It is a Friday evening, and Mzee Eriyazali Kaganda is just from the forest, clad in a rather old tattered shirt and a pair of equally old shorts, a panga, spear and a hunting net in hand. He walks with such agility, something that makes one doubt the fact that he is old.

"Mufunye mukisa okunsingana, kuba mbadde manyi emissu jijja kawungezi nnyo" (which loosely translated means, "You are just lucky to find me, I thought the edible rats were to appear late in the evening) says the half smiling old man.

Born to Mr Kaganda Bikamba and Nalongo Rebecca Kaganda in 1920 in Busowe village, Rakai district, Eriyazali is the seventh in a family of nine.

At the age of 85, Mzee Eriyazali, has been through thick and thin but has done no other business apart from bark cloth making and hunting. The old man says that girls around his home village, Busowe, were scared of getting married to him because he was from a poor family which earned a living on bark cloth making and hunting.

"Girls used to think we were cannibals who wished people could die and we get profits, because bark cloth is mainly used for burial. I had no one wishing to get married to me, so I travelled some four villages away," he says.

Mzee Eriyazali who went to school between 1934 and 1937 up studied up to P.5 at Kako Central in Masaka, dropped out of school because of limited funds and a desire to work and be like his father.

He started serious bark cloth making at the age of eight, though he used to try it out right from childhood alongside his late father.

His greatest and happiest moment was when his father built him a mud house gave him money to marry.

Eriyazali says that he bought a lot for his wife Ms Prissica Nakayondo and a second hand bicycle, at only the age of eighteen.

His most sorrowful moment was his wife's death in 2000.

His wife passed away after suffering from persistent mental disturbances.

They had 11 children and he attributes his children's good up bringing to his late wife, who did all that was possible for the family's well being.

Eriyazali acquired a woman after his wife became seriously ill and he married her shortly after his wife's death.

He claims to have fallen sick only once in 2003, after seventy years of steady health through vigorous living, and he spent six months in Mulago hospital under intensive care.

As his children grew up, most of them left for the city (Kampala) for better paying jobs, apart from one, Mr Martin Kaganda who remained with his father to carry on the profession of bark cloth making, and who is now he teaching people from Rwanda and other countries like China and Japan, who keep on visiting the village to learn how to make bark cloth.

Mr Eriyazali maxim is "The fear of God is the beginning of all wisdom" something he often says.

"My father always told me that hard work will always lead to a comfortable life, and now I see it when the children I raised come back with lots of things, the latest being my last born renovating my house," he says.

"Despite the fact that I am now too old and weak and have sight problems, I am proud because I have done a lot towards the cultural heritage of Uganda especially Buganda as a kingdom, though no one has appreciated my work," says the old man.

Now that he is 85 years old, Mr Eriyazali does little of the work and spends most of the time instructing his grand children and helping his son.

On most bright evenings, he usually takes some people through hunting lessons and he also does dog training to keep him fit and energetic.

Mr Eriyazali urges the Kabaka to consider his works for being a great culturalist, who though not publicised, has attracted many people from other countries not only as tourists. They also come to learn the activity of bark cloth making.

How to make bark cloth

It is not as easy as it seems. Bark cloth is got from the species of a tree called mutuba or muserere which are normally for the semi quality bark cloth.

Both tree species take up to nine years to mature. One should check the amount of water the tree contains before thoroughly peeling off the top layer of the stem ending at the point where tree branches begin.

This enables the tree to develop another layer for the next season.

After cutting off the second layer, it is wrapped with banana leaves for a week.

It is then boiled in a saucepan while covered with banana leaves and kept in that place till the next morning when it is taken to a would be factory.

From there it is hit it for about eight hours with a piece of wood called ensamo that is designed in the shape of a bottle.

As the hitting is done the cloth is stretched.

After this, the now long and wide piece is stretched wide and put out in the sun to dry, then the holes are sewn and the piece is ready for sell.

According to Mzee Kaganda, his items are always collected by many buyers from Kampala and Masaka at a minimum price of Shs 10, 000 a piece, while others are taken to the rural markets by his great grandsons every Saturday and sold at Shs 7,000 a piece.

He sells about seven pieces a week.