Been two very hard years; thank God we are still alive

Today is Christmas. Christmas engenders a universal sense of celebration particularly in a predominantly Christian country like Uganda. If one discounted the church leaders’ banal entreaties and a call to spirituality, the relaxation that comes with Noel is an opportunity to see the eternity of time override humanity’s segmented time counting.

Those who travelled to Kasese for Christmas via the Mbarara route may have a story to tell. It is the story of the particulars of Physical Geography (O Level Geography Paper I) in Bunyaruguru as one approaches Kasese District.

The Rwenzori Mountain Ranges stand condescendingly looking down on the Bunyaruguru Hills, more like a muscled bully boy taunting small boys. With the modesty of a small David in the David-Goliath legend, the Bunyaruguru Hills’ only defence against the mighty Rwenzoris are the picturesque vastness of the savannah grassland separating the two incomparable adversaries. The red line is Kazinga Channel, the threadlike string of a water body connecting Lake George to Lake Edward like an umbilical cord connecting a foetus to the womb.

Not even the mighty Rwenzori Mountain Ranges, with the attitude and certitude of all bullies, would dare cross Kazinga Channel. And all this conjures up a kind of medley one would call a geographical controversy. Only providence can claim such a handiwork of contradictory harmony.

And if one dared, picture this: a moon-bathed panoramic landscape of rolling hills tempting you to imagine the Garden of Aden.

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At around this time last year, the family was smarting from three deaths (our mother, an uncle and a brother) that occurred in less than a period of three weeks. Truth to tell, I must confess I have been disturbed by the death of my brother Moses Asuman.

Last week, I asked a friend living in Britain to guide me on how to write a will. Save for my ducks in Kiburara, I do not have anything to will away; but boy, oh boy, I have just come to respect death. I am now a campaigner and advocate for the writing of wills.

I have been near death several times. I have been near and among the dead (and the dying) in circumstances where killing the other fellow before he kills is the business. But these two years were hard on me…; thank them gods we are still living.

These were two very hard years for all Ugandans. Two years of lock downs. Two years of near-total social and economic collapse. Dear Ugandans, the only way to overcome the challenges of the two hard years is to dwell in espoir (French: hope) for the New Year.

The authorities have said restrictions associated with management of the Covid Pandemic will be lifted in January 2022. Ugandans will welcome this and hope something untoward happens again.

Next year will be hard too. The schools are opening and as usual, this comes with costs. Fuel pumps are said to be quoting petrol at Shs4, 800. The cost of food, that bedrock of Uganda’s economy, is going high. But we have to deploy the French word again: espoir.

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As is typical with Ugandans, nothing will stop them from having fun. Not even the very bad two years and the fear of the demands of next year. And no amount of lamentations, even those from the famous Witch of Kiburara, will pour water on the partying spirit.

But as we celebrate Christmas and New Year’s Day, let us remember the schools open on January 10, 2022. Let us not mix school fees with groceries. Otherwise I wish you Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Let hope rain and reign.