As the rest of the country is changing due to modernity, Karamoja has remained stoic, motionless, immovable and beautiful.
Admittedly, the country is craning its neck to the global village; infrastructure is being sprouted out, roads are being tarmacked, bustling commerce, buildings are erecting slowly from the ground.
The world is moving at a speed. A fast speed. But not Karamoja. It has remained firm on its roots. It is not threatened by modernity.
It is not shaken by the waves of civilization. It is still the good old Karamoja. The Karamoja that we loved and still love abundantly, boundlessly.
Karamojong, the Nomad Warriors in Uganda
When you visit the Kidepo Valley National Park, and leave without visiting the Karamajong, then what is it you will talk about after your Karamoja Uganda safari in Africa? Especially seeing as the Karamojong or Karimojong, an ethnic group of Agro – pastoral herders neighbouring the park from the South and East.
Notably however, the side people don’t know about Karimojong is that they are among the very few tribes that live up to the billing of the notion; ‘true warriors’. For, they hold a strong attachment to the traditional way of living life.
As, every aspect of their culture and norms point at one thing, they are the very definition of African warriors. Up to date, there are hordes of things that distinguish them as warriors.
Raiding, a permanent part if their life, a Karamajong might not own goats or sheep but owing cattle is something that literally qualifies one to belong to this tribe. And as such, if you do not own a cow in Karamoja, you can’t be allowed to address a congregation because you are not valued as a person, you’re not a Karimojong, you’re worthless. You’re deemed poor. Here cars, houses and expensive champagnes don’t define wealth.
You ought to own a cow to have an opinion. Because then, you are better off folding it and wrapping it in a box and tucking it away in a distant place where it won’t bug you for a chance to be voiced. Which only serves to imply, owning cattle to them, is a matter of life and death. A reason they will raid the nearby tribes for cattle and claim its normal. And front baseless notions like all the cattle in the world is theirs.
This could be partly due to a traditional belief that the Karamojong own cattle by a divine right, but also because cattle are also an important element in the negotiations for a bride and young men use the raids as a rite of passage and way of increasing their herds to gain status.
In recent years the nature and the outcome of the raids have become increasingly violent with the acquisition of AK47S by the Karamojong. The Uganda government has attempted to broker for weapons amnesties, but the number of cattle the Karamojong have wanted per gun has proved too steep for any meaning agreement to be made.
Warrior Dress Code
To most Ugandans the sheet-like cloths they adorn and the oblivion with they leave their supposed private parts exposed will readily identify a Karimojong.
Mieah Lolem, the member of Parliament for Nakapiripirit district explains that a typical Karamajong woman’s attire entails just a skirt, colored beads around the neck and elastic or metallic bands tied around their ankles. The men on the other hand just throw a piece of cloth over their bodies and accompany it with plastic bangles. But it’s the marks on their heads that depict their true warrior nature. The permanent scars as a result of cuts supposedly made on their foreheads imply the men are raised to be warriors for life.
Marriage
It is perhaps no longer news that wooing a wife into marriage, to the Karimojong is as a rule of thumb only by wrestling them into submission. Only then, are you considered a man and one who is worthy of her. And by look after, it is by raiding to provide for her and protect her from raids to secure a wealthy future. The fact that it is a very pertinent part of their lives dietates that every man who agrees to live as a Karamajong is a warrior. Step aside Shaka Zulu, step aside Apocalypto chaps, here a Karimojong.
