The amazing thing was, Lumiramwenge earned only enough money to satisfy his personal wants. His children were studying for only four years when he began to have trouble purchasing their school supplies. And, upon their return to school, he failed to furnish them with important things such as school fees, uniforms, books, pencils, and lunch money. His children were sent home from school many times and ended up sitting around; some were done with school after three weeks and studied no more.
While Lumiramwenge's children were home from school they did many things their father did not know about because he would come home at 11 or 12 o'clock at night like a dog "agiyita ŋŋwa." [?] When his wife scolded him for coming home late, he replied "I don't come back to the coop like a chicken." Sometimes people told of him sleeping there [at the bar?]. When his wife scolded him he replied, "I see no cause to quarrel. I didn't take the cooking pot or the blankets with me. What's keeping you from eating or sleeping if I don't come home?"
A healthy child is not able to hang around twiddling his thumbs: usually he looks for something challenging to do. When he does it badly adults say "You're a troublemaker." Lumiramwenge's children too, at home having been sent home for not having school supplies, hatched ideas for getting money. Unfortunately, they did not use the money to buy things for their education, as poor children did in the old days. These ones used it to buy things to eat and other amusements.
These were the strategies Lumiramwenge's children started to use to get money in the streets. When they were walking and came upon a car that was stuck in the mud or failing to start, they quickly gave it a push and got money. They would not push most driver's cars for free, because most drivers didn't pick up hitchhikers for free, and such drivers were no friends of theirs. Those who liked to help out of kindness feared to, as they might pick up bakkondo who would strangle them in the street.
Because they wanted to get a lot of money, Kulyennyingi and his friends learned many malicious tricks. A driver who did not know the roads well and wanted to pass through the area would ask "Is this road good?" When the road was bad and they knew that he could get stuck nearby, they would respond "No problem! You can go ahead!" When he continued ahead and they heard him getting stuck or slipping, they flew in like a bee-eater bird. After pushing the car for five minutes from where it was stuck, it did not seem shameful to ask its driver for 105 shillings, as there were two or three pushing. One day, Kulyennyingi and four friends spent the day in the road pushing the stuck cars of people who were coming from a burial of a man who prayed a lot [a Muslim] who was known for things he had done to help people. On that day, every child brought home 200 shillings.
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Ekyewuunyisa, Lumiramwenge gye yakoma okufuna ensimbi ennyingi gye yakoma okufuna ensimbi ennyingi gye zaakoma n'obutamugasa. Kale abaana b
Saturday, July 25, 2009
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