Kintu

Travel Guide

Buganda

Buganda is part of today’s Uganda, and its story spans the centuries from the 1700s to the beginning of the 1900s

This is a story of the the country’s people and their belief systems, culture, traditions and more. This is a country where tradition and beliefs are strong – if a man marries a twin, then he must also marry the second woman. Legends and other stories about for this is a culture built over many many years.

Uganda

The novel is heavily littered with sometimes well known Ugandan history such as the country’s independence after 1962. There are other, not as well known historical moments which make the tapestry of this book;s backdrop very rich indeed. The war between Idi Amin’s Uganda and Tanzania in 1978/9 being one such event)

The physical war and battles are not the only struggles in the novel. AIDS is perhaps the most effective destroyer of its people moral and health. Where religion plays a role in everyday life, health and social factors needed to stop the spread of AIDS or at least educate people about its prevention are obstacles. There is also the fact that this is a country, a land and a people where curses mean everything and are a serious matter.

The devastation of the AIDS epidemic in Uganda also plays a big part in the novel

Each of parts two, three, four, and five are about a different descendant of Kintu. This is clan culture where descendants are everything and the family name comes above all. Whichever clan you belong to, dictates how you live and how you die.