Could renaming Owino market have caused the fire?
Feb 28, 2009
THE first thought I got after seeing Owino on fire was that it has something to do with the renaming of the market. Eunice Owino after whom the market was first named has been dishonoured by renaming the market.
THE first thought I got after seeing Owino on fire was that it has something to do with the renaming of the market. Eunice Owino after whom the market was first named has been dishonoured by renaming the market.
It has been claimed that St. Balikuddembe is the patron saint of the market, but he seemed to have failed to save the market from the fire.
Owino is a Luo name of a person born with the umbilical cord around his neck and the name by the nature of the birth is spiritual. As usual, Luo names are not just ancestral, but spiritual as well.
Mzee Aloni Owino, Eunice’s father died in the seventies as she was working on project Owino Market in the City Council. Eunice could have given the name Owino in his memory for the struggles, sacrifices and investment that he made in her education.
There could now be friction between the roles of two spirits here, one ancestral and the other religious. If Mengo has retained an age old name for its gate, Wangkach or Wankaki with its Luo origins and meanings, why doesn’t Kampala City Council swallow its pride and concede that spirits have pre-eminence over foreign religious spirits like that one in St. Balikuddembe?
Moreover, even traders, shoppers and the media find it almost natural to call the market by its more agreeable name, Owino.
The market should get back its legitimate name Owino Market to regain harmony in this market place.
Jenn Jagire,
Ontario, Canada
It has been claimed that St. Balikuddembe is the patron saint of the market, but he seemed to have failed to save the market from the fire.
Owino is a Luo name of a person born with the umbilical cord around his neck and the name by the nature of the birth is spiritual. As usual, Luo names are not just ancestral, but spiritual as well.
Mzee Aloni Owino, Eunice’s father died in the seventies as she was working on project Owino Market in the City Council. Eunice could have given the name Owino in his memory for the struggles, sacrifices and investment that he made in her education.
There could now be friction between the roles of two spirits here, one ancestral and the other religious. If Mengo has retained an age old name for its gate, Wangkach or Wankaki with its Luo origins and meanings, why doesn’t Kampala City Council swallow its pride and concede that spirits have pre-eminence over foreign religious spirits like that one in St. Balikuddembe?
Moreover, even traders, shoppers and the media find it almost natural to call the market by its more agreeable name, Owino.
The market should get back its legitimate name Owino Market to regain harmony in this market place.
Jenn Jagire,
Ontario, Canada