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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
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Think of this as a life long activity...

At Kidundu, the old Friends Church now used as a Bible College
I like your approach to this. I did not know that we were so many. Maybe you should think about this as a life long activity. Not only about a hobby, a pass time activity but something that can fulfill your life - take you up the academic ladder, pay your bills... That you do not hit your head on the wall someday. 

An all together different way of looking at it. The Saniaga Oral Genealogy Exercise to me is self rewarding. I get to meet new people, cycle in new villages and locations, hear stories that raise wonder in me and generally add to the adventure of my diary tales, an activity I treasure most. I gain by the networks I make, the new knowledge I am fed on, the articles I write and post at saniaga.blogspot.com and the willingness there is in a good number of my respondents to advance the search. Only limited financially, a minor problem in my view. 

Starting at the village level, an owned process of a people speaking their stories. Now to the recent past, stories that they are active participants. From there to the great parents, the hear says, oral tales that are accepted as true and sometimes need proof, areas unresearched, stories that go back to time, migrations and settlements, integration and sometimes lose of identities/acquisition of new. It depends on the approach to get the best out of this. 

A bottom up approach to this search (I am keen not to call it research) offers us with stories that are important to understanding our present and recent past. Community journalism is a good way of raising awareness to the ways of a people, an information gathering and dispensation tool, an approach that can connect and win people to a cause. A cause that not only leaves it at identity and emancipation of connectedness but that can go deeper to inform other human areas - trends, change, attitudes, capacity, lackings and such demographics interesting to pursue. 

That is at the base level. A search that any other person can adopt and by the very tool - a questionnaire - go ahead to fetching tales, finding similarities and noting differences, going out to fill the gaps and in the process add something to the general library of a community. Here, as I have observed, a person collecting the information should not assume he or she is a point of authority. Neither to put the cross on the shoulders of the informant. But to note doubts or sensitive points with such passivity that does not water down the story or change the 'truth'. The consuming people alike should be aware of the good to be informed with raw stories, regarding it a privilege, refuting the otherwise propagation of a negative instance to define a whole tale. 

From there, widening the search as leads lead, one can end up asking more questions, finding several answers/negating what has been accepted as fitting and in the process contribute greatly to the academia fields. The Bantu (Vandu in Maragori) are spread in Central (and West), East and Southern Africa, with little homogeneous studies undertaken to strengthen the colonial grouping or deny it all together. Similar to Nilo-Hamitic and others. And if there be works that I am not aware of that have tried to solve some of these questions then by coming across them shall not end this search because the future is in need of different approaches, specific (as opposed to blanket) groupings where Saniaga/Saniaka/Saniak/Kamnara is a strong example to pursue. 

The Way Forward here, advisably, is to approach history scientists who have authority in the area and by desire to share the course it might interest them to be part of this cause. Either directly as mentors or indirectly as social informers. If perchance an opportunity comes up to have the search inform an academic paper, they will be dear supervisors and invaluable consultants, the best way to make the search a fullfilling lifetime and also rewarding endeavor. 

-/With Thanks

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