Fred has been with us almost since our very beginning in Uganda. He has been nightwatch on our compound in Kawuku/Kampala for many years even before we moved in. He oriented us in our surroundings, showed us the keys, the locks, where the power fuses are, where the sewage goes, how the power and water bills are handled, how the waste collection is arranged, what and how the dogs eat, he was one of the first friends of our kids, playing football and drawing huts and African animals with them. A few months ago he went back to the village to visit his father who was very sick. Now, in July, his father died and he went to his village to organize and attend the funeral. After about 10 days he texted me that he intended to stay in the village for another 3-4 months; he'd return to Kampala in a few days to arrange a few things. Finally, we agreed to cancel his contract and he moved back to the village for good.
Fred has to take care of his affairs in the village. As his father's eldest son he has not only the responsibility for his entire family (his mother, his brothers, his sisters, their children) and last but not least: his land. The land in the village actually does not really belong to an individual. It belongs to a clan. A clan is a group of large families that has evolved over generations. The clan chief is elected by the heads of the families. The clan chief is the one to distribute the land. So, land is given to a family to work on it. Usually for a lifetime, if it is well cultivated. It is up to the head of the family to give parts of that land to his sons so they can work on it. Usually several families help each other out to cultivate the land: ploughing, seeding, harvesting is done in turns, so each field is handled quickly. This is important, because the right time-window can be very short, since the activity has to be done quickly during, after or before the rain falls. Joining forces, co-operation and sharing are required and rewarded.
Women cannot own land in the village. They marry a man who then gets some land from his father to cultivate.
If the wife dies, the husband marries again.
If the husband dies, the widow is usually married by her late husband's brother, who may take her as a first or second wife and is obliged to take care of her and accept her children as his own children. Usually, there is also a choice involved - so the wife may choose to remain single but she'll have a hard time to survive, feed the children, send them to school, etc. If the brother of the late husband does not want to marry the widow, he is however obliged to support the widow, so she can live a decent life. Still, if no arrangement can be found, the widow returns to her family - but in that case, the family of the late husband has pay back the dowry to the widow's family. In fact a kind of refund ;-)
If a brother of the late husband marries the widow, he also receives the land. Of course - because now he has to feed some more mouths. But if the widow returns to her original family, the land goes back to the late husband's clan. That way, the land always remains with the clan. Land can never change from one clan to the other. Otherwise, the fields would quickly become too fragmented to be efficiently cultivated - which is already tedious enough.
All those rules, conventions and mores serve the simple intention to ensure the well-being and survival of the community. As an agricultural society, everything is centered around land which yields the food day by day and year by year. A family is to sustain itself and assist others to do so. If misfortune strikes, several safety nets provide care and survival for the victims of fortune. Since no written code of conduct exists, all those things are discussed over and over again on each and every occasion until they are engraved in everybody's mind. Each bit of support provided (or the lack of it) is being chewed on in lengthy community meetings to make sure the common knowledge creates the necessary consensus about the current status.
That's why it took Fred so long to attend his father's burial. Actually, it was not the burial, but the discussions thereafter. In his case things were somehow tricky: What was to happen with his father's land? Fred hadn't been attending issues in the village for years. He has been working in Kampala... not caring about the affairs in the village. That's at least what Fred's uncles said - and now they claimed parts of his father's land. While Fred has been hanging out in the city, they were the ones to take care about his father, his land, his other sons, their wives, their children, whenever there were problems, when they were sick, etc., etc. Where had Fred been? Now, Fred had of course visited the village at least once a year, he had been sending money home on a regular basis, etc. etc... this is where the discussion started and probably it is still ongoing. It is a lengthy back and forth of endless talking, counting and itemizing welfare activities that each individual and family has been providing to other individuals and families in order to find a new consensus and a new status quo. So you better be there! That is exactly what Fred did, and I can only wish him the very best and good luck...
Fred has to take care of his affairs in the village. As his father's eldest son he has not only the responsibility for his entire family (his mother, his brothers, his sisters, their children) and last but not least: his land. The land in the village actually does not really belong to an individual. It belongs to a clan. A clan is a group of large families that has evolved over generations. The clan chief is elected by the heads of the families. The clan chief is the one to distribute the land. So, land is given to a family to work on it. Usually for a lifetime, if it is well cultivated. It is up to the head of the family to give parts of that land to his sons so they can work on it. Usually several families help each other out to cultivate the land: ploughing, seeding, harvesting is done in turns, so each field is handled quickly. This is important, because the right time-window can be very short, since the activity has to be done quickly during, after or before the rain falls. Joining forces, co-operation and sharing are required and rewarded.
Women cannot own land in the village. They marry a man who then gets some land from his father to cultivate.
If the wife dies, the husband marries again.
If the husband dies, the widow is usually married by her late husband's brother, who may take her as a first or second wife and is obliged to take care of her and accept her children as his own children. Usually, there is also a choice involved - so the wife may choose to remain single but she'll have a hard time to survive, feed the children, send them to school, etc. If the brother of the late husband does not want to marry the widow, he is however obliged to support the widow, so she can live a decent life. Still, if no arrangement can be found, the widow returns to her family - but in that case, the family of the late husband has pay back the dowry to the widow's family. In fact a kind of refund ;-)
If a brother of the late husband marries the widow, he also receives the land. Of course - because now he has to feed some more mouths. But if the widow returns to her original family, the land goes back to the late husband's clan. That way, the land always remains with the clan. Land can never change from one clan to the other. Otherwise, the fields would quickly become too fragmented to be efficiently cultivated - which is already tedious enough.
All those rules, conventions and mores serve the simple intention to ensure the well-being and survival of the community. As an agricultural society, everything is centered around land which yields the food day by day and year by year. A family is to sustain itself and assist others to do so. If misfortune strikes, several safety nets provide care and survival for the victims of fortune. Since no written code of conduct exists, all those things are discussed over and over again on each and every occasion until they are engraved in everybody's mind. Each bit of support provided (or the lack of it) is being chewed on in lengthy community meetings to make sure the common knowledge creates the necessary consensus about the current status.
That's why it took Fred so long to attend his father's burial. Actually, it was not the burial, but the discussions thereafter. In his case things were somehow tricky: What was to happen with his father's land? Fred hadn't been attending issues in the village for years. He has been working in Kampala... not caring about the affairs in the village. That's at least what Fred's uncles said - and now they claimed parts of his father's land. While Fred has been hanging out in the city, they were the ones to take care about his father, his land, his other sons, their wives, their children, whenever there were problems, when they were sick, etc., etc. Where had Fred been? Now, Fred had of course visited the village at least once a year, he had been sending money home on a regular basis, etc. etc... this is where the discussion started and probably it is still ongoing. It is a lengthy back and forth of endless talking, counting and itemizing welfare activities that each individual and family has been providing to other individuals and families in order to find a new consensus and a new status quo. So you better be there! That is exactly what Fred did, and I can only wish him the very best and good luck...
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