Julius Mucunguzi on April 20th 2017

This was our school truck when we attended Kigezi High School in the early 1990s. It now lies here kissing the ground, but in its heydays, it was a giant in and around Kigezi region. We called it ‘omusisa’, the Earthquake–named after the deep rattling sound it always made while climbing Rugarama Hill where Kigezi School is located.
In the capable hands of its famous driver Rwakasore, this earthquake scaled many hills, mountains, valleys and swamps taking us for field trips in distant lands.

While aboard it, we often sang jubilation songs such as “Rwakasore yongeza omuriro..eeh…yongeza omuriro”–cheering on the driver to press harder on the accelerator. And he would not disappoint. As it got older and tired, students started claiming that to slow down the truck on a slope, Rwakasore, would stretch his foot through the porous floor down to the tarmac to get it to stop. Some naughty boys (and girls) liked to sit on the top rails you see there, apparently to ‘kushara omuyaga’ whatever that is in English. But that, they said was the best way to enjoy the ride, cutting through the wind. When the musisa navigated through bushy places with hanging branches, you would hear loud shouts that ‘tomulabula’–‘dont alert him or her’. If you were not quick to duck the branches, they could easily hit your head and remove your eye.

On some other occasions, boys and girls prayed for the night to fall while still on the road–in the musisa, so they could crowd in corners, holding each other in couples and whispering innocent sweet nothings. This truck has many stories, many untold, in its body and frame.

Oh! How nice to see our earthquake! Thanks Kany Twehamye for sharing this photo. Oh Kigezi Girls Rock !