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Death of Rotich and the Pity of Valogooli in Nandi

A picture of Rotich, posted by his Wife on Facebook when he went missing. Rotich went missing more than a week ago. On Thursday 10th October, he was found right at the immediate neighbor’s kitchen house – rotting. He had committed suicide.  He had degenerated of late. Drinking and drinking, poor chang’aa. He had squandered his enterprises to do nothing but be around the dungeons of the liquid - for some gulps.  Rotich was my mentor. I was young, we had migrated to Nandi and I needed a person to look up to. He told me I would own a car soon. That was in 2006 when I sat for my KCPE exams at Kiptuiya primary and topped my class. I hanged around his Denja Zamani village shop. He would allow me inside his house and pass a moment with a discussion, TV watch and laugh with his young beautiful family. Evenings he would step out and see us play ‘likoola’ at the Denja Zamani field.  With no social amenities and enterprise, life can really get boring at Denja. A dull soil beneath, a gloomy air an
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Positioning a wife's grave among the Logooli

 


There arose today a preliminary debate on positioning the grave of the wife. The Logooli Council of Elders would then quickly sit to start their meeting, leaving that aside. But I had already picked one or two which in their continuing cultural discussions might get clearer. 

An ideal traditional house of Logooli faces upper part (iluhya) of the ridge. Two overlooking ridges have backdoors (viandaangu) facing each other.  The ridges meet at valley bottoms (muvivaanda).

At death, burial customs happen at the field (Mukiguuti), a common grass field in front (hamugizi) of the house. 

Entrance to a compound is via a gate (ikilivwa) towards main door. The right side (imuluungi) at entering is masculine while the left (imumosi) is feminine. That is why a sitting/living (ihiilu) room is placed on the right and a bedroom (ivulili) on the left in house construction. 

Any new visitor, in case of ‘normal’ death in the compound, would know which sex died. A male’s grave would heap on the right while a female’s heap on the left. What also helped in positioning the graves was the main pillar of the house (itiilu), demarcating right and left sides.

In change, husband (musaaza) and wife (mukali) started being buried on the same side of the compound – the right side from ikilivwa. Why so did not come out clear today but one elder said the left and right positioning were taking up too much compound space unlike having them one side. 

Both graves on the right side from Ikilivwa, the discussion was on what side was the wife or husband going to be? Left or right? Noting that in some places Ivulogooli the dead are buried with the head West (so as the deceased faces East, in resurrection) while others the head South (so that the diseased faces North, in homeland).


Logooli Council of Elders meeting at Mbale municipal grounds - 8th October 2024

If it is the husband who died and the wife is still to eat more ugali (uvuchima), when her time comes, one elder maintained she should be on the right of the male while another insisted on the left. 

Scenario A. The one who said the wife should be on the right side of the husband maintained that the home belonged to the man, he is the one who built it, he is the one to guard it while in spirit. The woman is a new comer, she cannot come between the man and his estate.

Scenario B. The one who said the wife should be on the left side of the husband (that is between the house and him). This is to show protection, the husband keeping the wife and home safe from external enemies who might enter the home. The sun has to first shine on the man before the woman, another asserted. Graves, similar to marital bed, the wife would be held on the left, her head a little removed from the husbands, to maintain their love in spirit world. 

What happens in your location? Both sides asked each other. Perhaps in the next meeting an agenda on the same to expound better will put us in the know. 

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