stood the test of time as a single mother. It was actually during this time that her salary again rose from Shs60,000 to Shs90,000. She was able to manage on her own to get her children up to tertiary level until it was her daughter’s turn which saw her get a salary loan to be able to pay the fees.
In addition to being a telephone operator, Nakyewe also visited staff quarters to do some cleaning in their houses in return for some money and this added to her income.
Ruth Nakyewe and her Daughter at her graduation in front of the Makerere Main Building in 2016
As with most people, working has not been without its challenges. One of those for her were the delays in salary remittance sometimes, although this usually happened towards the end of the financial year and the beginning of the next financial year, something she says still happened till the time she retired. She states that she was also often disturbed by fellow staff while at Law School, “because I was liked by my bosses as compared to the others.” She insists that she was provoked often which led to quarreling occasionally. She however remembers with pride working well with the likes of Prof. Ben Twinomugisha, Dr. Sylvia Tamale, Prof. Oloka Onyango and many others when she was at the legal scholars’ section.
A switch in departments
2016 saw her transferred from Law School due to what she says were the quarrels with her colleagues. She was grieved and it was hard for her to handle leaving an environment she worked in since the 70s when she joined the institution.
“I was not happy with the move but had no choice since I was helpless,” she says. She received a warm welcome at the School of Women and Gender Studies (SWAGS) where she was moved. In her sphere of operation at the office level, there was nothing new she had to learn. She prides Dr. Sarah Sali the current dean of the school for being a good steward. She worked at SWAGS until her retirement in October 2023.
Nakyewe makes mention of some of the prominent figures that she observed during her time of work at Law School. “The Hon. Medard Seggona came first as he was friendly as a young boy at Law school. Seggona was a small, jolly and friendly student,” she said. She also remembers seeing Hon. Mukasa Fred Mbidde, the late Jacob Olanya, Hon. Thomas Tayebwa and others..
Ruth Nakyewe, her in-law, her daughter, and her son in front of the main building after the graduation moment.
Nakyewe mentions her best moment while at Makerere University as the time during her daughter's graduation in 2014.
“I was very happy because I paid 50% of her tuition and the university paid the rest,” she exuberantly stated. It is one of her achievements as a single mother with her degree of financial earning.
Nakyewe advises the current staff at Makerere University to stay committed and resilient as they work. She says this because she saw colleagues who left for better jobs but later returned for placements with the University. This was not possible for them since their slots had been given to those who were ready to continue with the earnings that were less..
She now has plans for the coming years: “This December, I am expecting some money from Makerere University Retirements Benefits Scheme so I can expand on my poultry farm,”she asserts.
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