Groundnuts a Source of Livelihood in Teso

Teso on my mind: Peanuts, g-nuts, ground nuts - however you choose to call them. As a little girl whenever my name was called followed by "obia aipac emaido" (come and shell the nuts) I would want to hide. Depending on the amount, it meant sitting on the veranda and shelling nuts for close to an hour. My fingers ached but as I grew I learned the right pressure points to open the shell. My aunt grabbed handfuls at a time and I watched the nuts popped out in a hurry. It was an art. Nut shelling was a communal activity, a time for team work and story telling.
Today, we have machines that crash the shells, sort the nuts and grind them to a paste. We have developed. We have saved time. We are more productive for the most part.

Here the nuts are spread on the "alaro" (veranda) to dry. Once dry they are easier to shell plus they don't rot as easily as they would if left damp.
We make groundnut sauce, peanut paste, roasted nuts, boiled nuts, oil, we even eat them raw although I was told raw nuts were not good for ladies, just the men :-). With good weather and fertile soils we should not go hungry.