Norah Owaraga

Language and cuisine are aspects am most proud of my Iteso heritage

What aspects of your cultural heritage are you most proud of or interested in? There are certain words and ways of saying in our language, Ateso, of the fifth largest first nation of Uganda, that when translated into English loose their weight. Without knowing Ateso, I wouldn’t be able to appreciate our culture. Am so…

Those brands which promote extended familial support systems

Is it me, or are brands increasingly marketed to promote individualism and to isolate us from extended familial ties and support systems? I am feeling nostalgic and longing to be living in a village where everybody knows and looks out for thy neighbor. Where the divide between the haves and have-nots isn’t glaringly wide. In…

Would love to spend more time with real people at the grassroots

I would love to spend more time with real people at the grassroots, that is what I could do more of. In the 1990s, I loved working with the Change Agent Training (CAT) Programme, first under Quaker Service Norway and then then the Uganda Change Agent Association. CAT was a series of 8-week residential courses…

Music library for oral cultures, without it nations would be uninformed

The cultures for all the 50 plus first nations of Uganda are essentially oral. Our history is captured and archived in music – songs, plays, drama, poetry, all, mostly in the oral form. A lot of the lyrics or words are spontaneously added during performances. The same song is modified each time it is performed,…