Hey, nice to see you!
Thank you. It has been a while since I last did interviews, because I had nothing to tell the people. I had no message but now that I have a message, we can go ahead.
OK. So Annette, what do the people at home call you? Do you have a nickname?
Yes, growing up I was called Kuchu Kuchi [laughs] I had a doll called Kuchu Kuchi; so, people around home used to call me that but my mama calls me Anna.
My favourite person, my late grandfather, used to call me Anne but when I discovered my birth certificate, I was called Anne Lillian Ruth but my teacher taught me Annette, so all my documents have Annette Lillian Ruth Nambooze.
You said you were very close to your grandfather…
Yes, but he passed on in January this year. He was my benefactor [sorry for your loss!]
Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Lungujja. I went to Lungujja Nursery School then after to St Mary’s Nabbingo, but after my parents divorced, I changed to Lungujja Hill primary school. My grandfather was a teacher and owned a school in Lungujja called Alliance SS and that is where I studied my O-level from. For A-level, I went to Old Kampala SS. I then joined Makerere University for a bachelor’s degree in Education (Literature and English); so, I am a teacher by profession.
Ohh, did you ever try teaching at any point?
I did because you cannot graduate without practicing; so, I went for teaching practice at King’s College Budo.
And how was it?
[Bursts into laughter] It was amazing but I was so young then and I was working on TV already. I started my TV career in my Senior Six vacation. I was working for Urban TV; so, these students knew me from TV because they were the target audience. So, I was in class teaching and they would send me notes asking if I am the one on TV. But it was a very good experience.
So, after graduating, you were like TV is the way to go?
I had already sunk into TV. Remember I was being paid; so, I decided to take TV on.
Let’s go back a bit, were you part of a big family?
I come from a family of four children and I am the third born. I was supposed to be the lastborn but someone came in and took my place [laughs]. But growing up, when my parents had a divorce, we were taken by our benefactor who is my late grandfather. We stayed with him partly and [we would] go back to our mother.
What kind of child were you?
I was very quiet. I am an introvert. I liked listening to radio and I could spend the whole day in my room just listening to radio and I was so fat and my sister was so small, brown… she knew how to dance and I didn’t.
I lost weight in my Senior Three when I got a complication and I was operated on in Mengo hospital. If you knew me two days before my operation, you would pass by me. I lost weight there and then and I never got it back.
What happened?
I had intestinal complications but now I am fine. I was very scared when I was pregnant, but I pulled it off.
How did you get into TV in senior six?
When I went to Old Kampala SS, it was a different level compared to Alliance SS. Because I had too much passion for the microphone, I became the MC of the school. We used to be the Kadanke MCs at Hotel International Muyenga, Jacaranda in Mengo.
One time as I was emceeing, we had students from Mengo SS, Lubiri SS and Makerere College School and there was a guy seated in the corner who called me and told me that I was very talented. He asked me what I wanted to do in future and I told him I wanted to work on TV or radio. He gave me his friend’s number called Miles Rwamiti and told me to call him and see what he can do for me.
I called an hour later and the gentleman told me to meet him the next day near Sanyu Babies Home. I went there and waited for him for about three hours. Finally, he came and told me to meet him at Vision Group the following morning.
That night I did not sleep as if I had gotten the job. In the morning I went to Vision Group and met him at the entrance. He took me up to the administration but after a short interview, I was told the slot for the youth presenter had been given out but I should keep around because there was an English channel coming up.
So, how did you keep around?
Rwamiti introduced me to another gentleman, Sebidde Kiryowa, who asked me if I knew how to write and I said yes; he gave me a paper and I wrote something. He told me to go back the next day and meet up with a lady called Carol Kezaabu who was going to cover the Miss Uganda competitions. When we came back, my name was published in the newspaper and I did not sleep; it was a dream come true.
In the process, they had introduced an English Channel, Urban TV. They told us to come up with nice shows for the station and I was part of the team that wrote Skizzy. But then I had been admitted to Makerere University and an Education course has 13 course units; so, I had to be at school throughout the day; they told me I could not work on the show.
I was so depressed but on my way to campus, I realised there were many teens shows but there was no campus show. So, that night I went back and started writing Campus 1on1. They made me shoot three episodes and it got two sponsors right away and that is how I begin TV.
How were you balancing TV and school?
It was a weekly show on Saturday and it was within university, but even then, I got retakes. The first time I was fired from work and I felt bad about it, but it was good in a way because I got time to cover all those retakes. I did them and I graduated.
After graduating and you had been fired, what did you do next?
Record TV had given me a platform, but I was there for only six months because what we had agreed upon was not applied. I then went to Delta TV for three months and it was there that Spark TV called me. I got paired up with Zahara Totto and that is where the breakthrough comes from.
Do you feel like you had to keep proving yourself?
Yes. I had to keep proving myself. It was me to prove that I can do this for the management first to accept, and people at home to love me. So, it went back to me being who I am.
Why did you really want to be on TV?
I don’t know. I just felt I could do it. I always saw Straka Mwezi [speaking of Straka, where is she???] on WBS TV when I was still young and I felt like I could do that. I cannot define how it feels, but I just felt like I could do it.
How did you meet your husband?
I met him at university [her husband is Wallace Joseph Kafumbe, and not some Nigerian called Oze. Oze is really short for Nambooze.] We were staying in the same hostel. He was a few doors away from mine. And why I love him so much is because he was there during all those downfalls. As a young man at campus I expected him to leave me the first time I lost my job, because maybe he liked me for being on TV, but he didn’t.
And tell me about your little one?
I have a three-year-old daughter and we talk a lot. She gets excited whenever she watches me on TV.
Who has inspired you along the way?
There are so many but I draw my inspiration from my mother. Immediately after she divorced my dad, she did not get married again. She decided to stay and raise us in her capabilities.
She would do anything to make sure that we were safe. I am also inspired by Nina Simone [American singer, songwriter and civil rights activist]. From her, I learnt that everything is possible and if she liked something, she would go for it. I like you [Crystal Newman] and Juliana Kanyomozi for the privacy and respect you have attached to your families.
jjingoernest1@gmail.comÂ