Skip to main content

Featured

Heavy responsibilities for elder aunt among the Logooli

With Seenge Fonesi. She is the elder grand daughter of Isagi and elder daughter of Amugasya. She is often present in functions involving the family of Amugasya. Pic taken on 18/4/2024. The elder sister soon becomes the elder aunt. It is this “seenge munene” (elder aunt) tag that she is tied to many cultural responsibilities – back home. To her marital family she may appear as any other woman, but she is not so in the eyes of her people. Marriage does not steal her away as it would happen with other daughters of the old man. To her, as days go and the old man and woman of the estate are dependents, she becomes increasingly present.  Her brothers also need her for almost all traditional markings. They are marrying, she needs to welcome the new wife. They are giving birth, she needs to come to midwife or “bless” the new born. They are paying dowry she needs to lead the women delegate. There is a conflict she needs to come for a hearing.  And many others. Traditions does not expect her to

Is it Luragoli, Ruragori or Lulogooli?

The doubt is stated and I'd call upon elders who vehemently say that the latest version of Logooli Bible was poorly done that they ask, 'who are the people who wrote?' and my question would be, where were they to later ask such a question. Aren't the translators, if so we did not outsource, sons and daughters of our land? Poorly taught mother tongue in primary schools or even completely untaught if they started schooling at the start of this millennium with least stay in the rural. Yesu was wrote 'Yeso' and that is what would be said to be the greatest error.

If a single alphabet can fire up such resentment that a people would feel offended, what about mistakes that have lived since the first word was written in Lulogoli or Lulogooli or luragoli? And before that, what were we anyway? That would aid

Mulogoli, Muragori or Murogoli is said to be our immediate ancestor to our settlement in North Kavirondo circa fifteenth century. Why the name? What virtue, aspect, characteristic or physical attribute that made it so? Religiously, there was an important figure called Muraguri with literal writing. Someone would have written it mulaguli or muraguli. Why so? Why? Go slow my feet, these aren't easy matters. And whoever had that title was the god in flesh, was our ancestor.

With Mulogoli taking a Mulaguli character, descendants would be nothing but valaguli or varaguri. And because this was an aspect, making it a person for he is not always a religious person who begets another, valagori or varagori would fit well. That said what language would varagori (as pronounced) speak? Luragoli or Ruragori of course. But because Mulogoli was preferred to mulaguli, lulogoli is said to be the language.

Remaining with r and l as our conflict, we look at what Bwana Rees in 1910 was doing at Kaimosi against what the 'Baluhya' community did. Deaconess Appleby wanted to help in developing a harmonious language among the Baluhya in 1940's. It did not work because harmonising one would automatically uplift another. And who is ready to let his tongue triffled? Rees had already done a Luragoli-English vocabulary under Friends Africa Mission in 1940. Note the title. It was also that Joel Litu (Ritu I'd write) had with Chilson the saint translated the Bible writing Luragoli Bible. Note the title. It would therefore go Lulogoli is a further doing to 'soften' the hard r. And to whom was it hard? The white man of course and other teachers of Catholic and Church of God. These teachers were previously not mulogoli born and spread it to the young.

Remaining with ruragori, what do I speculate furthermore? I feel pride. A descendant of muragori,  the father of varagori. The spirit of muraguri spread by ruraguri to varaguri calls us to correct that mistake.

Comments