UgandAshis 25. Surprise

UgandAshis 25 Surprise

June 20, 2009

Kampala, Uganda

A young friend of mine had his farewell party before going to Italy to become a civil pilot. His party was at one of my favorite hang outs; Kyoto at Centenary Park. While on the dance floor I bumped into Samali Okoth. She is of Russian-Polish-Canadian-Ugandan descent and has spent time in Kenya-Canada and Uganda while growing up. We hit it off straight away and starting swapping our experiences as mixed blood people. Somali is 5 foot 9 and because she practiced body building on a very high level is massively and muscular in her built. She is so big most men are intimidated by her.

Her story about her first day in school in Canada I have to share. As she entered the classroom the teacher Mr. Dyke a world wise 50 year old told the class room that they had a special new classmate. SomaLEE Okoto, eight years old from East Africa. As he unrolled the map of Africa from 1946 with Rhodesia, Tanganyika still on it he asked her to point out Uganda. She found Lake Victoria and happily Mr. Dyke commented that the country being on the equator it must be very hot. He then continued to ask if she lived in a mud hut. The kids joined in with a barrage of questions the first one being if she had a pet lion.

Sincerely peeved by the mispronunciation of her name and the misconceptions of her country Samali she took up her place in the classroom and joined the mathematic class. As she made an error she raised her hand and asks Mr. Dyke for a rubber to rub out the mistake. Mr. Dyke became flush faced and told SomaLEE that in Vancouver the called the device an eraser. To the humor of the class she replied that in Kampala an eraser is to wipe the chalk of the blackboard.

In Uganda the same unbelieving ears as she pronounces her name to anyone Samali. The commonest answer is: “Are you sure?” followed by the same response when they hear her family name Okoth (both names are 100% Ugandan) but Samali has a very light skin. Surely confused the next question if she is sure she is sure. Or Madam you cannot be Ugandan. I just laughed and laughed how often have I been told I cannot be of Indian or of Dutch decent. Seen as a muzungu (white) in Africa and an outlier in Europe. Being of mixed descent is a mixed blessing.

Our night ended with a picnic in the garden after visiting the 24 hour market. It is then that she told me her family ran the first private hospital in Uganda, Nile Hospital in the 1980’s. Due to external circumstances the highly successful business was forced to shut down. And as a consequence she still has the remnants in apparatus (hospital beds, x ray machine, wheelchairs etcetera)

My friend Eveline’s clinic is expanding this week to a second building for mother and child care. The admissions in the first building (14 beds) are maximally occupied and we need beds, wheelchair, second x-ray machine etcetera. Life is full of surprises. Go clubbing and end up with part of the inventory for your new health clinic.

Namaskar,

Ashis