The Nubians in Uganda - My short visit

The truth is: Belonging starts with self-acceptance. Your level of belonging, in fact, can never be greater than your level of self-acceptance, because believing that you're enough is what gives you the courage to be authentic, vulnerable and imperfect. When we don't have that, we shape-shift and turn into chameleons; we hustle for the worthiness we already possess.  Brene Brown

Yesterday we drove for about 2 hours to meet the Nubian people of Uganda! They greeted us with drumming, singing and dancing which they insisted that we join in and get loose! I did my best!! What struck me was the women drummers, first time in Africa I have seen women and men drumming together.

The Nubian people migrated to Uganda from the Nuba mountains in northern Sudan during colonial times, they were brought by the British to fight the Ugandan’s. Today, the Nubian community in Uganda is a minority group recognized in the 1995 constitution. The biggest concentration of Nubians lives in Bombo Village.

The Nubians have a distinctive culture which includes language, dress, hair dressing, cuisine, dance, handcrafts, and festivals. It’s an explosion of colour! We met the

There are 35 women in the handcraft group who create baskets, placemats, and food covers. First they gather reeds from the wetland, dry them, and then hand dye in a variety of colors. The crafts are awesome I made sure to get something to keep!

The Bembe Hills Primary School provides education for children up to age 12. The children at the school are in dire need of EVERYTHING, I must admit it broke my heart knowing that I come from a place with so much and I myself took it from granted!!. The school’s current needs include books and sports equipment. Here’s some trivia… The language of East Africa is Swahili, textbooks are in English, and tribes also have a unique language.

After, we visited the Elohim Child Development Association. Due to war and HIV there are many orphans in Uganda. They created a semi-self-sustaining home for some of these orphans. We met staff members Duncan and Hope and had a tour of the grounds. Unfortunately we didn’t get to meet the 35 kids that live there because we visited when they were at school. The first thing that stood out was the cool paintings on the driveway walls. There were diagrams of the carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle, digestive system, human body, and more. In 2011 – 2012, the group planted a garden with vegetables along with paw paw guava, mango, orange, avocado, cassava, and passion fruit. They also have a fish pond to produce fish for food. The kids learn, music, dance, and drama; and they conduct performances to earn money for food clothing and medicine.

After we had lunch at one of the villager’s houses and met mama who is 90 years old. Granny was just chillin, making baskets!!! They food was delicious, lots of meat which I couldn’t participate in but none the less the other vegetarian dishes were really nice

The Nubians are proud! They want to leave a legacy to follow, they want to be self sustainable and are accepting nothing less! They have started with accepting themselves!!

Awesome day all round!

Peace!!