A Sleeping Giant?
There’s something that pulls me to Uganda.
Small Things
Small things bring joy. The children greet you “Mzungu, mzungu” in their melodious voices, waving and smiling, wanting you to turn and wave back in return. When they get to know you, they run to you, hug you, hold your hand, and join you for a few minutes as you walk.
Toe to Toe
On one of those walks, down a rocky dirt road, I slipped slightly, kept my balance, and continued until I was stopped by one of the neighbors who noticed I’d cut my toe.
Once we got home, Dylan who was walking ahead of me, got water, antiseptic, iodine, and cotton wool and started to clean the wound. A small piece of skin had torn off and Justine didn’t like the look of it, so Syrus took me to a local clinic, but they didn’t have sterilized equipment and suggested we go to another larger clinic by the hospital. There, my wound got cleaned again and wrapped up in gauze and a bandage. They prescribed, if needed, painkillers and antibiotics.
For the next week or so, that toe got so much attention. Joseph would clean it and wrap some gauze around it. Syrus would look at it, and inquire about it. If wearing socks to go out, he’d make me take them off, and remind me to cover it with a little vaseline. People in the street would notice, and empathize by saying “sorry”. Some would ask how it happened and how it was healing. Some even mentioned herbal options they’d use, such as squeezing some hot chili pepper onto the wound. “It hurts, yes”, they’d say on seeing my reaction, “but it heals in a day or two”. Going to the clinic costs money, and for some, it’s scarce.
Abundance
Thankfully, food is not scarce in these parts. Growing here are matoke (a green banana staple, peeled and served boiled), sweet bananas, plantains, jackfruit, mangoes, passion fruit, various types of berries, pineapple, tamarillo (tree tomato), and so many other fruits as well as sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes, cassava, beans, corn, groundnuts, millet, and much more. Various types of meat are also available, such as goat, beef, pork, chicken and fish. Garden to the plate.
There are other natural resources too, such as oil, gas, gold, tin, copper, and cobalt, renewable resources such as lumber, and the potential to reap solar energy. And there’s nature too, including mountain ranges, animals in the wild, and birds in the sky.
Penny Wise, Pound Foolish: Has the Penny Dropped?
Arguably, the most plentiful, and largely untapped resource, that combined with its natural renewable and finite resources, could propel the country into the company of giants, is the potential of its human capital, and particularly its youth. With resources under the ground, growing on the ground, standing on the ground, and in the sky, the potential is electric. Wake up sleeping giant.
