Feb 22nd: Tokiiya ŋŋonge nto

"Never Underestimate an Otter" is the rough meaning of the Luganda proverb that titles today's journal - a reminder that even small things can make a big difference.

It's an appropriate quote to describe my visit to a place outside of Lusiti, a place especially I was told is especially sacred to the people of the otter (ŋŋonge) clan. (BTW, those first two letters are nasalized 'n's, like the ng at the end of the word 'sing'.)

This journey represented the resolution of a mid-trip crisis. After being quoted an exorbitant price to visit this place (the equivalent of about 2 weeks full-time wages for a middle-class person), I felt conflicted about going -  a bit taken advantage of and foolish.

To add to my angst I got this book called 'Witchcraft Revealed' that left me uncomfortable. It was written by a devout priest who made it his mission to expose the lies and treachery of witchcraft in Uganda through a number of former witches who "spilt the beans".

 

Though one could argue the legitimate value of connecting with ancestral spirits, herbal healing, counseling etc... there were some stomach-churningly graphic  pictures in here - including a bunch of pictures of human sacrifices. How, I wonder, did they get these guys to pose with the head of a little boy in their arms? Lord knows,  but there they were, and clearly without any photoshop involved. 

This made me not only uncomfortable with the cost, but a bit with the idea of visiting this place. It didn't help that none of the Africans I'd been working with had ever been to any of these sites themselves. I made the decision that it was too costly, and (especially since the Omutaka was taking us to places on Saturday for free) decided to bow out. 

Happily, Peace turned it around. She called the original guy who was going to take us and asked how we would get there on our own.  So, Friday morning we found ourselves in a dusty bus lurching toward Lake Victoria, and the sacred place of the otter.

Now, this was really being in Africa! In the shadow of the large yellow rock towering above the lake that formed the heart of the obutaka were men sitting on bark cloth playing omweso, a more complicated version of the mancala game played throughout Africa. Nearer the stone, a medium sat on another piece of bark cloth amidst many different kinds of offerings. Toward the lake, spears surrounded smoking fire-pits, burning altars to the various gods - most importantly, the god of Lake Victoria, Mukasa.  

 

There were many different shrines - too many for me to describe here -  but the wonderful thing about this place was how positive the energy felt. Unlike some people had told me, it was not literally (or figuratively) dark. It was clearly a place that people came for healing, a bright, special, sunny sentinel on the shores of the gently lapping waters. In the end, we were asked to donate whatever we felt was appropriate in our hearts - and even being generous to our guide and the spirits of the shrine we wound up paying only about 1/5 of the cost we had been quoted earlier.

The pictures show men playing omweso, an offering of meat and raw plantains for Mukasa, and a sacred rock covered with barkcloths representing Walumbe, who heals diseases. The video is our guide playing one of the bells worn by the dogs of Ddungu, the god of the hunt.