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At Kagei the crucial port on the southern shore of Lake Victoria and the main gateway to Buganda by canoe, James Hannington finally steps free after his detention by King Romwa of Buzinza. But just as the last stretch of his journey comes into view, sickness overwhelms him. Too weak to continue , Hannington realizes his long-awaited mission is slipping away. Buganda lies just across the water from Kagei yet it has never felt more unreachable.

Youtube Video Link: https://youtu.be/3Xzsp_FfSwU

Sources

• Ashe, Robert Pickering. Chronicles of Uganda. London : Hodder and Stoughton, 1894
• Bennett, Norman Robert. Mirambo of Tanzania, 1840?-1884. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press, 1971.
• Berry, Grinton . “Bishop Hannington and the Story of the Uganda Mission.” New York, Revell, 1908
• “Church Missionary Gleaner (afterwards C.M.S. Gleaner).” [London: Church Missionary Society, year varies]. https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Church_missionary_gleaner_afterw_C_M_S_g/5xkFAAAAQAAJ.
• Dawson, Edwin Collas. Lion-hearted: The Story of Bishop Hannington's Life, Told for Boys and Girls. United Kingdom: Seeley, 1890.
• Europeans in East Africa: Biographical Database. Accessed September 27, 2025. https://www.europeansineastafrica.co.uk/_site/custom/database/default.asp?a=viewIndividual&pid=2&person=4252.
• Hannington, James. Peril and Adventure in Central Africa. Being Illustrated Letters to the Youngsters at Home, by the Late Bishop H. With Illustrations from Original Sketches by the Bishop, and a Biographical Memoir. N.p.: London, 1886.
• Hartwig, Gerald W. “The Victoria Nyanza as a Trade Route in the Nineteenth Century.” The Journal of African History 11, no. 4 (1970): 535–52.
• Holmes, C. F. “Zanzibari Influence at the Southern End of Lake Victoria: The Lake Route.” African Historical Studies 4, no. 3 (1971): 477–503.
• Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and Monthly Record of Geography. Vol. 1, no. 2 (February 1879): 135–38. Report of the Evening Meetings, Session 1878–79.
• Michael, Charles D. James Hannington, Bishop and Martyr. London: SW Patridge & C. Ltd. 1910
• Rockel, Stephen. Caravan Porters of the Nyika: Labour, Culture, and Society in Nineteenth Century East Africa. University of Toronto, 1997.
• Stock, Sarah Geraldina. The Story of Uganda and the Victoria Nyanza Mission. United Kingdom: Religious Tract Society, 1894.

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After a brutal trek across the interior, James Hannington and two fellow missionaries finally reach the lands of Romwa of Buzinza, exhausted, sick, and desperate for canoes to cross Lake Victoria. But with empty hands and no tribute to offer, they quickly learn that Romwa is no simple chief. He is a wary monarch guarding his sovereignty in a world where strangers mean danger… and nothing comes for free.

Youtube Episode link: https://youtu.be/oII9e6b000c

Sources

• Ashe, Robert Pickering. Chronicles of Uganda. London : Hodder and Stoughton, 1894
• Bennett, Norman Robert. Mirambo of Tanzania, 1840?-1884. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press, 1971.
• Berry, Grinton . “Bishop Hannington and the Story of the Uganda Mission.” New York, Revell, 1908
• “Church Missionary Gleaner (afterwards C.M.S. Gleaner).” [London: Church Missionary Society, year varies]. https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Church_missionary_gleaner_afterw_C_M_S_g/5xkFAAAAQAAJ.
• Dawson, Edwin Collas. Lion-hearted: The Story of Bishop Hannington's Life, Told for Boys and Girls. United Kingdom: Seeley, 1890.
• Europeans in East Africa: Biographical Database. Accessed September 27, 2025. https://www.europeansineastafrica.co.uk/_site/custom/database/default.asp?a=viewIndividual&pid=2&person=4252.
• Hannington, James. Peril and Adventure in Central Africa. Being Illustrated Letters to the Youngsters at Home, by the Late Bishop H. With Illustrations from Original Sketches by the Bishop, and a Biographical Memoir. N.p.: London, 1886.
• Hartwig, Gerald W. “The Victoria Nyanza as a Trade Route in the Nineteenth Century.” The Journal of African History 11, no. 4 (1970): 535–52.
• Holmes, C. F. “Zanzibari Influence at the Southern End of Lake Victoria: The Lake Route.” African Historical Studies 4, no. 3 (1971): 477–503.
• Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and Monthly Record of Geography. Vol. 1, no. 2 (February 1879): 135–38. Report of the Evening Meetings, Session 1878–79.
• Michael, Charles D. James Hannington, Bishop and Martyr. London: SW Patridge & C. Ltd. 1910
• Rockel, Stephen. Caravan Porters of the Nyika: Labour, Culture, and Society in Nineteenth Century East Africa. University of Toronto, 1997.
• Stock, Sarah Geraldina. The Story of Uganda and the Victoria Nyanza Mission. United Kingdom: Religious Tract Society, 1894.

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Frail and fevered, James Hannington reaches the caravan’s camp only to find them seized by dread. Beyond the horizon lies Mirambo’s domain, a land few dare to cross. His name moves through Central Africa like a storm: the warrior-king who defied the Arabs and reshaped the trade routes. When the caravan finally leaves Uyui without him, they are forced to turn back. And when they return, Hannington rejoins them on the road, with the only path forward being through Mirambo's territory.

Sources

Ashe, Robert Pickering. Chronicles of Uganda. London : Hodder and Stoughton, 1894
Bennett, Norman Robert. Mirambo of Tanzania, 1840?-1884. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press, 1971.
Berry, Grinton . “Bishop Hannington and the Story of the Uganda Mission.” New York, Revell, 1908
“Church Missionary Gleaner (afterwards C.M.S. Gleaner).” [London: Church Missionary Society, year varies]. https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Church_missionary_gleaner_afterw_C_M_S_g/5xkFAAAAQAAJ.
Dawson, Edwin Collas. Lion-hearted: The Story of Bishop Hannington's Life, Told for Boys and Girls. United Kingdom: Seeley, 1890.

Europeans in East Africa: Biographical Database. Accessed September 27, 2025. https://www.europeansineastafrica.co.uk/_site/custom/database/default.asp?a=viewIndividual&pid=2&person=4252.

Hannington, James. Peril and Adventure in Central Africa. Being Illustrated Letters to the Youngsters at Home, by the Late Bishop H. With Illustrations from Original Sketches by the Bishop, and a Biographical Memoir. N.p.: London, 1886.

Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and Monthly Record of Geography. Vol. 1, no. 2 (February 1879): 135–38. Report of the Evening Meetings, Session 1878–79.

Michael, Charles D. James Hannington, Bishop and Martyr. London: SW Patridge & C. Ltd. 1910

Rockel, Stephen. Caravan Porters of the Nyika: Labour, Culture, and Society in Nineteenth Century East Africa. University of Toronto, 1997.

Stock, Sarah Geraldina. The Story of Uganda and the Victoria Nyanza Mission. United Kingdom: Religious Tract Society, 1894.

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The missionary James Hannington crosses the harsh Ugogo Plains of Tanzania’s Dodoma region, home of the Wagogo people. Battling wind, dust, and disease, his faith is tested in one of the most unforgiving stretches of the 19th-century East African caravan routes.

Sources

• Ashe, Robert Pickering. Chronicles of Uganda. London : Hodder and Stoughton, 1894
• Bennett, Norman Robert. Mirambo of Tanzania, 1840?-1884. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press, 1971.
• Berry, Grinton . “Bishop Hannington and the Story of the Uganda Mission.” New York, Revell, 1908
• “Church Missionary Gleaner (afterwards C.M.S. Gleaner).” [London: Church Missionary Society, year varies]. https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Church_missionary_gleaner_afterw_C_M_S_g/5xkFAAAAQAAJ.
• Dawson, Edwin Collas. Lion-hearted: The Story of Bishop Hannington's Life, Told for Boys and Girls. United Kingdom: Seeley, 1890.
• Europeans in East Africa: Biographical Database. Accessed September 27, 2025. https://www.europeansineastafrica.co.uk/_site/custom/database/default.asp?a=viewIndividual&pid=2&person=4252.
• Hannington, James. Peril and Adventure in Central Africa. Being Illustrated Letters to the Youngsters at Home, by the Late Bishop H. With Illustrations from Original Sketches by the Bishop, and a Biographical Memoir. N.p.: London, 1886.
• Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and Monthly Record of Geography. Vol. 1, no. 2 (February 1879): 135–38. Report of the Evening Meetings, Session 1878–79.
• Michael, Charles D. James Hannington, Bishop and Martyr. London: SW Patridge & C. Ltd. 1910
• Rockel, Stephen. Caravan Porters of the Nyika: Labour, Culture, and Society in Nineteenth Century East Africa. University of Toronto, 1997.
• Stock, Sarah Geraldina. The Story of Uganda and the Victoria Nyanza Mission. United Kingdom: Religious Tract Society, 1894.

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Today marks 140 years since the death of Bishop James Hannington of the Church Missionary Society, killed on his way to the Buganda Kingdom on October 29, 1885.

What many don’t realize is that this was actually his second attempt to reach Buganda. By then, the kingdom had become a prime destination for European explorers, missionaries, and Arab traders especially after H. M. Stanley’s famous letter to Europe, declaring that the Kabaka of Buganda had invited missionaries.

In this five-part series, I retrace Hannington’s journey. But this isn’t only his story. It’s also the story of the people he encountered, the lands he crossed, and the African voices too often reduced to the background in European writings.

Part 2 arrives next week.

Sources

• Ashe, Robert Pickering. Chronicles of Uganda. London : Hodder and Stoughton, 1894
• Berry, Grinton . “Bishop Hannington and the Story of the Uganda Mission.” New York, Revell, 1908
• “Church Missionary Gleaner (afterwards C.M.S. Gleaner).” [London: Church Missionary Society, year varies]. https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Church_missionary_gleaner_afterw_C_M_S_g/5xkFAAAAQAAJ.
• Dawson, Edwin Collas. Lion-hearted: The Story of Bishop Hannington's Life, Told for Boys and Girls. United Kingdom: Seeley, 1890.
• Europeans in East Africa: Biographical Database. Accessed September 27, 2025. https://www.europeansineastafrica.co.uk/_site/custom/database/default.asp?a=viewIndividual&pid=2&person=4252.
• Hannington, James. Peril and Adventure in Central Africa. Being Illustrated Letters to the Youngsters at Home, by the Late Bishop H. With Illustrations from Original Sketches by the Bishop, and a Biographical Memoir. N.p.: London, 1886.
• Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and Monthly Record of Geography. Vol. 1, no. 2 (February 1879): 135–38. Report of the Evening Meetings, Session 1878–79.
• Michael, Charles D. James Hannington, Bishop and Martyr. London: SW Patridge & C. Ltd. 1910
• Rockel, Stephen. Caravan Porters of the Nyika: Labour, Culture, and Society in Nineteenth Century East Africa. University of Toronto, 1997.
• Stock, Sarah Geraldina. The Story of Uganda and the Victoria Nyanza Mission. United Kingdom: Religious Tract Society, 1894.

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Enkai is the creator god of the Maasai people. He reveals himself in three colors: white, red, and black. Among them, red and black speak the loudest.

Inspired by the oral traditions of the Maasai, this episode follows a lone Maasai woman as she offers a series of prayers, pleas for life, for mercy, for a child. Her voice becomes a bridge between the earthly and the divine.

The story is told in a poetic, haiku-like form..sparse, symbolic, and intimate. Inspired by the oral traditions of the Maasai.

It’s an experiment.

Take your time. Listen. Feel it.

I hope you enjoy. 😁

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/JD8Y9LJpmUk

SOURCES

Naomi Kipuri. Oral Literature of the Maasai. Nairobi: East African Educational Publishers, 1983.

Dorothy L. Hodgson. The Church of Women: Gendered Encounters between Maasai and Missionaries. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2005.

Jomo Kenyatta. Facing Mount Kenya. London: Secker and Warburg, 1938.

Douglas E. Thomas. African Religions: Beliefs and Practices through History. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2018.

Molefi Kete Asante and Ama Mazama, eds. Encyclopedia of African Religion. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, 2008.

Project FUEL. Engai: God of the Maasai. Google Arts & Culture, n.d

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The king may be gone but his wives remain.

At the royal tombs of Kasubi, a small community of women continues to serve long after death.
They are the royal widows of Buganda: chosen from different clans, bound to the king in life… and still present in his death.

From sweeping the tombs to preparing rituals, they carry out their roles with quiet dignity.

Not as relics of the past, but as part of a living royal tradition.

Who are these women?
What do they remember?
And what does their presence mean for a kingdom that never forgets its kings?

This episode is a journey through royal duty, legacy, and the sacred roles that still echo within the thatched walls of Kasubi.

Sources!!!!

1. Kiwanuka, M. S. M. A History of Buganda: From the Foundation of the Kingdom to 1900. London: Longman, 1971.
2. Kodesh, Neil. Beyond the Royal Gaze: Clanship and Public Healing in Buganda. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2010.
   
   
   
3. Ray, Benjamin C. Myth, Ritual, and Kingship in Buganda. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.
   
   
   
4. Roscoe, John. The Baganda: An Account of Their Native Customs and Beliefs. London: Macmillan and Co., 1911.
   
   
   
5. Reid, Richard J. Political Power in Pre-Colonial Buganda: Economy, Society, and Warfare in the Nineteenth Century. Oxford: James Currey, 2002.
6. Schiller, Laurence. "Royal Women of Buganda." The International Journal of African Historical Studies 10, no. 2 (1977): 171–188. https://doi.org/10.2307/217347.
   
   
   
7. Wrigley, Christopher. Kingship and State: The Buganda Dynasty. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
   
   
   
8. CyArk. “Royal Tombs at Kasubi – 3D Explorer.” Accessed June 2025. https://cyark.org/projects/royal-tombs-at-kasubi/3D-Explorer
9. Personal Interview with Catherine, guide at Kasubi & Field Footage (Kasubi Tombs 2025)
10. https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1022/

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What if a king never truly dies?
In Buganda, power doesn’t end with a funeral. It transforms.

Today, the royal palace is modern, more European in design than ancestral. But at the Kasubi Tombs, the old world still breathes. This episode traces how the king’s presence moved from palace to tomb, how his body became spirit, and how his home became sacred ground. We step inside a world where the roof was measured to the size of his head, where each clan held a cosmic role, and where power radiated from one man like the sun.

This isn’t just history.
It’s memory made architecture.
And the king?...Well.
He never really left.

Part 2: “Royal Widows” drops August 31st.

Youtube Video Link: https://youtu.be/nHKlrbTjKnA

Sources!!!!

1. Kiwanuka, M. S. M. A History of Buganda: From the Foundation of the Kingdom to 1900. London: Longman, 1971.
2. Kodesh, Neil. Beyond the Royal Gaze: Clanship and Public Healing in Buganda. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2010.
   
   
   
3. Ray, Benjamin C. Myth, Ritual, and Kingship in Buganda. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.
   
   
   
4. Roscoe, John. The Baganda: An Account of Their Native Customs and Beliefs. London: Macmillan and Co., 1911.
   
   
   
5. Reid, Richard J. Political Power in Pre-Colonial Buganda: Economy, Society, and Warfare in the Nineteenth Century. Oxford: James Currey, 2002.
   
   
   
6. Wrigley, Christopher. Kingship and State: The Buganda Dynasty. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
   
   
   
7. CyArk. “Royal Tombs at Kasubi – 3D Explorer.” Accessed June 2025. https://cyark.org/projects/royal-tombs-at-kasubi/3D-Explorer

8. Personal Interview with Catherine guide at Kasubi & Field Footage (Kasubi Tombs 2025)

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