Is Poye a Game from Arua?

I spent the first 11 Years of my Boyhood in Jinja and Football was my Number One Passtime. I can still remember kicking small dark green Oranges as Balls when I was 5 Years old at Wilson Road even though my elder Cousin Charles (who even played at St. Jude Field) had a real Football, it was just too big for my Size. In the 90s at Spire Road, I started making my own Footballs using various Materials like Papers and Banana Fibres (Later advanced to inflated Milk Sackets plus Straws then Lukoba or Rubber Straps) and would kick till 8pm Sunday to Saturday plus playing Basketball and Rugby using a Football, Mini Cricket at Victoria Nile School using a Tennis Ball (because we had no special Sportswear to protect us from the hard Cricket Ball), Checkers (Chinese Chequers or Draughts), Number Hop, Jumping Rope, Skipping Rope, Tapo [Tap, Hide and Seek], Dulu or Dooloo [Marbles], Daddy and Mummy, Omweso, Ludo, Snakes and Ladders, Cards, etc. My Hoodmates would pick Golf Balls from the Jinja Golf Course and found out that the Interior is full of Rubberbands. In KLA, I learnt Badminton but the Shuttlecock is just too lightweight for me to fancy the Game. At SMACK, I played Chess since 1998 (and won my first three Games before Losses started), Darts, Table Tennis, Squash, Clay Tennis and very little Baseball. Every Civilisation has found a Way to spend their Leisure Time. When I started travelling to Arua again in Y2K at Age 16 having first been there as a Handheld Baby, I discovered that Boys in the Area play a Game that resembles Hockey, Tennis, Bowling and Golf or Gwara Gwara [like in Mr. Bones (film)] rolled into one. I wonder where it was invented. Girls and Adults do not seem interested in playing this Game. On Sunday 22nd December 2019 after Church Service (Sally Anguyo's Sermon was that Everyone should give like the Macedonians in 1st Corinthians 16 and not only People with lots of Money. Personally, I think Church Offertory Competitions must be banned basing on the Poor Widow's 2 Copper Coin Story by JESUS. The Bible demands for only 10 percent of Earnings (as compulsory Church Treasury Tax) from each Worshipper, it's not a Contest. If somebody earns 1 Million per Week, their Minimum Tithe is 100,000 onwards, you do not coerce someone who earns only 50,000 or 20,000 a Week to also pay 100,000 as Tithe in the Name of Competition), I walked to Osu Village's Eastern Crescent Road to try and get some Data about the Sport. The first Boys I interacted with in Lugbara Language said they all play it but refused to reveal anything new I wanted besides the Fact that it is called "POYE". Were they ashamed to talk about it? Poye is just a Game like all the others People play. In fact, it's played from Arua's urban Ghettos to the Arua Countryside, witnessed it myself several Times. A spiteful, older Youth told them to get away from the Side of the Street and the Boys including the ones kicking a Supertele Ball ran away from me as if I was some kind of infectious Disease. He said dismissively while pointing southwards on the murram Crescent Road, "The Boys who play Poye are on the other Side!" I'm the kind of Person who does not rebuke People after they reject me yet I mean well for them, I just let my Soul surf Contempt and Negativity, point blank like Kakaparaka. Wind creates Thrust, so spread your Wings as an Eagle does, no Lager, maybe Riham Juice! Wasp Pee is not as painful as its Sting; People near Glass Windows must not throw Stones. Humbled, I walked away coolheadedly without any Anger to try and find someone else willing to reveal some Info; I might have paid those Boys as my Token of Gratitude if they cooperated. In fact on my Way back after getting Data from elsewhere, the Boys started calling me "Poye" and asked if they could play for me, maybe it had now sunk in that there was no Shame. I told them while brandishing a Thumbs up Gesture with my right Hand, "Yo, awa'difo [Translated from Lugbara: No, thanks]!" and did not look back; I had somewhere else to go. Sports taught me that sometimes you win, other Times you lose and you must be prepared to contain both Situations; if you wish, then you can draw (that's why I became an Artist)!
Luckily, on the other Side of the same Village was Shafik Fahad clad in black and navy blue sitted on a Verandah, I requested him to come behind the House and help me write something about Poye. He thought I wanted to coach the Game but then asked me to allow him call a Poye Maestro named Ibrahim Ewale [Lugbara 4: Like an Elephant] and I was very impressed; these Boys were born Champions. Tabin Muhammad, who spoke less than the other two, also joined us and the Boys shared their Views on the Game without Inhibition. Two younger Boys who had not yet started playing the Game plus a Girl holding a Baby also came around and they were attracted to my Moustache Hair. They kept pressing it with their Fingers while I bent down but focussed on what Fahad and Ewale were teaching me. About two Hours later, I had my Hair cut off at a Salon near Arua Airfield.

L-shaped Hockey sticks

Poye (pronounced poh-yeh) is a game played by 2, 4 or 6 players (in singles, doubles or triples). They stand on opposite sides of a halfway line drawn on the ground as they hit a round rubber puck also called poye (made from mainly Umoja or Bata-esque flipflop cutouts joined together with nylon) back and forth using L-shaped sticks for example cassava stems. Like a coin toss in Football, the game starts when the poye lying down on the halfway line is hit from above with a stick; a player from the half in which it falls must roll it with his hand like a mini car tyre for his opponent to start hitting with his stick or foot. A point is scored when the puck is hit above the opponent who then rolls it back. When a player crosses to the opponent's half, one point is deducted from his side. Records can be kept mentally by the players or a referee who is not playing. Players stand one metre away from the centreline. In both halves, each player stands about one metre away from his teammate behind or in front of him. When the front player misses the puck, the one behind him must strike it. A puck cut from a thick flipflop might not need to be joined to another cutout but joining two or three from smaller flipflops is okay. The width of flipflops (Many Ugandans call them Slippers) determines the diameter of the puck, so a big puck and small one are the most common two heights. Cutouts are sewn together using a tool called a hwiki [I understood it as a shoemending needle or sindani] and nylon thread or superglue. However, I think other binding materials like wires might work. It's wise to have two or more pucks during a game so that when one gets lost, the other will be used. Gamelengths have no timeframe and can be played from sunrise till sunset. But who exactly invented Poye? Is it a game from Arua? The sport seems good for exercise or recreation because of a lot of swinging, hitting and running; it does not need too many difficult rules nor equipment. Nevertheless, protective gear like gloves, shinguards, mouthguards, neckguards and helmets can still be used if accessible. Poye is almost like the ancient Game of Polo from Tibet minus the Horses; Sepak takraw (Kick or Soccer Volleyball), a hybrid of two or more sports; etc...