Humanist

What details of your life could you pay more attention to?

I am thinking of Ejakait Onapito Ekomoloit, now rested. Specifically of the snapshots of his life that he bequeathed to us in his book, “Tears and Triumph.”

My thoughts of Ejakait Ekomoloit have triggered in my mind a loop of the Iteso song: “Ejas ajon ore kosi, lu nan etaiere aman kosi, ooo ebit ka maamai ka (there is ajon (Iteso local brew – beer made of fermented millet) at our home, which was made for the group workers, but for the greed of my uncle).

From his escapades as a child, that he shared in his book, he could have been the kind of young nephew who calls out his greedy uncle; or is it whistle blow on his greedy uncle.

He would be the kind of nephew who would foil his greedy uncle’s attempts to hides away ajon, not wanting others to know about it, so they may come and partake of it, as wa Iteso tradition -sitting together, conversing and sharing ajon in one pot.

Of course, I am not party to Ejakait Onapito’s last Will, but I cannot help wondering that his wishes, which have delayed his aipuduno (burial rites) for two months, is to allow for things to be in order and to stymie those ‘greedy-uncle types’ – biological or otherwise.

In accordance with his wishes, his remains will be interred on 30^th November 2024, in a mausoleum, currently under construction at his home in Asalatap in Wera in Amuria District in Teso in North-Eastern Uganda.

Some may think and assume Ejakait Ekomoloit’s wishes for his remains to be interred in a mausoleum are alien to Iteso, but they are not completely. Burying our dead in a house was the norm centuries ago, pre-colonisation.

“In olden days (in Teso) the dead were buried either in the cattle kraal or in the house in whch they lived, the house continuing to be occupied for some time after the interment. When huts containing graves were finally abandoned, they were never pulled down or destroyed, but left to decay.” Source: “The Iteso” by J.C.D. Lawrence

I am in awe of my ancestors gone before me, who treasured, stayed rooted and true to our culture. Among their spirits, now of Ejakait Ekomoloit. Their legacy is worth emulating and I will endeavor to do so, contributing to facilitating an organic evolution and survival of our Iteso culture.

May I learn to be as knowledgeable and skilled as they were, for example, as Ejakait Ekomoloit was, in documenting our knowledge systems and ways, in writing, in art and in symbolic installations, for posterity.