UgandAshis 2009 – 7 Family security.
Kampala, Uganda
April 26, 2009.
Dear all,
For reasons all relating to marital problems 4 of Joseph’s (cousin) brothers are currently staying at his place. All of them work hard to support their children. One of them works night and day to make toys, hand painted of matatu (minibus) with passengers. He makes about 20 a week and sells them at 5-star hotel outlets.
In a country where there is very little state assured security one relies on family and friends. People tell me that when a relative (however remote) shows up he/she will be fed/housed and even clothes will be shared. It does not matter how long you will stay.
My friend Adam told me about the custom in his home village. A stranger would knock on your door. And a container of milk would be shared. Then another one and only after the stranger’s thirst would be quenched would the visitor be asked about his travel destination and family background.
Urbanization is happening rapidly in Africa and even if Uganda is relatively slow in this development it is taking place. More then half of African population will be living in a city with in 10-15 years. The family structures that are so strong in the village stay intact in the city.
Move over brother, share that matooke (banana, plaintin) with me.
Namaskar,
Ashis
Monday 27 April 2009
UgandAshis 2009 – 6. Internet/credit crash
UgandAshis 2009 – 6. Internet/credit crash
Kampala, Uganda
April 26, 2009.
Dear all,
I have been getting close recently to the lovely staff of the help desk of UTL 3G. My mobile wireless modem is having some problems. Today however I found out that the entire service is down. No emails therefore from my house/home/laptop connection.
Strolling over to an Internet cafe is an option and given downloading a gmail/twitter/facebook account may take up to 10 minutes I pass. You then proceed to rush a letter as the connection may fail. Wi-Fi, ASDL high speed is rare and costly here and therefore downloading films or uploading photos is not easy from Uganda. Low bandwidth access is the mantra. At least until the cable connecting the whole of Africa will be connected (2010?)
We take for granted many things in the West, flawless Internet access one of them.
The African Development Bank shows growth figures of 6% for the Eastern African region. Looking at the day-to-day life it seems the credit crunch has by passed Uganda. Here when you pay for a house, dowry, phone, car or any thing else you tend to pay cash. Very little credit is around.
Still there are signs that the world’s turmoil will affect the Uganda economy. Prices of a bag of cement are up from 14,500 Ugandan shilling to 30,000. We wait and see. Don’t worry about a thing, cause every little thing is going to be all right.
In my own way I have been stimulating the Ugandan economy by buying a bed, mattress, table, chairs, gas stove, cylinder, crockery, cutlery, cupboard and more. This house of mine is turning into a palace. Once a guard materializes I will have geese, chicken or ducks.
What do you recommend?
Namaskar,
Ashis
Kampala, Uganda
April 26, 2009.
Dear all,
I have been getting close recently to the lovely staff of the help desk of UTL 3G. My mobile wireless modem is having some problems. Today however I found out that the entire service is down. No emails therefore from my house/home/laptop connection.
Strolling over to an Internet cafe is an option and given downloading a gmail/twitter/facebook account may take up to 10 minutes I pass. You then proceed to rush a letter as the connection may fail. Wi-Fi, ASDL high speed is rare and costly here and therefore downloading films or uploading photos is not easy from Uganda. Low bandwidth access is the mantra. At least until the cable connecting the whole of Africa will be connected (2010?)
We take for granted many things in the West, flawless Internet access one of them.
The African Development Bank shows growth figures of 6% for the Eastern African region. Looking at the day-to-day life it seems the credit crunch has by passed Uganda. Here when you pay for a house, dowry, phone, car or any thing else you tend to pay cash. Very little credit is around.
Still there are signs that the world’s turmoil will affect the Uganda economy. Prices of a bag of cement are up from 14,500 Ugandan shilling to 30,000. We wait and see. Don’t worry about a thing, cause every little thing is going to be all right.
In my own way I have been stimulating the Ugandan economy by buying a bed, mattress, table, chairs, gas stove, cylinder, crockery, cutlery, cupboard and more. This house of mine is turning into a palace. Once a guard materializes I will have geese, chicken or ducks.
What do you recommend?
Namaskar,
Ashis
Thursday 23 April 2009
UgandAshis - 5 Spirited crash
UgandAshis 2009 – 5. Spirited crash
Kampala, Uganda
April 23, 2009.
Spirited crash.
Yellow and red balls pocketed with rocket speed (and sometimes not so). I am celebrating my move with some friends in Al’s Bar. Then all of a sudden the jolly mood turns in an instant. A friend of my buddy has been involved in a car accident at the other end of town.
We jump in to the car and with blazing speed we rush to the site of the accident. Fifteen minutes of nerve racking. How is he? As we are informed it seems bad: the car is totaled, he is bleeding profusely and was all spirited up.
The accident happened around the corner of my friends house. And yes the Toyota Rav 4 x 4 is a write off. He had hit some huge rocks on the road (yes Uganda roadworks) lost control, hit a slope, spun and slammed into a garden wall down a steep decline.
Twenty minutes and no ambulance, despite the severity of the accident our friend is pretty ok. He can walk and is taken to the hospital by car. There he gets sutured and he insists he will go on a business trip tomorrow.
Now the downplaying of the accident begins. As to assure minimal involvement of the police incentives are given to the right people and the wreck is towed into the compound where it had jolly well pummeled he wall.
We end the night in Al’s bar for some pool. In my honor some sitar music is played. And our friend; with his >15 sutures in his head and a mild concussion; he is on his business trip.
Namaskar,
Ashis
Kampala, Uganda
April 23, 2009.
Spirited crash.
Yellow and red balls pocketed with rocket speed (and sometimes not so). I am celebrating my move with some friends in Al’s Bar. Then all of a sudden the jolly mood turns in an instant. A friend of my buddy has been involved in a car accident at the other end of town.
We jump in to the car and with blazing speed we rush to the site of the accident. Fifteen minutes of nerve racking. How is he? As we are informed it seems bad: the car is totaled, he is bleeding profusely and was all spirited up.
The accident happened around the corner of my friends house. And yes the Toyota Rav 4 x 4 is a write off. He had hit some huge rocks on the road (yes Uganda roadworks) lost control, hit a slope, spun and slammed into a garden wall down a steep decline.
Twenty minutes and no ambulance, despite the severity of the accident our friend is pretty ok. He can walk and is taken to the hospital by car. There he gets sutured and he insists he will go on a business trip tomorrow.
Now the downplaying of the accident begins. As to assure minimal involvement of the police incentives are given to the right people and the wreck is towed into the compound where it had jolly well pummeled he wall.
We end the night in Al’s bar for some pool. In my honor some sitar music is played. And our friend; with his >15 sutures in his head and a mild concussion; he is on his business trip.
Namaskar,
Ashis
UgandAshis - 4 Home
UgandAshis 2009 – 4. Home.
Kampala, Uganda
April 23, 2009.
Home
To call a place home is easy
Friends and family
Form the nurturing environment
From which one
Flies around
Now I can say to you.
Crash by
My mansion is yours
Mi casa es tu casa
The house is
Big enough to play hide-and-seek
Pluck jackfruit, papaya and banana’s
BBQ
Loiter on the veranda.
Enjoy the breeze
Gaze at moon and stars
Come, stay
Call it your home
Namaskar,
Ashis
Kampala, Uganda
April 23, 2009.
Home
To call a place home is easy
Friends and family
Form the nurturing environment
From which one
Flies around
Now I can say to you.
Crash by
My mansion is yours
Mi casa es tu casa
The house is
Big enough to play hide-and-seek
Pluck jackfruit, papaya and banana’s
BBQ
Loiter on the veranda.
Enjoy the breeze
Gaze at moon and stars
Come, stay
Call it your home
Namaskar,
Ashis
UgandAshis - 3 The waterbill
UgandAshis 2009 – 3. The water bill.
Kampala, Uganda
April 23, 2009.
My friend, whom I shall call Adam received a water bill yesterday. Nothing out of the ordinary were it not for the fact that instead of the normal $50 fee (100.000 Ugandan shilling) it was $500. Also his water had been shut off. Adam is a very friendly and typical Ugandan in the sense that everything is happy go easy. Knowing he had a letter form the water company stating that for a week their had been a leak outside his house in a pipeline he left to get his water reinstalled.
Today however he lost his patience at the district office of the water board. In an ever escalating shouting match with the official he tried to point out the fact that the bill was not correct and that the water board should review the bill. The man behind the desk dug in his heels claiming the manager of the office was the only one who was able to make a change. ‘Why not go half-way sir?’ You may $250 and we re-install your water for an other $50 fee.
By now all about 100 people awaiting in the queue joined in and a true riot was developing. People were getting ready to storm the office. A 83-year old Acholi Northerner acted as a chief whip and spokes man. Blasting the officials for their lack of common sense, their inability to admit mistakes, or once a mistake is made to fix the problem.
As the general manager walked in it was clear he could do one thing. Adam’s bill was reduced to the normal monthly fee, a letter of apology was written and his water is reconnected. As he shook his shoulders leaving the water company he could hear the Acholi gentleman blast away at the official again. With a smile on his face he mumbled a prayer for the besieged office worker.
Namaskar,
Ashis
Kampala, Uganda
April 23, 2009.
My friend, whom I shall call Adam received a water bill yesterday. Nothing out of the ordinary were it not for the fact that instead of the normal $50 fee (100.000 Ugandan shilling) it was $500. Also his water had been shut off. Adam is a very friendly and typical Ugandan in the sense that everything is happy go easy. Knowing he had a letter form the water company stating that for a week their had been a leak outside his house in a pipeline he left to get his water reinstalled.
Today however he lost his patience at the district office of the water board. In an ever escalating shouting match with the official he tried to point out the fact that the bill was not correct and that the water board should review the bill. The man behind the desk dug in his heels claiming the manager of the office was the only one who was able to make a change. ‘Why not go half-way sir?’ You may $250 and we re-install your water for an other $50 fee.
By now all about 100 people awaiting in the queue joined in and a true riot was developing. People were getting ready to storm the office. A 83-year old Acholi Northerner acted as a chief whip and spokes man. Blasting the officials for their lack of common sense, their inability to admit mistakes, or once a mistake is made to fix the problem.
As the general manager walked in it was clear he could do one thing. Adam’s bill was reduced to the normal monthly fee, a letter of apology was written and his water is reconnected. As he shook his shoulders leaving the water company he could hear the Acholi gentleman blast away at the official again. With a smile on his face he mumbled a prayer for the besieged office worker.
Namaskar,
Ashis
Saturday 18 April 2009
UgandAshis - 2 The hawk has landed.
UgandAshis 2009 – 2. The hawk has landed.
Kampala, Uganda
April 18, 2009.
The hawk represents the messenger in the Lakota tradition. (http://www.animaltotem.com/hawk.html for more information) . I am a bird lover and I like this feathered friend a lot. It is with great joy to see them anywhere. If you like birds Uganda is a paradise. A good place to nest therefore as here I can develop my ornithological skills. Bird watch and make photos from dusk to dawn could be a full time job.
It is after a period of 10 years on a tour of nations in several continents that I have picked Africa and Uganda in specific to set up shop. A base from where to blog, vlog, write, dance, cook and invite friends from all over the world to visit in my then constructed little palace on lake Victoria.
Amongst the things to do: nurture the newly fledgling Phoenix Global Humanitarian Foundation Africa, teach Public Health at local Universities, work in a hospital, receive and guide visitors around Uganda, build a network of grass root organizations, fundraise, become a platform on web 2.0 and to look at news ways of doing humanitarian work. Ways that aim to make myself replaced by a local staff member as soon as possible, to make projects thrivable, sustainable as per local demand, local analysis, local solutions and international knowledge and skill transfer.
Here I feel the calm to write a daily blog, some poetry and work on the second book after Utmost. For a period in my life I had an urge to travel. I still do but from a solid home base. Uganda will give me all the tools required.
In the mean time let us go back to the hawk. Two Cooper hawk feathers made their way to me. Next visit to the USA I shall ask my possum friend to help me out again to bead two feather holders as I have done for my red tailed hawk feather. Besides being examples of nature’s brilliant beauty they protect me, guide me and lead me to focus on why I am in Africa.
Land, build a nest, fly and be a messenger for the radiant bliss that is Africa.
Namaskar,
Ashis
UgandAshis - 1 Viva la vida
UgandAshis 2009 – 1. Viva la vida.
Kampala, Uganda
April 17, 2009
In Hindu mythology there is a figure called Ganesha. He is a mighty scholar who is the child of Parvati and Shiva. Yesterday when I visited the mandir (Hindu temple) I offered a flower to him. He is known as the remover of obstacles and the gatekeeper. It is in this same mandir when Idi Amin, dictator of the seventies in Uganda told all Asians to leave Uganda that 79 families took refuge. The mandir today, built in 1954 still stands tall in the heart of Kampala. Over the last 2 decades many families have returned and a diaspora of Eastern African Asians has formed as well, mainly in the USA, UK and Canada.
A snippet of the fascinating history of Uganda over the next blogs I am hoping to write about the history, the people, the mythology, the nature, the health care system, the stories, the dreams, the hopes, the injustice, the bliss, the joy and the children of Uganda.
Everyday merits a story. From the boda boda driver (motorbike driver) to the preacher, the salesman to the doctor, the cook to the police officer all share their stories with me freely. In common there is one thing a joy of living.
It is a pleasure to live in a country that despite immense pressure on people, stress, depression hardly exists. The resilience I talk and write a lot about my friends the Zaghawa you find here as well. As you do the humor and the dignity.
When you are making plans life happens to you. The plan for now is to stay here for 5 years and set up Phoenix Global Humanitarian Foundation Africa with Kampala, Uganda as a head office. You will be able to follow the ups and downs from this blog.
This blog will be made available in different formats; through twitter, facebook, blogger and as a list serve (www.ashis.org). Feel free to share, post questions, comments. Once my Internet issues are soundly resolved I shall also go back to vlogging. Currently through 12 seconds and twitter I have posted 5 posts (ashisbrahma).
For today there remain two plans;
1. Shave a huge part of the beard
2. Viva la vida
The second is a given, let us see if I can accomplish #1 as well.
Namaskar,
Ashis
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
