Getting used to it

When people say you can get used to anything it’s a lie. I know it’s a lie because after 6 months of living in Uganda I still suck my breath into the back of my throat and do a little jig when I turn on the shower. It’s not that I am super happy to be getting clean once more, or indeed a leprechaun, it’s because my shower is bloody freezing. 

This isn’t a rejection of namby pamby luxury features or a misguided attempt at ‘when in Rome…’ Believe me, if I could fix a hot shower I would, but the water comes straight from the ground (where seemingly the temperature is about 2 degrees) and out of my shower head. Maybe this is how all showers work, I’m no plumber, but somehow some showers have the lovely facility of heating the water before it comes into contact with my skin. We don’t even have a water storage tank that might allow the water to get a little bit heated up by the sun’s rays before it cascades out of the head.

There have been times when I’ve contemplated putting water in black bags to let the sun heat them, and then pouring them over myself. The trouble with that though is that the water gets that plastic-y smell. If you don’t know what I mean leave a bottle of water in the sun for a couple of hours and then have a sniff inside, you’ll see.

So the fact remains that each day I approach the shower with a slight sense of dread, some days are better than others. Chilly, misty mornings are by far the worst when your body ends up steaming because it is so hot in comparison to the water you are bathing in. Still, I’m probably helping the environment. Firstly I’m not using any power to heat the water up and secondly gone are the days of long, luxurious showers. No, no, it’s now a case of get in – wet –lather –rinse- jump out.

Of course I endure my shower, after all I understand the importance of hygiene… and frankly I don’t want to smell like an old sock that has been rubbed in cheese and left in the sun to ferment for a week. But for me, endurance is not quite the same thing as ‘getting used to it’!

One Month On

Post election violence in Kenya, Mugabe in Zimbabwe and the recent troubles in Egypt, Ivory Cost, Tunisia and Libya, we’ve all seen how things can quickly get out of hand when it comes to politics in Africa. Therefore I was somewhat nervous about being in Uganda in the lead up to elections here. But thankfully, here we are a month since Museveni was announced as President for another 5 years and all is still calm, I can only hope that things stay this way. But what is it that makes Africans so passionate about politics?

Boda drivers awaiting the NRM candidate's arrival

One of the major issues that blights African politics is the length of time that leaders are in power.  In Uganda, Museveni has been in power my entire lifetime and now that he has recently been re-elected there is talk of extending term lengths from 5 to 7 years so I could be 32 by the time Uganda votes again. Whilst this does bring stability, which in the case of Uganda was essential after the regimes of Amin and Obote, it also allows for political stagnancy. Promising x,y and z when you’ve already been in power for 25 years seems almost ridiculous after all what have you been doing for all that time? This split voters into those who saw Museveni as a force for stability and opposition as potentially bringing back the issues of tribalism and those who saw Museveni as stagnant and the opposition as a change for good. Both camps were vehemently opposed to the other.

Many voters are swayed not by issues but rather by personalities. In fact many of the candidates’ stances on various issues were not entirely clear. Rather they won voters with their looks, smiles, personalities. Nearly all politicians at some point during their rallies dance along with the crowds, showing that they are one of ‘the people’. Museveni took it one step further, not content with simply dancing he released a rap song to ingratiate himself with the youth vote.

Rallying is clearly a serious business

However it seems that money is the root of all voting. As one person told me “people vote for money, rarely anything else”. Boda drivers were given petrol money and other gifts (money, t shirts, bandanas) to take part in NRM rallies. In the village small sums, candles and other minor gifts were distributed. Then there’s the sheer cost of the various party campaigns. The disparity between them was for me, the most startling thing about the February 2011 elections. NRM, the ruling parry, simply blew everyone else out of the water with their campaign. Their rallies were numerous and began months before any one elses. They flew Coco Finger from Juba to Kampala just to perform for a rally and Bebe Cool another musical heavyweight was singing for the cause despite the fact that his own father, Bidani Ssali was running for the PPP.

As they say money talks, and in this case the voters answered. So it’ll be Museveni for at least another 5 years, it will be interesting to see the public reaction if he is successful in extending terms from five to seven years after all he has already done away with maximum term limits. Only time will tell the true cost of these elections, I just hope it won’t be too costly.

27 by 27

Happy Birthday to meeee!

 Today is my 25^th birthday, here I am a quarter of a century and whilst I’ve done a lot of great stuff in my lifetime there are still many things (large and small) that I still want to achieve. Therefore why not give myself a bit of a kick up the backside and make a list (I love a good list) of 27 things to do before I’m 27.

Why 27? Well, firstly I have never been good at sticking to appropriate numbers for things. For example this article has only 8 and a half points rather than the more traditional 10. I could have gone for 30 things before I’m thirty but five years seems quite a long time, and this way if I fail to do all the 27 things before my 28^th birthday I can always add three more things and give myself three more years to get everything done. Of course I could have gone for 29 things, but that’s a bit close to 30, and well, I don’t much like the number 28. So here it is a list of 27 things to do before my 27^th birthday. Some are more adventurous than others and various ones will be made harder by the fact that I am currently living in Uganda. Still, I’m ready to give it a good old go… 

1. Grow my own vegetables.. successfully

2. Learn how to do cryptic crosswords, subsequently complete one

3. Have one article published in a magazine/newspaper

4. Raise £1000 for charity

5. Host a tea party with little cakes, triangle sandwiches and proper china

6. Start a small shop on Etsy

7. Go to Malawi

8. Read at least one of the religious books/scriptures in its entirety

9. Learn how to play Mah jong, the real rather than the computer, version

10. Customise an item of clothing/shoes

11. See mountain gorillas

12. Be with Denis when he experiences the sea for the first time

13. Go to Glastonbury festival

14. Skip every day for a month in the hope that it may encourage me to continue the good habit.

15. Knit a scarf

16. Take a sign language class

17. Write a letter to my childhood pen-friend in Australia whom I have not written to in over a decade, to see if I get a response from her or whoever may now live at that address.

18. Drastically improve my Rukiga  

19. Learn (and play) every card game in the Collins Book of Family Card Games

20. Get a fringe cut in (subsequently grow it out sharpish if it looks horrendous)

21. Read the entire works of Shakespeare

22. Volunteer with the homeless

23. Have a go at riding a motorbike

24. Learn to cook 14 new vegetarian recipes

25. Attend a bhangra dance class

26. Spend a month writing a letter a day to someone I love.

27. Read Milton's Paradise Lost