"Bring her to my home in Lumuli, Seeta. Tomorrow, I will find a way of getting her to her village."
While driving back home recently, Mr. Don Innocent Wanyama, the senior presidential press secretary, found a teenage girl called Laetitia stranded in Naalya, a Kampala suburb. The young girl, about 13-15 years old, was seated by the roadside looking distraught.
A curious Wanyama took the initiative to find out what the matter was? and on probing her, the little girl narrated of how she had been throwing of a home where she was working as a maid (House help).
"I am stranded. I was working as a house help for a woman in Ntinda. Three days ago, she threw me out of her house. I have been staying in the cold these three days and nights," said Laeticia in not so perfect English. But upon digging further, he leant that her Lusamia (a dialect spoken in the Eastern part of Uganda) was good.
Her account thereon left him almost numb. Laetitia continued to narrate to Mr. Wanyama that, someone she cannot recall, went to her village in Namayingo district, a couple of months back seeking for a house help, to work for someone in Kampala.
Sadly, Laetitia had gone months without pay and didn’t have a shilling to show for the time spent working. She had instead been thrown out in the cold at a time when the country has stringent curfew times. “Whereas she had a phone, she neither had her boss's nor her parent's telephone number. And worse still, she didn’t have the contact of the lady who picked her up from Namayingo district to come and work in the city.
Before he could do anything, Don needed to verify her story, which he did. A person in the neighbourhood who had been observing the little girl confirmed her story of three days foraging in the area. "So, what do you want? How can I be of help?" Wanyama asked. "I just want to get back home, to my parents," she answered amid heavy sobbing and clasping onto a polythene bag which sheltered her belongings.
It was getting late and with a few minutes to the curfew time of 7pm in Kampala, and almost out of ideas on how to help, a thought crossed his mind. He thought about an old friend, Mr. Moses Oguttu who knows the Samia landscape like the back of his hand. And lucky for the young girl, Oguttu offered to help and he had a solution.
"Bring her to my home in Lumuli, Seeta. Tomorrow, I will find a way of getting her to her village." Wanyama took the little girl to Oguttu's house, where he also leant that Hon Mayende Dede, the Bukooli South MP, where Laetitia's village is located, had been contacted. Even better, the legislator had promised to pick Laetitia up since he was traveling the following day to Namayingo.
The next day, little Laetitia was reunited with her parents, just like Mr. Wanyama had been assured by Mr. Moses Oguttu. An elated Wanyama posted on his Facebook wall of the heartwarming act of Kindness and good deed that Oguttu and Hon. Mayende Dede undertook to ensure that the young girl was reunited with her family.
“Hon Dede indeed picked Laetitia from Oguttu's home and delivered her to Namayingo. He confirmed to us last evening that Laetitia has been reunited with her family,” He wrote.
“Allow me to thank my friend and brother Moses Oguttu and his wife. This guy has a heart of gold. He didn't even think twice about sheltering Laetitia and helping get her back to her home. Thanks, Hon Dede for delivering the girl to her parents.”
By CivSource Team