colonialsm, past and present

the longer you are here, and the more people you meet, the more you realize exactly how small the white population in uganda is, or at least how small it can feel. Everyone knows everyone, or at least knows of everyone. Its that old kevin bacon game- 6 degrees of separatio nor whatnot. Even the people only here for a short while are often connected in unexpected ways- though the incestous world of kayaking and raft guiding is no help for sure. (there are only so many rivers ).

Living in the bubble of NRE- which tends to be the mzungu (white) spot/bar of choice- only exaggerates the small mzungu community feel. Its funny how you start to pick out certain spots such as particular restuarants,supermarkets , internet cafes, etc- that are prime mzungu locales. its almost impossible to go these without seeing someone you know. i went to kampala the other week, and ran into half the population of jinja town. apparently, 5 years ago, you would be hard pressed to find mzungus in jinja. then, a large number of missionaries came, and now, they are every where, the tourists, the raft guides, the overlanders, the missionaries, etc..

In college, i was fascinated by colonialism. The act, the ideology behind it- how it happened, etc. i wrote numerous papers on the subject, looking at it from different points of view- the perk of being a french/international studies major, and just generally indecisive. i wrote about the politics behind it, the mindset, how it was perpetuated by photography, advertising, and numerous other things. at any rate, ive realized that in order to understand how colonialism happened, or the attitude behind it, all you really need to do is come and be a tourist, or come and live in africa- esp. here on the nile.

Karl and tara got gifted two nights at the nile porch, the luxurious half of NrE., where i live, by Taras uncle mark who came to stay. The bandas there are great, simple , but with everything you could need, plus a hammock and an incredible view. little bonus note; im sure this helped when karl proposed to tara on their last nite here. she said yes. super exciting!!!!

right. sitting in karl and taras hammock, drink in hand, it was so easy to see how colonialism happened, and existed, exists stiill. This country is absolutley beautiful . who wouldnt come here and not want to stay, claim it as their own? all it needs is a little more infastructure, maybe an improved road here, some running water in this spot- the climate is greate, accomidating people, ... to understand the colonist mindest, seriously, come and stay in uganda. its no wonder the rampant corruption on both sides, the battles that ensued for ownership of this country and this continent. Uganda in particular seems home to whites who come here to vacation, or for whatever reason, and never seem to leave. Maybe because they cant pay their bar tabs, maybe because they love it. hard to know. even so, it seems as though a signifigant portion of the white population in uganda is here for the long haul. Watching the movies Blood Diamond and Catch a Fire, you get a reall good perspective on what it is to be white in africa, or worse, to have been born white in africa. for better or worse, it becomes these peoples (and my) home.

living within a tourist base such as nre it often feels like colonialism, neo colonialsme is still ongoing. one of the goals of my original watson was to see how and if the tourism industry acts as a form of neo colonialism. the answer, thus far is yes, it does. nre is almost completely staffed by ugandans, yet owned, run and overseen by mzungus from various parts of the world. these mzungu managers hangout, talk, etc, mostly amoung themselves, and within the confines of the property, rarely venturing outside except for maybe a luxury meal or a fishing trip. These people fully live in uganda- but in their own version of uganda, which wil lmost likely never be experianced by the majority of the ugandan population. but then, its easy to critizse. how different is this than the class struggle in america and all the rest of the world. no matter where you are, htere is most likely a small minority population with the majority o f the wealth and or power.

even so, it is somewhat disconcering to look out of one side and see the beautiful nile river, and then to look at the other side and see a chainlink/barbed wire fence behind which lives a n african family in their mud hut, with naked children.. worse is that nre funcitons on tourism, mostly from overland trucks- that safari tour their way through africa, as annie so aptly put it one day, turnign africa into a living amusment park/zoo. for the most part, the overlanders come here to party, reinforcing nre's repuatation as a safge, party locale for whites.

to see the two differnt worlds, existing side by side without much interationc makes it all to easy to understand colonialism, and makes me wonder waht part of it i play in my everyday life here.