{UAH} Tribalism in the Diaspora.
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Tribalism in the Diaspora.
Growing up in Uganda no one really cared which tribe I was, I could say perhaps because I grew in central Uganda where 90 percent of the time Luganda language is used or the people in my age bracket cared less.
When I moved to the USA, I started my leadership skills by volunteering and was always happy to join communities that were one and started to serve irrespective of tribal, religion and other factors, I volunteered in the Uganda Seattle Community as a Publicity Secretary of which I enjoyed.
But during my volunteering work I started experiencing some push backs and negative words, in one instance someone referred me to as "munamawanga" those who don't know the meaning, it means a foreigner outside Buganda region, and the equivalent in runyoro would be Mufuruki.
A foreign Ugandan calling me a foreigner in a foreign country was not only tribalistic but also so painful not knowing that Americans refer to as an Aliens.
At one time an individual was surprised that I spoke Luganda more fluently than runyoro, speaking Luganda fluently has never been an issue to me but forcing me to speak it is an issue as it happened during the Uganda Norther American elections were i was contesting for Vice-President, because I speak English rather more frequently than runyoro. Another insult I got was that the tallest building in Bunyoro was 4 stories; perhaps meaning that my region was backward.
For once I felt I was either in a wrong place or interacting with wrong people or something was amiss,
So I had to find the reason for such tribal tendencies which hardly exist in Uganda but Diaspora
The Diaspora communities especially the Buganda community have a chauvinism tendency; they believe the Banyakore who are in power are denying them jobs and hence forced to move overseas.
I have also countered to say that the Baganda mistreated, governed, stole land and undermined the rest of Uganda for over 70 years i.e from 1900 to 1962, forcing their names and language on others, especially the Banyoro.
The Uganda Communities of California, Chicago etc are divided on tribal lines especially Banyakore vs Baganda, when a Munyakore or someone related to that is elected in an elective post, the Baganda see a picture of M7 in the elected official, it becomes worse if the individual cannot speak Luganda, for someone from northern Uganda, they will say omudokoro, leading to divisions.
When I moved away from Seattle to the Washington D.C metropolitan area I was ready to continue my volunteering skills, only finding out that the community was also divided on tribal lines.
So for the first time I was forced to have an official identity, hence joining Bunyoro Kitara International and learning more about the history of my ancestors and culture, the history of the lost counties, the 1987 Anglo-Ganda wars that saw captain colville and semei kakungulu kill our great King Kabalega and transferring our territories to Buganda, etc, of which I have been sharing to educate those who are not aware about the historical injustices that affected our region and still affecting it up to date.
If Bunyoro is to counter and bring to forth all the historical injustices, the Obote and Amin rule will look a baby and current Ankole rule a toddler.
For those coming into the Diaspora, I advise you to stick to your dream of working hard and avoid these small tribal issues, because the world has changed a lot, we need to study hard and innovate.
Otherwise the British who found us in our separate states caused a mess of which now we are one state and need to find a way of accommodating and tolerate each other, the same way there is religious tolerism.
These issues can't be easily resolved in the short run
But through proper education of history and proper vision for Uganda where people will feel equally respected and receive equal opportunities based on merit and hard-work but not on tribal or religious factors etc
Sincerely
Owek Akiiki Kasaija Kugonza
--
-- Growing up in Uganda no one really cared which tribe I was, I could say perhaps because I grew in central Uganda where 90 percent of the time Luganda language is used or the people in my age bracket cared less.
When I moved to the USA, I started my leadership skills by volunteering and was always happy to join communities that were one and started to serve irrespective of tribal, religion and other factors, I volunteered in the Uganda Seattle Community as a Publicity Secretary of which I enjoyed.
But during my volunteering work I started experiencing some push backs and negative words, in one instance someone referred me to as "munamawanga" those who don't know the meaning, it means a foreigner outside Buganda region, and the equivalent in runyoro would be Mufuruki.
A foreign Ugandan calling me a foreigner in a foreign country was not only tribalistic but also so painful not knowing that Americans refer to as an Aliens.
At one time an individual was surprised that I spoke Luganda more fluently than runyoro, speaking Luganda fluently has never been an issue to me but forcing me to speak it is an issue as it happened during the Uganda Norther American elections were i was contesting for Vice-President, because I speak English rather more frequently than runyoro. Another insult I got was that the tallest building in Bunyoro was 4 stories; perhaps meaning that my region was backward.
For once I felt I was either in a wrong place or interacting with wrong people or something was amiss,
So I had to find the reason for such tribal tendencies which hardly exist in Uganda but Diaspora
The Diaspora communities especially the Buganda community have a chauvinism tendency; they believe the Banyakore who are in power are denying them jobs and hence forced to move overseas.
I have also countered to say that the Baganda mistreated, governed, stole land and undermined the rest of Uganda for over 70 years i.e from 1900 to 1962, forcing their names and language on others, especially the Banyoro.
The Uganda Communities of California, Chicago etc are divided on tribal lines especially Banyakore vs Baganda, when a Munyakore or someone related to that is elected in an elective post, the Baganda see a picture of M7 in the elected official, it becomes worse if the individual cannot speak Luganda, for someone from northern Uganda, they will say omudokoro, leading to divisions.
When I moved away from Seattle to the Washington D.C metropolitan area I was ready to continue my volunteering skills, only finding out that the community was also divided on tribal lines.
So for the first time I was forced to have an official identity, hence joining Bunyoro Kitara International and learning more about the history of my ancestors and culture, the history of the lost counties, the 1987 Anglo-Ganda wars that saw captain colville and semei kakungulu kill our great King Kabalega and transferring our territories to Buganda, etc, of which I have been sharing to educate those who are not aware about the historical injustices that affected our region and still affecting it up to date.
If Bunyoro is to counter and bring to forth all the historical injustices, the Obote and Amin rule will look a baby and current Ankole rule a toddler.
For those coming into the Diaspora, I advise you to stick to your dream of working hard and avoid these small tribal issues, because the world has changed a lot, we need to study hard and innovate.
Otherwise the British who found us in our separate states caused a mess of which now we are one state and need to find a way of accommodating and tolerate each other, the same way there is religious tolerism.
These issues can't be easily resolved in the short run
But through proper education of history and proper vision for Uganda where people will feel equally respected and receive equal opportunities based on merit and hard-work but not on tribal or religious factors etc
Sincerely
Owek Akiiki Kasaija Kugonza
--
"When a man is stung by a bee, he doesn't set off to destroy all beehives"
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