Monday morning the streets were eerily quiet as I walked
toward town in search of a boda. I thought maybe it was just because it was “rush
hour”, but after catching a lone boda and heading out to school we passed the
first of three gas stations on the way and there were over 200 motorcycles waiting
in line- there was no fuel- literally no fuel- hence the lack of vehicles on
the road. The next station was the same.
Apparently Uganda imports gas from Mombasa (Kenya) and the trucks have not
arrived. It is now Thursday and there is still no fuel- my boda ride was the
most today 4,000 shillings to school.
The lines remind me of the oil embargo in the 70’s and the lines of cars
waiting for the rationed gas.
This is a problem for a landlocked country like Uganda- due
to underdevelopment of its own natural resources (for lots of reasons both
political and economic), they rely on imports. Products traveling into the country
are subject to policies, abnormalities, violence and even seizure in the
bordering countries. You may have read
about the churches in Kenya that were attacked last weekend. This was in
retaliation for Kenya sending soldiers into Somalia after a terrorist group- so
the borders were closed. Border skirmishes like this can disrupt travel and
transport.
Someone said the other day that Africans, and Ugandans
specifically, are patient- some if it comes from necessity- when you don’t
have, you wait. Some, is part of the
culture- time is not as important as whatever is happening at the moment. I
have basically lost all sense of time- I do have to know in order to leave for
school on time- but there is just a rhythm here that you fall into and it is
all ok in the end.
Funny musings:
You know you are in Africa when:
You can ride sidesaddle on the back of a motorcycle with no
hands
You stop noticing that there is no electricity
Your roommate says “My night is complete, I just saw two
cockroaches humping in the latrine”
The common conversation revolves around quality and usage of
latrines
You can have a small wardrobe custom tailored in three days
for less than $30.
You start thinking that 20,000 shillings sounds like a lot
of money ($8.17)
You have the time to contemplate names for the neighborhood
chickens
You can make friends with strangers on the walk home
Everywhere you go children wave and smile and shout “munu,
munu” (White).
You come home from work looking like you just went tanning
(red dust from riding on the back of the boda)
You begin to talk without using contractions
You wait an hour and a half for dinner only to find out they
do not have the vegie burger (luckily I ordered the meat burger)
At the first annual “wine Wednesday,” after tasting the Ugandan
pineapple wine, your housemate exclaims, “I think I just took the nail polish
off my tongue!”
The only people smoking are the mzungus (white guys).
And finally you drink passion fruit juice everywhere you can
because it is so amazing.
