Uganda and the West-Unintended consequences…

While Uganda is a very poor country, especially by our standards, the influence of the west is everywhere.  This is both a good thing and in many ways a very bad thing. One of the questions that we were asked in our orientation is if we thought colonization (by the British) had a positive impact. This is a difficult question- some people said yes, because it brought education and advanced technology- others, myself included, believed that Africa in general, and Uganda specifically would have developed on its own- maybe not at the pace or in the same way as Europe, but they had education- again not like Europe, but appropriate to their culture. The also had technology and a religion that was appropriate to their culture. It is probable that through trade, many of the advancements that came to Europe through trade would also have come to Africa without disturbing/eliminating the existing culture. Recovering from colonization, aid in the form of money or goods paid to the government in the hope it would reach the people has proven difficult for the Africans to overcome.

Other observations: plastic is evil. Obviously introduced by western culture but without the means to recycle or dispose of it (i.e. there are not nice little trash bins on every corner with a service to come pick up weekly). It litters the streets, the fields, it is everywhere- plastic grocery bags, plastic bottles and containers, bottle tops, white plastic, black plastic, and now they use it to start their fires- because it burns so well- and then all the toxic fumes add to the vehicle exhaust and garbage burning fumes…

I also learned this week that the clothes we donate to say Goodwill, Red Cross, etc. if they are not sold in the thrift stores at home, they are packed up into huge bales and sent over here to be sold to Ugandans who then resell them in mass markets. While the idea of the people having a small business in used clothing is definitely a good thing, the down side is that now the Indian and Arabs are buying the best stuff, marking it up so the regular Ugandan can not afford it and leaving the lower quality clothes for the small merchants.  Another negative is that this has increased the demand for western clothes, thus taking business away from the local tailors- who rely on making all kinds of clothes for adults and children. It is really important to keep in mind the unintended consequences of everything we do.

Coffee- so with the demand for coffee worldwide- and especially in the US, more Ugandan farmers are growing and selling coffee- another plus for their economy- and yes there is a downside…they have cleared fields that had been used to grow food crops and planted coffee plants… result will mean that they will be dependent on food imports because they do not have enough land available to grow the food to supply their needs.
Even for us spending money here- we were told to always bargain the price- because they will try to sell things for the munu (white) price. Of course it seems ridiculous to bargain a ride home from .50 to .35 when I would happily pay more...the result is that it raises the price across the board for everyone, causing inflation and basically messing up their economy. Unintended consequences... just something to think about.   Apwoyo! (means hello and thank you pronounced afoyo)