Writer: Gawaya Tegulle. PHOTO/NMG
It’s more than 15 years now, and their friends who despised them are still in the village, waiting for the bazungu (whites) who have money to turn up. And there ends the tale! But, wait, how did it begin? Listen well! Sikiliza vizuri! Ecoute bien! A large group of Americans--young men and young women--landed in a village, somewhere in Masaka, to render community service. Nothing fancy really; lots of hard work, typical blue-collar stuff. Not cool at all. They renovated houses of the old folks, built a couple of school buildings, installed several boreholes, constructed latrines, and many other things. Dirty work! And as they did so, they talked about Jesus Christ with curious bystanders who came to watch bazungu at work. In the evenings, the bazungu played football and other games with the villagers. At first, naturally, they attracted a lot of attention.
To many Ugandans, seeing a muzungu means you’re going to get free money and stuff. So, many came, hoping that somewhere along the way, money would start flowing like the Nile. A week later, there was nothing of the sort; the bazungu were just working and talking about Jesus. Some two young men, Philip and Mark, got interested. They joined in and worked with them. The others, who spend their days sitting at the trading centre, playing cards and omweso, got fed up and went back to doing just that. They said these bazungu were broke; heck, they were poor! They’d wait for another batch of bazungu, who had money to turn up. After a month or so, the “poor” bazungu went back to America. They returned the following year...and did the same things. Once again, Philip and Mark joined in; and once again, the other young men played cards and omweso in the trading centre, as they rubbished Philip and Mark for dealing with poor bazungu.
The third visit of the Americans, in the third year, was a little different...strong bonds had been built with these two young men, because they were good Christians, humble and very hardworking. More critically, two of the young ladies had melted the hearts of Philip and Mark. A lot of chatting had been done over the phone...and while it was true that Philip and Mark were anxiously waiting for the bazungu to return, it was equally true that two young ladies couldn’t wait to get back to Uganda! Church weddings followed. I had the pleasure of meeting the two boys in New York recently, and listened with interest to their story, as we munched on butter nan and chicken tikka masala in an Indian restaurant. They have since acquired higher education at a great American university, have good jobs, and are raising their families. Three kids each.
The Lord is an equal opportunity God. The Bible says time and chance happen to us all – not just the rich and famous or the wise and strong. The way we use our time and the decisions we make in response to the opportunities that the Lord brings our way, ultimately determine our destiny. What kills many of our young people in Uganda is, in part, poor attitude to work, big egos that despise menial labour and ‘small jobs’, and failure to recognise opportunity when it walks their way. Many youth think opportunity wears a suit and drives a big car; yet most of the time, as has been said severally, opportunity wears overalls and looks like work.
Our young people lack the discernment to know when their moment of visitation is upon them! Missing your moment can have consequences...you stay where you are, as others soar on eagle’s wings! Philip and Mark are ardent readers of this column, so when they saw me crossing a street, they instantly recognised me. One grabbed my right, the other my left, and they declared that they were carting me off...not to some basement to teach me Runyankore or some other such fancy language, but to Times Square. To buy me lunch. In a restaurant of my choice. Philip and Mark support their families in Masaka, and their parents are comfortable. Every month, they get send-me-some-ka-money calls from their childhood friends who despised them for getting dirty. The friends are now grown men. They’re still in the trading centre. Playing cards and omweso. Waiting for bazungu. Who have money.
Mr Tegulle is an advocate of the High Court of Uganda.
