The Cultural Concepts of Poverty Narrated Among Refugees in Central Uganda, Part I

Kobe University Repository : Kernel タイトル Obwavu : The Cultural Concepts of Poverty Narrated among Refugees Title in Central Uganda, Part I 著者 Umeya, Kiyoshi / Kirumira, K. Edward Author(s) 掲載誌・巻号・ページ国際文化学研究 : 神戸大学大学院国際文化学研究科紀要,54:39-291 Citation 刊行日 2020-09 Issue date 資源タイプ Departmental Bulletin Paper / 紀要論文 Resource Type 版区分 publisher Resource Version 権利 Rights DOI JaLCDOI 10.24546/81012499 URL http://www.lib.kobe-u.ac.jp/handle_kernel/81012499 PDF issue: 2021-10-04 Journal of Intercultural Studies (Kobe University) Vol. 54 (2020) 39 Obwavu The Cultural Concepts of Poverty Narrated among Refugees in Central Uganda, Part I Kiyoshi UMEYA and Edward K. KIRUMIRA In association with Michael OLOKA-OBBO, Paul OWORA, Robert KIYEGGA and Samuel WAMALA ……Obwavu bukuliisa nnyoko……—Poverty causes a person to eat his own mother— ……Baboola mwavu……—The poor are not counted as members of the clan— [Luganda proverbs] I. Introduction The present paper is part of a series of papers reflecting on lived experiences of rural communities in Uganda. This paper principally concerns the collected materials regarding the tasks conducted by Kiyoshi Umeya, one of the co-authors, while working as a long-term dispatched expert of the Japan International Co- operation Agency (September 1999–February 2000). It is also part of the ‘Com- prehensive Study Concerning the Strategies for Poverty Eradication and Inte- grated Rural Development in Uganda’ project, which was jointly conducted by the Japan International Cooperation Agency and Makerere University with Ed- ward Kasujja Kirumira as the Makerere University Principal Investigator. The purpose of this paper is to elucidate through analysis how poverty (obwavu in Luganda) and other problems (ebizibu) are regarded and spoken of in the survey site (Kyegonza sub-county) selected by the team. In the indicated project, Umeya conducted a social anthropological survey in Kyegonza Sub-county(Map1), Gomba County, Mpigi District, Uganda(- Map 2). The purpose was to survey the actual situation of ‘poverty’ in the soci- 40 Journal of Intercultural Studies (Kobe University) Vol. 54 (2020) ety, but at that time, because of the failure of similar projects to date, ‘poverty’ was not regarded as being a known phenomenon, the task was to re-examine the concept of ‘poverty’ itself or to conduct a survey with a regional perspective in mind. The purpose of the present paper is to publish in a usable form the raw materials that we have previously gathered. The primary materials have been minimally processed. In general, the survey area is highly undulating, especially in wetlands and lakeside areas where land use problems tend to occur during the rainy sea- son. With the exception of the fact that the land is highly undulating, it is generally suitable for agriculture. The terrain is not particularly poor, and in terms of precipitation it is considered to be a very advantageous area for both agriculture and animal husbandry compared to the eastern and northern parts of Uganda. It cannot however be said that it is currently being used effectively due to topographical problems. In particular, swamps along the banks of Lake Wamala, rivers and elsewhere (such as the tributaries of the Mayanja River, Tondona, Kabasuma, and Muyampa) in Mamba Parish are important water sources, but hinder the movement and flow of people and goods. This terrific environment is undermining economic activity. The population of the surveyed Kyegonza Sub-County was 31,726 (males: 15,716; females: 16,010) in the 1991 census and 37,192 (males: 18,755; females: 18,437) in the 1999 census (Table 1). Of the population in 1999, the number of immunized children aged 0 to 4 years was 7,513, and the number of immunized preschool children aged 0 to 5 years was 8,120. The number of households totals 7,195 and the population density is 789.8 persons/a (Kyegonza Subcounty Council Three Year Development Plan, 1999/2002). The sub-county is composed of 12 parishes, which are subdivided into a total of 54 zones (LC1 level: smallest administrative unit). Only 3,660 people actually paid the 1997 graduate tax (Kyegonza Sub-county 1999: 8). The breakdown by Parish is shown in the attached table (Table 2). Journal of Intercultural Studies (Kobe University) Vol. 54 (2020) 41 Uganda has many immigrants and refugees from Rwanda, who mainly reside in the central region and account for 6% of the population of the country. In Kyegonza Subcounty, 70% of persons are immigrants from Rwanda, Ganda persons comprise 20% and persons from Burundi comprise 10% (Kyegonza Sub-county 1999: 4). The reasons for this vary, but in this region, the civil war and the outflow of migrant workers during the boom of coffee plantations are considered to be major causes. In general, there was no welfare for refugees, and petitions continued to be made to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). While the sub-county has five wells, some are out of order. In addition, there are seven springs that supply valuable water resources, although hygienic problems are present. The core of transportation consists of 20 taxis (public service vehicles: PSV) per day between Kampala and Kanoni. Electricity runs to Kanoni, the central area, although power outages occur frequently. There is a petrol station in the center of Kanoni, and some persons were observed to use a generator even during a power outage. However, it can be said that there are various problems in surrounding areas of the subcounty, as described later. Public tele- phones were not available (mobile phones were available in some areas such as the highlands). Although there are no paved roads, there are 12 major roads out of 21 roads, as shown in the attached table (Table 3). Thirteen are rough roads. A total of 60% of the 880-kilometer road network consists of all-weather roads that can be traveled by vehicle (Kyegonza Sub-county 1999: 17). According to a plan (Kyegonza Subcounty Council Three Year Develop- ment Plan, 1999/2002) that examined the general situation of the region by the sub-county itself and set development goals in three-year units, the overview indicates access to safe water as 37%; pit latrines, 50%; vaccinations, 89%; na- tional schools, 18; and, private schools, 15. Table 4 shows actual numbers per school parish. These, of course, do not take into account details such as wheth- 42 Journal of Intercultural Studies (Kobe University) Vol. 54 (2020) er older persons or persons with disabilities have access to safe water, and whether school facilities are adequate. There are a total of 10,801 school children (m5,001, f5,800), of whom 500 are educated in private schools. A total of 78 of the 174 primary teachers are unqualified (Kyegonza Sub-county 1999: 21). There are active projects such as a teacher development management system (TDMS) to upgrade and maintain the standards of the education system supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Anglican Church, but neither targeted at the poor or required joining a particular religion to participate. Although unconfirmed by the author, it appears that there are women-centered self-help projects and projects that intended to obtain cash income through sericulture, but the sericulture itself is sluggish and cannot be said to be very active. II. Method of Collection of Materials 1. Survey period and specific methods Umeya conducted a short field survey with Prof. Nobuhiro Nagashima and the Makerere team from September 21, 1999, and basically conducted interviews alone (sometimes accompanied by Professor Shiro Kodamaya and Akiko Hayashi as experts since October) in all parishes of Mpigi District, Gomba County and Kyegonza Sub-County. The method was essentially of randomly searching for informants one by one on foot from a trading center that can be approached by rented vehicles. The original plan was to organize the individual materials by combining those basic materials with photographs and to conduct a survey of the deeper details, but in fact, this was stopped when rounds of all the parishes had been completed. In effect, the author stayed there until early February 2000 in order to carry out the investigation. In social anthropological surveys, in order to build trust and a relationship of honesty (so-called ‘rapport’), it is generally desirable that the researcher, to Journal of Intercultural Studies (Kobe University) Vol. 54 (2020) 43 the extent possible is alone, that the researcher lives in the field, that long-term research is conducted for a period of one year or longer, and that proficiency in the local language is obtained. However, each of these was a very special investigation due to difficulties caused by various reasons. In addition to the materials presented in the present paper, in particular, with regard to the health unit, Health Information Management System (HIMS) were obtained from the Kanoni Health Center for several years showing the actual number of patients, diagnoses, instruments, drugs, equipment, staff, etc. 2. Materials and nature of informants In the interviews, the sex, age, and stratification of the speakers were kept in mind, but women were generally more likely to refuse the interviews and it cannot be said that the interviews were sufficiently performed. Initially, some of the rejected persons and places were recorded, but there are examples of re- sponding to them a second time, making it difficult to organize. One of the bi- ases regarding the materials collected is that they comprise records of only of the persons who spoke while the study should have also taken into account the message of ‘not speaking’ from persons who remained silent. Thus, what is the position of persons who rejected interviews may have been an extremely important aspect of social research that was missed.

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