What Bakiga tribe meal-time manners teach us about being broke

Mainly, by the way he/she clings to the modern dinner table mannerisms of delicate, polite chewing and including all sorts of dietary portions to a well-cooked local dish of oburo (millet bread).

Millet bread is a stapple among the Bakiga and it was eaten with enyama (meat) in a dramatic display. Four course meal does not have the same meaning among the Bakiga.

They ate the meal which they termed "enogo" in four phases with style, art and flair.

Recalled by Muniini K. Mulera, the millet was served in a decoratively woven small basket with a round summit lid. The meat, and other foods, was then served in one of the various wooden or clay bowls, (orubeehe, orwabya, orugari, entemere).

You were prohibited from doing the following:

Remaining silent with a mouthful. It suggested greed. Conversation was a must between mouthfuls.
Chewing from both sides of the mouth at the same time.
Licking of fingers and hands.
Eating in more than five dig-ins
Women and children would be digging in their vegetarian dishes.

Then the four phases would begin with;

Breaking off a handful of the millet bread, mold it into a ball, create a crater by pressing the thumb into the ball and using it to scoop soup and a piece of meat. This big ball of soup and meat was called enogo.

The first enogo was called ITEMBYA MIZIGA "the tear-inducing one"

Due to it's big size, it would induce tears as it slid down.

The second enogo was called ICWA NGISHA "the necklace splitting one"

The second one would be so big it would extend the Adam's Apple that it would break the neclaces "engisha".

The third enogo was called IHENDA BITEBE "break the seat"

This one would fill the diner so much his seat would be at risk of breaking under his weight.

The fourth enogo was called TOORA MWANA WE OTANTEERANA NA NYOKO (take this, young lad, I don't want any misunderstandings with your mother)

The man would give his son as some sort of bribe.

The fifth enogo was called KABUHWE TWETEEKYE (let's finish and sit idle)

This was the last one.

Lessons

Budget for your money, resources

Create a timeline for your funds and find means of maximising on value of each purchase.

Get creative

It is not what you do, it is how you do it. Naturally, being short on resources forces one in tight spots where they have to device ways of getting by.

Accept your situation

Be honest with yourself. Take care of yourself. It will save you from the stress of pretending that you have money. You don't have to announce it, but accepting it will make it less stressful and give you space to think about how to get through it.

Enjoy with others

Share the little with others, it is much more enjoyable that way. Whether it is fun time, company, food. Also share what you are goinf through with a trusted person.

Nothing lasts

Ofcourse when you are going through a tough time, the end is impossible to see. Perhaps that is why it comes without one realising.