Language, identity and culture in Eastern Africa

The Luo speaking people of Eastern Africa are found in the Sudan, Ethiopia,Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and the Congo. Their language(s) and dialects belong to the broader cluster known as the Nilo-Saharan Group.

Under this category, the Luo language(s) fall under the Western Nilotic languages. The language spoken by Luo people is known as Dho-Luo. In Uganda, the Luo people prefer to call their language Lep-Luo. The prefix dho is derived from the Luo word dhok which means mouth. The word on the other hand, means tongue. Hence, lep, may actually be seen to refer to a dialect rather than a language. When I was on an educational tour of Uganda, a few years ago a young Ugandan Luo from the Northern region asked me: “Lep-Luo gin adi Kenya?” This translates as; “How many Luo dialects tongues are there in Kenya?”

I answered him: “Lep Luo en achiel Kenya.” This translates as: “There is only one major Luo dialect (tongue) in Kenya.”

I went on to explain to him that there were minor variations of Lep-Luo especially between the Alego/Ugenya (known as Trans\Yala dialect by socio-linguists) and the South Nyanza dialect which is largely spoken by the rest of the Luo people in Kenya (and neighbouring Tanzania.

The young Ugandan Luo looked rather surprised and exclaimed: “Lep Luo Kenya en maduong!” This translates as: “The Luo tongue (or dialect) in Kenya is rather large (or big)!”

He went on to explain to me that they have several Luo tongues (Lep-Luo mathoth), for example: Lep-Alur, Lep-Achol, Lep-Lango,Lep-Adhola.

These are the major Luo tongues or dialects in Uganda but there are other minor varieties which may be of interest to socio-linguists and linguistic anthropologists.

When I visited Uganda again, I attended a conference on ethnicity and political processes in the Great Lakes Region at the Uganda Martyrs University, Nkozi in Mpigi District, Buganda Kingdom. After the conference was over, I spent a couple of days in Kampala to catch-up with academic trends at the famous Makerere University’s Institute of Languages. I also wanted to see my old-teacher Austin Lwanga Bukenya of the Department of Literature and request him to introduce me to any member of staff with an interest in Dho-Luo, Lep-Luo/Lwo (the Luo language(s) and its variants, whatever the case may be?).

He himself is a Muganda, but I call him a true East African because of his many years of study and teaching in the three “territories” of the East African Community at the following institutions: Makerere University, Uganda; University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya (where he taught me Theory of Literature and Language Use) many years ago.

Mwalimu Bukenya, as we fondly refer to him in language/literature circles in Kenya, made arrangements for me to meet a brilliant scholar in the Institute of Languages, Makerere University, Kampala. Her name is Jane Frances Alowo. I discussed at length with her how scholars with an interest in Luo studies (language, literature and culture) can collaborate across the three territories of East Africa. It was agreed that some kind of forum of Luo studies would be ideal. The process of operationalization of this noble idea has been rather slow but the goodwill does exist in abundance. During our discussions, we noted that Makerere University has already initiated degree courses in Lwo (their variant of our Luo) which consists of several “rich dialects” spoken by the: Acholi, Lango, Padhola, Alur and Kumam. Because Dho-Luo is spoken in several Eastern African countries, Makerere University’s Institute of Languages has categorized it as “an important regional language”

The Bachelor of Arts (Lwo languages) concentrates on linguistics, literature, culture, translation, mass media, materials development, editing/publishing, teaching, research, development communication, lexicography, and creative writing. They adopt an interactive and cross-cultural approach which also caters for non-native speakers of Luo language(s). I sincerely believe that my dream and that of Ms Alowo of establishing a body to bring together researchers/scholars in Luo language(s), literature(s) and culture(s) in Eastern Africa will materialise one day.

While in Kampala, I was walking along the streets with two colleagues, Oriare Nyarwath of the Department of Philosophy, University of Nairobi and an American Fulbright scholar Gail Presbey of the Department of Philosophy, University of Detroit - Mercy.

We were looking for a place to have lunch. A middle-aged man of dark complexion approached me with a broad smile and then greeted me. He was speaking in Lep-Acholi and asked about my well being. Both Nyarwath and Presbey were amused as they watched the unfolding scenario. The middle-aged man from Acholiland insisted that I was one of his relatives and we had to met before at the Mulago Referral Hospital in Kampala when we both allegedly went to pay a visit to another Acholi patient there. Of course, I had never done that: It was definitely a case of mistaken identity!

He asked me which part of Acholiland I hailed from. I told him I was a Luo from Kenya and not Uganda. But we were still brothers - I acknowledged.

He then apoligised profusely but insisted that I looked like a Luo from Uganda. (Of course, other Ugandans had said I looked like a Musoga, Musamia, Muganda (from Mpigi?), Munyoro and all).

Let me tell you something, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania should hasten the political federation... now that President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya a graduate of Makerere University, President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania and President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of Uganda, both graduates of the University of Dar es Salaam are working together as the highest authority to foster greater unity of the three East African territories.

Like my teacher of long long ago, Bukenya, I am a true East African. When I returned to Kenya, I decided to visit Maseno University in Nyanza Province which is the home of Luo speaking people. I had heard about their degree programmes in Luo when I was visiting Makerere University, Kampala. I met Owen McOnyango of the Department of African Languages, Maseno University who told me that he shared Ngugi wa Thiongo’s sentiments about our “national languages” which should be given due attention in Kenyan universities, colleges and schools. I learnt that Maseno University offers a Bachelor of Arts (Dho-Luo) Programme with emphasis on: linguistics, literature and culture. The programme is to a large degree similar to the one offered by the Institute of Languages, Makerere University Kampala.

What is the University of Nairobi waiting for?

Another interesting experience I had of the Luo speakers in Ethiopia was a couple of years ago when I was attending an African philosophy conference at University of Addis Ababa.

One day, as we were walking into the university campus, through the main gate, we noticed that there was tight security and everyone was being screened. We were told that there had been unrest at the campus because of ethnic-fighting. I was in the company of Pamela Abuya, a tutor in the Department of Philosophy at Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya.

After we had been screened and allowed into the campus, we noticed a tall young man of very dark complexion walking majestically ahead. Most Ethiopian students were of very light complexion, so this student attracted my attention and vice versa. We soon struck rapport.

Pamela was rather amused. She commented that I had a knack for identifying Luo people outside our home country, Kenya. This tall young man asked where we were from. I told him we were Luos from Nyanza Province in Kenya. He got quite interested and told us that he was also a Luo (of Anywak extraction) from Gambella Province in Western Ethiopian. His name was Ojulu Ojulu and he was an education student at the University of Addis Ababa.

Pamela and I were quite excited to meet an Ethiopian Luo bearing the name Ojulu. Pamela told the young man that there was a place in Kisumu District, Kenya known as Kojulu which means Ojulu’s place. The young Ethiopian Luo must have been impressed. We told him that we did not have enough time to visit Gambella Province, where he came from. Ojulu said next time we were visiting Ethiopia, we should visit the Anywak (Ethiopian Luos) so that we could “madho kuon” together. Kuon is the staple Anywak diet. Pamela and I tried to “correct” him unsuccessfully that one does not “madho” but “chamo kuon” as far as Kenyan Luos are concerned. Kuon is our staple Luo diet of stiff porridge common in most African countries.

In Kenyan Luo, chamo means to eat whereas madho means to drink. One thing is clear: Whether one chamos or madhos kuon makes little difference. The stuff ends up in your stomach. I guess the Kenyan and Ethiopian Luos are both right: Both chamo and madho refer to ingestion or drink.

In January 1995, I visited the United Republic of Tanzania on a research project sponsored by the Canadian International Development Research Centre. My tour took me to the Eastern and Southern African Management Institute (ESAMI) in Arusha as a guest of the late Prof Peter Gufwoli (A Maragoli from Kenya) of the University of Dar es Salaam, in the Eastern Coastal City of Dar es Salaam and to Musoma and Tarime districts in the Mara Region on the shores of Lake Victoria.

My ongoing research interest for several years has been: Traditional Knowledge and Sustainable development-A case Study of Women Farmers in the Lake Region of Kenya and Tanzania.

When I was in both Arusha and Dar es Salaam, I met some Tanzanian Luo speakers. One day, in the Coastal city of Dar es Salaam, I was seated in a restaurant having a cold drink.

Two men were boisterously discussing in Dho-Luo at the next table. For a moment, I thought was in Kisumu, Kenya. I then introduced myself to them: “Awinjo ka uwacho dhok ma ang’eyo; un Jo-Luo mao Kenya koso Tanzania?”(I have heard you speak a language I also know; are you Kenyan or Tanzania Luos?) One of them responded: “Wan Jo-Luo ma Tanzania maa Butegi; pok ne wanyono Kenya gi tiendwa nyaka ne nywolwa!” (We are Tanzanian Luos from a place called Butegi; we have never set foot on Kenyan soil ever since we were born!)

It was quite amazing that the dialect they spoke was exactly the same as the one I speak. They then inquired about my mission in Tanzania. I told them that I was a lecturer in linguistics at the University of Nairobi and my research interest was oral tradition of the Luo speakers in both Kenya and Tanzania. I would be flying to Mara Region in a couple of days to make contacts there for the purpose of the research project.

These two Luos from Wategi (Butegi) asked me where exactly I came from in Kenya. I told them that my home was in Kamagambo near Rongo Town. When they heard this, they told me to feel free and pay a courtesy call on their families in Butegi in North Mara Region. They also told me that Wategi people and Kamagambo people were related. It was not possible for me to visit those good Wategi people. I, however, managed to visit Musoma Town. I took a domestic flight from Oar es Salaam via Arush to Musoma on the shores of Lake Victoria. I met a number of American Catholic Missionaries working in the Mara Region; I also met some members of the famous Odemba Kagose Family; they are well known for their traditional healing in Tanzania. An American Catholic priest I met in Musoma Town asked me which part of Tanzania I hailed from for he assumed I was a Tanzanian Luo. I told him I was from Kamagambo - Rongo in Kenya. Then he said in Luo, rather surprised: “A ne aparo ni in Ja-Luo ma Tanzania.” (I though you are a Luo from Tanzania.) The American priest who had lived among the Luo people of Kowak in Tanzania since the 1940s told me a most interesting thing about the migration and settlement of the Luo people. He reckoned that: “There are two very powerful ethnic groups in Eastern Africa, namely; the Luo and the Sukuma. One wonders what would have happened, had the European colonialists not stopped the Northward migration of the Sukuma and the Southward migration of the Luo... nobody really knows what would have happened.”

Well, the comments from that American Catholic priest who has acculturated himself among the Luo speaking people of Northern Tanzania have puzzled me to date. He then went on: “What is your research on?” I told him: Traditional Knowledge and Sustainable Development-A Case Study of Women Farmers in the Lake Region of Kenya and Tanzania.

His comment concerning Luo women in Tanzania was that they are not as powerless as Western feminist scholars would wish to have us believe. He went on:

“Mond Luo ni kod teko ahinya... Inyalo dhiyo e dala moro to iparo ni mond Luo ok wuo mathoth but welo kendo gi onge kod teko to mano ok en adieri... gin kod teko ma opondo kendo ka gi (mond Luo) onge to gik moko ok nyal timore. Mond Luo gin kod teko mathoth miwuoro e dala.“ (Luo women have a lot of power. You may visit a home and think that because Luo women don’t talk a lot in the presence of guests and that they are powerless but that is not true...they have hidden power and without them (Luo women) then nothing would go on. Luo women have overwhelming power in the home.)

That was of course the impression of an American Catholic priest working among the Luo speaking people in Tanzania over many years. He had been a participant - observer and presided over many religious matters touching on Luo family life during that long period of being acculturated in Mara Region of Tanzania. He arranged for my accommodation at Kowak Catholic Mission where the cook - a Luo by the name Ochieng’ Jeje - fried excellent ngege (tilapia) which I ate with kuon. While at Kowak, I paid a courtesy call on the local Member of Parliament for Roria Constituency in the Tanzanian National Assembly. His name is the Hon Ayila Oyombe. He was very hospitable to me, together with his family. When he learnt that I hailed from Kamagambo - Rongo, he was most pleased because his two wives (who are sisters) are from the Kodero-Bara clan in Kamagambo. They treated me not as a stranger but as a relative.

The Luo people of Tanzania are very jolly! They welcomed me with a lot of ease. One time in the streets of Musoma, I saw a tired man near the market sleeping on his wheelbarrow after a long days’ work. He was waiting for customers with their loads of merchandise to be pushed to some destination.Though he was a stranger to me, I thought he had all the features of a Luo. I tapped the wheelbarrow and he woke-up from his slumber with a start. I then made the first move and greeted him:

“idhi nade?" (how are you?)

With a broad smile - six lower teeth removed - he answered:

“Adhi maber ahinya, Ondiegi.”(I’m quite well, Ondiegi (hyenas)!)

The nickname Ondiegi is the plural form of Ondiek (meaning hyena). So, in Tanzania a stranger nicknamed me Mr Hyena for the benefit of English speakers) because I dared wake him up from his siesta and yet I had no work for him. We later parted company, but both of us were happy about the phatic communication of two “familiar” strangers separated by the Berlin Conference of 1884-5; this particular man, a Tanzanian and I, a Kenyan could communicate at a very deep level!

My contacts in Mara Region with the Luo speaking peoples there left no doubt in my mind that the colonial boundaries are arbitrary and meaningless to our African peoples all over the continent. I wish to share two anecdotes of Nigerians who shared some conversation with me concerning Eastern Africa.

The first one was an Igbo teaching English at a Nigerian University. We met at the University of Aston in Birmingham, England where we were both postgraduate students in the Language Studies Unit; we both lived at Vauxhall Court, Gosta Green, in the Centre of Birmingham, the Big Heart of England. Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere was retiring as President of the United Republic of Tanzania at the time, so the Nigerian asked me: “What are Kenyans going to do now that Mwalimu Julius Nyerere is retiring as President?”

I looked at the Nigerian with surprise, but he pressed-on with his question rather boisterously. Then I told him: “Kenyans will do nothing now that Mwalimu Julius Nyerere is retiring as President.”

A while later, General Buhari and his team overthrew the civilian government of Shehu Shagari in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. As we were speculating about what the future held for Africa’s most-populous country, I told my Nigerian friend: “Nigeria was a great country during the rule of President Kwame Nkrumah. However, things have gone from bad to worse after the overthrow of President Kwame Nkurumah...”

My Nigerian friend was infuriated. He looked not just surprised but horrified. Then he quipped: “Ha! Look at this ignorant Kenyan. Don’t you know that Kwame Nkrumah was the President of Ghana and not Nigeria?

Ha! Don’t you know that Ghana is not even a neighbour of Nigeria? Ha! Don’t you know that there is Togo and Benin between Ghana and Nigeria?”

Then my turn came:

Ha! Look at this ignorant Nigerian. Don’t you know that Mwalimu Julius Nyerere was the President of the United Republic of Tanzania and not the Republic of Kenya?

Ha! Don’t you know that Mzee Jomo Kenyatta was the first President of independent Kenya and that he died in 1978?

Ha! Don’t you know that President Daniel arap Moi took over from the late Mzee Jomo Kenyatta?

My Nigerian friend quipped:

“Ha! How do you expect me to know all those details about Kenya, Tanzania, East Africa and all that?” Then I quipped:

“Ha! And how did you expect me to know that Nigeria and Ghana don’t share a common border; and that there is Benin and Togo in between?

“Ha! And how did you expect me to know that Kwame Nrumah was not the first President of Nigeria and of Ghana?”

While I was visiting the Mara Region near Lake Victoria, I recalled what the Nigerian said about Mwalimu Nyerere when he was retiring and what Kenyans would do about it! Well, his home village in Butiama is in Mara Region and is not far from the Kenyan border... about two hours drive from my home town of Rongo. But that is a detail I don’t expect my Igbo friend from Nigeria to know.

Another anecdote I wish to share is about another Nigerian (an anthropologist) I met at the Uganda Martyrs University, Nkozi when we were attending a conference on ethnicity and politics in the Great Lakes Region of Africa. He asked:

“Why is Uganda called a landlocked country?”

Someone answered: "Because Ugandans do not have a direct route to the sea; they have to go through Kenya or Tanzania.”

Then the Nigerian asked:

“And all that water from Lake Victoria flowing into the River Nile, where does it go to?”

Another person answered:

“All that water flows out of Lake Victoria into River Nile out of Uganda into the Sudan, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea in the Northern Coast of Africa.”

The Nigerian anthropologist then went on:

“Are there other big rivers which flow into Lake Victoria and Uganda from other countries?”

And yet another person answered: “Oh, yes! There are several big and small rivers from neighbouring countries which drain into Uganda via Lake Victoria.”

Then the Nigerian anthropologist quipped:

“Ha! I thought you people said that Uganda is a landlocked country! And yet you have just told me that so much water out of other rivers pours into Lake Victoria and out of the same lake into Uganda out again through River Nile into the Mediterranean Sea. Do you peopie still want to call Uganda a landlocked country? Or do you want to re-define a landlocked country?”

All those present could not but help having a good laugh. This great Nigerian anthropologist who wants us to redefine a landlocked country is called Dr IVO Modo, a Christian from the Delta State of Nigeria who has taught anthropology at the University of Uyo (UNIYO) and Uthman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto. He believes with Samuel Simile that:

“Of all things that man can make on earth below, by far the most momentous, wonderful and worthy are the things we call books.” He has written many anthropological works.

Dr Modo also believes that: “Uganda should simply refuse to be called a landlocked country anybody given the amount of water it contributes to the international waterways.”

Did you know that the word for nation in Kenyan Luo is Oganda which also means multitude?

When it is a populous nation the Kenyan Luo talk of Oganda Makwar (the red multitude). I wonder what my Baganda friends like Austin Bukenya thinks about the etymology of the topbnymn/ethnonymn Buganda/Baganda. Could there have been borrowing/loaning of the word Oganda/Baganda through language and cultural contact? The anthropological issue is open to both research and debate.

Back to Nyanza Province in Kenya, it is noteworthy that the Church Missionary Society founded the Maseno School in 1906 under the Oseno tree which is preserved to date. The school later lent its name to the University next door.

The name Maseno is derived from the Luo botanical name Oseno (sand paper tree). The scientific name is cordia ovalis; its rough leaves are used as sandpaper. The word Oseno in Kenyan Luo means to polish (furniture); to make smooth; to make clean; to remove rough surface. Here lies the origin of the name Maseno meaning: yien mar seno, meaning: the tree whose tough leaves are used for polishing, smoothening or cleaning furniture. Incidentally, both my father and I went to Maseno School, but at different times of course.

It was at the Maseno School where none other than the missionary-educator AW Mayor published Thuond Luo in1938. He intended the stories to be used in Luo medium schools. Indeed, the book was used all over Luo Nyanza before and after independence from British rule. It was at Maseno School where, symbolically, the Church Missionary Society educators were to venture into the enterprise of seno (polishing) the African children through by teaching them reading, writing arithmetic and the Bible. The missionary-educator AW Mayor had a word of caution on how the book should be treated. He wrote:

Luo:

Nite weche mang’eny mag bilo, dhiyo ajuoga, ura ng’ato kod moko ma kamagi. Magi to Jo-Kristo ok nyal yie: gin mana para apara. Pinje duto nitie sigendini ma kamagi, to ok ji yie ni gin adier. Japuonj kosomo kod nyithindo, owinjore anyisgi ni imago duto gin weche ma nono.”

(There are many issues on magic, consulting witchdoctors, bewitchment, and so on. Christians cannot agree with these issues but must dismiss them as mere imagination. Countries all over the world have legendary stories but many people do not agree they are true. Nevertheless, we still enjoy reading them, and traditionally they are regarded as true. When reading with pupils in class, a teacher should make it clear that these stories may not necessarily be true.)

It is not clear why the missionary - educator AW Mayor did not include the many gallant worriors in Karachuonyo of the Kogweno clan especially Onyango Oganyo of Kital. This is the same family tree of Luo paramount leader Ker Paulo Mbuya who authored Luo: Kitgi Gi Timbegi Luo traditions and customs in 1938.

I m sure all so-called modern (or is it post-modern) Luo people and other non-Luo people who could not read these legendary narratives because of language barrier will now enjoy reading my translation but keep in mind the advise of missionary- educator AW Mayor of Church Missionary Society that we should not allow them to interfere with our Christian faith, for those of us who are followers of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

The job of a translator is not to engage in debating the truth or falsity of the claims in legendary stories or narratives. That is left to the literary critics or interpreters or discourse analysists of the meaning and purposes of the narratives. Social psychologists, Ethnographers and Missiologists may also want to do some analysis with the texts. I am sure oral historians and folklorists would not wish to be left out. I leave that to them, and any other interested party.

As for me, it is my belief that translating the 18 legendary stories collected by missionary-educator AW Mayor is a contribution which will enable a larger readership to access the Luo legends.

I wish to throw a challenge at younger scholars like Vincent Robert Okungu who was my student of linguistics and anthropology at the University of Nauirobi to venture into the study of African languages, literature and cultures and to more translations to make such works accessible.

It was Prof William R Ochieng of Maseno University, also a former Permanent Secretary (Policy Analysis and Research) in the Office of the President in the Government of ex- President of Kenya Daniel arap Moi who wrote a letter to me in late 1980’s and challenged me to translate Thuond Luo. He was not sure whether Thuon which translates as Hero or Legend. I have settled for legend instead of hero after Kenyans were treated to the debacle of Ethiopian Ato Lema Ayannu touted by some journalists and politicians as General Stanley Mathenge, an alleged Mau Mau war “hero.”) Kenyans are publicly and privately debating the meaning of the word “hero,” I have chosen not to engage in that debate although I have noted that the Agikuyu of Central Kenya said of Raila Amollo Odinga: “Ino niyo Njamba!!”(This is the true Hero!). The Agikuyu must be very serious about this.

The writer is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of African Studies University of Nairobi. hjojwang@yahoo.com