How former Ugandan street children use acrobatics to fight streetism

At the age of seven years, Kibuuka fled his parents' home due to poverty and joined the streets in Kampala.

“The poverty situation at my parents’ home made me flee to the streets at the tender age to start a new life with other children,” he said.

Kibuuka said that life on the street was not as easy as he had thought earlier because he ended up being part of street children who terrorized motorists and pedestrians.

Life on the street

Kibuuka said they spend most of the time during the day resting under the water sewerage tunnels and come out to the streets in the evening.

“I would spend most of my time with other street kids smoking opium and marijuana during the day under the sewerage tunnels. In the evening when there’s traffic congestion, we would come out on streets and start stealing pedestrians and motorists’ belongings,” he said.

Kibuuka said that he has been arrested by city law enforcers on several occasions and taken to a children's rehabilitation centre in Kampirigisa in the central region.

“I used to plead with the city law enforcers to let me go back home after being arrested on the streets on several occasions. But when they release me on several occasions, I team up with my friend and go back to the street,” he said.

Education

Kibuuka studied at Katwe Primary School and later dropped off in primary four and joined the streets with his friends. He later joined the school and completed his primary education and later joined St. Charles Lwanga High School for secondary education.

“I did not study a lot, I dropped off at the primary level after realizing that there was poverty at home and my parents could not afford to pay my school dues,” he said. Later after leaving the street, Kibuuka went back and completed his secondary school education.

Starting the acrobatics group

Kibuuka expressed his passion for art performance since his childhood, adding that most of his family members were into acting and drama. “Art performance is in the lineage of my family. My parents told me my grandmother used to perform drama during the Kabaka (King) royal ceremonies in the palace of the Buganda kingdom. So, I believe I was born an entertainer,” he said.

Tired of being idle and sleeping all day in the sewerage pipeline channels, Kibuuka with other children came up with the idea of presenting drama, dance and acrobatics on the streets.

“After realizing that we were staying idle all day, I told my friends we should start a dance and drama group in order to showcase some acrobatic skills we had earlier learnt after watching them in city suburbs video halls. They all agreed and that’s how we started,” he said.

Kibuuka said that they started by performing on the city streets every evening and passersby would always drop coins or some money in the basket, which energized them and gave them hope of changing their lives.

Luck fell on them when a stranger liked their performance and decided to get them a home in Lungujja-Kosovo, a Kampala suburb.

“We were like 20 street children when a stranger decided to take us all off the street and put us in a house where we started serious practices and performances in the communities. We grouped ourselves into two groups, the junior and senior categories while performing,” Kibuuka said.

Giving back to the community

Kibuuka said that to give back to communities in the city suburb, they started the “Bwengula-Arts-Academy” Club, a project where street children learn different circus and acrobatic disciplines.

“Me and my colleagues our dream was to create a safe haven for these children and contribute to a positive social change in my origin community. Originating from one of the poor slums of Kampala, I experienced a great positive change in my life through the arts,” Kibuuka said.

They carry out different acrobatics and circus shows in schools and communities, especially in slum areas with the message of creating awareness about street life.

When they started training and performing, the number of street children was few, like 20, but now the children keep joining the centre because they can easily adapt to new ideas, he explained.

The academy trains former and present street kids in acrobatics, circus and gymnastics skills five days a week.

“Many children run from their homes and join the streets. Some of them stole money or bags from motorists and pedestrians on the streets. But as they come to participate in rehearsal training, we counsel them and ensure they do not go back to the streets,” he said.

The academy has helped some of the street children to get school fees through scholarships and refrain from re-joining the street, Kibuka revealed.

He said their mission is to support street children to get access to education and help to equip them with skills for a better future through training in circus, acrobatics and dance.  

Challenges

Kibuuka said they face challenges with funds, especially feeding and medical care for the children who come to perform regularly.

“However, despite the challenge, we want to see that the academy grows bigger and becomes a foundation that takes on former street children into a programme of performing arts,” he said.