More themes from Julius Ocwinyo's FOOTPRINTS OF THE OUTSIDER: poverty, suffering and disillusionment. You can use these as lesson notes without a hassle.

Firstly, Footprints of the Outsider has the theme of poverty.

Poverty is shown in the circumstances that surround the birth of Abudu Olwit. He is born in a little mud walled hut with a grass thatch covering riddled with holes. Olwit is born outside the hospital which implies the absence of basic health services to the people of Teboke or the inability of Olwit's mother Alicinora to afford appropriate maternal health care.

Poverty is portrayed in the way Olwit's umbilical cord is bound. It is bound using sisal string and he is dipped in tepid swamp water and washed without soap. The water is not warm enough and there is no soap at all. Soap is a basic need every household should have. It's absence in Alicinora's home at the time of Olwit's birth emphasises the theme of poverty. Alicinora is abjectly poor.

Additionally, while in senior two, Olwit is frequently sent home from school for non payment of fees. At school he wears only shorts instead of trousers and bathroom slippers or car tire sandals in place of covered gentle shoes. He sleeps on a cotton filled mattress called apipi because he cannot afford a foam mattress. In contrast, his school mates possess all the things Olwit does not have. Hence, Olwit is out of place among his school mates.

Furthermore, the ginnery workers are poor. They do heavy work in the ginnery but are paid peanuts. They earn too little that they even fight and scramble for coins, dropping down and fighting in the process. Coins are often of negligible value but the ginnery workers are so hard pressed by poverty and they don't mind degrading themselves by fighting for those coins. This strengthens the author's point of poverty.

Another instance of poverty is presented in Alaro Prison Farm. The prison officers live in grass thatched huts. These warders are poor and unable to build stone wall and iron roof houses for themselves and their families. The government is unable to provide for them more dignified houses. Their plight is contrasted with Olwit's possessing a concrete house with an iron roof.

Below are buildings of an abandoned ginnery in Arapai, Soroti City, along Soroti to Lira Road.

Poverty I also depicted among the prisoners themselves. The prisoners wear threadbare and tattered clothes and they look ill fed. They cannot afford better clothes and nourishment because in prison they don't have the money. And instead of using latrines, they defecate into holes they dig in the ground in the gardens they work in. They cover their excrement with soil.

Still, Okullu Ipapalo and his family are poor. Okullu Ipapalo hawks paw paws in Teboke to make money for the welfare of his family. They live in grass thatch huts. Okullu Ipapalo's poverty is highlighted in a row between Bitoroci Alupu, the mother of Saida Acola and Katarina, the wife of Okullu Ipapalo. Bitoroci insults Okullu Ipapalo's family as poor and unable to marry her daughter Saida Acola for their son Patrick Amunu.

Poverty is discussed as one of the main misfortunes harassing the people of Uganda over the years. Song of Ocol by Okot p'Bitek includes poverty in the trinity of poverty, disease and ignorance, presenting them as Africa's major setbacks.

Secondly, the theme of suffering is also developed in Footprints of the Outsider. Suffering is caused by different circumstances. 

To begin with, the people suffer when drought and famine ravage the people of Teboke and neighbouring villages. This leads to severe starvation which causes the increase of theft. Theft happens because many people do not have what to eat and to survive, they have to steal foodstuffs and crops. This theft increases suffering. The famine and starvation make the people malnourished. 

Additionally, the thin disease and the stiff neck disease attack the people and cause them to suffer. These diseases kill the people and cause many others to suffer. The people are desperate in their fear and are frustrated to the extent that they attempt frantic methods to relieve their pain, including superstitious means, most of which are futile.

Prisoners in Alaro Prison Farm suffer due to poor dressing and inadequate feeding. They wear threadbare and tattered clothes and look ill fed. This clothes are unable to shield them from coldness. They defecate into holes in the ground in the open. These prisoners are also overworked in the prison fields. They go to the fields at dawn and return to the wards late in the afternoon, like slaves. 

Also, Olwit suffers when he is arrested and detained in a dark cell for days in the barracks where he is served two meagre meals a day. His detention is too lengthy and the darkness of the cell is a torture to him. The two meals he is served are way below a normal eating  schedule. 

Worse still, Olwit serves a remand term of 18 months in Luzira Prison. This is a life of severe restrictions, deprivation, overcrowding in the cells and eating poorly cooked food. Finally, he is found innocent and released, but he has already suffered and is angry and vengeful. 

As discussed, suffering comes as a result of disasters, both natural and artificial. Naturally, drought, famine and epidemics cause the people to suffer. Artificially, government actors, political instability and weaknesses of the government also cause suffering. Thus, suffering is not a product of fate, but definite decisions, actions, events and situations. 

Thirdly, is the theme of disillusionment. 

To begin with, Teboke folks are disappointed in education and disillusioned. They seek the cover of alcohol called arege which they imbibe to escape from their problems of hunger, want, personal and family problems. They do this because of the relentless sufferings they endure, for instance drought, famine, war and disease. 

Olwit is disillusioned because as a teacher he is poorly paid and the people of Teboke consider teachers to be failures. Olwit's disillusionment is greater since he never studied teaching at the University and never expected to become a teacher. He feels the teaching job is below his dignity and qualifications as it pays negligible salary. This is why Olwit seeks help from Adoli-Awal to find a job and later joins the prison service. 

Closure of the ginnery causes disillusionment. After the ginnery is closed most of its workers have nowhere to go. They look for odd jobs around Teboke and mostly come by nothing. They drift away in despair and frustration, into oblivion. For example, Musa Wangolo who is believed to be Olwit's father wanders away from Teboke and his whereabouts or circumstances become a mystery. Ikangi's daughters have to find desperate means of supporting themselves. For example Irene Namu starts a bar and restaurant business in Teboke. She provides bar and restaurant services while also doing prostitution with two other employees. 

After Fr Varasco departs from Teboke, the lead catechist, Dempterio Arim becomes disillusioned and leaves his catechist job. He is disillusioned because Fr Luigi who has replaced Fr Varasco is negligent towards the development of Teboke Mission. Dempterio Arim becomes a heavy drinker of arege. He gives up his vocation and becomes a drunkard. 

Disillusionment is a progeny of the poverty and suffering of the people of Teboke and surrounding villages. The people see no reason for hope. All they see is suffering and even their leaders, instead of providing relief cause more disillusionment. 

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