All change

It's been a while since I last wrote on this website. A lot has been happening.
I have just joined The University of Staffordshire to study for a Masters in Journalism.

It is an exciting time for me although at the same time worrying. Having a young family and working full time at the same time, one wonders whether there will be any spare time.

As I was writing the last time, in response to many questions about my first experiences in the UK when I first arrived on these shores, a lot of things were new to me. Looking back now and seeing how I have adjusted is amazing.

In some cases I would say that my attitude life compared to 1995 is almost unrecognisable. Of course that goes with one getting older and having a family.

Summer 1995 was the time when the last Tory Government was facing difficulties and all the indications were that at the next elections they were going out.

To me as an outsider, I could see the difficulties that John Major faced against a young charismatic Tony Blair.

Having said that, my political awareness came to maturity during the Thatcher years. Combining that with my view of African politics, where incumbents are difficult to dislodge from power, I was thinking that as the Tory government had been in power for that long, it would weather the storm.

Also, my view of Britain through the British people that I had met back in Uganda was by a large part structured to recognise the Tory party as the natural government of power.

This view was shaped by the many British that I met in Uganda. They were not necessarily Tory. The fact is that a lot of them were white middle class people.

My teachers at boarding school in Uganda were the type that one may have seen in up market public schools in the UK.

I therefore formed the conclusion, albeit prematurely, that all people in the UK were white middle class. And with that I thought that as the Tory party was being associated with that class of society, it was by default the natural party of the people.

The above rather twisted view about Britain and British politics was also further complicated by the strengths of Margaret Thatcher who is by the way still held in very high esteem in African countries.

Her departure from Downing street had never been fully explained to me but I thought that Major was her anointed successor.

Now to see him being hounded by the likes of John Redwood was very surprising. I remember that announcement from the Downing Street garden when he asked his detractors within the party to “put up or shut up”.

I watched it from the lounge at Lawn End (name of the Winchester home I was at) on a rather muggy hot summers' day.

It showed me the difference between Western style governments and African style governments especially Uganda. Leaders in Africa, and there is a long list, do not take lightly to being challenged. And such a pronouncement would be regarded as weak.

I have had to explain to many of my friends here in the UK how democracy works in many parts of Africa. There is what some call “benevolent dictatorship”.

I know it sounds wrong here in the UK and especially in Stoke but in many African countries where “strong men” exist, they do actually have support in their countries.

An example in Uganda which I think I can speak with some residual authority. We do have Yoweri Museveni as the President.

He would not survive a whole term were he to be a ruler in the west. But in Uganda, he has been since 1986. The reason is that he has correctly realised that the majority of the population are peasants.

He has therefore made them rely on his presence for their security after the turbulent years of Amin and Obote.

We, the educated urbanites who are constantly voicing our displeasure at his rule are the minority.

And there are those amongst our group who have been elevated to a relative position of comfort.

Middle class values so to speak who are very much in support of him because they feel that their wealth has been created under his watch. So for them its the devil that they know.

Therefore with such views on the way politics is run at home, my mind was in turmoil as to what was happening.

I was of the view that the Tory party was receiving such shabby treatment from the media, the public and many of its members of public. The Tory party to me at the time defined what Britain was. Whether that view was correct is yet another matter.

After the political differences came the way that days are spent here in the UK. The way that a “normal” day is arranged is different in the UK with families having breakfast which consist of sweet tea and maybe a slice of buttered bread or plantain boiled in a tomato source.

Lunch comes in the middle of the day and it is a meal. Then a remnant of high British society is the tea in the afternoon.

Yes, its a cup of tea with cake or sliced bread with butter! This is usually had at about 1600 to 1700 hours. And then later at about 2100 hours to 2200 hours, families will have supper or dinner.

People do not have a cup of tea just because one has had a kettle boiled. Cups of tea are really heavy with full fat milk and loads of sugar. It's a meal in itself.

So when I was confronted with having “tea” as a meal, that completely threw me. And the time too was just wrong.

We were having our “tea” at the right time but I had a plate of food in front of me! I wondered what we were going to do for the rest of the evening.

To make matters even more confusing, Diane asked me whether I wanted a cup of “tea” later.

Was she meaning tea as I knew it or was this something else. My father had told me that if I was not sure of anything, the best way was to politely decline it. So I politely declined her Cup of tea. However, I went and made myself one. I must have offended her greatly.


Then there is the issue of washing ones body. Despite that fact that my family had a bath tub at home, and I had seen people having baths on television, the act of one actually sitting in the water I found difficult to do.

My concern was that I was sitting in my own dirt then having to wash my face.

Sub-Saharan Africa is very hot and in many places dusty. The dust and the heat get into everything. It governs one's pace of life.

When one goes about doing their daily chores, one finds that they get dirty very quickly. This red dust or mud in the rainy season gets the feet really dirty. So, the practice is to wash from top to bottom.

The lack of showers however means that many people will resort to using large bowls otherwise known as basins where they will scoop the water out to wash themselves.

It's a very economical way of using water as well as the average wash could use less than ten litres of water. I was however confronted with a huge bath of steaming water all nicely filled with the best foam bath.

I first washed my face in it then lowered myself in the water. I just could not do it the way that everyone does it. Also the fact that many people wash from basins, having a wash does not take that long. So it must have been a surprise to my hosts when I walked out of the bathroom in less than five minutes. I was yet to learn the joys of having a good old soak!