Profile of Eseza Kakoba Nsibirwa Kironde: Proud homemaker, gourmet cook and society hostess

Eseza was born on 29 May 1931 to Martin Luther Nsibirwa and Erina Nankya.

At a very young age, she was sent to Mbale to spend time with her mother’s sister Zetulida (Gertrude). She went back home when she started kindergarten in the Lubiri. She then attended Budo Junior school and Gayaza High School.

She met her future husband while she was studying at Nsube College. At Nsube, she specialised in Domestic Science. She further attended the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu in London, which together with earlier training at Nsube stood her in good stead as a society hostess for her husband’s role as Chairman of the then Uganda Electricity Board, UEB. She was a good cook who decided to give up paid work to take an active, leading role in organising and sometimes hosting events for her husband. Her fusion cooking was well known even before Fusion Cooking, was a concept.

She found supporting her husband fun and varied. It also included rubbing shoulders with diplomats, the elite, influential people etc… including UK royalty. When Queen Elizabeth sent the Duke and Duchess of Kent to represent her at Uganda’s independence celebrations in 1962, Eseza and her husband Erisa, were a significant part of the delegation chosen to show them around Owens Falls Dam. Similarly in 1965 when Princess Margaret, the Queen’s sister and her husband Lord Snowden were visiting Uganda, Eseza and Erisa took them to visit the same dam.

Eseza agreed to marry Erisa after just one date, but she insisted on completing her studies first. The wedding was further delayed for 5 years, when Erisa was awarded a scholarship for Cambridge University. They eventually got married on 22nd January 1955 in the chapel of their alumni school, Kings College Budo. It so happened too, that Erisa was then a teacher there. Michael Kawalya was Bestman and P Kisosonkole was matron. They

went on to have three children while at Budo, a fourth in Mbale and another 3 when they moved back to Kampala.

Eseza revelled in being a wife and a mother. She was a disciplinarian, who despite having help at home, ensured that her children helped around with house . She also actively got herself involved in her children’s education, one of her obsessions being to teach her children proper spelling. The book “Essential Spelling” was like a bible in the house.

She was also involved in several women’s groups and was active in the YWCA.

However, in 1972, her life changed overnight, when Erisa was forced into exile. She was initially disorganised but stepped up admirably to the challenge of being a single mother with an uncertain future. Together with 2 sisters-in-law, Edisa Nsibirwa and Gibwa Kanyerezi, they formed a business partnership called ‘We Three’. They were quite the hustlers trading in anything they could get their hands on, from Lugabire to Sukari Gulu.

Eseza was further challenged when Idi Amin decreed that property belonging to anyone in exile, would be confiscated. Eseza had 4 of her children to look after. Instead of panicking, Eseza, ever the problem solver, approached as many people as she could for help. She knew she had relatives but, she was needing a long time solution. This resulted in 3 offers and she settled on the UEB flats in Kololo.

Staying in Uganda alone with 4 children and a husband in exile and an unclear timeline, was however not sustainable. The family eventually regrouped in Lagos in 1975, where her husband had secured a post in 1974, with UNICEF working in Nigeria and Ghana. Late in 1978 Eseza, Erisa and the youngest 2 children, moved to Nairobi until the downfall of Idi Amin.

On their return to Uganda in 1979, Eseza and Erisa opened up a shop ‘Book Centre’, a long-time dream of Erisa’s. When he died suddenly in 1986, she continued running it successfully. The proceeds of the shop allowed her to fulfil another of Erisa’s dreams, the Kungu Farm Project. A project that had started and stopped several times since 1968. The house had been totally destroyed during the 1980 – 86 Bush war. Eseza finally completed Kungu and moved there in 1993. She once said that at times, the daily shop takings could only buy one brick for the house. However, this did not deter her.

In 1996, Eseza was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. She was fortunate to have amazing care staff in her own home so her last years were very comfortable. She died on 25 October 2018 and is survived by seven children, twelve grandchildren and three great grandchildren.