Ugandan Adventure Part I

Last Thursday was a national government holiday called Hero's Day, honoring war veterans and former government employees. At least I think that's what it is…all I really heard was day off. So! I was invited on a four day adventure throughout western Uganda. This was more than just for my benefit, though. One of my friends works with an organization that is partnered with the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Her organization helps develop everyday activities into sustainable tourism throughout Uganda. The goals and successes of her organization will be clearer as I describe the entire weekend! On Thursday morning our group met at 7am to start the journey. There were 7 of us, all girls except for my roommate, Nathan. Two of the girls were German, one leader was Ugandan, and the other leader was Canadian. About 2 hours into our journey we pulled onto the side of the road, the driver opened the hood, and as smoke poured out he poured cold water onto the engine…we all looked around and realized that the car had broken down. One of our leaders called for a special hire car to take us the rest of the 6 hour journey, and meanwhile we talked with the women and children whose homes we had stopped next to. About 30mins later our Ugandan leader saw a "mutatu" passing, which is a large Ugandan taxi, the main form of public transportation here, and asked if we could hire the driver to take us the rest of the way. The taxi driver promptly sent his other passengers on their way and welcomed the opportunity to make a few days' salary in just one trip. These mutatus can comfortably hold about 8 people, but when they travel through Kampala they are usually filled with around 25 people, including livestock, babies, a conductor and a driver. The amount of people in these vans looks about as ridiculous and uncomfortable as 4 people on one boda-boda. We continued on our adventure and stopped for delicious local food in Fort Portal, a major city in the west. After lunch we arrived at the Rubona Women's Basketweaving Association. The women in this village weave incredible baskets out of grass that they color using natural dyes like flowers, tamarind, seeds, etc. These women are turning their traditional hobbies into income earning activities. The leader of the association, Kellen, led our group in a grass dying workshop. We learned how to create a variety of colors like red, orange, yellow, brown, and black. As our grass soaked we were led into the shop where the women display their final products. Small baskets can take up to 3 weeks (8 hours a day!!) to create, and at the store these baskets were sold for about 10,000shillings, or $5. We were more than happy to buy out almost the entire store; as a group we brought 700,000shillings to the community, plus paid a small fee for the workshop taught by Kellen. A bit down the road was another community building entering into the tourism market. At this store, locals keep bees and harvest their honey and beeswax to sell to the community. The owner of the store led the first ever candle making workshop for our group, and although he asked not to be paid because he had never ran the workshop before, we insisted on paying so that they have confidence that tourists will in fact want to pay for their product. We sampled delicious honey right off the comb and then poured hot beeswax into candle molds made by the shop. After both of these activities our tour leaders provided us with forms to give constructive comments and criticisms on ways that the locals could improve their products and services to make them even more appealing to other tour groups. After these activities we began our final ascent into a village in the Rwenzori Mountains. We arrived at Ruboni Community Camp very hungry and tired. The Community Camp is located in the heart of the jungle and sleeps 8 people in 4 separate huts called bandas. I could not get over how gorgeous the setting was.

outside my banda

At the visitor's center, the camp had prepared us an incredible dinner of steamed cabbage and eggplant, mashed potatoes, avocado, and rice. The local Ugandan food is really perfect for me since they rarely ever use dairy or wheat in any of their preparations. Our bandas had electricity, running water, and were impeccably clean. I immediately fell asleep after dinner and woke up the next morning at about 9am for a leisurely breakfast followed by activities around the village. Everything we ate during our stay was grown in the local Bakonja village, and our breakfast of bananas, passionfruit, watermelon and eggs was amazing. After breakfast we had the choice to go on a forest walk or a village walk, and I chose the village walk hoping to learn as much as I could about the culture and people who live so secluded in the Rwenzoris. Three of us headed out with our guide and our first stop was the village blacksmith. His father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were all blacksmiths for the Bakonja people over the past generations. It was explained that the blacksmith does not learn his trade from his ancestors; instead one day he realizes that he too possesses the skills of his family. The current blacksmith is one of 14 children, and it is he who is so skilled and entrusted to make the knives, spears, and ice picks for the community. The blacksmith worked in the same area as the traditional healer. We entered a very small hut and the translator explained to us the different powders and herbs used by the healer. Spirits are very important in this community, and a bad turn of luck could be the result of annoying a spirit. The healer showed us powders to cure impotency, lack of love, headaches, etc. He asked if any of us had problems that he could help with. I figured I might as well take advantage of any opportunity presented, so I told him I was newly allergic to both dairy and wheat. He said that he did have special herbs to help with these problems, but he'd have to go out in the jungle to hunt for them and that could take a few days. I figure if the Bakonja traditional healer could help me, maybe there's still hope in the western world. But for now, I'll just have to accept my allergies or head back into the jungle with him whenever I get another chance…



From the traditional healer we went to the village story teller where we chose from a few of stories offered. We were most interested in why having twins is seen as a sign of evil and cause for punishment in the Bakonja village. Although a bit got lost in translation, we learned that generations ago, elders had never experienced two babies coming from one body. They assumed that this could only be caused by witchcraft, and so instead of this oddity being celebrated, it was cause for shock and disdain. To this day, those who follow the traditional beliefs are subject to punishment if the mother gives birth to twins. The parents of the newborns and all extended family are forbidden from having sex for 3 months after the birth of the children, and also are forbidden from tending to their gardens for 3 months. As one could assume, this leads to famine and widespread discontent within the family. After the 3 months are up, the husband ties a cowbell around his waist to signal to the entire community that the married couple is having sex again, and the family rejoices. We were told that sometimes, the husband is so disgusted by his wife having twins that he will be turned off from her forever, and so traditionally it is the husband's nephew who wears the cowbell and reintroduces sex to the wife and family. As you can imagine, we sat openmouthed, speechless, and concerned for a few minutes until nodding our heads and saying a collective, "Welpppp…okay!" Every culture is so different and intriguing, my friend Beatrice who is Ugandan sat next to me during the story, and told the group that her home village is only an hour away, but when a woman there gives birth to twins she is treated like a queen! After visiting the storyteller, I requested that we visit a primary school in the village. As we arrived at the school all of the kids were running out to recess so we got to play ball with them for awhile before they went to eat lunch! That was one of my favorite parts of the day because I got to meet and interact with the local children for so long. More of the trip to come in the next post!