Finding Uganda’s Terracotta Army

Anyone who studied history in Uganda is familiar with this picture; the Luzira Head.

 

A ghostly sepia-colored photograph of the Luzira Head has for decades graced the cover a high school history textbook called “The Incomplete, Inaccurate and Infuriatingly Inadequate History of Uganda from 1800.”

 

Okay, that’s not what it is called, but considering that I have had to relearn Uganda’s history despite studying it for 13 years, that’s what it should be called.

 

Although I always knew of the Luzira Head, it wasn’t until last week that I was made aware of what a fascinating piece of the history of the interlacustrine region it is.  It is a mysterious piece of my country that is lost forever.

 

The Luzira Head is a terracotta pottery figure that was discovered in 1929 when a gang of prisoners was set to work on leveling the top of a hill within Luzira Prison.  The prisoners were alarmed when they uncovered the clay figure of appeared to be a human face. On examination by a British police officer in charge of the prison, it was found to be a head of a pottery figure. 

 

Continued excavation revealed fragments of other figures. The material recovered consisted almost entirely of ceramic figures and associated pottery fragments.

The Pursuit of Excellence

Aristotle said:

“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.”

 

• Like consistently standing for justice, applauding integrity and speaking truth.
• Like going beyond what the rest think is satisfactory.  Constantly raising the bar and ratcheting up your standards; asking what else, how else and why. 
• Like earning the trust of those around you because you are reliable and consistent.  Your word is truly your bond and you don’t make promises you can’t fulfill.
• Like knowing your skills, but recognizing your weaknesses. Determining everyday to read a little more, to learn a little more and to do a little more.
• Like doing your best even when no one can see or appreciate your efforts, finding the satisfaction in yourself, by yourself.
• Like knowing when to give up and asking for help.
• Like resolving to be polite in spite of the circumstances.  Saying good morning, excuse me, please and thank you, braking at stop signs and staying in the queue.
• Like taking the higher road, even if you can’t see it. 

 

Have an excellent Monday!

Uganda is good at …

Help!

 

I have had a tremendously disappointing day.  I’m at breaking point.  If my country lets me down another day, I don’t know what I’ll do.

 

I need assurance that things aren’t as bad as they seem.  I need hope.  For real.

 

So tell me: what is Uganda good at?

Behold, a Dream Unfulfilled

The first thing I noticed when I first visited Butiaba Port in Hoima five years ago was not the beautiful green of Lake Albert, the majestic Blue Mountains of Ituri or the sprawling shacks of the fishing folk.  It was this: a dream unfulfilled.

This is what remains of the SS Robert Coryndon, the jewel of the British colonial administration in Uganda.  The ship once described by Winston Churchill as ‘the best library afloat’ was part of an ambition to link Africa by rail, road and waterway.

The SS Robert Coryndon operated a Class A ferry service from Butiaba to the Congo, transiting through Packwach in Nebbi district.  In the 1950s and early 1960s, when Butiaba was still a flourishing gateway, the steamship did good business taking people and produce from northern Congo and southern Sudan into Uganda for export to European markets.

Lost in Translation

Photographed in the dark, dingy and derelict Uganda Museum.

 

Assessing Operation Lightning Thunder?

This map from UNOCHA says everything and nothing at all about the Uganda-led Operation Lightning Thunder against the Lord’s Resistance Army.  Click on the map for a full, clearer version. 

Gimme One Reason

Forget about world trade, the free movement of goods, global economies, competitiveness and so on.  Can you think about one good reason why Ugandan supermarkets are stocking alcoholic drinks from Belarus?

 

   

 

*p.s. The main Belarussian exports are flax, tractors, motorcycles, medicinal herbs, textiles, oil and potatoes.

In which I turn into a Foodie and Perhaps Lose My Sexiness

I have a generous share of sexy womanly curves.

i.e., I am overweight.

 

I don’t know why I am overweight. Eating bores me. I love a good meal and I have a healthy appetite. I am just bored by eating and I approach mealtimes with dread.

It doesn’t help that I am a pretty bad cook. Today, for lunch I had a delightful spread of aerated crackers, leftover garlic chicken, an avocado and water. Gourmet eating, yay!

 

Rev and Mrs were my Sunday afternoon guests. Fortunately they had already had lunch and were spared the horror of my meal. They were appalled by what I was eating and lectured me at length about health, exercise and my expanding waistline. 

 

I went into sulky 7-year-old mode, which is particularly unattractive on a prematurely graying, 33 and three-quarters woman. I said food was boring. I said leave me alone. I said I was tired of the Ugandan diet of starch, starch, starch and hey, lookie heeyah! More starch!

 

Rev and Mrs are Bakiga folk. There are a couple of things Bakiga folk don’t do. They don’t wail for the dead, they don’t sing without clapping, and they don’t suffer fools lightly.

Once Upon a Time in an Improbable Dream

 

* The Uganda Cranes World Cup 2010 jersey was designed by Café Press, a company which clearly has more confidence in my country’s national football team than I ever will.

Gwe, I’m not just being kwe critical-critical, naye!

Another do-gooder was in town last week.

Tom Cavanagh, he of the Ed and ‘Hey little brother’ Scrubs fame was in Uganda to rescue my countrywomen and I from certain death.

 

 

A press release from the United Nations Foundation’s Nothing But Nets campaign sent to me today was titled:

“Nothing But Nets, Gavin DeGraw and Tom Cavanagh Help Save Lives in Uganda”