“Let’s not distort our Empaako heritage by using the wrong spellings” Stephen Rwagweri Atwoki

 The right Empaako spellings on Empaako T-Shirt

The Executive Director of Engabu Za Tooro (Tooro Youth Platform for Action) Mr. Stephen Rwagweri Atwoki has appealed to all people from the Empaako communities to desist from distorting the Empaako heritage by using wrong spellings. Rwagweri Atwoki emphasized that the right spellings for the 12 Empaako’s are Okaali, Acaali, Bbala, Apuuli, Araali, Abbooki, Adyeri, Abwoli, Akiiki, Amooti, Ateenyi and Atwoki.

The 12 Empaako names

Currently, Engabu Za Tooro (Tooro Youth Platform) is implementing a UNESCO co-funded project aimed at revitalizing ceremonies and practices associated with Empaako naming system in Uganda among the communities of the Batooro, Banyoro, Batuku, Batagwenda and Banyabindi of Western Uganda so as to enhance their capacities to transmit knowledge and skills to successive generations and to mobilise practitioners to revive the Empaako naming practice.

Stephen Rwagweri Atwoki

The 12 Empaako’s are Okaali which is reserved for a king, Acaali, Bbala, Apuuli and Araali which are only reserved for men and finally, Abbooki, Adyeri, Abwoli, Akiiki, Amooti, Ateenyi and Atwoki for both men and women.

The Empaako monument in Fort Portal town

Empaako is naming system whereby in addition to a family and given name, a child is given a special name called Empaako selected from a fixed and closed list of 12 (twelve) Empaako names shared by the entire society and used as a declaration of respect, endearment or affection.

This practice has been shared and transmitted from generation to generation in Empaako communities of Batooro, Banyoro, Banyabindi, Basongora, Batuku, Batagwenda, Banyaruguru, Bagungu, Ba Nya Mboga and Baziba located in Western Uganda, Eastern DR Congo and Northern Tanzania respectively.

However, the Empaako naming practice is facing threats of extinction mostly due to decline of its mother language (Runyoro - Rutooro), modernization, abandoning our traditional rituals, weakening cultural institutions especially at clan and family levels and attack from modern religious extremist denominations.