Fuel and funny things

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.