When Kyazike Nubuwati talks about her community, the 54-year-old's eyes light up. ‘Katuba is not just the place where I live. It's the place where I belong,’ says the mother of six. The well-being of her family is her top priority. But she also has big plans for her village, because life here is not easy.
Buying, selling and smoking fish – a strenuous job
For Kyazike Nubuwati, the day begins before sunrise. She is awake at 5:00 a.m., sweeping her yard and preparing for the day ahead. This takes her either to her cornfield, the vegetable garden or the landing stage.
‘I spend hours going from boat to boat to get the best fish, and then even more time smoking it so that it stays in good condition for customers,’ says Kyazike Nubuwati. She usually spends two days in a row buying fish and then goes to the market in Jinja on the third day.
From 15 kilos onwards, it is worth taking the ferry to the mainland. But she cannot simply buy this amount. The fishermen at the jetty set a daily limit in order to divide the day's catch fairly. Currently, this is four to five kilograms per buyer. Fortunately, since 2023, there have been two communal containers for storage in Katuba. Kyazike Nubuwati's husband is one of the two investors. The stored fish is managed by an employee. He registers the quantities delivered and marks them with different coloured threads.
The fishmongers, mostly women, have to keep an eye on everything: the quantity purchased, the storage costs, the sales prospects and the shelf life of the goods. ‘The fish business takes up most of my time,’ explains Kyazike Nubuwati. Twice a week, she travels four hours by boat to Jinja and four hours back. ‘When I go to the market, it takes the whole day.’ Kyazike Nubuwati's family does not get rich from this – despite all the hard work.
Things weren't better in the past
When the businesswoman compares her life to that of her grandparents, she sees a lot of progress, but also losses. "My grandparents slept on grass, today we sleep on mattresses. Compared to the past, women have more opportunities and can now run businesses. In addition, children with disabilities are more accepted. My grandparents valued cleanliness in the community and took care of the family. They had time every day to spend with their children. Today, we are always busy with work." Despite the challenges of being a fishmonger, Kyazike Nubuwati tries to keep her ancestors' values alive by dedicating Fridays to her family. After prayers at the mosque, she gathers her children to exchange ideas and talk to them about their future. Encouraging them to work hard is always part of the mother's role.
Recently, the family decided to raise goats, with each child taking responsibility for one goat. ‘I want them to learn responsibility and how to plan for the future,’ says the 54-year-old. She also has other goals for herself: she dreams of running a wholesale business that will give her stability and dignity and free her from the endless trips to Jinja. ‘I'm tired of just surviving,’ she says. ‘I want to be successful. I want to run a business that allows me to plan for the future and not just make ends meet.’
Fighting for her children's education
Kyazike Nubuwati is the proud mother of three girls and three boys, five of whom attend school. In addition to school fees, her biggest concern is the education of her child with a disability. He does not speak because he has hearing problems. ‘There is no school nearby that is equipped for children with different abilities and can teach him,’ she says quietly. ‘The schools that can help are too far away and too expensive. The boarding school in Jinja costs 250,000 Ugandan shillings (€60) per semester, while here I pay 40,000 Ugandan shillings (€10) for the whole year. I want him to learn, but I can't afford it. So he stays at home.’ This weighs heavily on her heart, but she clings to the hope that her eleven-year-old son will one day go to school when she can earn more. The progress in the village motivates her to do so.
WASH gives the village a boost
Kayzike Nubuwati's home, the village of Katuba on Buvuma Island in Lake Victoria, has changed a lot in recent months. Before our project with the local partner organisation Katosi Women Development Trust (KWDT), there was no safe drinking water. Diseases such as diarrhoea, bilharzia and skin rashes were widespread because many families fetched water from the lake, which is heavily polluted. It was safer to go to the borehole in the neighbouring community. But it took over 30 minutes to get there. In addition, the water was relatively expensive at 1,000 Ugandan shillings (€0.25) per 20 litres.
The sanitary conditions in Katuba were also inhumane. Kyazike Nubuwati's household had one of the few latrines, but it was shared with others and clogged with rubbish. Her own children did not like going there at all. ‘We had laid logs over the hand-dug pit, but it wasn't safe for the children.’ So they continued to relieve themselves in the bush, like most people in the village. The only communal toilet in Katuba had been overflowing for a long time and could not be emptied due to its simple construction. This greatly annoyed the villagers.
‘We had been campaigning for clean water since 1986,’ recalls Kyazike Nubuwati. ‘But nothing was done until KWDT came and worked with our women's self-help group Suubi.’
Today, the 150 households in the village enjoy a borehole providing safe drinking water, as well as public toilets and gender-sensitive bathrooms. Families save up to 20 euros per month, which they used to spend on buying water. Hygiene has improved significantly and Katuba has received much recognition for this development. The neighbouring villages look to the Suubi self-help group and ask how it came to have the WASH facilities. ‘The project has earned us women respect,’ says Kyazike Nubuwati proudly.
As part of the arche nova project with KWDT, further activities were implemented in Katuba. These included numerous training courses on hygiene practices and income diversification. Several families received tools such as hoes for vegetable cultivation, and some also received support in livestock farming. In addition, reusable sanitary pads were distributed to women and daughters. ‘This had been a major challenge for us before.’
A leader in her community
Beyond her family, Kyazike Nubuwati has earned a good reputation as a leader in Katuba. She is the women's representative on the local council and also treasurer of the Suubi women's self-help group, which has 25 members. The group is important for the community, and Kyazike Nubuwati has been involved in it since 2018. In her leadership role, she and the others inspect the borehole with pump, the new washrooms and sanitary facilities. They check that the user committees are fulfilling their obligations. ‘We, the women's group, play a central role in keeping our facilities clean and functional. We ensure that usage fees are paid, mobilise the community and protect what has been given to us.’
Responsibility and commitment are part of life for the 54-year-old. She also mediates family disputes and counsels couples struggling with problems. On Sundays, she opens her house to the women in the village, where they discuss family matters and explore ways to benefit from government programmes. ‘Being a leader means listening,’ she says. ‘It's about giving a voice to those who feel forgotten.’
Katuba is not only special to Kyazike Nubuwati
Katuba is located on the island of Buvuma and has 379 inhabitants. The majority of families earn their living from fishing and agriculture. Every household has a garden. ‘We grow crops such as maize, beans, cassava and vegetables both for our own consumption and for sale at local markets,’ says Kyazike Nubuwati.
For the businesswoman and village leader, it is particularly important that the people of Katuba support each other to ensure that everyone has a livelihood. The fact that there is less theft compared to other fishing villages shows that this solidarity works. Kyazike Nubuwati remembers how she moved here with her husband 20 years ago and received overwhelming support for her fish business from all members of the community. It was clear to the then young woman that Katuba would become her home.
Dangers such as drugs and corruption
However, like many others in the village, the mother of six also has concerns when she looks to the future. Her eldest son, a fisherman, spends his days at the jetty. His mother fears that, like many young men in the fishing industry, he could be drawn into drug use there.
The Fisheries Protection Unit (FPU) also poses a constant challenge for the village community. ‘Sometimes they stop us on the way to Jinja and confiscate our fish to sell it later. I lose the capital I invested in buying the fish and my profits!’ says the entrepreneur angrily. ‘I work hard, but incidents like this prevent us from making further progress.’ At the jetty, people always wished each other good luck and hoped that they would not encounter the FPU on the water.
Plans for the future
If there is one thing that sets Kyazike Nubuwati apart, despite all the challenges, it is her drive. ‘I want to expand my business,’ she says. Her wish is to employ her son in the trade as well. But her big plans go beyond her own family. She dreams of a village with modern fish processing facilities. At present, the two boxes cannot store the goods of all the fish processors and traders in Katuba at once. Many are therefore forced to smoke the fish, which means they lose the opportunity to sell it to the factory. The factory only buys fresh fish, but pays a higher price. According to Kyazike Nubuwati, a third of sales are lost due to insufficient storage capacity. She therefore believes that investment is the best way to a better future.
‘At the moment, we have to buy ice for our storage boxes from Kiyindi or Jinja, which costs 120,000 Ugandan shillings (€28) per week.’ Greater self-sufficiency in fish storage and processing would solve the problem. But the sticking point for Katuba is the lack of electricity on site. Kyazike Nubuwati's dream would be to have a larger solar power system. This would enable fish processing machines and a corn mill to be operated, opening up new sales opportunities. The businesswoman and community leader, along with others in the village, are hoping for a microfinance bank that offers affordable loans. Other credit institutions have high interest rates of over 20 per cent and require collateral, which is particularly unaffordable for women. It would be easier as a group. Fifteen members of the Suubi Group are already in the process of applying for capital from a loan promotion programme.
Looking to the future, Kyazike Nubuwati also looks beyond the specific business plans: ‘I would like to see a school for children with disabilities in our sub-district so that no child is neglected.’ And she hopes that women will continue to play a pioneering role in the improvements in Katuba.
