Archbishop tasks educationists to promote culture
Archibishop John Baptist Odama. PHOTO/FILE/JOLLY TOBBIAS OWINY.
Gulu. Gulu Archbishop John Baptist Odama has advised educationists and the elite in Acholi to rewrite the eroding culture of Acholi, arguing that modernisation “may eat it away”.
Archbishop Odama made the remarks on Sunday while officiating at the launch of two separate books written by Prof Emmanuel Odongo Aginya of Gulu University Faculty of Medicine.
In one of the books, The Devout Woman, Dr Aginya spells out culture, religion and modern society, while in the other, Schistosomiasis comprises of information on the research he conducted on the parasite that causes Bilharzia.
He said the rate at which modernisation and technology is eating away culture of the Acholi people, calls for urgent need to have them documented and its custodians teach and emphasise them to the young generation.
“All these attributes and facts about culture have got to be written down and taught to the young generation. Young men and women have turned marriage into fashion, and it is no surprise that many of such relationships have broken,” he observed.
Archbishop Odama tasked parents to emphasise the culture of reading so that written literature about the culture is read and practiced.
“Parents, as well, have got a big role to play, by educating themselves and their children through reading especially the young ones,” Bishop Odama said.
Eroding culture
Prof Odongo, however, said he was prompted to write the Devout Woman, looking at the eroding culture and the rate at which the current generation is getting into modernisation thus hindering the practice of the Acholi culture.
He called for the documentation of the Acholi cultural norms and traditions, adding that most of the practices have been verbal over the years.
