Some Things Never Change…

Since arriving in Uganda a few things have changed for me. One of those is no longer feeling upset or sad when I see children begging, instead I feel anger at the parents that dump their one-year-olds on the side of the road to beg. I feel anger at the government for having no place for the children, if children are neglected or abused parents go to jail, and the kids? They either live alone, with relatives, or move to the prison with their parents.

But, that is an entirely different rant and a bit of a tangent. Of the things that never change:

• My heart will always break when I walk past Nasolo Ward (the children’s unit) at Mengo hospital and see a mother outside, alone, sobbing.
• I will always be angry when a taxi driver tries to charge me extra – thinking either I am rich and don’t care or I am stupid and don’t know better.
• I will always laugh and wave when primary school kids see me, and wave. They call out “Muzungu” until I turn and return the wave.
• I will hate walking in the thick red mud after the rain, especially in sandals and especially in Owino and the taxi parks, for sure nothing is grosser. My problem isn’t so much the mud but what mixed in with it.
• I will always be hungry when I smell, see or hear a rolex cooking.
  
• It will always get my back up when I hear whites refer to things as ‘African’. Listening to Sky News the other day it was playing a feed from the UK parliament and one of the MPs was talking about something and he said, “Would you rather have ethanol in your cars or bread in African’s stomachs.” I really had no idea what he was talking about but I was insulted on behalf of all my Ugandan friends who put bread (and much more) in their own stomachs!