Uganda. The Beautiful Paradox

Sorry this took so long. I wrote it last thursday but we didn't have internet for a while. Anyways, here it is.

Again I sit, writing my blog during a power cut. Because it is past sundown, the only light is the one from my computer screen. I’m afraid that if you were hoping for a comical uplift from this particular post then you are out of luck. This post is quite a bit more serious than the last. This post looks at Uganda through a different lens. A lens that shows the paradoxical nature of this country. Once I came here I could not help but realize the serious cry of this country. Amongst its beauty there is a layer of sorrow and a call for help. Like many African nations this country holds the potential for greatness and the ability to thrive. This potential, however, is hidden by the reality of life here. I give you, The Beautiful Paradox.

            When I first arrived in Uganda I was struck by this countries beauty. There is greenery everywhere and a great variety of plants can, and do, grow here. In Beersheba, we grow mangoes (delicious), papaya, peppers, bananas, cassava, oranges, beans, onions, staple crops, and watermelon and pineapples have grown in the past. Uganda also has a lot of rainfall every year, causing the ground to be very fertile and the ability to grow your own food is ever present. There is rarely a shortage of food and one can generally always feel full at the end of a meal. Sounds great, doesn’t it? The land flowing with milk and honey. What more would someone want. How about the ability to drink water without having to boil it first? Or maybe being able to swim in Lake Victoria without having to take tablets to avoid catching a nasty parasite. Behind the beauty of this country is a fact that roughly 1 in 20 people here have HIV; a virus that has already claimed the lives of over 25 million people worldwide. (I must add, however, that Uganda has done a great deal to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS in its country and props must be given for that. Still, there is always room for progress.) Feeling full at the end of a meal is great, but what if that full feeling is because the majority of your meal is carbohydrates and, if you were to bust out the food pyramid, you’d realize that you don’t ever really have a well-rounded meal. The worst part about that is it isn’t because it’s impossible to acquire those much needed foods. You just need a little help; help from the global community. Rain is also a wonderful thing, but not when it turns into overdrive. I have personally met a man whose garden has been ruined due to too much rain at the wrong time. But has he given up? No, he is replanting in a different place and trying again. Perseverance.

            I want to take this time now to add probably the single most important thing I have to say. What I stated earlier does not, in any way, make us, as westerners, better than someone from Uganda and what we have in the west is not necessarily better than in Uganda. We have the ability to aid a country full of potential, but we must not come in and attempt to westernize it. We must first learn from this country. We must learn because it is only after we have learned that we can help. There are many lessons here that can be learned and many things that can teach us to grow as people. If we come in just to aid and not to be aided then we will be destroying the opportunity that we have to become better. Every country around the world has something to give. If this can be utilized then we, as a world, can grow, and every culture will still be preserved. As they rightfully should.

I’ve only been here a week and a half and I know that, the longer I stay, the more I will learn about this country and the people here. Thank you very much. I will see you later.

P.S Ok so because this post was quite a serious one you can expect, perhaps, a more comical write up subsequent to this one. (I didn't just come up with that word off the top of my head; I used the thesaurus that comes with Microsoft… sorry)