Straw rule

The adoption of a "one-man, one-straw" rule in home brew drinking clubs in eastern Uganda has seen a resurgence of a declining social tradition. Christian pastors launched a vigorous campaign against the nightly gatherings of people drinking ajono, a beer made from millet, a few years ago.

While doctors had warned about sharing a straw to drink from a central pot. But when brewers introduced the new straw rule, the pastime became more popular than ever.

"Previously all us here shared only one straw which would rotate among the drinkers," says James Omongin, chairman of the Half London Club in Tororo district. The group time-keeper would allow each member to suck the stuff for three minutes before passing the straw to the next member."

But drinkers often violated these rules, refusing to pass on the straw, which led to people giving up their membership.

"Then there was the warning of the medical doctors to the ajono drinkers to depart from the old-fashioned style of sharing the tubes to avoid the spread of certain communicable diseases including TB," Mr Omongin says.

So ajono drinkers now buy their own epi (drinking straw) which they can decorate or label or hire ones that are sterilised with hot water after use. The straws are made from the dried stems of a common creeper found growing in trees and bushes in the area.

Judging from the increased number of the brewers, their policy has reaped rewards.

Each member pays the equivalent of about 50 US cents for a drinking session.