What it Means To... Live without both arms

Thirty nine-year-old Annet Naiga, a mother of three, was born without both arms. Photo by Esther Oluka. 

 
My name is Annet Naiga and I am 39 years old. I was born to Henry Muwonge and Rose Mary Nakabuubi in Masaka District. Sadly, I was born without both arms. Even worse, I cannot stand because the bones in my legs are too weak to support the rest of my body. I therefore move by crawling from one place to another.

As a child, my parents did everything for me, from washing my clothes, dressing, feeding and bathing, to carrying me from one place to another.

However, when my younger siblings were born, they became too busy for me. They therefore took me to my paternal grandfather who let me stay with him and obliged to take over the responsibility of bringing me up.

Just like my parents, my grandfather, too, did everything for me. He even went ahead and enrolled me at Butenga Primary School which was about 10km away from home. Since I could not ride a bicycle, he would take me very early in the morning and then pick me up later during evening hours.

School life
Life at school was very tough for me. I was often bullied by other pupils because of my deformity. Some laughed at me while others called me all sorts of nicknames.

However, most of my classmates were very kind and friendly towards me. They are even the ones who encouraged me to start learning how to use my feet for writing. Much as it was very hard in the beginning, I did not give up. Eventually, I became very good. Sadly, while in Primary Five, my grandfather passed away and it was this unfortunate incident that saw me drop out of school.

Although his wife (my grandmother) was around, she could not take me to school because of the long distance.

Instead of being idle at home, I started making mats and table cloths, using my feet. Since I did not have a shop where to stock and sell them, my grandmother decided to open up one for me.

My younger brother, Ivan Bukenya, would often come from my parents’ home, especially during holidays to help me out with the selling.

Though I worked tirelessly hard, my profits were always little. You cannot imagine that I was only able to buy for myself a few clothes as well as shoes. I was not even able to buy for myself a wheel chair.

Family life
Anyway, around the mid-1990s, I met a very supportive man whom I was able to have three children with. He was a normal person unlike me. I gave birth to all three of them by natural birth and not caesarean section as many people would imagine.

I decided to leave him, however, shortly after the birth of our last born. This was after I had discovered that he had another woman. I just could not handle the idea of sharing him with that other woman.

Bringing up the children was not very tasking since my grandmother was always by my side. After staying with her for about 15 years, I decided to leave for Mpererwe, a Kampala suburb, where a female friend of mine lived.

A certain male Japanese tourist, who was staying within the neighbourhood, helped me out with some transport money as well as up-keep. It was this money that helped me travel up to where my friend was.

After staying with her for about a year, I decided to rent a room which I still stay in with all my three children.
Source: Daily Monitor