Meet The Crew: Watuwa Nambuya

One of our most reliable movers, Watuwa, has quite a story.

Originally from Uganda, Watuwa arrived in Australia with his brother in 2001. They got off to a rocky start when they accidentally flew into Sydney Airport, leaving their mother was left waiting for them at Tullamarine. The authorities were able to help the duo, and put them on the next plane down to Melbourne, much to their mother's relief.

“I was 17 and my brother was 15. It was a completely new thing for us. We were overwhelmed with joy,” Watuwa explained.

When he arrived, he could speak little to no English, however, it wasn’t long before his mum enrolled him in a TAFE course to get some further education under his belt.

“I studied, learnt how to speak to people, and from there people at home were ringing, they needed help. I had to look for work.”

Watuwa went on to do factory work in an attempt to get by and support his loved ones, but he was met with the dark side of Australia’s workforce time and again. At one stage Watuwa was working for an astonishingly low (and illegal) rate of $4 an hour making punching bags.

“I’ve been to too many workplaces. Some of them are good, they look after you, and some of them talk to you like you’re not even a human, so at the time it was really like, why are people like this?" he said.

In addition to the hardship of being exploited as a young, hopeful employee, Watuwa’s teens were met with a typical level of angst which saw him run away from home at 18, living in the streets of Brunswick for a time. Fast forward fifteen years and Watuwa has well and truly found his feet and long called Australia home.

Asked what he misses about Uganda and Watuwa barely needs to think about it.

“The community. People have nothing but at the same time, they have everything. It comes down to the community. Just talking to someone, even if you’re stressed, you forget what you are stressed about," he said.

Watuwa loves Australia too.

“The first impression in the week that I started here… Friday. BBQ and beer. What? Who does that? Who does that for so many people? It’s really good. Being able to work with different people, talking to different people about different things, learning from them, my English has improved, my talking has improved. I mean, interacting with people in general – this job has shown me a lot."

It’s easy to see why Watuwa is such a critical member of the Man With A Van crew. His generous spirit, ethics, and determination make him the ideal team player — and someone we’re really proud to have on board.

Update (2019): Watuwa has now used his truck driving experience to move on to a more senior role at another company. Thanks again for your years of dedicated service, Watuwa.