Braving the heat of fire: Nebbi woman brews alcohol for 60 years

• The brewing job remained stuck to her up to the time she got married and to date
• For all these years, she has endured and braved the heat in the kitchen and smoke, which is dangerous for her health
• Despite this, it paid her children, feed, pay medical bills, constructed a semi-permanent house and now pays her nine grandchildren in school

By Okaba Patrick

Nebbi. At about 9:30 Am, the 74 year-old Jermena Atimango best known by the liquor lovers as Mama Jermena, snakes out of her house made of unburnt bricks with rugged iron sheets supported by a walking stick to the oven set outside her house.

She started brewing at her youthful age of about 15 due to the love for Nguli and a business which was used by her parents to educate, feed the family. She did not go to school because of the long distance from school at that time.

This offered her ample time to learn brewing. And so, she has abundant supply for the liquor lovers who throng her place from morning till night to enjoy that ‘bitter fruit’ from her sweat.

The brewing job remained stuck to her up to the time she got married and to date. At her home at Opano Cell in Nebbi Municipality, Atimango said she is passionate about local brew business.

For all these years, she has endured and braved the heat in the kitchen and smoke, which is dangerous for her health. Despite this, it paid her children, feed, pay medical bills, constructed a semi-permanent house and now pays her nine grandchildren in school.

 “I cannot beg for food at my age to feed my grandchildren. I rather do petty businesses to provide for these children. It is these children who will look after me when I stop brewing.”

Atimango, born on 8/6/1950, who has been in the local brew business for more than 60 years, says the business has given her a boost and hopes in strengthening her capacity to look after her grandchildren who are orphans.

She said she earns over Shs 150,000 every month from the Enguli business. She says sometimes, her profit is overwhelmed by feedings, medications and paying remedial education in schools.

Expert in the local brew

She narrated that in order to make her local brew business consistent, she introduced the business to her grandchildren in case she falls sick. Her grandchildren take over the business to avoid breakdown in the production chain of the brew in order to keep customers constant.

Atimango is currently taking care of her nine grandchildren. “I am optimistic that my grandchildren will one time be blessed with jobs and provide all the necessary assistance to me when I am unable to continue with the business,” she said.

The brewing process

At her age, she explained that she gets cassava from a garden or market, makes it dissolved in water and fermented. The cassava is then fried, soaked in water and allowed to settle for and add more yeasts for at least two weeks to make it conc.

The mother of four, keenly follows the steps in brewing including malting, milling, mashing, lautering, boiling, fermenting, conditioning, filtering, and packaging.

Her luck is also that she is one of the beneficiaries of the Social Assistant Grants for Empowerment (SAGE) program. This, she said, adds to her business and income to live a better life.

Her plans

She said if she could access Parish Development Model (PDM) cash, her plan is to connect with National water and sewerage corporation (NWSC) for the public water stand (PWS) at her home as another sister business to the local brew business.

“I have friends at my age who have given up looking after themselves. And this has made some older persons vulnerable. Even at old age, one can do productive work and feed themselves well. Old age should not be seen as a disgrace but a blessing.”  

One of the grandsons, Pope Rwothomio, 22, said: “Since we lost both parents, we cannot put our grandmother under pressure to diet, because we knew our grandmother earns meager from her business.”

Rwothomio said she has managed to educate them at least in primary level and some in secondary school. “We look at her as a role model. Even when she is weak, she finds food for us. And it is up to us to look after her health too.”

The area LC1 for Opano cell in Central Division, Nebbi Hill Ward, Saidi Rajab, said since Atimango has continuous business she is doing, she has been identified to benefit from Parish Development Model (PDM) in the next round.

Rajab adds that since the older persons are capable of doing some petty businesses compared to youths, they must be given priorities to access PDM funds.

“Opano cell is the only place in Nebbi town where local brews (nguli) are produced in large quantities and it is mostly brewed by the elderly persons who cannot walk long distances for other businesses,” he said.

He said there was a need for older persons to be economically empowered with additional funds to live a better life.

According to the Ministry of Gender Labour and Social Development (MGLSD) situation analysis report (2009), older persons care for 63 per cent of the orphans and vulnerable children. And that older persons face many other problems such as poverty, ill health, food insecurity, mal nutrition, poor shelter, gender inequalities and abuse.

However, the Permanent secretary for the older persons, Scholastica Nasinyama, said some older persons are being denied access to other government’s benefits like the Parish Development Model (PDM) because of their age.

“… yet these older persons can do better than the youths who just get the money for drinking alcohol and there are no tangible benefits,” she said.

She added that the older persons with good saving culture are venturing in piggery, goat rearing, crop farming and they no longer depend on their children for upkeep.