Of Kings and Priest

I'm playing catch up!  This is a post I wrote 2 weeks ago while in Jinja!  I'll also post some photos tonight, and try to put up another post about Rwanda tomorrow... before traveling again for 2 weeks!  Sorry I'm so behind! 

I am in a village called Bugembe, which is the next small town just after Jinja.  It’s a nice, fairly typical area.  We’re working from a youth center around the corner from where we are staying.

We are staying with the Holy Cross Fathers, who run the parish which is hosting us.  There are 4 men who live here, and various house staff.  There is a lot of space for guest, so each of us have our own rooms and other guests have come through since being here.

The priests and seminarians are great fun.  The first night, over an amazing meal including 2 kinds of meat, a variety of starches and other good food, we laughed at the subject of incredibly short priests.  The banter was incredibly hilarious, as they talked about the various priestly robes being too long, and other funny mental images.  It was great to laugh and enjoy simple and genuinely funny humor.   The second night, over an equally extravagant meal spread, we discussed the plight of Tanzania, and how incredibly closed the country is, with great laughter and joy.  It has been a great to have such fun company.

Our team is doing well, even as I sit here, the boys are laughing at the ridiculous things written in the local newspapers.   Our time as a team has been marked with joy, games, fun, and laughter.  Sometimes we laugh so hard we cry, it's wonderful.  You can’t ask for more!  I am here with Frank and Kizito (one of our interns, see the CV Blog!).  We are very tired at the end of the day, but it’s a good tired... exhausted from great work. 

I am in Musoga territory. It’s a tribe similar to the Buganda, but not as intense about cultural tradition.  Currently, they are Kingless.  The palace is just up the road from where I am, and one of the first things I was told when I came was “The place is here, but we don’t have a king”.  The situation is that in 1920, 11 chiefdoms decided to come together under a king.  They decided that the roll of King would be rotational among the different tribes.

Apparently, 5 years ago the King died, and his son tried to take the throne.  Well, the other chiefdoms would have none of that because the roll of king is supposed to rotate among the clans/cheifdoms.  So they are at a stand still, and have been for 5 years!  I vote that they have a wrestling match or a dual to decide.  It seems that those things would come in handy just about right now.  

It’s fascinating to me.  To have a place, in 2013, having issues with who will be there King!  The Musoga’s have their own parliament and ministers, as do other tribes which still maintain their monarchy.  Really interesting stuff!  It’s been great to hear about the situation from different people, and hear their perspectives on the situation.  I feel like if I was African, I would be really into Kingdoms and all that.  It’s like politics, with a crazy traditional, cultural edge!