The Jews of Africa -- The Abayudaya of Uganda

The Abayudaya of Uganda

secular life

Maccabee reading on Nabugoye Hill, Uganda

Members of the Abayudaya community live sprinkled around the region near Mbale, interspersed with their non-Jewish neighbors. Though religious observance often sets them apart, most daily life of a member of the community is very similar to that of their non-Jewish neighbors.

Uganda is a very poor nation. Most Eastern Ugandans are subsistence farmers, raising barely enough crops for their own consumption let alone extra to sell at market. Ugandan farmers raise yams, plantains (matoke), cassava (despite the recent mosaic virus and its decimation of much of the crop) and other starches to eat with fish sauce at their often-sparse dinners. Some Abayudaya farm cotton or sell sugar cane to bring in extra income. There may not be rampant starvation in Uganda at the present time but food is not easy to come by, especially at the end of the dry season. There is no electricity and therefore no refrigeration in the Abayudaya community; all food is freshly made and cooked slowly in pots perched over glowing, red charcoal.

There is no running water in the Abayudaya community. Family members drag water to their small, brick dwellings from the public water pump in large yellow jugs.

Abayduaya men, women and children dress as their neighbors do. Men in Eastern Uganda wear Western-style clothes such as long-sleeved button down shirts and long dress pants, even in the harshest heat of the summer. Women dress in self-made, often uni-colored dresses (except on Shabbat when the women wear their most colorful flowered clothes). Children wear hand-me-downs that are always worn and sometimes torn.

Matt Meyer’s visit in 1992 and his subsequent support for the community has encouraged the visitors and donations from organizations like Kulanu that have helped the Abayudaya support the rebirth of the primary school on Nabugoye Hill and open the Semei Kakungulu High School for all members of the community. Rather than taunting their classmates, children in the region have begun to inquire about Judaism; many of the younger children greet all white visitors to the area with the words, "Shabbat Shalom," for they imagine that they must be coming to see the Abayudaya. With the help of outside donors some Abayduaya youth have begun to attend University; most hope to become lawyers, doctors and teachers. These are hopeful times for the Abayudaya.

Still, life is very difficult in Uganda. There is music on Nabugoye Hill, but the community only owns two deteriorating guitars. The Abayudaya have a high school but there are few books, and no science lab, and not enough classrooms to house the students. The Abayudaya have accepted many visitors from the West but so far no one from the community has been able to travel outside of the region. While recent harvests have been decent and the political situation has been calm for the decade of President Musveni’s rule, a change in weather pattern or political structure could mark more struggle for the Ugandan Jews. Individuals like Matt Meyer and organizations like Kulanu are helping assure that the current optimism in the Abayudaya community does not have to end.