The changing face of the Kwanjula

I attended the Kwanjula of a close relative a few weeks ago and the social changes our lives are undergoing hits me in the face like a brick. Gone was the close knit family gathering organised and planned to receive and host the in-laws to be on our ‘turf’. This was replaced by an organising committee that fundraised from family and friends, the budget would easily outdo any church wedding and the ‘program’ would have given my dearly departed grand parents an ulcer.

The cows were replaced with cold cash, the DJ took the place of traditional musicians in fake animal skins, there was a cake to be cut, the bride to be gave gifts to the groom to be……. Transgressions galore, the master of ceremony was thoroughly confused and could not tell what would happen next. And you could almost here the old timers clicking their tongues in disapproval.

But is it really a bad thing to give the Kwanjula a more modern twist. After all in most cultures in Uganda it is actually the customary wedding and with our appetite for flaunting what we have , why not elevate our traditional wedding ceremony to the levels that the church wedding has reached.

However, the cost implications are not lost on anyone, this now means family and friends now need to foot two sets of bills, and that is just for one couple in one year! Is there not a danger that when the exalted church wedding arrives it will fall flat from the expectations already raised by the kwanjula?

Culture is dynamic,

Last of the green patches

Spending a weekend in Kampala the other day I still marvel at the speed with which sky scrapers pop up all over the place, The even the Hilton is finally showing its ‘head”, but I have to spare a thought for Windsor crescent.

This the little patch of green is found at the junction of Acacia Avenue and Kiira Road at Kisementi. And therein lies the problem, there is now a huge building site that will soon emerge as a petrol station and …………a ‘childrens play park’.

The green cover that kampala used to have is fast disappearing: Bat valley, Lugogo, kitante green belt. The list is endless. We are well on our way to becoming a bonafide concrete jungle, Lagos is not pretty, so why on earth do we want to look like it?

A bleak future?

(copyright Karsten71)
I look at the picture of this child and wonder whether there will be anything for him to inherit when he comes of age. Everytime I open the newspaper the CHOGM scandal burns my eyes, how much worse can it get.

Now half way through the financial year the government has requested parliamet to cut the health, education and agricultural budgets. Good lord in heaven, it does not take rocket science to know that our hosppitals are crumbling, our kids are studying under leaking roofs and agriculture is the back bone of our economy...so why would anyone think it prudent to cut the budget of these vital sectors.

The real kicker in this tale ( or stinger in this tail) is that State House and the Office of the president have asked for their budget to be increased...in the same breath.

Am I missing something????????