THE INTERCITY CONFERENCE COCKTAIL
I have attended many Inter City conferences but this has been the best so far. 'DG Geeta’s closing remarks at the Intercity Conference in Lira’.
‘The Intercity Conference, co-hosted by RC Kampala South, was wonderful, and as your Assistant Governor I was very proud of you.’. AG Sam Mwanje at RC Kampala South Fellowship
The two comments of our District Governor and our Assistant District Governor say it all.
The Intercity Conference that was held in Lira on 9th February 2014 was co-hosted by RC Kampala South alongside the hosts, RC Lira. The conference started off with a cocktail/disco.
The disco was a unique combination of cultural and modern music. Rotarians became instant stars in Luo dancing strokes as they easily caught up with the locals in executing the intricate dancing stokes with stunning precision. The men almost out-competed the ladies in gyrating their waists as each tried to imitate the local cultural dance troop that had been hired to spice up the cocktail.
Ululations of different tribe rang out every now and then including ululations by men, which is not a common norm amongst the Luo. The Luo men usually have a small horn, called ‘bila’ which they proudly blow as the women folk ululate and chant out praise names and ‘mwoc’ their catch phrases (for lack of a better translation). It was a most hilarious combination. You would catch some laughing or smiling knowingly, while others just laughed or smiled at the sheer magnitude of fun and fellowship.
Then the music would suddenly change and back to the normal disco as we all know it. This is when one sported the experts in the paka chini strokes and those gyrating their waists to upbeat rhythm of Congolese music. Soon it was Music from our Kampala based music groups with lovely Luganda ballads, and trust the Rotarians to follow suit. The cocktail lived up to its name in every sense of the word.
The cocktail was attended by the Prime Minister of Lango Chiefdom. In addition to the abundance of Royal presence was the Katikiro of Baganda, JB Walusimbi, also a Rotarian in his own right. It is said that if you sit next to an ant hill long enough, you will soon turn into the same colour as the ant hill. It was a great privilege to rub shoulders with Royalty!
Some Rotarians were not yet done by the closure of the cocktail. They could not imagine Lira as just the hotel. They decided checked out the real Lira that night and it is a wonder that they were able to arrive at the conference venue well in time and remain attentive to the very end!