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KAMPALA- People now wear cotton, but for generations, their fore fathers in the central region wore bark cloth.
Bark cloth comes from the bark of a tree called �omutuba�. Now artists and bark cloth sellers are looking at ways of making their product appeal to a wider market.
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| Mzee Antonio Katende of Kabusu on Masaka Road shows some of his backcloth to a customer (Photo by Willy Tamale). |
Mzee Antonio Katende, in his eighties, has been making and selling bark cloth in Rakai district for the last 60 years. He is following in his grandfather�s footsteps.
Katende has a small shop in Nateete trading centre, around Nalukolongo on Masaka road.
He was reluctant to speak to me until I paid him Shs 1,000.
�My grand-daughter, there is nothing for free in Uganda. I don�t give my knowledge for free,� he said. I gave him the money.
�I married �mama� (meaning his wife), and the money I used for our wedding came from this business. I now work with my daughters,� said Katende.
His customers use bark cloth to dress the dead bodies, while others buy tablemats and wall hangings to use for decoration in their houses. Bark cloth costs between Shs 7,000 and Shs 20,000, depending on quality and colour.
He sells more than 20 pieces every month at his small shop.
The process starts when he removes the bark from the trees. He then hammers it on a piece of wood, boils and dries it under the sun. Quality and colour depends on how long the cloth is boiled and stays under the sun.
Some artists have tried to add value to the cloth, hoping to make it an attractive product for tourists.
Artists have designed the bark cloth into different shapes, decorated it with colourful threads and knitted it into pieces like wall hangings, hats, bags, greeting cards and dresses.
�Bark cloth attracts a lot of tourists because of its original nature. Wall hangings, hats and cards made out of the bark cloth sell quickly,� Joan Nabatanzi, who has a stall at the African Village at the National Theatre, said.
A wall hanging costs Shs 15,000, while greeting cards go for between Shs 2,000 and Shs 3,000.
Ms Sarah Kirabo, who has been selling bark cloth in Katwe for the last 20 years, fears that the cloth will be destroyed if people attempt to �add value� to it.
�People respect the cloth as a traditional outfit, especially for cultural functions. If anything is done, it might distort its warmth,� explained Kirabo.
Her customers are people who want the cloth for traditional purposes, especially for traditional medical treatment. Tourists, who are interested in Buganda culture, also buy the pieces, she said.
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