Good old Uganda

It’s been 8 days and today is my last night is this lovely, hot, dusty city of ours!

What do I say and where do I begin..  words are tripping over in my head trying to get themselves in order.

Some things have changed some have not. If you have never been to Uganda and are thinking that UG is a little like Kenya, you have it all wrong. Every time I came into Uganda from Kenya, my feelings were and still are that Uganda is one big, unplanned village. This is the country where city planning just does not happen or work. What the British colonialist left them days is still what we have and then some crazy ass development that leaves you mind boggled.

The roads are horrendous.. that just does not even begin to describe it.. bad bad roads.. nothing new there. Petrol is so bloody expensive.  A liter of unleaded is going for Ugshs 2250 (USD$ 1=Ugshs 1850). Dad was telling me that when the price per barrel went up, the prices at the pump stayed the same, which means the fuel companies are milking drivers dry.

The politics is horrible. I try to stay away from that stuff.. yes I am aware of what is going but chose not to discuss it here.

On a positive note, the food, the glorious food! I have been eating like a fool. The people, my old friends (whom I thank God for)… I could move back here in a heart beat..not a word of a lie. My peers are doing well. Corporate Uganda is a tricky place, however there is quiete a lot of work available. Things look bad and yet at the same time things are kinda improving…. sorta!! everyone I talk to tells me not to come back home for good, that there is nothing here and I keep trying to tell them that there are two types of Africans in the disapora, those who leave and sever ties with their home and those like me, who seem to have one foot in the disapora and another back home.  I guess I need to work on that and decide once and for all where I shall be.

So as you can probably tell, I am really happy to be here and could stay here longer. I travel to Nairobi tomorrow and spend a few days before heading back to…..Denmark (yuck!)

I will be responding to the comments on previous posts soon. For now… I gotta go see about a choclate cake from Cafe Puff, best black forest ever… so far!

Quick one!

I have been doing this and that and to be honest haven’t had much to say…

The good news is that I am going home for a couple of weeks and I am really really looking forward to that.. will do my best to take pics and post them. Unlike last time.. this time I really am going.

I got some good news as well.. when time comes I will share it with you all.

Oh that note.. wish you all the best till I post again from Kampala and Nairobi…

By the way, does anyone know what’s happened to Rombo??

Being Black in Denmark

I am back, I had a good break away from here, wish I could say “its nice to be back” but alas….it is not so.

I thought blacks had it bad in England, but I gotta tell you, we have it worse here. Far much worse.

I hesitate to say this but it is a fact.. there is an insidious air of racism that lies under the surface of society. As a person of color you feel it and if one is not careful, it drags you down slowly. Danes are generally mistrustful of all people brown or black. The news especially print media is filled will endless stories of “foreigners” doing one thing or the other and 99% is negative. The general air is “if THEY were not here, IT (theft, murder, riots etc) would not be happening…. The only pages I now limit myself to are the job ad section.. thank you very much.
I’m not sure I can articulate what it is like being black here.. all I can say is that.. Denmark is not Black friendly at all. If you are black.. do not apply. I have been told it is worse in Germany and France.. what do I know, I have never lived there.. but at least you have black professionals in those countries.. in this country.. you should see how surprised people are when they learn of my qualifications and then smile and say.. “but ah, you don’t speak the language, it will be very hard for you to get work.” They are proving to be right on that front, but I shall not be beaten….

I find myself increasingly reluctant to bring up my children in this country. I fear that they will grow up with a “closed mind” that seems to plague most Danes….

Ok enough with the Denmark bashing… got my rant out… Like I said, if you are Black, come visit, just don’t come and live here.