Kimihurura is not all glossy and upbeat like many think — if you doubt that just wait until you see the Kamukina ghetto at Isano village. Kamukina is well known as Kimicanga located near the former ULK buildings near Mulindi Japan and One Love. Keen observation is vital as when get onto the area—look left right, back and forward and mark your steps otherwise you get swallowed up in the maze of houses. Jumping skills are an added advantage if you want to avoid falling in the stinky trenches. As you walk by residents mind their own business and careless about strangers save for the occasional stares at passersby. One eye-catching scenario that is forever imprinted in my mind was when I turned into a tiny corridor only to see some women cooking on their verandas while some children were easing themselves in the same trench that they poured their dirty cooking water. Well, that’s ghetto life. It even gets better—someone told me that at night several ladies line up along several streets as sex workers. They hunt for customers as their sole source of income, and it’s not surprising that most of these have to feed their families as there is no ample land for cultivation. Ghetto life however, is not as bad as depicted; most of these slum dwellers have big hearts. They help one another with every necessity from borrowing salt to food from neighbours. They too have plenty of friends and visitors, which is obvious from the happy smiles and tiny groups chatting away on their verandas or along the roads. Casiane Sikubwabo, 29 years is a resident who said ghetto life is, “cheap but not as cheap as people think because people come to look for houses in this area just like anywhere else in the city.” “Life is fair here since not everyone can afford living in the city. Its affordable for low income earners in one way or another,” Sikubwabo said. “During the long dry season, there is water shortage just like any other place and when it’s the rainy season we face flooding because most houses are near the wetland.” As I walked on I came across an elderly woman called Mukagatare who earns a living by sorting groundnuts and beans at the local shops. She admits that the life she lives is just fine. “I don’t mind living here because I’m able to live in peace and I earn some money to support my family,” Mukagatare said. One street trader in Kimuhurura known by the name Kananura begs to differ. He says that, “Kimicanga is just a total mess, I am not a well-off person but I can’t stay in this place where everything is upside down.” The upside of the Kimicanga ghetto is that it’s near the roadside at Kimihurura and transportation is accessible.
