Uganda Perspective

View from the Back of a Boda Boda

If you want to get anywhere fast in Kampala or any other town, take a boda boda.  These are the motorcycles with a seat on the back where you put your life in the hands of a man in a helmet.  They get their name from some decades back when motorcycles were used for smuggling goods across the border between Kenya and Uganda.  It was easy to navigate un-official crossing points going border to border, thus the Africanized “boda-boda.”

Not only will the Ugandan guy on the Chinese motorcycle burning Saudi fuel get you where you want to go faster than a car or matatu taxi, it will cost you only 1,000 shillings- about sixty cents -  no matter where your destination might be.   All you need is some guts and not much luggage.

So I set off in the rain with this guy, trying to get from the National Theater to the main post office.  Car traffic was stuck but we squeezed through, weaving through minute spaces, praying no one would open a car door.  Buses vastly larger than us were mired in the morass of traffic while we whizzed past them.  A bicyclist nearly clipped us at a roundabout.  Pedestrians jumped out of the way.  So did the goats.  The road looked slick but we did not slip.  I clutched my briefcase in my lap and hung on with my knees – no way I was gonna grab the driver around the waist.  I arrived with only a few bugs in my hair and a bit soggy, but hey, it was only 1,000 shillings and I was only ten minutes late for my appointment– which is considered on time in the African context.

I’ve seen well-dressed business women, hair done just so, riding sidesaddle on a boda boda down a dusty dirt road; I’ve seen two men and a piece of furniture on the back of a boda boda; I’ve seen guys in ties on boda bodas, weaving between lanes of stalled motorists.  The boda guys hang in clumps on most street corners.  Entrepreneurs.  Professional drivers.  You can find one anywhere.  And all for just 1,000 shillings.  Let’s go.

Americans Visit Their Sponsored Child

While they were in Uganda in November 2009, Margaret and Jerry Webb of Chicago took the opportunity to visit Sylvia, age 5, a child they sponsor through Juna Amagara.  It was not an easy journey from Mbarara over paved road at first, then dirt, then a side trail somewhere north of Ibanda, following a  track through a forest of Lantana bushes.  We came upon a small house where the grandmother, also named Margaret, came out to meet us.  Sylvia was there, smiling and ready for hugs.  With her were three cousins who also live in the house.  Jerry and Margaret got to hear about Sylvia’s life, ask questions of the grandmother and also play with the family.  They delivered a gift of coloring books and markers and helped Sylvia understand how to use them.  In the end, Sylvia held Margaret’s hand all the way back to the van with the grandmother murmuring “webare kwija” (thank you for coming) over and over. 

“It was the most amazing experience,” said Margaret Webb. “This little girl whom we’d known only as a photo and bio instantly touched our hearts.  They welcomed us into their home which was so basic – dirt floors, newspapers as decoration on the walls – but so full of love and hospitality, the accommodations didn’t matter.  We saw that Sylvia was healthy and well-fed.  She shared her school work with us.  She laughed.  She wanted to be held.  I can’t imagine how she and her cousins would be living without Juna Amagara.  This is an experience every child sponsor should have; you see instantly how vital you are to the life of this child and her family.”

Do you sponsor a child in Africa?  How about Uganda?  Click HERE to sponsor a child through Juna Amagara Ministries. 

Reforestation – So Critical But So Ignored

There is one sure way to combat climate change:  plant trees.

Forget the far-out theories of launching high-tech weather balloons to offset hurricanes.  Forget blaming automobiles.  Forget moaning about the amount of methane gas coming out of the rear ends of cattle.  Just plant trees.

Think about it.  You get shade, the roots hold the soil, the photosynthetic process of turning CO2 into O2 goes on without requiring fossil fuels, wildlife flourishes, the Sahara Desert stops encroaching, the hydrostatic process returns to normal, feeding the glaciers with snow.  The Ganges continues to flow. The Polar Bears survive.  Life is good.  Just plant trees. 

But in the third world, where there is limited fuel and limited economic choice, trees become the first to fall.  In Kampala, the gates of Makerere University used to be called Bat Valley for the enormous trees and the bats that lived in them.  Those trees are gone.  A few short years ago, enormous eucalyptus trees on the State House grounds were home to scores of African Gray parrots.  Those trees gave way to a housing development.  Vast tracts of the Kigezi Highlands have been cleared for farming.  The charcoal makers hack down ancient acacia trees to make product.  There is now vigorous debate about opening up the national forests in Uganda to commercial loggers. 

At the same time, there is at least lip service for reforestation.  In the west, the government has planted some tracts with Pionus pine.  Eucalyptus, which grows rapidly, is beginning to be planted in the West.  It is said seedlings are available to groups who want to plant them.  But it will take millions of trees and at least a decade to make a difference.  I for one think Uganda can once again set the example to the rest of the Great Lakes nations by covering its open spaces with trees.  The seeds are there.  The manpower is there.  Every school can plant a thousand.  There is space.  Let’s do it.

More Than a Basket

Five years ago, the grandmothers of rural Kishanje were worn out.  They had lived through decades of famine, warfare, rebellion, idiot dictators and warring neighbors. Then, just as they were looking forward to taking their rightful place as respected elders, their children died in the AIDS scourge and they returned to active duty taking care of their grandchildren.  In the fields by day, dealing with small children by night, there was nary a thought about old skills the women had enjoyed in their youth.

Fast forward to today.  A young man from the village grew up, became a man of God and started an organization that would tutor kids after school.  He helped them with homework but also taught them life skills and Christian behavior.  He touched their minds, their hearts and their souls and filled up idle hours with valuable skills.  Those kids in turn came home, eager to teach their siblings and the grandmas.  Life became brighter.  And as it did, the grandmas began to revive old weaving skills. 

The first efforts three years ago were crude, almost embarrassing.  But now the weavers of Kishanje are turning out baskets like none other in Uganda.  Rich colors, new patterns, tighter weaves, new shapes.  They are simply breathtaking.   Multiple Women’s Councils have arisen, much like quilting bees, where ten or twenty meet to talk of their children and to weave.  They teach each other.  They innovate new styles.  As you can see, the products are magnificent. 

Each basket is a testimony to the resiliency of the human spirit.  Each is a triumph of joy over adversity.  Each is a tangible product of hope.  Just like the children who are being transformed – woven - into uniquely crafted leaders of tomorrow .   

The National Motto: “We Are Not Organized"

I need to take a break from The Reality of AIDS for a moment to get something off my chest. Why is it, with Uganda's tremendous oversupply of highly educated people, all those engineers, consultants, architects and scientists – and access to the world’s expertise just for the asking - why can’t they build a road?

Take a look at the photo included here. This is a brand new road in Mbarara that collapsed earlier this month. There is a “bypass” in Kampala that was supposed to be completed for the Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) meeting in Uganda a year ago and is not finished yet. A 60-mile road from Kabale to Kisoro, under construction for over a year, a very very expensive and very needed project, has been graded and smoothed but is not yet paved – and is washing away while it waits for macadam. The main roads in Kampala are paved while all others – thousands of miles of them connecting neighborhoods and back streets are dirt, eroded with ruts up to three feet deep.  Dodging potholes, people die on the Kampala-Mbarara Road every week. Here is a typical wreck.

Yet, the President vows major new road projects in the next two years. “It will help our economy,” he says. He’s said it before and he is right. But it’s all for naught if the roads don’t last more than a month.

“We are not organized” could be the nation’s motto. The chaos of society here is part of its charm for visitors, but it wears thin for people who live here. Nothing is maintained – half the solar/wind gizmos attached to light poles to impress CHOGM attendees are broken. The Nile River dam in Jinja that supplies most of the nation’s electricity is not “wukking” due to lack of maintenance so another dam is being built. To a nation desperately trying to build its economy, this one seems to be trying to fly with porous wings.

Traveling the only route from Mbarara to Kamwenge and getting a “road massage” as the car tackled the ruts, I saw a – wonder of wonders – a yellow Caterpillar grader parked alongside the road. I asked the driver why the machine was sitting idle when clearly the road needed grading. He said, “Oh, that is just the government responding to the local council. They want the road fixed.” He shrugged. “The government sends a machine and a man. The man grades just enough to show he has done something. Then he siphons the diesel out of the tank, sells it and spends the rest of his day in the bar. The next day there is no fuel so he cannot continue. What is he to do?”

Well, I thought, while he’s sitting in the bar, he could revise the national anthem to something like, “O, Uganda, We Are Not Organized.” There. I feel much better now.

Wanted: Americans With Guts

Every time I go to Uganda, I wonder “Where are the Americans?”

It’s not white faces I seek. There are plenty of white-skinned preachers and missionaries, government people and aid workers. But where are the business people? This country is bursting with opportunity and the government is pleading for foreign investment, yet the only established American enterprises I find are Citibank, Pepsi Cola, Coca Cola, Google and Micosoft. The Texas Cowboy Grill is owned by a guy from Lebanon. And while Americana is everywhere – pirated DVDs and knockoff jeans, American-inspired production is not.

In 2005, I asked the United States Ambassador to Uganda Jimmy Kolker why there doesn’t seem to be an American business presence here. “It is hard to do business here,” he said. “Electricity costs are about the highest in the world and the supply is erratic. Transportation is difficult.” Whine whine whine. When prospectors headed to Alaska to look for gold, they weren’t hindered by lack of electricity.  When railroads were built across America, they didn’t worry about transportation.

“Uganda has great resources,” he said. “… an educated population, low labor costs, and good telecom infrastructure which makes it a good place for call centers such as those found in India and Ghana. The agricultural environment makes this an ideal place for growing and processing food products and ingredients. A Kansas firm recently invested $1 million in a flour mill. Nearly all the vanilla extract we buy in the US comes from Uganda, more than $20 million a year. They are also exporting tilapia to the U.S. and garments. It’s start.”

A start.

The Chinese will open an auto assembly plant in Masaka this January.  Indians run vast sugar and tea plantations. Moammar Qadafi has opened a combination mosque/university/shopping mall. The Aga Khan is building eco-lodges. Pearl Flowers, another Indian operation will export 90 million stems - over $10 million worth of cut flowers from 25 hectares of greenhouses in Rubaare to Europe in the next year.  American could rebuild the railroad here and make a fortune in freight.  We're on the equator where there is a vast need and a vast market for solar panels & photovoltaic roofing sheets.  Huge tracts of land are available to grow crops for ethanol.  Clothing manufacturing?  Absolutely – thousands of skilled people ready to go to work.  Kampala needs coffee shops, good fast food, a decent bakery, better distribution systems, better food processing- stuff we’re really good at.  If America doesn’t stake its claim in this mother lode of a place, we will be sorry for it.  Come on, Cowboy, giddyup.

Hey, Economist! We’re Over Here!

Finally, at last, a world-class Western business publication has noticed that Africa is a vast place of opportunity.  In its October 11, 2008 issue, an extensive article in The Economist entitled Opportunity Knocks highlights places on the continent where commercial enterprise is thriving. Though it is very authoritative in a looking-down-your-nose sort of way, I have two gripes with this report.  First, it talks about Africa as one place; it is actually 48 places.  And second, they completely overlooked Uganda as a land of raw, unbridled opportunity and the remarkable economy that has emerged there.

This must drive Emmanuel Tumusiimwe Mutebile nuts. Mutebile is Governor of the Bank of Uganda. The Governor is described as “a hulking, hard-drinking hammer of a person, the chief architect of Uganda’s success story and the greatest contributor to Africa’s struggle against poverty in his generation” – all in the same sentence by author Sebastian Mallaby in his book The World’s Banker (Penguin Press). Oxford educated and with more than 30 years at the helm of a ship in ever-turbulent seas, Mutebile is also a gracious host and candid about his country’s accomplishments.

I spoke with the Governor at his home on Kololo Hill and asked about the Uganda economy. “It has taken us more than two decades,” he said. “But Uganda has reached a point with its financial and communications infrastructure to begin billing itself as the exception to the African stereotype. We were the first to conquer the AIDS epidemic. Our gross domestic product grows at more than 5% a year, 9% in 2007. Inflation is kept in check at 5% or less. The shilling gets stronger against the dollar and the Euro every year. And our people are saving money in banks more than ever before in our history and are rewarded with a 14% interest on their accounts. We have 12 active Rotary International Clubs in Kampala alone. Our East African trade alliance which includes Sudan,Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda is already  showing results. Then he added, “Would you like a glass of wine?” 

The Economist talks about Ghana and Mali and Mozambique as good-news countries, but omits Uganda which outshines them all.  In my next post, I’ll outline why I think Uganda is a land where vast fortunes can be made by anyone with guts enough to invest there.