Uganda is a sub-Saharan country situated in East Africa. The country’s name, Uganda, is the Swahili term for the Buganda, Uganda’s largest tribe. The population of Uganda is 33.8 million people. There are 78 districts, although more districts are being considered in Parliament. Uganda got its independence in 1962, after a prolonged struggle against the British occupation.
Many tribes inhabit Uganda. There are 17 tribes belonging to the Bantu and Nilotic groups. The Bantu-speaking tribes include the Baganda from the central region; the Batooro, Banyoro, Bakiga, Bafumbira, Bakonjo, Bamba, Banyarwanda and Batwa from the west; the Basoga, Banyoli, Bakenye, Bagishu, Bagwe, Bagwere from the east; Itesos, Jopadhola and Karimojong, Kumam, Jonam, Sebi, Pokot (Suk) and Tepeth from the northeast. The Nilotic group in the north includes the Acholi, Alur, Langi, Lugbara, Madi, and Kakwa. The Lendus from Zaire are found in the northwest.
At least 47 written languages are spoken[1]. English is the official language. However, Luganda is spoken by more people. For many years the Luganda Bible and primer was the only educational text available in most Bantu-speaking areas. Luganda might have become the official language but other districts objected. Kiswahili is spoken but with unease because of its association with soldiers who butchered people during bad regimes. Neighboring Kenya and Tanzania embraced Kiswahili, but in Uganda, parents are reluctant despite Government efforts to teach it in school.
Uganda’s economy is based on agriculture. The British introduced cash crops such as cotton, coffee, tobacco and coco, which necessitated big expanses of land. This was done at the expense of cultivating food for local consumption, resulting in malnutrition. After independence, the Government of Uganda encouraged subsistence farming, where both food and cash crops were planted. The agro-based economy was recently supplemented by the discovery of minerals, and lately, the discovery of oil in the Bunyoro and Tooro Kingdoms of western Uganda.
Despite impressive rates of growth in the recent years, Uganda remains one of the poorest countries in the world. One-third of families exists on $1 a day; another third live on $2. Uganda ranks 158th out of 174 countries in the United Nations Human development index, which compares life expectancy at birth, the adult literacy rate and per capita incomes. However, over the past decade, poverty levels have fallen dramatically in some parts of the country. Overall, poverty levels fell between 1992 – 2000 from 56% – 35%. In the north of the country, poverty levels are still very high, with 66% of the population estimated to live in poverty, compared to 72% in 1992. The government aims to reduce absolute poverty to less than 10% of the population by 2017.
Northern Region
A 20 year civil war by the Lords Resistance Army left the north devastated. In the 20 year period from 1986 to 2006, the people of Kitgum, Pader, Amuru and Gulu Districts experienced untold atrocities: abductions, rapes, murders, displacements; and a general ambience of insecurity, hopelessness and despair. The region has not recovered from the insurrection led by Joseph Kony.
Despite the prolonged conflict, the north still maintains a rich culture. The two tribes — the Acholi and the Langi — are believed to have originated from two brothers Gipir and Labong, who separated after a family conflict where one had to kill the son of the other after the accidental swallowing of a bead. That conflict still divides the Acholi and the Langi. However, the two tribes’ growing middle class don’t fully comply with this ancestral tradition.
The Acholi and Langi, name their children considering the circumstances the child is born into. L.E.A.D Uganda’s students’ were born during difficult days: Bedogwar means “life is difficult”, Ageno-Rwot means “I trust in God”, Orach means “trouble”, Pinyoloya means “I am defeated”, Ocen is a name for a 2nd twin. The child’s other names come from the family’s religion.
Central Region
The kingdom of the Ganda people, Buganda is the largest of the traditional kingdoms in present-day Uganda, comprising all of Uganda’s Central Region, with 16 districts including the Ugandan capital Kampala, Mpigi, Wakiso, Masaka, Luweero, Mukono, and Kayunga. The 5.5 million Baganda make up the largest ethnic group, representing 16.9% of Uganda’s population.
Unified in the 14th century under King Kato Kintu, Buganda became one of the largest and most powerful states in East Africa during the 18th and 19th centuries — becaming the center of the Uganda Protectorate in 1894. Under British rule, many Baganda acquired status as colonial administrators. The kingdom was abolished by dictator Milton Obote in 1966, but it was restored in 1993 by President Yoweri Museveni. Buganda is now a constitutional monarchy with a large degree of autonomy, although tensions between the kingdom and the government continue.
Children in Buganda are given names depending on their clans. A man can’t marry a woman from the same clan. Children take on the clan of their father. However, princes and princesses take on their mother’s clan. This ensures that each of the 56 clans gets a chance to producing a future king, since a reigning king can not marry from his mother’s clan.
Some clan names are: Leopard clan (Ngo), Lion (Mpologoma), Colobus Monkey (Ngeye), Grasshopper (Nseenene), Civet (Ffumbe), Elephant (Njovu), Lung fish (Mmamba), Mashroom (Butiko), Manis or Pangolia (Lugave), Sheep (Ndiga), Buffalo (Mbogo), Small Grew Monkey (Nkima), Antelope (Mpeewo), Bird (Nyonyi) Heart (Mutima), and Edible Rat clan (Musu).
Western Region
The western region of Uganda has enjoyed a relatively stable political, economical and social atmosphere. However rural families in this region still exist in abject poverty. The people in the western region speak a dialect called Runyakitara. The main tribes are the Runyakore, Rutooro, and Rukiga. However there are many minority tribes like the Bakonjo, Bamba, Basongola. Western Uganda is believed to have warmly received Christian evangelists in the early 19th century, and this is reflected in L.E.A.D Uganda’s student’s names. For example, Andinda means “God watches over me”, Tumusiime which means “let’s give him thanks”, Kwagala means “love”.
Southern Region
Rakai district in southern Uganda was hit badly by HIV/AIDS. Rakai is where the virus first appeared. At first, many people believed AIDS was caused by witchcraft. The disease raged for a decade before people learned how to prevent it. Rakai has a huge number of AIDS orphans and children living in child-headed families, including L.E.A.D students Sarah, Sanyu, Joseph, and Frank. Rakai is home to immigrants from Rwanda who came to settle after the 1994 genocide. As a result both Kinyarwanda and Luganda are spoken. Rakai children are named after their deceased grandparents and relatives to keep the family name alive.
Eastern Region
The Eastern region is poor because the climate, which is always dry, is not favorable to farming. Cattle rustling and theft of food crops by the Karimojongs, a tribe from the neighboring district of Moroto, also contribute to the area’s poverty.
Children in the east, which includes Mbale, Pallisa and Iganga Districts, are given names in accordance to the time they are born or a season or the type of food crops in the gardens at the time or a habit of one of the parents. Sometimes they are named after their great grandparents. The names of our students are: Mutembeyi which refers to “a person who roams places a lot”, Takoberwa means “one cannot keep a secret”, Zungu indicates he was “named after a very brown person”, Nankoma means “last born”.
[1] some of them are; Acholi, Adhola, Alur, Amba, Aringa, Bari, Chiga, English, Ganda, Gungu, Gwere, Ik, Kakwa, Karamajong, Kenyi, Konzo, Kumam, Kupsabiny, Lango, Lendu, Lugbara, Ma’di southern, Masaaba, Ndo, Nubi, Nyang’i, Nyankore, Nyole, Nyoro, Pokoot, Rundi, Ruuli, Nyarwanda, Ssamia, Singa, Soga, Soo, Swahili, Talinga-Bwisi, Teso, Tooro and Uganda Sign Language.
