COVID-19

I have not come here in years, and so much has happened in my life within those many years but I will not go into that just yet. I just got back from Uganda, the country where I’m originally from (I moved to the USA over 6 years ago)to visit with my family and friends. While I was there the news broke of a virus named corona virus disease(COVID-19) from China.

Like some breaking news, I thought that it would be just a couple of days and we will not hear about this virus outbreak anymore. I was wrong. News kept spreading about the virus, how many people were infected, how many were dying and the effect this was having on China. News of people who were quarantined in Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei province in China where this virus is believed to have started from was allover the media. Students in Wuhan were and are still not allowed to leave. Uganda is one of the countries that has students pursuing their studies in this part of China.

When it comes to news that is not good, I try to pay as little attention as possible. Even though I’m a journalist by training and I really like to know what is going on and to stay informed and to inform others, most times I would rather not keep up (and not inform others) of all the doom and gloom. But however much I wanted not to pay attention to the COVID-19 it was everywhere I turned. Not long after it started in Wuhan it was spreading quite fast to other areas of China and the world!

Even at that, I decided not to pay as much attention. I decided to engage in prayer just like many other people around the world were and are still doing. I was also very preoccupied with a very personal matter that did not leave much room for other things like keeping up with what is happening around the world in detail. Country after country was reporting cases of this virus, not 1 or 2 but hundreds of cases.

It started getting real that this was a virus like no other. It did not hit that well until I traveled back home a week ago. Only a day after I left Uganda, they put a travel ban! No Ugandan was allowed to travel to the USA or to any European country that has registered cases of COVID-19 and no foreigner was allowed into the country either from the countries that have registered cases of the virus. Ugandans returning home would be tested and/or quarantined.

I flew into Dallas Fort Worth a little after 4pm on Tuesday March 10, and on Thursday I saw stories about people being tested for the virus upon landing at airports including Dallas airport . And because of the volume of the people landing at this airport at a time, there were not enough human resources to take care of them as far as testing for the virus. I saw that people were spending over 7 hours in line waiting to be tested, many people and in close proximity. I can only imagine for passengers who have been on long flights like from Qatar, a flight that is over 16 hours and having to wait those many hours in order to be tested for the virus.

We went grocery shopping and we found that the shelf for ground beef was empty, the cheese shelf was almost empty, apple juice (full gallons) shelf was empty! This was in Sam’s Club, a store that retails most things in bulk. They did not have any toilet paper or paper towels in stock, and they were out of quite a number of things. Things that people uses on a day to day basis.

We went on to another store, and it was the same story; toilet paper, paper towels, baby diapers, baby wipes, hand sanitizes(Sam’s Club did not have these either) and canned foods. I heard that there is people who have been going around this country with U-Haul trucks buying items like these and are now reselling them online at like triple the price. apparently they knew that a time was coming when a pandemic would be declared.

In a time that is uncertain  like this I think it is lack of consideration that anyone would scheme to this level. I have read about mothers who are out of diapers and wipes yet some people either have enough that they will not even need for months, or some who are reselling these items at a very high price.

Below is a picture of an empty ground beef shelf from Sam’s Club.

I went to back to the grocery store yesterday to get some vegetables so I could make lunch and some milk. When I got there there was a line outside, I asked the people around me why the line and they did not know. I asked the workers when I got inside and I was told that they are only letting in 20 people at a time. I asked why and they said it is easier to manage them just in case they have fights break out(over toilet paper). I told them that out of the 20 people there can be 5 that can fight over an item ,and they agreed but said that still fewer people fighting is easier to deal with than if it were more people.

I talked to a couple of people as I walked through the store isles. I encouraged them that God is with us and that we should not be acting out of fear and anxiety.

Below is a picture of people lining up outside H.E.B (a grocery store) waiting to be let into the store, only 20 people at a time.

Fear is so evil that it can very well take anyone out before any virus kills them. Because of fear people are buying and storing food, water, toilet paper and such items the just in case the stores run out. The stores are not going to run out(but if they do we will be just fine, all of!), so let us exercise love, light and kindness. Everyone could use these three things in this uncertain times.

We the children of God continue to pray and believe that God is working. If you are reading this and you are gripped with fear, I encourage to not to fear. Have faith in God and what only He can do. Do not give into one of the enemy’s top schemes named FEAR! Look fear into the face and say I WILL NOT FEAR. I TRUST IN GOD.

If you would like to be encouraged further on how to get rid of fear, send me an email through the comments and I will reach out to you. May God bless you all. Amen

CUTTING TOOTHPASTE TUBES

Growing up toothpaste was a luxury, this was the same for things like sugar, soap and cooking oil. In fact we grew up using sticks to clean our teeth. These were fresh sticks, broken from small branches of a tree, there were particular type of trees which our parents told us served this purpose better. We put ashes on the stick which acted as toothpaste, sometimes salt or soap (ashes was the main one) or sometimes only the stick. Part of my childhood was in the village, and this is how almost everyone especially at the time cleaned their teeth.

At the age of 13 we moved to the big city (Kampala)! My father had got a job in one of the schools in the suburbs. The house we were living in belonged to the school, and it had modern amenities like running water and indoor plumbing. And this is when I was introduced to a real toothbrush. I’m one of a number of children and we are a big family so our parents could not keep up with some of the demands of educating us and providing other basics.

For toothpaste, or for anything in the house we didn’t buy in bulk or stock up for a couple of weeks. We could only afford to buy food for that day for example, and we had one tube of toothpaste at a time. When it got finished we could squeeze it and get every last bit. When the tube was dry, we cut it into half and each of us put our toothbrush through it and “got” toothpaste.

I have not lacked toothpaste in so many years and I’m very grateful to God for this, but every time a tube is getting finished I get the memories of my formative years. I still squeeze the tube, but not to where there is no life left in it lol! And these are not bad memories, they are good. And it was not just me and my family, other families (even though I didn’t know this at the time) were like us. Just like us, they lacked basics like toothpaste.

One of the things that blesses my heart to gift people with is several tubes of toothpaste, because even now there is families that have to choose between having food or toothpaste. Did you have a similar experience growing up? Please share with me in the comments, it will be a blessing to me to hear from you. God bless you!

IPHONE STUCK ON LOGO..PASSWORDS

Last night I put my iPhone to charge, and went on to do something. I usually charge it at night and I switch it off, but this time I did not because I was sending some messages. After I finished what I was doing, I got back to my phone to see my messages, respond to them and switch it off.

As I switched on the light in the room, I noticed light coming from the phone and I knew that those were messages just coming in. No, there was no message on my phone but the iPhone logo was on. I found this rather strange, but I ignored it and decided to switch the phone off. The phone could not switch off no matter how hard I pressed it. I removed it from the charger, nothing! I put the charger back, I plugged into a different iPhone charger and still the logo didn’t move.

I decided to ignore it, by now it was past 10pm and I don’t have my phone on at night. At about 4am as I went to the bathroom and I could see a little blue light:) the logo was right there! I kind of got upset but I said to myself “it will be gone soon”. At 7am the logo was still on my iPhone! I played it cool and went on to do what I do in the morning, I do not get on my phone until after 9am in most cases.

I decided to go to my phone service provider to ask for help. But before I went I looked up the issue on YouTube. I was relieved that I found the issue on there and that it had a solution. The solution was in two phases, whereby if the first phase doesn’t work you apply phase two. I did not have the requirements for phase two which included iTunes (I thought this was specifically to download music?). So off to my phone service provider I went. She looks at it, opens it, takes the sim card out, types somethings on her computer.

She could not help me, she referred me to a Best Buy store 40 minutes drive away. That store could contact Apple and order me a new phone. She asks me for my Apple ID and I couldn’t remember it. She told me that those people will help get my phone to work BUT in order for me to recover whatever I have on iCloud, I need to have my password. At this point I was starting to get upset but not showing it because it was not her fault.

My husband had gone to get groceries so when he got back I asked him to help take me to Best Buy. I decided to call before we went to make sure we don’t need an appointment. As I followed the automated prompts on the phone call (which I really DISLIKE!), I decided to google places which repair iPhones, and I see that Cell Phone Repair (CPR) is open!! I thought they are closed on weekends. I called to make sure they were open, but no one answered. I decided that we go there first and we can continue to Best Buy just in case.

We have used CPR before and they have helped us quite well. We walked in and there was no wait. Jeremy, the person who has helped with our laptop computers before was available. He explained that it could be the battery or that he may have to reboot (that is not the exact word he used)and this would require me to know my PASSWORD (dear God!) in order to get my backed up stuff from iCloud. He went on to explain that (I already know this Jeremy!) I can recover my PASSWORD but if I fail, I can get a new one BUT I will lose EVERYTHING on the phone. WHAT!!!

We waited as he went to see if the issue was with the battery. He came back shortly to report that it was not. In this case he asked us to give him an hour to reboot, or reset the phone. As we walked away I said a prayer in my breath, I asked God to help him fix it. We came back and he came out and said “it failed on me twice but I’m trying it the third time”. When he went back to the back room where they do the repairs from, I looked at my husband and said “did he say that it failed on him twice”?. My husband replied “that is what he said baby”. It is about 1:10pm and I want to use my phone. Even if I choose one day a week to have it off completely but because it was not my choice for it to be off, I wanted to use it so bad!. Like most of you, I use my phone for work, and to keep in touch with my family among other things.

In less than 10minutes Jeremy came back to the front and he said “I guess third time is a charm, it worked”. He handed it to me, and I grabbed it (gently but still kind of grabbed it)! I asked how much I needed to pay and he said “don’t worry about it”. I told him God bless you and we left. And now I had to set up my phone afresh.

After we ran some errands, when we got home I embarked on setting up my phone. I went as far as face recognition and I think it was after that that it asked for my Apple ID. I had written it somewhere so I got it, put it in but it didn’t work. I called Apple and they directed me to the website where I could get help. I explained to the person helping me that I had put the email addresses that I remember using but none worked. At this point I was frustrated to the point of crying. This person told me that I can keep putting in different emails as I remember them and when I put the right one it will work. Really!

He said that that was as far as he could help me, he said I could get a new password BUT I will lose whatever is backed up on iCloud. I thanked him and I think I hanged up on him (I’m sorry). I stayed on the Apple website on the page to recover my PASSWORD. At this point I was crying, and asking God to please help me with this. “God I have a lot of things on this phone, God my pictures, God my contacts, God…” I pleaded while real tears flowed. But I kept telling myself “do not cry for something like this” then I would stop and start again (one of my brothers will have a very good laugh at this).

BUT THEN GOD! I felt led (it had to be God through the Holy Spirit) to call Apple AGAIN so I did. I got a person named Gabriel and after we exchanged greetings, in sobs I said “Gabriel I hope you can help me. I’m sort of regretting why I got an iPhone but anyway let me not throw up on you, I know you are here to work”. He said that he hopes he can help me. I explained to him (I knew the sobbing and showing that I was upset was pathetic and unhelpful here) calmly my situation and he was calm and professional too. He asked for my phone number and I told him that route didn’t work. I told him I had put both my names in different ways until I was blue in the face (not those exact words but..) but nothing worked.

Then he asked me “have you tried both your names”? I replied that I had not BUT I do not remember it being like that!! But let me try it. AND IT WORKED. I requested him to stay with me on the call as I was getting a new PASSWORD and WRITING IT DOWN! After I was well on the way to set up my phone, I thanked him and let him go. I thanked God for helping me, and I’m not going to be in this situation again. I determined to be more responsible and take note of my PASSWORDS.

I’m so grateful to God, Jeremy and Gabriel. I asked if this is something that happens and the lady at our service provider told me that in a day they get 1-3 people with an iPhone stuck with the logo on. I have only used the iPhone since 2018 I think and this is the first time it has happened to me.

Please share with me how you remember your PASSWORDS and if this issue has happened to your iPhone or if you have had an issue that locked you out of your phone. I would love to read your experiences. God bless you!

I ‘SHOPLIFTED’

I wrote about my difficulty with trying to find green bananas (we call it matoke in Uganda) a couple of years back .Earlier This year a friend of mine living in London advised that I can cook the regular bananas (for fruit) available here, before they are ripe. I did that and I am very grateful to God because since then these bananas work, very close to the ones from home in terms of food for me. I no longer eat them ripe (as a fruit) since I started cooking and having them as a meal. With time I keep getting better on how to identify what tastes or comes out better in terms of the level of how ripe or unripe makes a better meal.

Before discovering that I could cook these bananas, I had been living here for four years. And in my third year, a dear friend was very helpful to help ship me green bananas from Virginia. In the big cities they have some type of green bananas that are specifically meant for food. Every time I would receive that package I would be filled with so much joy! Only to open the box and half of it would be ripe already! And it was not cheap, but worth it for me. Somewhere along the way me and my other friend were talking and randomly the food topic came up and boom! I asked my husband right away to help me go to the store and get me the bananas so I could try them, and that meal was very good, for better words.

Two days ago I went to HEB (HEB is a grocery store in southern Texas) to buy bananas so I could prepare some lunch. All they had were fully blown ripe bananas so I headed to another HEB in a nearby town, and it was the same story. I drove to a Walmart which was right next, same story. I drove back to my town, to Walmart and all they had were ripe bananas. I drove to another HEB (my number 3 that morning) and I found ripe bananas. A very kind lady working at this HEB told me that the people who cook the bananas usually take the unripe plantain. I told her I had tried plantain once and it didn’t work. But as we talked I decided that this could be the Holy Spirit telling me to try this. So with her help, picked out three pieces of very green plantain and I promised that I will give her feedback on how it turns out for me. It was actually not bad, I will make it part or my meals so I let her know.

I got the plantain walked to the car and left. The moment I parked I realized that I had not paid for the plantain. I laughed, not because it’s funny but I just kept say ‘I just walked out with these and i didn’t pay’. I don’t know what happened but I think having been to four other store, and this being my 5th my mind was tuned to something else. I started thinking how may be this lady who helped me saw me walk out of the store and did not know how to go about it. I went to my local HEB yesterday and talked to one of the people who work there and he said that that’s an honest mistake and I shouldn’t worry about it. This got me thinking how so often we are quick to judge people in situations. Supposing I had gone to the store to pick up just a couple of bananas, steak and lipstick, and I walked straight to my car? I think with these items someone may have come after me. Would they understand that I had no intentions of stealing these items? Has anything similar to this happened to any of you? Please share your experience in the comments. And please let’s not judge anyone, even when we know the entire story. God bless you

A VISIT BACK HOME

A couple of months ago I went back home to Uganda to visit my family. I had not seen them for a year, so reuniting was a blessing !It is also a blessing to live here in America for sure and I’m grateful to God for that. Though here is my new home for a couple of years now, I find myself still referring to Uganda as home. I think this is because I was born and raised there and only moved here way into my 30s, and all my family is there too.

I don’t have a car here so, I join the millions of other people that use public transport. The means of public transport include commuter taxis, buses, bicycles and motorcycles. The motorcycles are quite risky because most of the drivers are reckless especially in and around the city center. They do a lot of maneuvering in traffic and most of them drive way too fast! But motorcycles and the commuter taxis were some of my main means of transport.

It can be irritating, funny,annoying,gross..name it, using public transport in Uganda It’s. But it is better to have a good and positive attitude. I had to try that almost everyday, sometimes it worked sometimes it didn’t. But each day I had a story when I got to my destination or when I went back home at the end of the day, and I’m going to share some of those stories.

I’m on my way to the hospital to visit a sick relative I’m very sure where to get off in order for the bus to stop and let me out, so I ask the guy seated next to me for help. He told me where to get off from and asked if he can get off with me. I’m sorry what?!He says  that he can get off with me if I want him to. At that point I want to laugh out loud -literally but I do my best to suppress it. I tell him no, it is not necessary. He asks for my cell phone number so we can meet later. Huh?!I tell him I’m married and he says he doesn’t mind. I give him “a number” and he got out his phone to dial it so I could get his number. At this point I tell him my battery is dead so the phone is off. He said he would call in a couple of hours for sure. It wasn’t long before where I had to get off the bus, and as soon as I steed out, I burst out and laughed!!!

I only had a couple of days before my trip ended so, I used most of my time to visit with my relative in the hospital. I wanted to spend as much time with her. So still on another trip there, in a commuter taxi (the seating capacity for these is a maximum of 14 passengers but usually during rush hour they will exceed that number to about 19 passengers).This particular wasn’t full to capacity yet.

There’s two passenger seats next to the driver and only one seat was occupied by a female passenger. I couldn’t help but eavesdrop on their conversation. She had started off by asking the driver for directions of where she was going. Asking for directions is common practice here, we do not have addresses. We use things like trading centers, or a school in the area in order to direct people. And because  this is their daily route, bus drivers know these landmarks in the areas. He starts to direct her but in the process he starts to tell her that after he has got all the passengers at the taxi ark, he can be her chauffeur. That he could drop her where she is going, wait for her, and take her wherever else she wanted to go. She kept telling him she had to be there at  a certain time so waiting on him to do the drop off wouldn’t work for her.

But she seemed receptive to his suggestion and as I secretly watched them (I enjoy watching people) I kept “saying to her” silently, DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT! At this point I had got to my stage so I to got off. I will never know if she took him on his offer or not. Either way I hope she is safe ,because many women have been murdered through plots like that. Of course this may very have been a single man looking for friendship, love or he may very well have been sincere and only wanted to help.

And then the countless times since cell phones became popular in Uganda is when you are in a taxi, restaurant, market or out somewhere and  you hear a phone ring. The phone is answered “hello…I’m stuck in traffic..I’m at home sick.. I’m in a meeting..” all sorts of lies you can possibly think of. Sometimes I have felt like asking these people why they  are telling lies (yes I know, it’s none of my business) and other times I have felt like screaming! But I have always left it at that: feelings:) Please share your story with me of a similar experience. God bless you!

MY FIRST WORK EXPERIENCE IN THE USA

It’s been almost a year since I moved here, and a couple of months ago I started working…yeeee! The very first day I went looking I was hired. I work as a waitress in one of the big chain restaurants here and boy it’s such a blessing to have a job. I had not done this kind of job before but I got training before I started. The first day of training was 8hrs of being on my feet and at the end of that day my feet seemed like they couldn’t walk me the 15mnutes journey back home. But somehow with the grace of God I made it home.

Following day was the same, still 8hrs on my feet and the next day. For those first days, I used to wonder if I could really make it through this job. I mean I would be so tired and worn out! But I would look around me, at my workmates and they seemed to be handling the job well…and I would talk to myself that I too could do it especially with God on my side. So day after day I gained more ground on my duties, it did not take me long to start enjoying my job and before long I looked forward to going to work.

Work is quite different from Uganda where I come from. For example one of my first jobs there was in a Christian bookstore as a sales assistant. If a customer didn’t need or want my assistance I was free to sit and even pick up a book from the shelves and read. Customers would walk in and browse and if they were looking for something and didn’t find it then they would ask for my or anyone else’s help. Here every store I enter, I’m welcomed, greeted (even if most of it seems out of duty) and asked if there’s any help I need to find something. If I say know, I’m still encouraged to ask later in case I need any help.

I’m bringing about that background to say that here when you are at work, you are on your feet in a job like mine from when you enter until you clock out. In Uganda you can sit, talk on your phone even when there’s a customer who could use your help. Customer care is lacking a lot there. It’s different here and I’m learning quite a lot from this experience.

 

It’s not all smooth in this job though, just like any other job. For example you go to welcome guests and introduce yourself as their server. Some of them before you even finish introducing yourself they have told you what they want to drink, without even looking at you. It leaves me wondering, but in this business I learn each day not to take things personal. Some you smile warmly and welcome them and they look at you stone faced..lol. Others are so warm and cracking up jokes with me, and asking where I come from…and generally interested in knowing more about their “international” server. This category really makes my day!

 

Some have told me that I look like Lupita Nyongo (12 years of a Slave) but I don’t think so. Before many of them ask me where I’m from they take guesses and the most guess is the Caribbean..mostly Jamaica. This actually make me really laugh because I do not sound like a Jamaican at all (I wish) but in terms of looks I guess I could pass for one because I’m black. Some have guessed Somalia (I’m laughing out loud writing this line because when I told my husband he couldn’t stop laughing), I do not look like a Somali at all! Well at least not to me. I don’t have the features really. But bottom line is, it doesn’t really matter what the guests’ guesses are, in fact I like it when they guess because no one has got it right yet. I think only one guest got it right. It’s all part of what makes my job fun and exciting.

My feet and legs are somehow used to standing for over 7hrs, even though by the end of it all I’m really tired. But with God I take each day by the horns and as I go on in my shift with my workmates I keep saying to myself “I can do this” with God strengthening me! I’m enjoying my first work experience in this country for sure and I thank God for the opportunity! So many stories to tell when I go home this summer. Can you please share with me briefly your work or just experiences from another country? I would appreciate that..thanks! oops! I almost forgot, I’m told almost every day that I have a beautiful accent. My Ugandan accent is beautiful:)

ADJUSTING…

My husband and I recently moved from a tropical climate, which consisted of nice sunny days, beautiful green lash vegetation (among other things), to a dry desert. I had never lived in a desert. This is quite a big change for me, in all aspects. But I will start with the food (I like my food)!

I knew this would be one of my main challenges especially in the start. Some of the people I know from Uganda, who live in other parts of USA have told me that they have food markets that sell some of our Ugandan food. Matoke (it’s a type of green bananas) is my favorite. In Uganda if I spent a day without it, I really missed it. Now I have not had it in over two months. I tried to look for green bananas from Mexico from the store, which one of my friends said advised, but every store showed me plantain. Really? Plantain! I come from Uganda and I know plantain. We grow plantain. I have ate it all my life- mindlessly.

Now it’s one of my favorites here, it’s one of the foods that reminds of Uganda.
These friends are very helpful. Always telling me what to try out in terms of food that will be close to what we have at home. And last week I spoke to a friend’s friend. I have never met him but a friend gave him my number. My friend who gave my number lives in Europe, but she cares about me so very much. So among other things, her friend recommended ‘yuca’ but in Uganda we call it cassava, it comes from somewhere in South America. He had told me that it is as good as what we have in Uganda. He was very right! When I tasted it, immediately I got on the phone calling him and my other Ugandan friends here! I could not contain my excitement about how this was exactly what we have in Uganda!

So far I have sort of given up the search for matoke, and doing my best to eat what is available. Plantain has become part of what I eat more than once a week, and of course cassava. And I’m doing pretty good. Like back home there’s a variety of vegetables here or even more. And even if they are all not organic (there’s organic food of course but costs more) like back home, I like the variety. I hope some day I find  ‘my’ matoke! And if you have experiences in trying to adjust with anything away from your country, please share with me. Thank you!

LIFE’S HARDSHIPS

I’m not quite sure that the above subject suits what I’m about to write, but it will work.  I spent some minutes trying to figure out what subject to use; things like “stresses of life”, “life’s struggles” and so on came up but they still didn’t seem fit. Regardless, I’m sure what I’m trying to write will come out.

I take interest in people and things, but especially people. I observe people, no matter what I’m doing; at the grocery store, at the restaurant, while I drive, while on the bus, in airports…and I like it. When I see a couple or family spending time together as they have their meal at a restaurant, it really warms my heart. In the same way, it makes me sad when I see a couple or people having an argument, sick, sad, loss of a loved one or faced with difficulties.

Where we live (Kampala-Uganda) there’s a big piece of land which belongs to a government, and they allow people to use the land to grow food. So people plant sweet potatoes, maize and cassava.  It seems it is different families that use the land and from where I see these gardens, I’m not able to see any form of demarcation so I wonder how they know which part of the  garden is whose (I’m sure they do).

At about 6:45am the family that has a portion near our house is already in the garden. I have seen kids aged between 6months-7years. They are usually with their mother, I think they are 6 kids. January is one of the months with high temperatures and by 8am it is already about 23c and about 28c from 12pm onwards. It gets really hot, but the kids and their mum don’t leave the garden until about 2pm. Kids being kids, and babies being babies there’s fighting and crying. The younger kids who may be aged about 4 and 31/2  years take turns at babysitting their two little siblings (a set of twins) who are I think may be 6months.

The older kids are put to work from when they get there to quitting time. They obviously get tired, hungry and hot. When they fight and argue, their mother shouts at them and beats them. She gets on to the older kids more because I think they should know better even though they are so young themselves. I think the mother (I assume she is the mother) is tired and stressed from working in the heat, and probably she may be a single mother on to of everything else.

As I watch them, I remember that it is school season and some of these kids should be in school. this means that this mother is not able to  afford to send her kids to school. This makes me feels sad for these kids. Working in the garden is ok, we did it as children on weekends and holidays, because we were in school. So my heart goes out to these kids wondering what sort of future they will have. In the evenings if I go to the grocery store or coming back home from wherever, there’s small boys and girls aged between 5-8years standing at the roadside from the grocery store and around the neighborhood carrying baskets with cooked maize, bananas and vegetables.

Some of these may be fortunate to be in school, and after school are here working in order to pay for the school. And some of them may be the ones that were out in the garden early in the morning, and now they are here still working. The do not go to school. To the this is how they earn a living, sent out to work by their parents. The do not get much from this work yet it is seems tiring, they carry these heavy baskets, so heavy for their ages. these would be heavy for an adult too but what about a child.

I always feel guilty for having what I have and living the way I live. I do have a very humble background, of hardship and struggle but by the grace of God I didn’t do what these kids are doing. But when I’m in that moment, I get to thank God for giving them the health and energy and bravery to do what they do. And when i watch the local news in the evening and I see reports of the huge amount of money, embezzled by government officials it really makes me sick to my stomach. Money that could be put in schools so kids like these could be able to go, money meant to get hospital equipment but instead ends in the pockets of a few individuals.

This gets me so worked up that I want to storm these offices and demand answers (I will be arrested for “disorderly conduct”), to storm the President’s Office to scream…and many times before the news is even done power goes off. The power company is not able to supply power for 24hrs straight. In the last week, It went off a total of 16hrs out of 24hrs. I won’t even go into that. It’s not important to this story (stories).

From my day to day observations, life gets real hard for so many people around this country and in the world generally. I think that is why when I see happy people I take the opportunity to be happy in that moment too, but I find it important to me to share in people sadness (I know it may sound weird to some of you but that’s me) and I do give the help where I can.

MY FIRST TRIP TO THE USA

Traveling is one of the things I enjoy. Going to completely new environments, meeting new people, trying to learn their culture, these are some of the reasons why I like to travel. I live in Uganda, I was born and raised here. This country is beautiful, really. But it is not yet fully developed, it is still growing and the developed countries refer to it as a third world country. So getting a visa to go to the ‘first world’ countries, you are to show their embassy that you have ties here (in your country), things like property, family, basically that when you are given a visitor’s visa you will return to your life here. You will not refuse to come back.

I thank God that I got the visa. And that I went and came back. For so long I looked forward to an opportunity to visit America! It is such a huge contrast to my country. Things there work different, even people work different! The customer service; being warmly welcomed in the stores,  the way people smile at you in the stores..wow! This is not common in Uganda, where most people just drag their feet to give you any sort of service (if they serve you at all!).

I knew that I would find things different here, but hearing about it from someone else is one thing,  and personal experience is totally another. For example some people had told me that people in America are very busy and always in a rush to get to their next appointment that you cannot ask for say directions from anyone. That is not entirely true. Busy and seemingly in a rush, yes but on several occasions me and my husband were able to ask for directions and the people were more than willing to help.

I liked it when we waited to check out at the stores and we made small talk with other shoppers, and when we got to the person checking us out, they asked how we are doing, or if we found everything ok, did we find what we were looking for… In Uganda, a cashier at a supermarket or a bank saying hullo to you seems like such a task, this is not all of them but it seems most of them are not friendly and do not make much effort to try. The few that do it are doing it out of duty and you can tell, but there’s the very few that are really good and they give good service. In America though, from my observation they really do a good job with customer service. I know it may not be like this all the time, but I think because of my experience, every place we went I was very impressed.

At fast food restaurants, it is actually fast! Now I know that waiting for my food for 30 minutes in a fast food place, is not fast:)   Even service at sit-down restaurants like Texas Road House (my favorite),was very fast. Right from taking your drink order to the food, bringing the check, it’s all done fast (unless you find a wait)!

Then the infrastructure..my my! By faith and grace, I have hope that someday we will have buildings and roads in Uganda, well planned like what I saw in America.  For example the interstate highway system is so organized and efficient. I most definitely would enjoy driving here:) We did several road trips to different states. There are several rest areas within reasonable miles, with very clean restrooms, running water, toilet paper and hand washing soap! I actually looked forward to the road trips because it was so much fun driving on roads with no potholes, drinking water and not worrying if I will get a (clean) toilet.

We went in the summer and it was hot! Sometimes temperatures would be 100, and 80s was the lowest where we went. I had never experienced such heat (I’m sure I will say the same about winter). Most times when I got out of the car, I would run to the spot where we are going so as to get out of the heat and cool down. The good thing is that we did not go any place with no working AC. Uganda’s temperatures do not get any where that high, and AC is an expensive luxury here. Even if it was affordable, we get power cuts for different reasons throughout the day. Like today, it went off at 9am and its past 1pm.

I had a great and blessed time, and I’m very grateful to God for making it happen Thank you for taking time to read. God bless you:) Please share with me your experience of visiting a place, another country for the first time. How was it for you? I would love to hear your experience.

“MEETING” UGANDA’S VICE PRESIDENT!

On Friday afternoon, I was heading to an office in one of the buildings in the city center. I was with one of my friends, and the office we were headed to had a staircase. As we started climbing up, there was a couple of guys coming down and one of them was saying {with gestures}, “give way, give way”. I told him off! I was like “come on! Why are you being rude!! How can you ask us to give way, keep on your side and we will do the same, you cannot just order us around…”

So he sort of stood and I passed him, and in that moment, I looked up and I saw Hon. Edward Sekandi, the vice president of Uganda! Hahahahahaha!! Ok.. obviously I felt embarrassed as I was now face to face with him. I reached my hand and went something like..”hullo!!! I’m so sorry!! I had no idea it was you they were trying to make way for…I’m so sorry sir”. I think he is quite a humble guy {at least that is what he portrayed to me in that moment}, and he kept saying that it’s ok. I stressed to him that the guys that “make” way for people like him  are quite rude. I said that to him twice, kind of making sure he doesn’t miss my point. I also thanked him for the good work he is doing for this country {i was sounding like a journalist trying to get an appointment for an interview with a politician}.

In total it was like 60seconds and a lot was running through my mind! From wanting to tell him that I’m a journalist, to pulling out the camera in my purse and asking my friend to take a picture of me and him {I don’t think the body guards would let me…to telling him that I have not had any luck {yet} with finding a job in my profession, and ask him if he could help {hmmm}. But I did not. I hope that his guards saw how humble he was with me, and next time {if ever there’s one}, they will know that I’m quite hard to ‘give way’, even to the vice president.

My friend and I couldn’t stop laughing about it for like 30minutes. Oh how I wish I had the opportunity there and then to talk to him about what I really feel about things in Uganda, like leadership, roads, riots and more! To just talk to him even if it was off record so I could get his opinion{s}. Well, well, I’m sure he got to see a bit of my aggressive side. I wonder if he will remember me in case I get a job in the media and I got a chance to meet him again in my line of work. I will remind him and see if he does.