Email 7 From Uganda
March 31, 2008
Email 7
Kampala, Uganda
Hello All,
We know that we have written recently, but we just had such an interesting experience that we want to tell you about while it is still fresh in our minds.
You remember that shortly after we returned to the US after our work here in 2004, one of our good friends, PeterPaul, and his wife Vastine asked us to name their first born; Hannah, then a year and a half later we named Jesse, and last year we named Benjamin.
It seems that PeterPaul has never met Vastine’s aging parents, and they have not ever seen two of their grandchildren, so PeterPaul and Vastine arranged to visit them. But you don’t just visit for this type of meeting which is really an introduction ceremony. You have to engage in certain tribal rituals, and they include the husband’s parents. Well, PeterPaul’s parents are dead, so we, because we are the children’s grandparents, (jaja’s), we are also PeterPaul’s “caretaker” parents, and consequently he asked us to accompany them to Vastine’s village.
We agreed, and here is an interesting story about that trip this past weekend.
Vastine’s village is in the extreme southwest of Uganda, and it in our opinion the most beautiful part of this very beautiful country. The area borders Rwanda and Democratic Republic of the Congo. The land is very productive with high rolling hills. In fact it is very close to where all of the gorillas in Uganda live. The crops are matooke, several species of banana, pineapple, cassava, coffee, avocado, eucalyptus, papaya, ground nuts, (peanuts), beans, and lots more. In fact, just about all of the food we ate in Vastine’s village was from her familiy’s farms.
So we were to board the bus at 8:00 a.m. on Friday, and it was only supposed to take 5 hours, (that must be African time). The bus was old and rickety and didn’t leave until 9:30. We had the good fortune to have seats, and there were no chickens or goats on board. (that is for the return trip, for surely you know that it is cheaper to buy a live chicken in the village and bring it back to the city than the other way around.) On the way, here are a couple of noteworthy things that happened: On one of the steep hills, the bus had to disembark all of us so that it could climb to the top; a man from the health ministry got on and rode for about 30 minutes and gave a lecture on HIV/AIDS and safe sex, and then gave out condoms – we have a box of 3 in case of an emergency. And then to top it off, the bus’ radiator overheated spreading steam in the bus and of course everyone thought it was on fire, and some people even jumped out of the bus windows. But Katende knew better.
PeterPaul took us on the wrong bus. Wrong because it didn’t go all the way to our destination, and also because it left the paved road and spent a couple of very rough hours on a very bad dirt road. So when we got to the last stop, we then had to arrange to get to Vastine’s village. It was now 6:30 p.m. and darkness was approaching. It was not a good idea to just take any transportation especially since there were these two “Bazungu’s”(white people) along, and aside from being over charged, there was too much of a risk of becoming prey to bandits. Vastine was finally able to raise her brother on the mobile phone, (the network doesn’t always work there), and he was going to send a car. He did, but the car took 2 more hours to arrive, and then another two more hours over a very very rough road in darkness to arrive at Vastine’s village, and it got stuck in the mud once, and once again we had to disembark. It was now nearly 11 p.m..
If you think we are ready to go to bed, even though we were very hungry, guess again. Now it is time to meet the relatives, but not Vastine’s aged parents. Around 12:30 a.m. we were all given a huge meal, and at about 1:45 p.m. we went to bed. Can you envision Katende and Nabuusa in a single bed? That is where we slept. It is really dark there, and the stars are magnificent.
Remember, this is a very rural village: no power, no running water, no plumbing, (neither indoors or outdoors) (something like our place at Lake Chelan). But to offset all of that Vastine and her family were so hospitable and accommodating, that it would be hard to imagine any thing more.
After we went to sleep, there was a very big storm, and it rained until mid-day on Saturday.
After breakfast, (all meals are cooked in an adobe brick kitchen building over a charcoal and wood fire) – only the women cook, it was time to get on with the business of the reason for the visit – negotiating the dowry that PeterPaul and Katende had to provide to Vastine’s parents.
First, two of Vastine’s brothers explained the customs. PeterPaul is from another tribe which has entirely different customs. All of us would talk and then the brothers would go to the parents and present our proposal and then return and give us feedback. Two hours later we received the feedback: Immediately, we were to provide two cases of beer, one case of soda, and money to both the mother and father, and more money to provide food for relative and those who dropped in to visit..
Because PeterPaul does not have much money, he could not afford all of these things, plus was yet to be presented when the other shoe dropped. So Katende and Nabuusa agreed to provide the two cases of beer and 1 case of soda, and PeterPaul agreed to do the rest.
OK, now for the rest: PeterPaul was told that because the family knew he did not have much money, that they would not ask him for goats. Great! But, he has to give them 4 cows by year end. He of course agreed, and he now has to save as much as he can. The year end time was also negotiated.
Now it is time to meet the parents and other family members, so we walked down the hill to Vastine’s parents modest cottage. Her father (83 years old) and her brothers and sister’s and their families were gathered in a small room, and one of her brother’s took charge of the introduction ceremony. After PeterPaul provides the cows there will be a more formal introduction ceremony.
Vastine’s brother Joseph introduced all of the family. PeterPaul was not permitted to see Vastine’s mother(79 years old). Then PeterPaul made a very nice speech, and so did Katende. Many of the family members also spoke, most prominently Vastine’s father. After an hour or so, both PeterPaul and Vastine’s parents agreed on the terms, and Vastine’s father welcomed PeterPaul to the family, and also PeterPaul indicated that Vastine’s parents were now his parents as well. Then PeterPaul and Katende gave the money to Vastine’s father.
Applause was given as is the custom of that clan and tribe. We were given permission to shake the hands of the parents and to take some photos.
We then went back up the hill to eat, and then some of us hiked up a very high hill to view this very beautiful country from all directions. Hinda stayed behind with the women and spent a delightful couple of hours observing how the women help one another by taking care of each others children, doing the laundry together, cooking together, etc. They were so good natured and although there was lots of laughter because Hinda is not used to washing by hand, not having any light and needing a flash light to see, she was accepted graciously.
Before dinner, we all went back down to the parents house to say good by in as much as were rising at 5 and leaving at 5:30. And so there were long goodbye speeches, and Vastine’s father was concerned that he could not buy us a drink. So as it happened, because it was dark – no power in the cottage where we were staying, Nabuusa mistakenly took a long swig if Waragi, gin made from bananas to take some pain pills rather than water for her back which hurt from the long bus ride and not enough sleep, and that story got a good laugh and also was accepted by the old man as our drink.
Once again, we ate after 10 pm and then went to sleep in our single bed. Around 5:45 a.m. in the pitch black we walked about ½ mile through the matooke plantation to where we met a car to take us to the bus.
The bus was nearly full, but we got seats, and took a different route, so we got back to Kampala in only 7 hours. On the way we picked up some people with live chickens, sugar cane, and even a man with his own stool to sit on, and we actually arrived back in Kampala after a scant 7 hours or so. By the way, one chicken was stuffed in a plastic bag with only his head sticking out and placed on the overhead rack, during the ride the poor chicken got squeezed tighter and tighter each time a piece of luggage was put on the rack, by the end this poor chicken looked very worn out. Katende almost didn’t make it back, because at one of the stops he had to use the toilet and the bus didn’t want to wait, so Katende ran to get the bus which had actually left the parking lot, and all of the passer bys yelled “run Muzungu (white man), run, and Katende did just that and was once again with Nabuusa, a woman of substance.
Love,
Katende ne Nabuusa
Email 7
Kampala, Uganda
Hello All,
We know that we have written recently, but we just had such an interesting experience that we want to tell you about while it is still fresh in our minds.
You remember that shortly after we returned to the US after our work here in 2004, one of our good friends, PeterPaul, and his wife Vastine asked us to name their first born; Hannah, then a year and a half later we named Jesse, and last year we named Benjamin.
It seems that PeterPaul has never met Vastine’s aging parents, and they have not ever seen two of their grandchildren, so PeterPaul and Vastine arranged to visit them. But you don’t just visit for this type of meeting which is really an introduction ceremony. You have to engage in certain tribal rituals, and they include the husband’s parents. Well, PeterPaul’s parents are dead, so we, because we are the children’s grandparents, (jaja’s), we are also PeterPaul’s “caretaker” parents, and consequently he asked us to accompany them to Vastine’s village.
We agreed, and here is an interesting story about that trip this past weekend.
Vastine’s village is in the extreme southwest of Uganda, and it in our opinion the most beautiful part of this very beautiful country. The area borders Rwanda and Democratic Republic of the Congo. The land is very productive with high rolling hills. In fact it is very close to where all of the gorillas in Uganda live. The crops are matooke, several species of banana, pineapple, cassava, coffee, avocado, eucalyptus, papaya, ground nuts, (peanuts), beans, and lots more. In fact, just about all of the food we ate in Vastine’s village was from her familiy’s farms.
So we were to board the bus at 8:00 a.m. on Friday, and it was only supposed to take 5 hours, (that must be African time). The bus was old and rickety and didn’t leave until 9:30. We had the good fortune to have seats, and there were no chickens or goats on board. (that is for the return trip, for surely you know that it is cheaper to buy a live chicken in the village and bring it back to the city than the other way around.) On the way, here are a couple of noteworthy things that happened: On one of the steep hills, the bus had to disembark all of us so that it could climb to the top; a man from the health ministry got on and rode for about 30 minutes and gave a lecture on HIV/AIDS and safe sex, and then gave out condoms – we have a box of 3 in case of an emergency. And then to top it off, the bus’ radiator overheated spreading steam in the bus and of course everyone thought it was on fire, and some people even jumped out of the bus windows. But Katende knew better.
PeterPaul took us on the wrong bus. Wrong because it didn’t go all the way to our destination, and also because it left the paved road and spent a couple of very rough hours on a very bad dirt road. So when we got to the last stop, we then had to arrange to get to Vastine’s village. It was now 6:30 p.m. and darkness was approaching. It was not a good idea to just take any transportation especially since there were these two “Bazungu’s”(white people) along, and aside from being over charged, there was too much of a risk of becoming prey to bandits. Vastine was finally able to raise her brother on the mobile phone, (the network doesn’t always work there), and he was going to send a car. He did, but the car took 2 more hours to arrive, and then another two more hours over a very very rough road in darkness to arrive at Vastine’s village, and it got stuck in the mud once, and once again we had to disembark. It was now nearly 11 p.m..
If you think we are ready to go to bed, even though we were very hungry, guess again. Now it is time to meet the relatives, but not Vastine’s aged parents. Around 12:30 a.m. we were all given a huge meal, and at about 1:45 p.m. we went to bed. Can you envision Katende and Nabuusa in a single bed? That is where we slept. It is really dark there, and the stars are magnificent.
Remember, this is a very rural village: no power, no running water, no plumbing, (neither indoors or outdoors) (something like our place at Lake Chelan). But to offset all of that Vastine and her family were so hospitable and accommodating, that it would be hard to imagine any thing more.
After we went to sleep, there was a very big storm, and it rained until mid-day on Saturday.
After breakfast, (all meals are cooked in an adobe brick kitchen building over a charcoal and wood fire) – only the women cook, it was time to get on with the business of the reason for the visit – negotiating the dowry that PeterPaul and Katende had to provide to Vastine’s parents.
First, two of Vastine’s brothers explained the customs. PeterPaul is from another tribe which has entirely different customs. All of us would talk and then the brothers would go to the parents and present our proposal and then return and give us feedback. Two hours later we received the feedback: Immediately, we were to provide two cases of beer, one case of soda, and money to both the mother and father, and more money to provide food for relative and those who dropped in to visit..
Because PeterPaul does not have much money, he could not afford all of these things, plus was yet to be presented when the other shoe dropped. So Katende and Nabuusa agreed to provide the two cases of beer and 1 case of soda, and PeterPaul agreed to do the rest.
OK, now for the rest: PeterPaul was told that because the family knew he did not have much money, that they would not ask him for goats. Great! But, he has to give them 4 cows by year end. He of course agreed, and he now has to save as much as he can. The year end time was also negotiated.
Now it is time to meet the parents and other family members, so we walked down the hill to Vastine’s parents modest cottage. Her father (83 years old) and her brothers and sister’s and their families were gathered in a small room, and one of her brother’s took charge of the introduction ceremony. After PeterPaul provides the cows there will be a more formal introduction ceremony.
Vastine’s brother Joseph introduced all of the family. PeterPaul was not permitted to see Vastine’s mother(79 years old). Then PeterPaul made a very nice speech, and so did Katende. Many of the family members also spoke, most prominently Vastine’s father. After an hour or so, both PeterPaul and Vastine’s parents agreed on the terms, and Vastine’s father welcomed PeterPaul to the family, and also PeterPaul indicated that Vastine’s parents were now his parents as well. Then PeterPaul and Katende gave the money to Vastine’s father.
Applause was given as is the custom of that clan and tribe. We were given permission to shake the hands of the parents and to take some photos.
We then went back up the hill to eat, and then some of us hiked up a very high hill to view this very beautiful country from all directions. Hinda stayed behind with the women and spent a delightful couple of hours observing how the women help one another by taking care of each others children, doing the laundry together, cooking together, etc. They were so good natured and although there was lots of laughter because Hinda is not used to washing by hand, not having any light and needing a flash light to see, she was accepted graciously.
Before dinner, we all went back down to the parents house to say good by in as much as were rising at 5 and leaving at 5:30. And so there were long goodbye speeches, and Vastine’s father was concerned that he could not buy us a drink. So as it happened, because it was dark – no power in the cottage where we were staying, Nabuusa mistakenly took a long swig if Waragi, gin made from bananas to take some pain pills rather than water for her back which hurt from the long bus ride and not enough sleep, and that story got a good laugh and also was accepted by the old man as our drink.
Once again, we ate after 10 pm and then went to sleep in our single bed. Around 5:45 a.m. in the pitch black we walked about ½ mile through the matooke plantation to where we met a car to take us to the bus.
The bus was nearly full, but we got seats, and took a different route, so we got back to Kampala in only 7 hours. On the way we picked up some people with live chickens, sugar cane, and even a man with his own stool to sit on, and we actually arrived back in Kampala after a scant 7 hours or so. By the way, one chicken was stuffed in a plastic bag with only his head sticking out and placed on the overhead rack, during the ride the poor chicken got squeezed tighter and tighter each time a piece of luggage was put on the rack, by the end this poor chicken looked very worn out. Katende almost didn’t make it back, because at one of the stops he had to use the toilet and the bus didn’t want to wait, so Katende ran to get the bus which had actually left the parking lot, and all of the passer bys yelled “run Muzungu (white man), run, and Katende did just that and was once again with Nabuusa, a woman of substance.
Love,
Katende ne Nabuusa
posted by Peter and Hinda Schnurman at 11:16 PM
1 Comments:
Thank you for the wonderful imagery, I can see all the people and colors and hear you running after the bus. Photos are fabulous. Look forward to you coming home and telling all.
Johnny B
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