The making of obushera butoka (like the one my sister Ruth Bahika was drinking in this picture

The making of obushera butoka (like the one my sister Ruth Bahika was drinking in this photo) 

Once the mamera or amamya-- the black coloured sorghum has been dried properly, the women (it was normally women) grind it using eseeiso, a small round stone over/ on orubengo, the grinding stone.

The sorghum seeds are turned into flour through friction and the force exerted thereon. 

Folklore and traditional songs often accompanied the grinding process to break the monotony and tedious exercise. One such song went like this:

Osa aga magyingo, oseeraki?

Nseera kitanga, nejuga:

Abaana baayo, nibarira, 

Kahuura bagibaagire

Ashi ashi ashi..

The song seems to ask the woman why she is grinding the sorghum late at night,

And the the woman replies that she is doing so because kitanga and her chiodren are crying perhaps due to hunger, but she also throws in the fact that kahuura--the most treasured cow in those days-- has already been slaughtered. It would therefore appear to me that the woman is grinding the sorghum in order to make kyankarata sorghum bread to accompany the soup, omucuuzi, through the round balls of enogo, which as they make their way through the throat and aespohogus make the sound of 'nyokoromi, guma, oreete--uncle,please give me some more. 

But alongside this would be the need to make porridge--obushera, the most respected and highly regarded drink of the Bakiga and Banyakigezi, especially those who don't drink alcohol. The drink for the hardcores is called omuramba, whose process is a little different.

 Then the high end drink from sorghum is called enturire, which is stronger than omuramba, but has a posh reputation and is even drank by bishops, reverends and other people of class. 

In short, drinkers of enturire are like peoplw who say that "I don't drink. I only take wine." 

The embarrassing story about enturire and a mother and her daughter is a well known and told tale among the Bakiga. 

While the grinding is taking place, water would be on the fire stones, ahamahega, warming up and finally boiling.

The saano would then be poured into a round pot, with a wide open top.. 

This one is known as entango. This is not to be confused with orwaabya, which is used to cook meat, or engyemeko, which is used to store warm water for bathing nyineeka, the man in the home. It is ironical how a man is known as nyineeka, yet nyina is a derivative from nyoko or mother. If the pot was so huge, it would attract the name of enyungu rutaaba. 

The boilng water, would be removed from the fire and poured into the nyungu and vigorously mixed through sustained stirring using a stick known as a orwiiko, if the nyugu is small or ekihuuzo, the bigger headed stick, if the pot is huge. 

But the process and heat of the water had to be moderated by experts, abashigyishi, to make sure that it doesn't overcook the flour, which otherwise makes the thick porridge to kurungurirwa. Ekyanga which is overly cooked can become harsh on the throat, and people will say that the bushera have become enkara. 

Anyway, the thick paste created by the mixture of hot water and sorghum flour known as ekyanga was always attractive to young boys and girls alike, because it tastes like a lot of sugar has been added into it. 

It is this that would cause running stomachs on overindulgence,keeping children in an out of the house at night between the toilet, ekamina in the banana plantation and the bed. 

To reduce the effects of the running stomach, the kyanga could be mixed with dredges, ebikanja, in the classic form of punching to create a lesser potent mixture known as encungwe. This, you could drink without the fear of releasing smelly gaseous exchanges, okunyampagurika or okuseereeza. 

To make the bushera butoko, the kyanga would be mixed with a little warmed water, measured properly by the pros to avoid, over diluting it--kubucwa ameizi, which also would make the porridge to kukara on fermentation. 

The diluted kyanga, in entango(not to be confused with entaango--which refers to the base or bottom part of a pot or any other thing) is then covered with orugari to let the fermentation process to begin. 

This process normally takes about 12 hours. Deep in the night, you could hear some hissing sound coming from the pot, a signal that the catalytic enzymes are at work to fasttrack fermentation. 

By morning, the bushera will be ready to drink. For people who prefer a more fermented drink, they can transfer it to another type of pot called enjoga to allow it to become more kangaraasi (this word is known by only a few people).

 Majority will say that akashera kacurikire. 

But children never used to like the real bushera. Their real deal were the dredges, or ebikanja which they often scooped using bent bikonko to act as spoons. If you added a spoon of sugar in orushare (half calabash) of bikanja, the sweetness would be taken to another level. 

With all this done, you would be passing by the homestead and the residents call you: ngu ija onywe otwiizi. For those not initiatated, you could easily say, that I am not a cow. I won't drink water, when actually you are being invited for tasty treat to obushera.