Tuesday, January 30, 2007
......of Accidents and Ugandan Jewellers
Sorry I have been out of the blogosphere (shady word) for a while, but i got knocked down by a car.
So I am returning from a late night sojourn at a friend's place at around 11:30pm on Sunday night. Sundays are normally quiet but this is a particularly a serene evening. I am on a motorbike, here called Boda Boda whizzing through town. As I approach the last turn before I get into my neighbourhood, right at the Wandegeya roundabout- famous for having no roundabout or functional streetlights the rider tries to turn into the opposite lane. Suddenly there were lights bearing down on us with ferocious speed. I had an instant to say: "Hey dude look out for the car!!" before we were smashed and thrown into the road on which I was strewn in utter bamboozle(ment).
In the instant that all this is happening I feel the car tires screech to a halt and the bike go under the taxi (read matatu) and the crunch of rubber against steel as the bike is chewed up by the vehicle screeching to a halt. I honestly cannot say how I got there but I was standing away from the accident a few seconds after it happened.
And just as the vultures (read lumpens/hoodlums/vandals/scum-sucking imbeciles all rolled in to one) set in to scavenge the accident and anything it might have brought in (some blasted idiot left with my school note book!!- can you believe!) I was hit a wave of nausea. These guys were the kind that would knock you out at an accident scene just to be sure that they robbed a dead guy, you know.
I was feeling numb so I immediately call the venue of my last sojourn and inform them of my detour in travel plans. I promptly inform them of the feeling that I think I might be dead and as such could they arrange to see me just to be sure that I am alive.
I am now alive and fully well thanks to the powers that be and my O-ve blood.(its just super!!)
Which reminds me of a thought I was just pondering; how poor jewel dealers in Uganda are...
I mean like gold jewellers. Uganda must be the only country in the world where jewellers are poor. This thought was provoked by a shady calendar I saw in an office somewhere that had really plain pages and a picture of an Indian woman on it. So I am asking myself how does an Indian jeweler market jewellery made in China adorned on an indian woman designed on a paper printed at the cheapest place on Nasser road(a place where I hear you can anything made; even the ancient sea scrolls- if you can pay) to a Ugandan who pays with money printed in Europe without giving the impression that the Ugandan is inferior?
While everywhere across the world jewellers go on holidays and are always travelling to attend conventions or just to plain re-stock their stores in Uganda they just sit and sit and when they are tired they sit some more because the Ugandan has the art of jewellery almost down to a tee.
They have "Gold" for special occassions and then they have 'gold' for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.... The idea is that the you cant know which the real gold is. Is it the one that can stand the wear and tear of the mad house called Kampala and the fake for the special occassions because it shines so much? Or is it the other way around because the fake can fade and no one will know?hhhhmm..... My thoughts took this turn for a while and I was pretty convinced I was right.
I muse over this and in this state I asked a woman of considerable repute to enlighten me on matters in this regard and this was her response:
"You buy two pieces of fake gold and wear one more often than the other, that way you are always shining!" This Ingenious woman of kampala added, "That way we can all avoid wearing real gold. Its much cheaper"
Together, For the World...And Beyond
Cheers
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
You are just about the unluckiest guy in the world I think.
ReplyDeleteHope you don't get into anymore accidents or robbed again!
Did you manage to get run over by a matatu without a serious injury? If so, I'm not sure how I would edit's Mai's label of unluckiest guy in the world.
ReplyDeletedude u need to like update or something..
ReplyDeleteHi!
ReplyDeleteAre you interested in participating in a Danish documentary about the Ugandan Blogosphere?
I have been contacted by a group of four Danish students at the Faculty of Communications at Roskilde University in Denmark (the second/third largest university in Denmark) who needs help from the Ugandan blogosphere. They will be visiting Uganda during April 2007 to do a short documentary on blogging. More specifically they would like to make a film about Ugandans who blog, their reasons to do so, and what opportunities blogging can create for that person and/or Uganda. That is of course if the Ugandan bloggers are keen and interested in participating!
The Danish Association for International Cooperation (MS Uganda): The group is working with the Danish Association for International Cooperation (MS Uganda), whom I also work with here in Uganda – and who has supported the production of the documentary, and later will help promoting the film in Denmark. Their reasons for this film is to make people, especially the younger generation, in Denmark take an interest in Uganda and maybe even to encourage them to blog and thereby build a bridge between Denmark and Uganda. They have been following the Ugandan blogosphere for a while, and after reading different blogs and just generally reading about Uganda, the angle they would like to put on the story is this:
The idea: Does blogging create new opportunities for Ugandans because it enables people to communicate through a media which automatically crosses country borders and can provide a whole new ordience, so to speak, for free? Does it give Ugandans the opportunity to speak more freely and nuanced about issues which are regarded sensitive in Uganda? What other benefits does blogging provide the Ugandans with which are not possible through the established media?
The target group in Denmark: The documentary, when finished, is to be shown in the Danish secondary school/high school as part of educational material on developing issues. Through a documentary about blogging in Uganda the Danes can get to know Uganda from another angle than the usual. They group would like to follow two or three Ugandan bloggers, give them the space to tell their story and understand why they blog. They would also ask Ugandan bloggers the permission to film during the UBHH in April.
I am aware that anonymity is of great importance for some Ugandan bloggers - for good reasons. However, what ever your background/interest/expectations are we are very keen to hear what Ugandan bloggers think about the idea of participating in a short documentary and in communicating to a Danish ordience this way.
The idea is very much in line with what Country Boyi is writing here and Jackfruity here - although a different way of attention.
Please feed back via comments here; http://pernille.typepad.com/uganda/2007/03/a_short_documen.html) or write directly to pernille(at)fastmail(dot)fm
Best Greetings Pernille
Hey, it's March already! Hope you're alright...
ReplyDeleteu gotta have it! some brogrens are rappers ---tha CD is out. and from what i hear its ballistic! u gotta have it –mbu the records will take u to paradise. CB did the review.
ReplyDeletesup hommie? jus found u alive...u lost B.
ReplyDeleteAccidents .... Accidents take care.
ReplyDelete