Skip to main content

Featured

Posted by

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
Post a Comment
Read more
Posted by

Ruragori : Bunulu is not Vunuru

This is a third article on Lulogooli (ruragori). I was cycling down Eregi for the lack of adventure when I arrived at the centre. Bars, shops and groceries were on and I could get a cold banana. The road should have been tarmarked along ago that the many motorbikes on the route would only zoom noisily and not spew dust. Opposite, a butcher stood. Meat hung and choma roasted. 'Bunulu Butchery,' it read.

'Why have you named this butcher so?'
'What is wrong with the name?' Question for question.
'You mean you steal from people?'
'Ah, Bunulu means delicious!'
'Aaaa! I didn't know!'

What did I not know? I did not know that lwidaho is not ruragori. In fact we are wrongly put in 'luluhya' when the first white man tried to group us. Ruragori is a distant tongue with no 'Khwes' and khas' as the '17 luhya sub-tribes'. In harmonising, they wanted to put 'l' for 'r', 'b' for 'v'. We ended up mixing up our tongue. The present interactions make it worse. Unless we stand on both legs, we falling...

Bunulu is what we would term 'vunūru' to mean thuggery, robbery and theft. Written, we are asked to do so as on the butcher yet we do not speak that way!! But Idakos' are speakers and writers of the same. We therefore in our 'harmonising' get lost. 'vunūri' is a synonym. It is bad kunūra. You won't live kuhindira if you keep nunūra vandu.

Delicious in Lulogooli would go 'vonoru or vunoru.' Go to hell with 'bonolu or bunolu.' Something delicious is kenoru. At a party, vinoru (delicacies) are prepared. Hen is enoru as isindo. And to those who are initiates to curiosity know how munoru venus is. Maximum Sweetness, Mumias Sugar.

There is a challenge that a learned man needs to write and speak his language well without bringing in his own ideas. And those ideas are what but writing what the tongue says not? Let the tongue rule. The brain is its servant here.

Comments

Post a Comment