This past week we went to the National Theatre to see “The Cow Needs a Wife” put on by KADS (Kampala Amateur Dramatics Society). KADS began in the early 1960’s, stopped during the Amin era and started up again in the 1980’s. This play had won third place in the 2010 BBC all-African performance playwriting competition. It was a thoroughly African play – written by a Ugandan, African content and humor, and mostly Ugandan actors. Summary of the story: A young man must raise money to buy a cow so he can pay a bride price to his girlfriend’s family. He enlists the help of his unscrupulous uncle, but immediately after buying his cow the prospective bride refuses to marry him. The uncle insists he must find a replacement bride as he cannot have the cow without getting married! Thus the title.
Yesterday we went with D (from our office), wife and 3 yr old son to a Cranes (Uganda National Team) important qualifying soccer match against Guinea Bissau. Because of the traffic and the queues at the gate we got in at kick-off. There were no seats to be had. The stadium was packed, all entrances had people 3-4-5 deep, people hanging on the rails, etc. etc. D said he had never seen it full before and later learned that people had camped there the night before and gotten in at 9 am to get a seat! We ended up watching the game standing outside the stadium looking through a large tunnel where we could see the giant screen. The Cranes won 2-0!
