Recap….
The kabagarame experience had now become a reality, back home in Kampala, our relatives were appraised by our expert review of the experience via our status. The team also took off time to appraise their banyankole neighbors and friends about Kabagarame and for that moment held something over them that most who come from the region had never experienced. We were officially Kabagarame Alumni and with all the rituals fulfilled, we headed to our next conquest-Kitagata.
The Kitagata Do.
We boarded our coaster with stomachs yielding to the pressure of forward movement and the pursuit of humble nature long forgotten. The team more energized and even more expectant. Mze Mulefu lead in a waiting double cabin advance vehicle organized by the host to ensure smooth running of the experience, an initiative that has since been adopted by the future hosts and upgraded to a truck to ensure that our gifts such as cows, goats and matooke are not left behind. We took the road and within 40 minutes were at Kitagata. For the road champion who is decorated with several misfits such as kanzuzu , running stomach and motion sickness, Kitagata seemed only right to have a permanent cure for the same. A power group led by their mafia lord championed the drive to have an immersion of the motion sickness king with an assurance that the headaches and all the aches will be a thing of the past by the end of the immersion.
On arrival, Kitatgata was a sight…am looking for the word… Yes , lets stop at a sight. Bare chested men, old ladies also bare chested,young girls and boys sat at different corners of the hot spring to pertake of the healing associated with the immersion. Loads of drinking water was being ferried away. A spot for boiling eggs on another corner. It was an eyeful of a sight but not to forget the mission-heal the motion sick. The campaign was on, it was clear now that our motion sickness king was not undressing to take part of the miracle, the campaign shifted to at least drink some.
I vividly waited to see the action that will change things. On one side I saw the old women seated bare bottom in the water and on the other side a mafia gang advocating for a sip of the water. Imaginations ran in my head on what exactly constituted the water but I was confident that Sanyu our lab guru would break it down. Given my simple science and the need for instant results, I made a few inferences- bare bottom old lady seated in the water to release to toxins and more from her body by the water + the sum of number of people doing the same in the water plus body fluids at boiling temperature equals the Miracle cure of kitagata. The pleas and blackmail of the click fell on deaf ears as the motion sickness champion seemed to have preferred the sickness and more to the sip of the miracle kitagata water and at that point,my excitement was fizzled and I headed to the bus for our next stop. As ritual, the lads buzzed the status and social media with photos shots of this yet second conquest of the Ankole region. Careful search in the over 300 hundred photo will reveal Daphine stood a distance and watched the husband take photos as though he was auditioning for an international modeling career. The usual suspects that appear in each of course goes without saying-Amazing.
The Kalinzu Conquest
We now jumped on the bus to rush for another yet exciting agenda item-to visit the source of the host school fees aka Dad’s job.
Our hosts parents had for the last years accumulated wealth from the timber business. They were one of the biggest sawmillers of the region. Put it in perspective, timber provided school fees for a family of a dozen children as at last estimate through Kampala’s prestigious schools and also afforded their parents a life of means. And now we had our chance to walk in the steps of the sweat that put our host in a place of notice by Bulenga moguls.
The drive was another 50 minutes from Kitagata into the dusty roads through the kalinzu Natural forest. We came to a stop at the collection area and embarked on the rest of the journey on foot. At this point, some surrendered and reminded themselves that there is a Nat Geo channel awaiting at home and there it simply made no sense paying subscription and also walking through a natural forest. The rest advanced into half a km walk through the wet road access. And a section was driven through on the double cabin advance vehicle. On there was Miss Excitement 2020 7 years in a raw and she indeed had a ride and the back of the truck.
We got to the center of operation and the entire team was in agreement that if this is what our Dad was doing to provide for the family, Thank you was an understatement. As he led us through a break neck foot speed, the team got clustered as they could not match the speed. The operation was on over 40 acres of trees being fallen and cut into pieces for transport to Kampala. It was massive and professional. It was at this point that some offered to officially lodge their complaints of why our host had let them buy match sticks tor roofing yet she had access to world class timber…and the compliant was recorded.
The sight of the operation brought each member into a moment of ponder and appreciation of what a parent would do to see their little girl (boys too) attain the best in future. As BOM, we collectively level our appreciation to all our parents for we can not say they were lazy….we are because they were and still are
To be continued
To Be or Not to Be 