Someone just asked me in an e-mail what has blown my mind, most, here. As we near the end of our three-month stretch it’s probably a good idea to reflect back and begin to process all we’ve done and seen. I thought about this question for a while, here’s my answer.
I wrote the previous post a few weeks ago—though I tricked you and posted it a few days ago—and I think is a good prologue to answering the question at hand. We are both amazed, in a few ways, at at the world which exists here. The first is communication and language among those that live in the slums and don’t speak a common language. It is a world where day-to-day interactions between boda-boda drivers and the street-side lady selling ground nuts is done by pointing to the desired item and responding with the number of fingers representing the first of the four-digit price. It’s like watching a foreigner buy something in the local language, but this is routine among locals.
Uganda’s national language is English. The other East African countries—Kenya and Tanzania—both nationalized Swahili. I’ve heard that Swahili was the language used by Amin’s men as they brutalized people in most of the country, and no one wants to speak it. Luganda is the second national language (yup there are two national languages) and is most similar to the other 100 or so languages spoken here. I’m guessing they chose English over Luganda because it gives the country a better chance of competing with the global world. Still, speaking English outside of Kampala is like playing baseball on a cricket field, it just doesn’t work that well. It is astonishing to think that an entire country can struggle to communicate within itself.
Unfortunately, even in Kampala it is difficult to understand the accent on some people. There is a heavy accent from one’s local language, on top of the British accent they learn in the school. I’ve been hearing a stronger, cleaner, British accent in the younger people, or those working at the bank, because they have been schooled abroad. Yet, that is not always the case at our offices. Often in meetings, and especially over the phone, I have realized I’m not the only one asking people to repeat themselves. Maybe the phone network is not a high quality, or the phones are poor. It just seems like there is always a wall to talk over and conversation does not always come through clearly. Other times there is a failure to fully explain something. For instance, we asked a man for directions and he pointed back the way we came and said, “slope down.” (Maybe because Kampala is a city of many hills “slope down” and “slope up” are inevitably in every set of directions.) The way I would have phrased those directions is this: “Turn around, and make your first right and go down the hill, at the end of the street turn left and you’ll find the restaurant you are looking for.”
The glass is more than half full, Uganda has come a very long way in a relatively short period. One hundred and fifty years ago the British came here with the English language and tea to name a few things. Back then there were no roads, no shillings, no government and parliament system, and not much contact with the rest of the world. When things move too quickly not everyone in a large country can keep up at the same pace. We see that when we head up country. People in the rural area are not too concerned with the government (they are easily bribed to vote a certain way), money, and all the other treasures from the developed world. As long as there is land and perhaps a bicycle life is complete. My colleague’s family in the “village” has never seen a TV, movie, and probably never read a book. That’s sort of mind blowing.
One More Mind Explosion
Here’s something else that recently blew my mind. A sack of sugar about one and a half the size of a large potato sack was purchased by someone at the office the other day. Four of my colleagues split the sack for their own personal consumption. Already knowing the answer, I decided to ask anyway: What are you going to do with all that sugar? Use it for tea, of course. Anything else? No, just tea, maybe make a cake for the holidays. There isn’t much baking going on in these parts. Now, I’m fine with using the sugar strictly for tea, nothing wrong with that, but why is there basically one kind of tea?
