Espana 85 (E85)

By Arthur M. M. Katabalwa.

Budo Junior P7 class 1985. 

That photograph above was taken in November 1985 when we had just finished our Primary Leaving Exams. (Prize for whoever finds me). At the time Uganda was in the grip of a ferocious war. We were slightly oblivious to what was happening. The smiles on many of the faces are innocent.  After that, we all scattered as war descended on Uganda as the rebels made a final push for the capital Kampala. A number died.

I had the discomfort of watching the fall of Kampala from the vantage point of Nakibuuka, the Buganda coronation site on Budo hill. This place has a commanding view of Bulenga and the surrounding villages where the final push for Kampala started on January 17 1985. At the time all my friends in that photo were bunking down with their families across Uganda. I remember at times when I heard the shells fall or the mushroom cloud that signified the direct hit of the army stores in Rubaga knowing that lives were being lost. I thought about each of those faces in that photo. Charles Mawa and Andrew Songa (also in that photo) were with me but the rest I didn’t know what was going on.

On June 23, 1986 a number of us joined Kings College Budo. I was relieved seeing all my friends again. We had gone through a horrendous six months since that photo. There was not much changed and we settled into our innocent lives as young adolescents. As teenagers we did what teenagers do. Some of us got into romantic relationships after all here we were again cooped up again in boarding school. The hormones were raging!! However I was aware several friends who had not joined Kings College Budo. Andrew Kamila Musuubo, George Ayesiga and Hanifa Mawanda were among many that hadn’t joined us at Budo who are in that photo.

With Andrew Kamila Musuubo. The smiles are telling.

Life got on well until I happened to track down another long lost friend Tucker Nsubuga Walugegga in 2014. To tell the honest truth he was a brute in primary school. He made all the girls cry. We were kids so that is OK. Yet when I heard of him in 2014 he was the biblical Saul turned Paul. He is a man of God. He is a community leader, a business man and a Pastor. I decided to go and visit him in Kireka where he lives and he had not changed at all. He is still built like if he ran through me there would be not much left for forensics. We talked and planned to meet again but also encourage others to come along.

I saw an opportunity in this. I was going to catch up with my friends again but this time I never thought much beyond the 1986 group. Then I got leads to where Andrew Kamila was. This was a break. Dan Mwanja (also in that photo) gave me a phone number and I nervously called it. The voice at the end crackled and it was unmistakable. It was Kamila!!! He still sounded the same.  We planned to meet up in a week and agreed to meet up in Bulenga. It was exciting that a few from the 1985 group would also be coming.

Dancing with Eva Nakirayi.

On the evening when we met It was dark. I was calling on the phone. The air was thick with acrid car fumes. I could see that familiar figure in the dark across the road, also phone firmly to the ear talking back. We had last seen each other 30 years ago. I was nervous be we had both decided to do this. Andrew was standing there squinting at me through the dark. I have grown rotund. He still looked the same. All the memories came back from our chaotic childhood at Budo Junior School.

We headed to Zone 7 a posh pub that belongs to one of us, Gonza Lukanga Kaggwa. And that was when history started coming from the dark as more people from that photo started showing up. Girls and boys rising like a phoenix from years past. Now they were men and women. One, Edmund Rushekya had made a special trip from his home in Bukoba Tanzania. And I must add that the ladies....have grown into very fine ladies!!! All of them.

My intention had been to go and look for Andrew and maybe a few others but the faces in the photo started coming out all these decades later. A few had to have the memories jogged as to who was who.

That evening I rediscovered an integral part of my childhood. I stood back and watched all these men and women now whose friendship was forged in those days at Budo Junior School. We shared the beatings from the teachers, we fought each other, we went hungry together, and we had sleepless nights together because one of us had created a story about a headless ghost called Konyo. We all at times slept under beds when the shelling became too much. We have in short seen each other in our worst times.

From left Paul Kavuma, Gonza (standing) and Erias Kiwanuka whose fingers I nearly chopped off with a hoe in 1981.

But we also danced together; we played together and cheated at ssonko and dduulu some African games. The competition in athletics was whole hearted. We raided the school kitchens together at night to steal beans. We went to the well together and played on very muddy slopes. The poor teachers’ gardens had no vegetables at times because we destroyed them just out of boredom. At night we all went to classes together to do our homework and wrote the girls naughty letters.

Some of the E85 girls Fiona, Winnie and Khula (Erias on right squeezing in)

Espana 85 (Or E85) was born that night at Zone 7. A group of people who are fast approaching middle age but have a common past that is very strong.  Even our spouses don’t fully understand but respect the bond that exists between us. I helped form E85 more for selfish reasons. I wanted to meet up with my friends without spending too much seeing them individually. That bond is stronger now than ever before.

We all look for wealth in many ways. Monetary terms or even through our faith. I have wealth beyond measure through my friends especially those in the E85. We have faced so much together that there seems nothing can come between us. We meet up periodically and have a drink. We are all equal despite current social standing when we are in E85.

The boys (men) in a silly mood break into song and dance reminiscent of how we used to entertain ourselves.

We are all parents and we give each other parenting tips. We help with business plans and rally to any of us who are in difficulty. What shapes us and cements our friendship was formed when we were innocent. That innocence still governs us to a large extent how we relate today.  We watched our backs when we were in boarding school all those years ago. Now as adults that spirit still exists. We still watch each others' backs.

mwenky99@gmail.com

@mwenky