Two recordings
In this post, two episodes from African history of the early
twentieth century are reproduced from Pottekkatt’s book Kappirikalude Nattil.
Though we are quite unfamiliar with the recordings, we can take a couple of
lessons from them.
Pottekkatt finished his Kenya tour and he was on his way to
Uganda. He embarked on a ship SS Usago and crossed the Victoria Lake. It’s the
second largest fresh water lake but nobody uses its water. Infested with a kind
of worms called “Billersia” which enter into the human body to thrive on, the Lake
is scary as well. The islands in the lake are uninhabited. Flies named “Telsy” (also known as Tsetse) have made them a dreaded place by propagating a terrifying disease named
“Sleeping Sickness”. A giant killer by itself, Sleeping Sickness had banished 1/3
rd of the population of Uganda. Scientists identified the virus “Tripenosome” which
were carried by Telsy flies. They were inactive in the night-time and the ships
had rearranged their schedule to move only during nights.
Tripenosome lied dormant in the human-body for a long time.At
the final stage when the disease became full-blown, its beyond treatment.
The symptoms were very similar to Malaria , often resulting in wrong medication.
“Tripenosome” attacked salivary glands first followed by human brain. And then
they entered the vertebrae column causing paralysis. The patient turned a
zombie at this stage. The control over the sensory organs was lost and the
patient lied on his/her back with the knees folded upwards touching the neck. However,
death did not happen even at this stage.The victim had to pull on for years
together in this extremely pathetic posture until pneumonia took away the life.
Since treatment was not common for Sleeping Sickness, the
Ugandan government was concentrating on the prevention part. The islands were
condemned for human habitation and people were being evacuated even from the
banks of the lake. The government cleared 35 lakh acres of vegetation just to
keep Telsy flies at bay.
Sleeping Sickness is no more a scare in Africa these days.
 |
| Marchal Mithouard |
There is one more recording in Pottekkatt’s book and that is
about history. In fact, Uganda’s history is not well-documented till the end of
19th century.
The year was 1877 when Uganda was ruled by a Kabakka (king)
named Muttesa. He was whimsical with a staunch belief in sorcery. Several human
lives were sacrificed. Muttesa thought it would increase his longevity and
strength. Surprisingly, the unpredictable king had welcomed the British
missionaries. Not to be left behind, the Catholic missionaries from France too
made a beeline to Uganda. The natural fall-out was an unstoppable war between
the two factions. The English missionaries and their French counterparts took
to weapons and fought against each other. Their new-found followers perished in
the process.
There was yet another faction, the Ugandan Muslims who were
hostile to both English and French missionaries. They were the progeny of Arabs who had an
inherent dislike to the religious invasions. The civil unrest continued till
the death of King Muttesa in 1884.His eldest son, Muvanka became the new
Kabakka. He had a dream that a white man entering Uganda through the northern
side of Victoria Lake would wrest power from him. Roughly at this time, the
British Church had sent a Bishop, James Hanington and his itinerary through the
northern side gave the King sleepless nights. The Bishop was brutally murdered.
The new Kabakka was in fact an accumulation of oddities. He
practiced sodomy and had kept a harem of young boys. The enthusiastic conversionists worked on the sly and thirty two of the boys were
converted to Christianity. Muvanka was angered to no end. Death sentence was
slapped on them and the boys were given 10 days to relinquish Christianity. Backed by the
prodding of the Bishops, the boys refused to budge and Muvanka burnt all the
thirty-two of them alive. The incident forged unity among the warring factions
of Catholics and Protestants and they entered into a pact with the Muslims to
fight the common enemy. Unable to withstand pressure, Muvanka had to flee
for life to an islet named Sesse in Victoria Lake.
Unfortunately, things were back to square one in the absence
of the King. A severe fight between Christians and Muslims followed. The
Muslims managed to oust the Bishops and all Christians from Uganda. Not for
long. The Christians came back next year with renewed vigor and recalled
Muvanka from exile. He was made the King yet again. The Muslims were suppressed
and the Christians had a free-run.
The Ugandan history did not end at this point. Muvanka was
ousted again and he took refuge in a French colony named Bukoba. What's more, he was called
back yet again by the British to overpower the elements of protests against
them. Oddly enough, Muvanka turned against the British for some strange reason.
The British had enough and banished Muvanka from the country. Muvanka did come
back and joined the Sudanese soldiers as well as local war-lords to unleash a
year-long covert war against the British. He was defeated in the end, was taken as POW and
was exiled to Seychelles where he died in captivity in 1903.
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