UgandAshis 24 Sprawling hills

UgandAshis 24 Sprawling hills

June 18, 2009

Kampala, Uganda

I met an elderly shopkeeper yesterday and as we started talking about the Cranes and food we eventually came to talk about the neighborhood I live in right now. It is a in between of suburb, small village and continuation of Kampala city. We live about 5 minutes drive of the shore of Lake Victoria and that is why we have so many predator birds circling around. As we speak I can see two kites (hawks) on the look-out.

He was telling me how 15-20 years ago the hills we were looking at were dense rainforest with exotic flora and fauna. Ggaba then was a beach were some fisher men moored their boats. Now we can see the repetitive red tile roofs and red brick one storey houses. Nickelangelo, my architect friend would say that there is only one blue print on offer to construct houses in the whole of Uganda.

In the Netherlands out of jealousy we always joke how everything in Belgium happens 10 years later. Well all over Africa people are flocking to the smaller and bigger cities, yet in Uganda that trend is present but much delayed. In a population of 30 million Kampala is the biggest city with 1.65 million inhabitants followed by Kira with 205.000, Gulu 146.000, Jinja 132.000, Entebbe 115.000, Mbarara 102.00 and all others information is lacking or are below 100.000. If we add up all the numbers on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_and_towns_in_Uganda then we can estimate only 10% lives in a city.
Living in Kampala and working in Fort Portal (46.000) gives a much skewed view of what Uganda is. I hope to be travelling more and more to North, East, West and South. Feeling traffic jams, industrial pollution, crowding of people, inner city crime, loose moral of big city inhabitants, unraveling of the social fabric and other big city problems are an issue for the majority of Ugandans is misreading the reality.

The average Ugandan digs, earns about a dollar a day, lives in a rural area with limited access to healthcare, primary education, has bad roads, lack of clean water. Despite to for once quote Winston Churchill ‘Uganda is the pearl of Africa’ problems are present today and with one of the youngest populations in the world deforestation, overgrazing, over use of agricultural land and emptied lakes devoid of fish are current problems bound to get worse.

It is not for a lack of highly educated, motivated, caring people in Uganda. The biggest gift Uganda brings to the world are the kind hearted people. Vision from the leaders in the country, opportunities for loans, integrity by all living and working here and a true open world market would help. The label for Africa as a lost continent is tedious, simpleminded and does not reflect on the talent and potential of the continent.

Namaskar,

Ashis