Overseas Brief

KAMPALA — I had a chicken on my right, a baby on my lap and there was a lingering smell of rotting fish in the air. Every day I take a taxi (independently operated minibus) held together with duct tape and prayers two hours to my school’s main office and everyday is a new adventure.

Traffic in Kampala is awful.  In 2007, Queen Elizabeth II and other dignitaries visited Uganda for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit.  Much like the Olympics or the World Cup, the national government rallied to give everything a new sparkle, including the roads.  Bids were placed, bribes were paid and contractors repaved every motorway between the airport in Entebbe and Kampala.  Three years later there are trees growing in the middle of some roads, large ponds seem to have appeared out of nowhere and potholes that swallow cars are everywhere.

What happened? Uganda did. Why think about the future or quality when you can do something cheap, quick and get a new imported Mercedes out of it all.  In most of East Africa those in power are precariously so.  The M.O. is to acquire as much as possible, as quickly as possible and enjoy.  The only future is tomorrow — in five years, maybe 10 years, you may have lost your influence … or your life.

Anyone who knows me will tell you I get what I want, when I want it, and in those rare occasions where something doesn’t go as planned, things don’t turn out very pretty. Uganda has forced me to change.  Not because I wanted to, but to avoid the not so healthy effects of high blood pressure. Getting angry at a system that I have to use everyday seems counterproductive. If I am in the taxi for two hours next to screaming children, men who smell as though they haven’t had a shower in weeks and people trying to rob me … so be it. Instead I just glance out the taxi window and watch the craziness that ensues daily.

Some of the many incidents that I have experienced:

— My taxi being rammed on the left by another taxi causing us to hit a traffic officer, resulting in a broken-off mirror, jammed door and hospitalized officer.

— My taxi and another taxi trapping a boda boda (motorcycle) with two passengers not including the driver and a goat hanging off the back. Resulted in the boda boda falling down and crushing the goat after the two taxis sufficiently sandwiched the motorcycle long enough.

— A taxi running off the side of the road in broad daylight and into a large street sign.

— Two women riding sidesaddle on a boda boda, one precariously holding a baby with one hand off the side of the motorcycle as it weaved between traffic.

Fuel is the equivalent of $5 a gallon in Kampala. In a country where 75 percent of the population lives on less than two dollars a day it is amazing that anyone travels at all.  Necessity forces most Ugandans to master the art of car-pooling. Unfortunately, the environmental awareness of Ugandans ends there. There are no environmental inspection requirements and most vehicles spew out clouds of black smoke. People burn large piles of garbage in the street and compost piles include plastic bottles and bags.  Uganda is a country with many problems and few solutions. Until the infrastructure operates efficiently, Ugandans will continue to behave in ways completely foreign to citizens of developed countries.