Since arriving on June 13th, our trip in Uganda has been amazing fun. We had an early inception and established expectations. As a person of the cultural team, our task is to research, understand, and preserve the local Batooro culture of Western Uganda. Some rough statistics that I found interesting: Uganda has 46 mil citizens where ~1 mil are Batooro people, ~50% of the population is under 15, and Uganda's economy is predominantly agricultural based. These statistics mean that Uganda is undergoing drastic changes, from its demographics to its economy, and suggests possible conflicts between culture and development and intergenerational differences. 

Anyhow, on June 21st we had a talk by a cultural figure named David Kumwe. He wrote a book detailing the marriage culture of the Batooro people. Some significant takeaways and reflections were that culture is flexible and malleable, as opposed to being merely "traditional". He said that due to old traditions and the westernization of Uganda through education and religion, young people were no longer as interested in the Toro culture. The current plan is to modernize the Toro culture, and this is done by, for example. including westernized music within Toro tradition, or physically, for instance, wearing a blazer during house visits instead of just Toro clothing.

Other than this interesting talk, there was another meaningful event. We received our empaakos on June 24th. The empaako is a nickname conferred by the elders of the Batooro people upon the birth of every child. There are 12 empaakos with different meanings, and this is a UN-described culture that is urgent need of preservation due to decline. We underwent the "empango" ceremony where we danced to traditional drums and ate millet. Then, we also were conferred our own empaakos based on how we presented ourselves. Mine was "araali", meaning he who possesses the power of thunder. I'm pretty cool, hence why;). This event has already perhaps cemented itself as the most signficiant event in the whole trip. We are now, officially, ambassadors and physical preservers of the empaako tradition.

Other miscellaneous activities. We saw some chimpanzees in Kibale Forest. They are accustomed to humans being around, so even though they could easily break our bones, they walked past us with indifference. Likewise, I have grown very friendly with the local Toro people. I play football with the primary kids here at Kasiisi school, and I have also drank beer and rum with members of the Toro community. Overall, the past 2 weeks has been extremely fruitful and fun, and I have other personal reflections on the works.