Meet Grace Nalongo, mother of twins, cook, business woman and worker par excellence!

In Uganda, there are specific titles for particular events. In a way, it is similar to many other cultures that have specific names, for example, for maternal grandparents and paternal grandparents, to list a few. In Indian culture, a mother`s brother is called Mamoo (mama shree) while dad`s brother is called chacha (if he younger) and dada (if he is older). The wife of a Pandit (Hindu Religious leader) is called marajin....and so on. However, I have never heard of titles for those who give birth to twins. This is the new and exciting world that I now take you:

In Buganda culture (this is the main culture of the Kampala region), there are specific titles for those that are involved in this amazing feat of bearing twins. The terms are described below:

Nalongo – mother of twins
Salongo – father of twins
Babirye – 1st born twin – girl
Nakato – 2nd born twin – girl
Waswa – 1st born twin boy
Kato – 2nd born twin boy

Of course, these titles will then be accompanied with the unique names of the children in question. However, as soon as someone introduces themselves to you, by virtue of these titles, you are able to tell if the person has given birth to twins or if the individual has a twin brother or sister. These titles are so official that they even appear in official identity documents.

Well.... the matriarch of my host family – Grace Nalongo – is a mother of twins. She is an amazing and hard working woman. As I had indicated earlier, I was not happy with my initial accommodations and was introduced to this lady as someone who may be able to help. She had some rooms that she rents and offered one to me which I gladly accepted. The rest is now history – I had the most comfortable stay at that residence; they made my Kampala sojourn a most memorable one. I think I even got a bit fatter with all the Irish potatoes that I constantly eat.

We had a great cultural exchange. I brought a piece of Canada and Guyana to them and they brought Kampala, and Uganda to me. From music to food, from relationships to work ethics, from marriages to religion, from race to race relations, there is not a topic that we have failed to cover. This is a family of women – strong women – who does everything that they need to do, demonstrating that self sufficiency is within each individual. They also demonstrate great team work and camaraderie in everything that they do. Meet the members of the Nalongo house hold....

There is Grace Nalongo - Mother! There are - Edith, Winnie, Nakie, Babie, and Essie - daughters and sisters! Truly wonderful people.....