Finding my feet in a kingdom across the River Nile Rwoth Ubimu Phillip Olarker Rauni III spoke of his nascent experience as Alur king, the temptation to ask him more about his lifestyle choices became increasingly great.He was at once straightforward about his past, sharing personal aspects of his life in a way that his spokesman might not have liked, a sincerity that was as instructive as his perm, which, while it bestowed a fresh look, also opened him up to the possibility of facing uncomfortable questions. Yet there was no need to go there; the Ubimu, apparently at peace with the challenging new journey he had accepted, was a man whose sincerity was disarming. “In terms of lifestyle it’s definitely challenging,” he said, his spokesman Pascal Odoch listening attentively. “You have to completely, I would say, switch from being someone you have been for so many years of your life to being another person. I am now the face, the image of the kingdom. I will be honest with you: it’s not something that you can change overnight. It’s a learning curve, and I am still learning.”I had not asked to know whether the Alur cultural leader had a predilection for curly hair, but only whether the recent graduate of Loughborough University, UK, was adjusting comfortably to the lifestyle that his subjects would expect of their king.After his enthronement, the Ubimu, 27, made the journey back to Britain, where he spent just over a year preparing to “bring my life” to Uganda, the country of his inheritance. I met the youthful king in January 2008, about three months after his return from Britain, in October 2007, and close to two years after his enthronement, in May 2006. “After my enthronement, I had to go and kind of move back to the UK to bring my life over here, which is what I did over a year’s time,” he said. “I am trying to adjust and know areas I should delve in. It’s definitely a challenging thing, especially for someone who’s in their prime, who’s just finished university.” But if the Ubimu was a king with a perm, he was also eloquent in making his case for bringing modernity to the Alur cultural institution -- a man with a clear vision of where his institution should be. In December, about two months after finally leaving Britain for Uganda, he held what has come to be called the Kaal Atyak Convention, a development-oriented meeting of Alur elders that is expected to be an annual event. The convention, about which he spoke passionately during our conversation, is the Ubimu’s brainchild, a think tank through which the kingdom hopes to make culture and development meet. “Over the last couple of months the most important thing we’ve been able to achieve is the Kaal Atyak Convention, which was where we set the ball rolling...
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