Tag Archive: history

Basoga Heritage

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A stone marker to recall the British had a “fort” here. It was actually an encampment of tents, as opposed to a structure.

As a side benefit of my evening with the straw sippers, Azedy connected with the son of the current, 37th, Royal Chief of the Bukooli clan. Azedy arranged a tour of cultural sites and artifacts on Saturday with this son as our guide. We set off for a village about 15 minutes south of Bugiri.

Much of the tour involved the 34th Royal Chief, Kauhe Wakoli. He was unhappy that his people could not understand the English language of the missionaries, so he spent three years from 1891-93 translating the Bible into Luganda language. Luganda is the most popular of the dozens of dialects in Uganda and very similar to Lusoga. The guide kept giving Kauhe Wakoli sole credit for the translation, but just recopying the Bible in English would take years, let alone his chiefly duties, so I have to guess he had some help. There is no remnant of this translation.

 

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The tomb of Kauhe Wakoli, 34th Royal Chief of the Bakooli. When he died, he said “Don’t bury my head, and the people should not cry until it is not attached. Thus the mound on the left.

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That is the top of the now disconnected skull of Kauhe Wakoli

Bugiri is the ancestral capital of the Busoga Kingdom, where they speak Lusoga. An individual from the Busoga region is a Musoga, and the people are the Basoga. There are 11 counties (clans) in Busoga Kingdom, which encompasses Bugiri, Iganga, Jinja, Kilaro, and Nambatumba (towns with PCVs) in addition to scores of villages. The Kingdom normally rotates its clans to agree on successor to the King. However, Azedy and the chief’s son said that the NRM (Museveni’s political party) politically appointed the current King from Kamuli in order to attract votes from there. The NRM also built for him a palace in Kamuli. The Basoga people have never accepted this King, and he has never visited or communicated with the area I was touring, perhaps because he fears for his life. When I spoke to Matthews, who is from this King’s town of Kamuli, about this, he laughed and said that wasn’t the truth at all. Whatever, it’s all more than you need to know.

A Wakoli is the Royal Chief of the Bukooli clan of the Busoga Kingdom (The Educate Club I support is at Bukooli College). The 37th Royal Chief is now quite old and lives in Bugiri.

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A photo of the current 37th Royal Chief on a 2016 calendar. The crown is a hand-me-down from Queen Victoria. She is pictured on the upper left

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Click to blow this one up. I thought these close-ups of the 34th, 35th, and 36th Royal Chiefs were interesting based on their alleged life spans alone!

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These two drums are four feet tall. BOOM boom, “the British are coming!” I forgot to ask of they also employed smoke signals back in the day.

 

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In the House of Twins, I was allowed to make an offering and a request. 5,000 shillings and some coffee beans. I requested good health for my family. If my request is granted, I have to go back and give thanks. Those are sea shells surrounding the pot from the Red Sea and Indian Ocean


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We took a walk up a hill with some impressive rock formations. You can squeeze at least ten people into a small sheltered area in that lower gap. It was a good place to go during times of strife.

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At the top of the hill was this lake about five feet wide. It goes deep into the mountain and is never dry. During heavy rain the hill top is submerged. The clan would throw a baby into the lake. If he came out the spring on the other end alive, he was a true member of the clan. The rock on the left is Salongo, father of twins. On the right is Nalongo, mother of twins. The middle rock represents a wall. The twin rocks, not pictured, are behind..

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It’s a lot easier and faster climbing up the slick rocks than going down.

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A ceremonial room, where a clan judge sits to arbitrate disputes

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Another ceremonial room

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Next we headed to a place where parliament sits every December 31. First you have to pass this entrance and announce who you are, and remove your shoes,

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Our guide for this tour of parliament. She smoked a pipe.

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On New Years Eve, the clan gathers and sits on rocks strewn about in front of a cave. Maybe Ill go and get those thanks out of the way.

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Entering the cave

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This rock cave was fantastic. It is where the parliament sits. The photo does not do it justice.

 

 

Odds & Sods II

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For the 4th of July, I was invited to a school about 30 minutes by boda south of Bugiri to talk about American Independence. A few hundred students in a school assembly were there. The man in blue standing was the headmaster making announcements when I came in and took the picture. I prefaced my remarks with my usual discourse about the importance of education and other patter. I spoke about Paul Revere’s midnight ride, Boston Tea Party and Washington crossing the Delaware to wake them up. I told them that Washington “came out of the bush” to lead the troops to victory, became the first president, and then willingly surrendered power (hint hint).

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The Rotary year begins on July 1, and just like home, there is a changeover of officers at an installation dinner. My NGO supervisor Adams, second from right, is the new Secretary and he is in line to be President in a couple of years. Before dinner they were playing music videos on the white screen. Adams plays videos on his dash when he drives except when I am with him and complain. I also make him wear his seat belt.:-)

I have started working out with a Bugiri town football (soccer) team on a pitch five minutes from my home every morning except Sunday and game days from 6:15 to 7:15. I join them in exercises and drills, which leave me in an exhausted pool of sweat. I am at least twice as old and lousy at the ball drills, but they have welcomed and tolerated me. I am sort of amusing to them. I really need this to stay fit and hope I can stick with it. Due to schedule conflicts most weekends, I will attend few games, relieving them of any pressure to play me. Right now, I am missing some work-outs due to appointments keeping me in Kampala until the end of this week, but I have been walking quite a bit instead. I have lots of little things to show.

 

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“The Book of Mormon” is a hilarious irreverent play written by the South Park guys. Its about the hapless adventures of Mormon missionaries in Uganda. Here, are some actual Mormon missionaries in Uganda! From left, they are from Utah, Zimbabwe, Washington, and Zambia. Utah had seen the play. We had a nice chat.

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I attended a huge funeral for Paul Kitakule, who was Chairperson of the Busoga Institute for Rural Development, and a Canon for a Protestant Church. He had 12 children and 40 grandchildren(one wife). His son is one of the founding members of the Bugiri Rotary Club and owns the Gilgard Guest House where we meet. Adams said I am considered a member of the community now, so I had to go. It was four hours of hymns and eulogies. There must have been at least thirty wreaths for the casket. Ushers would rotate a different wreath on top of the casket every few minutes.

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The funeral was held on the Bukooli College grounds. These cars are in the shade of an Umbrella tree on the grounds planted in 1981, when it was the size of the seedling planted last week at my office by the Ambassador. See how far the branches stretch. When I teach in the villages, it is often under the shade of these trees.

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Heavy demand for boda bodas parked at the funeral


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Wednesday was Eid, the end of Ramadan, and a Uganda public holiday. The men wear white and the women are colorful. These kids in Kampala asked me to take their photo.

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While in Kampala I enjoyed the Uganda National Museum. It was combination of natural history and people history. A guide took me around. So many parallels with the colonization of America but in the 1800’s. The British traded beads, trinkets and old guns for Ivory and slaves.

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A water-tight initiation basket. The mother would place the umbilical cord of her new baby into a solution. If it didn’t float the baby would not be from the the clan.

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I love Google maps in Kampala. This dirt trail showed up as a walking short cut.

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Boda boda drivers don’t hesitate to go up on sidewalks, like the guy on the right.

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I had a snack in the shade of the museum. I met a lady in my hostel who is researching Ugandan museums. She said there is an interesting one in Iganga run by a prince. Azedy tells me there is a cultural museum in Bugiri, the capital of the eastern region of the Masoga tribe. Bucket list items.

 

Well… How Did I Get Here?

CompassAnd you may ask yourself
Well…How did I get here?

And you may ask yourself
What is that beautiful house?
And you may ask yourself
Where does that highway go to?
And you may ask yourself
Am I right?…Am I wrong?
And you may say to yourself
My God!…What have I done?!
— “Once in a Lifetime” by the Talking Heads
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My “Once in Lifetime” journey to the Peace Corps began many years ago. As a child, I was enamored by John F. Kennedy’s call for Peace Corps volunteers. “The hardest job you will ever love.” and all that. The call of politics was waaay stronger however, so this seemed to be an deferred dream. Long after I got politics out of my system, and settled into my law career, my wife Jan transitioned from real estate broker to a new career as a nurse. I would say “Now that at least one of us has skills the Peace Corps would want, let’s volunteer after we retire.” Jan had an interest in the Peace Corps in her youth, but did not share it as a “retirement ambition”. I vicariously followed the blog of my niece Britta, while she was a Peace Corps volunteer in Bolivia.

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