It has taken me two dark nights to write this.
On each of these, power has gone off and I have been relegated to the corner of the house to think.
Think and write.
In other dark nights, while others cursed UMEME, I have stood outside pocketing and pacing while savoring the rare serenity.
Some of My most worthwhile thoughts have come when the cables are unplugged. It’s during load shedding that I have been able to sustain lengthy conversations with family members without the distraction of cheesy TV routines.
If you achieved a typical Ugandan education, you will remember the traditional African history that was characterized by fireplace stories told by parents about Nambi and Kintu, Matyansi Butyampa etc. And If you a 1980-something baby like me, you will remember the "once in a while" moments when your family often sat outside the house and enjoyed a moonlit dinner.
Well, things changed, some of us now think “Matyansi Butyampa” is Bobi Wine’s creation. DSTV ceased to be a rich man’s thing; remote controls replaced the fireplace, and play station for tree climbing. Mexican soaps tell the stories these days, ofcourse our water is also tapped now, no more excuse for roaming with the neighborhood kids enroute to the well.
Yes of course of we owe much of this to the millennium development goals and the global village trends, but maybe we also need to appreciate and savour the small moments that always re-appear these days to remind us of some of those indigenous good African days. The good old native days when genuine conversations –not TV-brought families together. The days when the kids on the verandah rubbed daddy’s chin and asked him to repeat the story (and premier league highlights weren’t taking priority).
Maybe with some little more nighttime load shedding we will curse less and start seeing it as a nostalgic reminder, a much needed reminder of the good old rich treasures Africa beheld before the onset of a cables and remote controls.
Perhaps we will appreciate the candle lit poem coming from our three year old niece and the croak of the frogs in the swamp nearby, reminding us all that Uganda is truly gifted by nature- even with interrupted voltage.
Good place to start?
