Ugandan actress, Tracy Kababiito, says she hopes the Ugandan story on George the Poet’s latest podcast can evoke empathy and spark a conversation on creating meaningful economic opportunities for Ugandans.
Kababiito, known for her captivating performance on Netflix’s Katera of the Punishment Island, was featured on George the Poet’s story (Once Upon A Time In Kampala) which forms Episode 38 of his popular podcast – Have You Heard George’s Podcast?
She voiced the character Stella, a sex worker who must make difficult and risky decisions to survive the Covid lockdown.
The story centers on the story of 29-year-old Hassan, a kind-hearted Uber driver who forms an unlikely bond with a sex worker during the lockdown.
Several times, Stella is emotionally drained and the only sign there is for Hassan are the regular tears.
“Stella was the woman of the night. Sometimes she would return from her job looking as though she had been putting up a fight. And just sit in the back seat and cry. Hassan wishes he could intervene in Stella’s life but he had a taxi to drive,” George narrates in the episode.
“It didn’t really matter how they felt about their work though. They both had to survive.”
On one of his night runs together with a new passenger (Stella), they run into a gang of robbers who threaten violence.
But the two survive narrowly – thanks to Hassan’s cunningness and plastic brevity. It is this heroic act that endears him to Stella, his new passenger who expresses gratitude. This precarious and tense moment draws Stella to Hassan and sparks a friendship.
The episode shines the light on the far-reaching consequences that the government’s lockdown measures – especially restrictions of movement – had on livelihoods, for example, those that depended on Kampala’s nightlife economy.
Hassan must contend with several challenges – rent arrears, risky nights, low business, worrying about his father who is battling Covid and is on oxygen, and medical bills.
Amidst all this, there’s a shimmer of happiness. He’s beginning to get emotionally attached to Stella, who unknown to Hassan, is a sex worker. Like many people, she must make tough decisions to survive the economic hardships occasioned by the pandemic. Several times, she is emotionally drained and the only sign there is for Hassan are the regular tears.
Speaking to Plugged in an exclusive interview, Tracy Kababiito who played the lead role in Season One of MultiChoice’s drama series Sanyu, said in August of this year, she was contacted by one of George’s colleagues – Mike – who’s a poet, actor, producer and rapper. Mike told her about the project.
Kababiito is on a steady rise in Uganda’s nascent film industry. Her credits include Mukisa (film) and Kyaddala (TV show). She is also set to co-star in Bisesero: A Daughter’s Story, a pan-African Rwanda genocide drama directed by Nigeria’s Ema Edosio-Deelen and produced by Richard Hall (Emmy Award winner).
In the upcoming film, she plays Epiphanie, a daughter to Aminadabu Birara an elder who bravely led tens of thousands of Tutsi to fight off Hutu attackers. Epiphanie joins her father in the fight against the better-armed forces trying to exterminate them.
Speaking about George the Poet’s project, Kababiito told Plugged; “Voice acting is a whole different genre. Coz you don’t have the ability to use your face or body. Think of it like radio presentation. It meant that everything that I had to say had to be felt by the listener without necessarily knowing what I look like.”
“It wasn’t easy. We had to re-record. We worked on something initially with Mike. But when George came to Uganda, he said there were a couple of things that he wanted to change and so that’s what happened,” she adds.
Tracy re-acted the script under George’s directorship. And this helped her greatly to sink into the role, she says.
“It’s always nice to understand from the director’s perspective what they are trying to achieve.”
It isn’t the first time she’s doing voice acting. Kababiito was a reference actor (a person performing physical and emotional cues, from which performance elements of an animated character may be derived) for Disney+’s Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire. She has also done voice acting for an upcoming project for the African Union (AU).
On what the experience was like working with the London-based poet, she described him as “a really good human being generally”. Confessing that many times, she has seen media personalities and admired them only to be turned off by their personality on meeting them. However, it wasn’t the case with George the Poet.
“He’s a grounded human being, a very lucid one. I hope we get to work together more often,” she said.
“I was also pretty surprised that sometime at the beginning, he had to voice all the characters on his show. That was insane coz I never would have believed that.”
On the demo that he initially sent to the team in Uganda, George had voiced all the characters in the story. Yet Tracy says the characters all sounded different, which attests to George’s acting genius.
As a director, she describes George as patient and open to the other person’s suggestions.
“He understands that everyone has their own way of working. He will suggest something to you but he will go ahead and ask ‘Do you have any other way that you getting to your emotions?’ I found that he’s not a rigid person. For example, he would ask.. ‘Tell me how a Ugandan would say this?’ Because his sentences are very polished since he’s British.”
The podcast titled Once Upon a Time in Kampala shines the light on the far-reaching consequences that the government’s lockdown measures – especially restrictions of movement – had on livelihoods, for example, those that depended on Kampala’s nightlife economy.
In summing up the story, George the Poet, highlights the bigger picture – the circumstances that surround “life in the trenches” and how Africa’s working class has borne the brunt of this financial crisis.
When she first interacted with the script, Kababiito was especially drawn to how relatable the story was.
“It’s not far-fetched. It’s a real story with real human beings. During the lockdown, people were really going through it. I remember I started a series on my Instagram where I was just encouraging people to take it one day at a time. I found that it was nice of him (George) to tell that story,” the actress said.
“Especially from the perspective of an Uber driver and a sex worker. I honestly had not even thought how tough it was for people in that industry. Everybody was looking for a quick and easy way to survive. And any time, you could die. Stella for one was putting her life in jeopardy on different nights, but she had to do what she had to do.”
In her perspective, the character she played was not your usual sex worker like the kind who stands by the roadside in Kampala. Stella would have been a polished woman who has gone to school but has been dealt a bad hand by circumstances.
“I would see her more like an escort. There are so many things that could have gone wrong. Maybe one of her clients could have killed her. Maybe if Hassan wasn’t such a great guy, maybe he too could have been one of her nightmares.”
“Generally, it’s a powerful story. I think George is a powerful storyteller. I’ve been a fan of his since I was like 19”
Given the several themes – crime, trauma, desperation, love, and survival – that the story explores, it possesses the ability to strike different chords within different listeners.
For some, it could be pondering on the complex subject of Uganda’s unemployment crisis told through Hassan’s predicament. A law graduate who ends up driving a cab to earn a living.
Kababiito hopes this story can evoke empathy.
“I’m really big on empathy, so, I think we can start there. Very often, we don’t empathize with other people. We kind of just think that life is just happening for us, yet life is happening for everybody.”
“This story gives you perspective. It allows you to see from a different person’s perspective. It allows you to see from the perspective of Stella, a sex worker, something that’s looked down upon in our society. But you see that every time she comes back from wherever she’s gone, she’s not happy about this work. But what is she to do? The environment she is in is not supporting her enough. And probably will never support her enough”.
She also hopes the story begins a conversation on how to create meaningful economic opportunities so people do not put themselves in compromising situations.
The actress also says Once Upon A Time In Kampala calls attention to Uganda’s ailing health system connecting it to HBO’s Savior Complex, a documentary about an American accused of causing the death of vulnerable Ugandan children by dangerously treating them despite having no medical training.
“It’s crazy. We are expanding the Parliament but we still don’t have enough hospital beds or oxygen cans. He (George) highlights that with Hassan’s dad in the hospital.”
Written by George the Poet, produced by George and Paul Carter ‘Benbrick’ (a Peabody award-winning, multi-platinum selling English songwriter, producer and composer), the story is recorded by the BBC Concert Orchestra.
