With only five months in office, Abonwe Baangangi clan leaders are putting plans in place to streamline it going forward and register more members for posterity.
Abonwe Baangangi is one of the leading clans under the Marachi Sub-tribe of Luhya, with its members spread across the East African region with a heavy presence in Butula sub-county of Busia County.
Gerald Malala the Chairperson of Abonwe Baangangi Worldwide and a renowned operative in Busia hosted a section of the clan members to chat a way forward about the clan’s culture and way of life going forward.
According to Mr Malala, there is a need to learn about the clan culture to understand, love and preserve its heritage.
“Culture resides in the hearts and souls of its people and there is no way we are going to let our culture fade away. A lot has happened in recent times and continues to happen in the name of Christianity, modernisation among so many changes that have come up through exposure and education,” said Mr Malala.
Mzee Damiano Ondonya and Caleb Kubali who are respected clan elders aver that people without knowledge of their history, origin and culture are like trees without roots.
“It is important for every clan member to know his roots by having proper history of the clan not limited to how and where dead members of the family face when dead, how marriage used to be conducted and how it ought to be, how many animals (cows) are supposed to be paid as dowry among many more,” said Ondonya.
Mr Kubali added, “The clan executive with the help of elders needs to come up with a way of documenting information about the clan history and way of life so that we know our heritage well. We want to bring on board every member of the clan so that we move together as one. If we don’t put our minds together, the future generation of the clan will be at stake as they will lack information to share with their kin.”
The elders noted they have very powerful sons and daughters of the clan whom they want to task in making sure that nothing gets lost from its heritage.
They said they want sub-committees to handle marriage, death, naming etc and come up with a documentaries on the same.
Prof. Josephat Mulimba is the current Patron of the clan and was hailed for being very supportive of the clans agenda.
