Introduction

In considering the demographics of the region in which Mother Kevin carried out her missionary work in a given period, we shall pay greater attention to factors concerning location, physical features, infrastructure, ethnic groups, political ground, religious interplay, women’s status and the economic situation.  We hope that by providing information about these factors in Mother Kevin’s Missionary field, the reader will attain an appreciation of the extent and nature of the services she spearheaded, the challenges encountered, and the impact on the recipients of such services.

Mother Kevin carried out her missionary activities mainly in Uganda.  Her presence in Kenya and Zambia was minimal and her impact was felt through the Franciscan Missionary Sisters she sent to serve there.  Nevertheless, she used to visit these missions and ensured the exercise of the Franciscan missionary spirit in the services offered, mainly through education, medical services and also paying particular attention to women and the girl child.  In Zambia the same thing happened as in Kenya.  However, she was mainly invited to Zambia by a Friar Minor Capuchin, Rt. Rev. Timothy Phelim O’Shea, the Bishop of Livingstone diocese (1959 to 1974), to help establish an African Religious Institute of the Little Sisters of St. Francis (LSOSF) in the area of Maramba, in 1960.  In this Chapter we intend to concentrate on the demographics of Uganda, a country where Mother Kevin first arrived, spent 99% of her life and was finally buried.

There are some significant differences between the demographics of the three countries concerning their geographical features and availability of rainfall.  Generally, Uganda is much more blessed with rich soils and higher rainfall levels, all of which make Uganda a favourable place for cultivation and richer harvests without too much labour.  Similarities between the three countries exist in the multiplicity of languages, the observation of customs, the practice of African traditional religions, the involvement in either peasant farming methods or pastoralist activities and the practice of monogamous marriages as a common feature in African communities. This section now proceeds to present the various features of the demographics of Uganda, which we have indicated above as central in this chapter.

Location of Mother Kevin’s missionary field: The pearl of Africa at the equator

Before the coming of the British to the part known as Uganda today, the land existed in blocks without specific borders, except a gradual change of language from one ethnic group to another.  The borders often consisted of natural features such as rivers, hills or mountains.  The black race that stayed in the area had no knowledge of other people living beyond a few tribes around them.  However, since the coming of the British in 1862, to an area known as Buganda, studies have been done and we have statistics that can clearly give the needed information about the location of Uganda.  Now we know that Uganda lies 800 kilometres inland, from the Indian Ocean in the Northern and Eastern hemispheres, at a latitude of 1.3733 degrees North and longitude of 32.2903 degrees East.  It is positioned along the Central African Rift Valley at an altitude of 1,200ft.  Present day Uganda is bordered by South Sudan to the North, which in the years under consideration,[1] was still part of present day Sudan.  It is bordered by Kenya to the East, and both Tanganyika (later Tanzania) and Rwanda to the South, and the Democratic Republic of Congo to the East.  In 1903 Mother Kevin and her companions came to this part of the African continent and found it in the state it was before the British changed its concept of tribal boundaries.[2]

The physical features

Uganda is a fertile country well-watered by water bodies consisting of several lakes and rivers.  It has the largest fresh water lakes on the continent such as Lake Victoria which hosts the source of the longest river, the Nile, with the strongest waterfall (suppressed for hydroelectric power). Sitting in the heart of the Great Lakes Region, Uganda is surrounded by Lake Edward and Lake Albert and many tributaries of fresh water.[3]  The landscape in Uganda mainly consists of flat land surrounded by hills and mountains such as the Ruwenzori Mountain range in the West and Mount Elgon to the East.  It also has the largest number of primates, and the highest number of mountain gorillas worldwide.[4]  Mother Kevin and her companions found the country very attractive because of its natural beauty due to the presence of evergreen surroundings composed of grass varieties, evergreen rainforests as well as undulating hills, especially in the West, and in the Central where they first settled.  The existence of such green surroundings was favoured by a variety of soils, the composition of which varied from region to region. Generally, the West and South have rich black soils that originate from volcanic activities; the Central and Northern parts have loose red soil and the North Eastern part has sandy soils.  This enabled the natives to cultivate and harvest crops all the year round; the implication being that there was abundance of food except that it was very strange to the new arrivals from England.  The Sisters bore these inconveniences with the brevity of missionaries, while they also planted foods that were familiar to them, such as Irish potatoes, and assorted vegetables.[5]

The Sisters’ efforts to grow food were supplemented by the generosity of the natives who brought chickens, eggs, sweet potatoes, fresh beans and maize.  Hence the greater part of the Sisters’ missionary was supported by the availability of these necessities of life, as they did not have to spend a lot of time helping the natives to produce food.  The disadvantage is that they did not have modern equipment to help them produce food for storage and in many cases, women did not have the knowledge to feed their children on a balanced diet.  Hence a lot of diseases resulted from malnutrition, especially in areas where millet, a good source of proteins, was not grown.

Thick forests contributed to periods of heavy rains that occurred during specific months of the year.  In the Central part where Mother Kevin and the Sisters first settled, the months of March, April, May, late September, October and early November were periods marked by heavy rains, with rain sometimes falling for three days.  However, sunshine would immediately follow a shower, making the weather pleasant and bearable. The rainy seasons were periods for planting and weeding staple crops such as bananas, sweet potatoes, cassava, beans, groundnuts, sesame (simsim), maize, millet, and other varieties that were favourable to different regions.  Later on, with the coming of the Europeans, the colonial government also required the natives to plant cotton, coffee and tobacco as cash crops to provide raw materials for their industries.

Trees of special significance

In the early 1900s thick forests bore outstanding features that dotted different parts of Uganda, especially the Southern, Western, Central and North-Western parts of the country.  Some of the trees, mountains and rivers bearing special features led the natives to regard them as mediums or habitats of their various gods.   At the bottom of such trees or close to certain rivers, or at certain spots on mountains, the people would construct shrines where they offer sacrifices to the gods.  Such was the case with one particular tree found in the location identified for the Mother House of the African Religious Institute that Mother Kevin would establish in 1923.  A full account concerning such trees connected to idol worship will be given later in another chapter.

Infrastructure in the early 1900s: construction and equipping of houses

On the whole the various tribes in Uganda had more or less the same structures of houses which mainly consisted of huts.  A hut was basically a single roomed structure constructed out of wattle or reeds interlaced with twigs or branches to provide a round structure that was smeared with beaten earth.  The mud walls would be smeared with earth made out of the topmost soil washed off by the rains and which was mingled with water to give a smooth and neat appearance to the walls.  The only door to the hut was made out of reeds, or banana leaves, or soft sticks depending on the area and creativity of the one constructing it.  In the Eastern part of the country, it was the women who would put up these huts, while in the rest of the country it was the duty of the men.  Roofs were made out of grass strapped to stronger wattle by banana fibres or small strips made from barks of trees.  As time went on, around early 1900s, the huts, especially in the Central Region, had taken on a different look.  The people began constructing four-cornered houses of more than one room but still using the same materials.

When Mother Kevin and the Sisters came out to Uganda, they were welcomed to a house of this type, though the Mill Hill Fathers had improved on the materials by using sun-baked bricks and embellishing the floor with beaten earth, smeared with cow dung.  This last touch to the floor caused “a shiver among the more fastidious [Sisters] but this turned to a chuckle of mirth when Sister Kevin remarked that life could hardly be all “green rushes and golden boughs”, referring to the beautiful greenery and the swaying trees weighed down by branches laden with golden flowers.”[6]  Moreover, in the houses of the natives there was no such a thing as beds; a mat spread over some dry banana leaves or grass was sufficient.  As the Sisters settled down in their dormitory, someone murmured “Beds”. “These were nowhere to be found in the house!  No surprised look on Sr. Kevin’s face,” no fuss to be made; she was already spreading her blanket on the floor, quite undaunted by the lack of a couch.”[7]  However, the night was made bearable by the arrival of some boys who brought some camp beds from the parish.[8]  It was obvious that the situation was a source of “perfect joy” for Mother Kevin, a true child of St. Francis and a true missionary.

Means of transport by then

It should be noted that outside the only developing town of Kampala, there was no clear road network to connect one part of the country to another.  Foot paths would lead through thickets of elephant grass and thick forests of evergreen trees with heavy undergrowth.  Such places were inhabited by wild animals like lions, elephants, leopards, snakes, and many other animals which were a great threat to the lives of the people.  As Mother Kevin traversed the different regions to reach a new place that was destined for a new mission, she would often walk through these forests, accompanied by a few men.  The men would carry her on a rack woven out of sticks and reeds.  They would carry her for some miles, and in order for the men to rest they would put her down and she had to walk for more miles ahead.  They would do this until they reached their destination.

At the beginning of their missionary work, Mother Kevin had to walk many miles from the headquarters in Nsambya-Kampala to reach the places to which they were called by the Mill Hill Fathers.   In some cases, she walked for distances as long as fourty kilometres from the location.  For sure this required courage to go through the dangerous forests as well as a level of trust to brave the possibility of being dropped off the rack and sustain some injury.  In the early 1900s cars were a luxury preserved only for the high officials in the colonial government.  When Mother Kevin writes about this experience later on, she does so with amazement at how Divine Providence enabled them to overcome the obstacles that would have been a threat to their very lives; never once does she complain about these challenges.[9]

Uganda’s ethnic groups in 1900s: A land blessed with a variety of cultures

In 1862 when the Europeans first came to Uganda, they found different groups of people settled in areas where each group bore distinctive marks concerning language and culture.  The area had been settled majorly by three groups of people, namely the Bantu, Nilotics, and Hamites.  The Nilotics are settlers around the Nile valley in the North-Eastern part of present-day Uganda.  Within these groups, there existed varieties of people who spoke different languages and practiced different customs.

The Bantu group

The Bantu were the largest of the ethnic groups that settled in present day Uganda, as early as 1000 BC.  They are believed to have migrated from the South Western parts of Africa and settled in the Southern, Central and Eastern parts of Uganda.  It is the Bantu who introduced iron smelting in that part where they settled, and therefore, developed efficient tools for cultivation as well as tools for defending themselves during conflicts with their neighbours.  The major tribes among the Bantu group are the Baganda, Banyoro, Batoro, Bakiga, Bagishu, Bagwere, Bafumbira, Basamia and Bakonjo.  They all speak dialects that are related, with the suffix “Ntu”.  They cultivated the land mainly for home consumption until the Europeans came and introduced the idea of cash crops.  Their main crops were millet, sorghum, beans, groundnuts, sweet potatoes, cassava, bananas and a variety of green vegetables. Apart from peasantry, the Bantu also kept a few domestic animals in their homesteads, such as cows, goats and chickens.  This more or less permanent agricultural practice enabled them to experience a reasonable degree of stability.

The Nilotic and Nilo-Hamites groups

The Nilotic group is believed to have originated from Southern Sudan.  They settled in the   Northern part of Uganda, around the Nile River.  The major tribes in this area are the Langi, Alur, Acholi, and Luo.  They bear a common name as the “Luo” people.  As the Luo associated with other tribes such as the Banyoro to the South, they adopted some practices that led them to use the cow dung as fertilizers, thus tending to settle down to cultivating the land.

The Hamites:

Hamites are said to have come from the North Eastern part of Ethiopia and settled in the less fertile areas in the North-Eastern part of Uganda.  The main tribes in this group are the Karamojong, Iteso, and Kumam.  Since their land was less fertile, the settlers developed a pastoralist culture, moving from place to place in search of pasture for their animals.

Cultural practices: The social life of Ugandans in pre-colonial times

Socially each tribe developed its own behaviour and customs.  The Bantu were generally a peaceful and gentle, warm and welcoming people, except during periods of invasions carried out in an effort to expand their borders.  The Nilotic on the North-Western part of the country had adopted some social behaviour from their Banyoro neighbours, except that they tended to be on the warring side to a high degree.  The Nilotic at the North-Eastern part did not settle down in permanent homesteads.  They practiced a nomadic lifestyle in search of pasture for their cattle.  Often, they raided their neighbours to acquire more animals, for the more animals one had, the richer one was considered to be. All these groups differed one from the other due to the unique cultures consisting of the dress code, traditions, norms, food preparation, naming, initiation rituals, traditional dances, marriage ceremonies and other details.[10]

Adapting foreign cultures: benefits and side effects

With the coming of the British Colonial Government, Uganda embraced so much that was initially unknown in the land.  Some of the things that were quite strange to the people included the language, religion, manners, and some types of foods and means of transport.

As the British took the upper hand in directing the governance of the country, the people began to lose control on some of the things that were central to their very existence as autonomous groups within their cultural settings.  It was not long before the Africans came to equate all that was from Europe to be superior to their own.  Indeed, it was obvious that in order to collaborate with their Europeans masters it was necessary to learn the English language.  Knowing how to read, write, count and speak English fluently took on a prestigious note.  In the long run, to a certain extent, this created a gap between the members of the same groups such as families and clans.  To a certain extent some practices that ensured unity among the people faced adjustment or extinction. On the positive side, the learned would get well-paying jobs and earn money to provide for their families. On the side of Mother Kevin and the Sisters is that they provided education free in the beginning, only later to charge beneficiaries very minimally.  Mother Kevin set precedence for the kind of education and medical services offered in the country up to the present moment.  Her foundations provide some of the best services by way of education and medical care in the whole country; they gave the basic education that later produced the first woman doctor in East Africa, and the first woman Vice President in Uganda, among many others.[11]

Uganda’s political life before the infiltration of the Europeans and before independence

As the Bantu-speaking agriculturists tended towards permanent settlement in the would-be Uganda area, they developed relationships that culminated into kinships.  For some of the kinships that consisted of clans like in the South, Central, West and North Western Uganda, the clans evolved into kingdoms led by a king that soon took on hereditary privileges.  Since the tribes in the North and North Eastern parts were more or less nomadic, closely knit relationships did not take the form found among the Bantu and Nilotics of North Eastern Uganda.  Here the form of governance that evolved consisted of chieftainships loosely held together by elders who were in charge of settling disputes.

In the Kingdom of Buganda where Mother Kevin and her companions first settled, the Kingdom had a feudal system with chiefs appointed to enforce the King’s orders at the village, sub-county, and county levels.  There were two parliaments, one in which the county chiefs met with the King at intervals during the year to deliberate on important Kingdom matters and legislate laws that would ensure the security, health, economy and social life of the people.  The other parliament consisted of the elders who were the heads of the different clans that were headed by the King.  A judiciary existed at a higher level for grave cases within the Kingdom.  At the local level, grievances were handled by the village chiefs and sub-county chiefs, while within clans the heads of clans settled their cases in particular during the last funeral rites of a deceased relative.  Often the Kingdoms were at loggerheads as Kings sought to expand their territory.

Encounter with foreign politics: A Protectorate under the British

In 1894 Uganda became a Protectorate under the British Empire.  Since Uganda had been composed of several Kingdoms and Chieftainships, the British provided guns to their allies to protect themselves against attacks by neighbouring Kingdoms, as was the case between Buganda and Bunyoro.[12]  Since the Kingdom of Buganda already existed as a well-established state, the British developed close relationships with them easily.  They made a treaty with Buganda and left them to enjoy a high degree of autonomy to administer their land according to their already established systems, namely beginning from village to sub county to county levels, and from homesteads to clans, clan heads to land lords, and finally to the king.  Although a similar setting existed in Bunyoro, the British found their resistance too strong to let them retain self-governance to as high a level as in Buganda.

By 1920 the British had established districts and mostly appointed Baganda to collect taxes from the other districts.  This made Buganda unwelcome and an enemy to other tribes, especially the Banyoro, whose sizable piece of land had been awarded to Buganda for their cooperation.  When Mother Kevin came out to Uganda, these kinds of unfriendly feelings still existed among natives of some of the tribes.  Furthermore, there developed sharp differences between the natives who had become Protestants and those that had converted to Catholicism.  There was frequent fighting among the two groups so much so that this came to bear an outstanding influence on the politics of Uganda that exists up to this day.  Leaders appointed by the British to assist them in the administration of the Protectorate had to be Protestant and this was carried on until the country got its independence in 1962.[13]  When Mother Kevin and her companions came out to Uganda in 1903, this was more or less the situation their life was plunged into.

Uganda’s Independence and its outcomes

As Mother Kevin’s missionary field widened beyond Buganda, and with the passing of the years, Uganda gained independence in 1962.[14]  However, this did not mean that the old systems of self-government before the coming of the British were restored.  On the contrary, the British system remained in effect, except for the change of guards between the British and the natives.  Political parties were introduced and leaders were elected from any part of the country.  Kingdoms lost a lot of their autonomy and eventually Kings turned into ceremonial leaders of their respective populations.  The movement of peoples from their areas of origin into those that offered better employment opportunities became predominant.  All these had their own effects on cultures, opportunities, political views and the like.

[1] The years under consideration in this section of Chapter Three lie between 1900 and 1957.
[2] See map in Annex 1 found at https://www.worldatlas.com/maps/uganda
[3] https://cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Early_history_of_Uganda  
[5] Information in this section is obtained from https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Geography_of_Uganda  
[6] Love is the Answer, p. 50.
[7] Love is the Answer. p. 44.
[8] Ibid. p. 44.
[9] Reports by Mother Kevin. Mother Kevin Beatification Cause Office, Nsambya-Uganda, 2021, p. 65.
[10] Most of the information in the foregoing sections is traceable from    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_history_of_Uganda and https://www.safaris-uganda.com › Blog
[11] More details are available from https://en.unesco.org › sites › creativity › files › qpr 
[11] https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki.  
 
[13] Information in this section is taken from material at https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Early_history_of_Uganda...  and https://microform.digital › boa › collections › Uganda
[14] https://www.ugandahighcommissionpretoria.com › Polit..