Village Children’s Cows

Stories abound about Ugandans who raise hundreds of cattle for their livelihood or hobby. Cattle are a significant economic asset and one of the commonest dowries demanded from the future son-in-law to the girl’s parents in many parts of Uganda, but not all.

The average cow cost nowadays is between 500,000/- to 2,200,000/- depending on the breed. So, the outlay is substantial when a future son-in-law must bring eight heads of cattle as a dowry. No wonder it now requires ten to twenty years for a couple that has carried out Okwanjula - the ‘introduction ceremony’ at which the dowry is delivered- to hold a church and Western type of wedding to finalize all the elements of a modern marriage ritual. 

A Nninzi woman commented thus, reflecting on her personal experience. "My parents asked my fiancé to bring five cows and many other items. He did so in 1988. Since, according to tradition, I was now his wife, I moved to his home. We had five children in eleven years. Every time we thought about ‘finalizing our marriage,’ I would be pregnant, or we would have insufficient funds to hold the event, given that school fees and other expenses had kicked in. 

"Eventually, we held the wedding after nineteen years. We had hung our Okwanjula and wedding photographs side by side on the wall in our sitting room. But we were forced to remove them after some time. We became wearied to answer the question of when our first son, who resembles his father, held his Okwanjula and where the girl came from. You see, the couple in our wedding photograph looked as if they were the parents of one of the two young people in our Okwanjula photographs."

Suppose cattle are the cause of all the above unpalatable realities. In that case, you might wish to learn how Nninzi children become cattle owners in a few minutes. 

Walk into any banana plantation and remove the hanging inflorescence. It is no longer helpful and has become a parasite to the growing banana bunch as it continues to siphon off its food. Make sure there is about two or three inches of the stalk to the flower bouquet. 

Walk into the coffee field and collect a few dried branches from the stem that households in the village use as firewood. Sit down. Break a dried branch into five-inch pieces and stick four of them in the body of the inflorescence to make the cow’s four legs.

Break another piece of the dry branch of about two inches and stick it at the pointed end of the inflorescence to make the cow’s tail. Break another piece into two short nodes, about an inch each, and stick them on the front sides to form the two horns of the famous Ankole Cattle. And there you are! Cows galore!

Young men, see if your future in-laws will accept them as dowry!