Thread by @j_mucunguzi

When I was about to drop out of Jinja Sec School due to lack of fees, God sent an angel, Maama Jaasi, a kind lady who gave me 12 pieces of ngege/tilapia fish,taught me how deep fry them,lent me cooking oil,a frying pan&a kataasa/tray, putting me in business that kept me in school

This was in 1989 in S1,after the uncle who was paying my tuition lost his job following the privatisation of the @GovUganda factory in which he was working, as part of the @IMFNews &@WorldBank conditionalities for Uganda to get money from the two financial institutions

So for me, whenever we studied about the effects of the World Bank/IMF Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) as those measures were called, I was a live & practical example (eg) of the misery they caused to so many familie in Uganda and many other countries

Thrown out of a Government House in Walukuba Estates,my uncle rented a tin- shack one roomed muzigo at Masese fishing village,where we started the real life of hustling. Fortunately at that time, unlike today, empuuta,Nile perch was cheap,so with posho from Kazimingi,we had food

It is in Masese that Maama Jaasi found me, struggling, working at the landing site to raise fees & on hearing my story,offered capital/ entandikwa of fish. I would clean the fish by removing scales,slice them a little, add salt&deep fry&take them to the market..

My clients were tired fishermen who would be returning from expeditions in Buvuma&other islands in Lake Victoria.The business picked up quickly and in less than 3 months,I was now frying 3 dozen fish daily. I was able to sell fish while studying because Jinja SSS taught in shifts

Unfortunately, after senior two, when I returned to Kabale, my father stopped me from going back to Jinja, reasoning that I would not be able to study while working. In a way, he was right because all my conversations during the xmas holidays of 1990 were about money

And indeed, at times, I would feel that schooling was interfering with my fish business&my class performance started going down. For someone who was number one out of 480 students in first term of S1, I was struggling in the 47th place by the end of senior two.

My departure from Jinja in 1990, meant that I lost touch with Maama Jaasi & all the other friends. There were no mobile phones to keep us connected.When I joined @Makerere University in 1996, the first place I went to was Bugembe, where I had learnt Mama Jaasi was staying

I found the home of her husband, but was told that she had been divorced because she could not produce any children of her own. Even the title of Mama Jaasi was given to her after a child of her co-wife. Even her ex-husband said he did not know where she had gone.

Since 2015, I have been searching for Mama Jaasi, just to thank her for her kindness and for teaching me life skills. I have been led to Kalagi in Mukono, Nakawa Market and this year I went to Buvuma island looking for her--all in vain. I will not rest until I find her..

Maama Jaasi was married to a man called Kanyike. They first lived in Masese at the mizigos belonging to Mr Serwadda also known as Taata Mawanda. Kanyike was a prominent businessman dealing in fish with a fleet of motorboats. They later moved to Bugembe.

Kanyike later relocated to Mukono town& deals in transporting sand,bricks &other building materials.I met him again last year, but he still says he doesn't know where Maama Jaasi went. Social media is a powerful connecting tool.Someone might lead me to Maama Jaasi. [phone]

Here with Mr Kanyike in Mukono and in Kalagi on the search for Maama Jaasi