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7/1/2002 - The Prodigal by Andrew Rice

AR Sub Saharan Africa Andrew Rice Fellow Institute studying politics development Uganda environs The Prodigal By Andrew Rice JULY KAMPALA Uganda When Othieno Centurio dreams future pictures little house village wheel drive Toyota Kampala jarring potholes trouble There working richest spending mzungus white people flush currency governments foundations churches I black folks Othieno When American ploys understands problems But Africa He marry Not American She unselfishly always offer split check after There children I reproduce these Africans shaking Once money start business He finish house started building father Every weekend leave Kampala potholes village youth That Othieno That would African Kampala dream HONK Othieno Toyota Corolla jerked rudely returning present situation certain prospects depleted funds Through cracked windshield I addled looking pedestrian scamper HONK A matatu countless shared minibuses terrorize Kampala streets agitated behind Now people behind feeling because I stopped Othieno Gingerly navigated chasm Othieno cursed torbike darted When turned America friends about rules Where light green Where But I driving American And people abusing You drive You because I patient And mistake accord My sisters You changed It afternoon June headed Entebbe Road Lake Victoria Othieno first friend I Uganda I wanted where lived The Ugandan writer Moses Isegawa novel Abyssinian Chronicles describes Kampala where diaphanous chambers adjacent experi every every class every tribe rated glass I means From moment I arrived Kampala American I found myself being absorbed entirely willingly little white society lives houses hills literally figuratively above riotous black tropolis The whites Isegawa writes goldfish mobile riums gawked rolled through their schools their clubs their power Othieno other place walkup apartment above store selling small things wristbands bread Yet Othieno hardly Ugandan differences interested first impressions Kampala In stranger place I Over traveled poverished village Bloomington Indiana where earned business degree Indiana University Now struggling running Almost frustrating discovering culture times foreign someone country Many people changes ternoon hotel But developed place would naaaaaahhhh I flies I The broken roads People still fering malaria thing So there nothing which changed according I first Othieno waiting flight Uganda He sitting alone duffel front Kenya Airways Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta Airport He wearing white Tommy Hilfiger shirt little glasses wrist watches The Elgin bought Wal Mart later The platinum internet It duplicate bling bling In Othieno carrying proceeds America About DVD player stack movies including Dr Doolittle Eddie Murphy My Fair Lady Julie Andrews Viva Las Vegas Elvis Presley I Las Vegas I wanted later explained He struck conversation Rachel We chatted amiably while about America Indiana NBA basketball He Uganda offered house hunting Find white where white people If where I As boarded plane Othieno promised hotel where staying We smiled nodded politely After flight stepped tarmac Entebbe The night steamy thick flies Othieno appeared friends family shout sight Later Othieno would about pened afterwards The whole group piled driven kilometers Kampala where sister friend prepared coming dinner We matooke steamed tains Ugandan national chicken peanut sauce Othieno already I I hamburgers Chinese Othieno rented Roadmaster Hotel little guest house painted peeling quoise outskirts There front where friends continued celebration His friends laughed talked American inflections slang prodigious That mention really obscene Othieno But course I states other thing And Hell really changed I I States I Af The night Othieno expected He exasperated In America drink everybody But everybody tells expect every thing because place where there dollars Exhausted travels Othieno group jammed three Othieno climbed sleep His friends custom among young Ugandan tried climb beside In States share And I telling Hell I sharing Othieno laughing They What wrong They laughed their heads I nearly forgotten about friend after I arrived Kampala strode table where sitting outside hotel wearing smile American danna Hello It Innocent Innocent Othieno middle Christian He names interchange Othieno African friends Innocent friends America His mother called Innocent Othieno small village called Walaweji province Tororo eastern corner Uganda border Kenya It little thatched roofs along rutted hundred people Everyone lated other Othieno youngest children Two brothers survive infancy He older brother Owino To Othieno Walaweji dismal little place intensely deeply religious gripped powerful witchcraft As child bedeviled night dancers naked wraithlike creatures would knock night turbing sleep No night dancers although everyone assumed people village My father farmer peasant Othieno He pronounces Still Othieno family village standards somewhat Owino about years older Othieno police force later business trader He money Othieno father could replace thatch house sheet Othieno father mother stern In Africa parents We given The house stringent rules Every morning child would garden At tendance school Sunday church services mandatory Infractions truancy theft punished swift switch We beaten You beaten Othieno Where father I asked Anywhere Othieno replied laughing Those people beaten their butts educated But because world When other village children stole school birds forest their slingshots Othieno fearing switch class These spend their scraping subsistence drinking waragi brewed liquor fermented bananas smoking marijuana They zants Very In village They where Kampala Othieno showed promise student reached school opportunity St Paul College Catholic boarding school neighboring province Mbale Owino lived Mbale tuition Othieno St Paul enough harbor hopes attending university He applied Ameri University Nairobi Makerere University Kampala school Uganda Then tragedy struck Owino assure younger brother secured education contracted AIDS He Othieno graduating St Paul When brother plans there Paying university question More brother When there would children provide It Othieno remaining provide their upbringing He enrolled teacher college I wanted least diploma Be cause I frustrated I would stopped studying I would married No He qualified teacher teach geography religion secondary school Busolowe villages He bicycle Busolowe hours The holes pants I What I doing recalled I replace trousers He moved parents thought despaired Finally after heard about street Nairobi through friend Rus missionary He scraped together money moved there But church group turned unpaid I I wasting Othieno Let I Nairobi Kampala started looking As drove Othieno apartment I asked whether doubted whether things would I because I It question often people living Kampala What poverty Nick Shirra Welsh ricultural engineer lived almost It those words What You people shantytowns countryside nothing materially I think I posed question Othieno What poverty It stuck traffic clogged cacophonous Clock Tower roundabout south Young children approaching gridlocked hands outstretched They street their parents Othieno He rolled windows You poverty You I think thousand years ahead H gestured window where through mounds garbage dumped Would thing U S This I asked about Shirra about poverty being money If weren there people America poverty Othieno snorted Ok sometimes there poverty states You trash given And survive But there Some finishes degree expects white collar I touched nerve When I first Othieno airport talked enthusiastically about prospects perhaps would start business But Kampala treating kindly business degree business degree Here Kampala somebody Through friends through relatives And I relatives Kampala Othieno problem familial It tribal He Jopadhola And government Uganda presi Yoweri Museveni around Mbarara power leading guerilla incursion country Ever since critics accused government dividing spoils power favor western tribes All these driving these those areas Othieno They enjoying World Bank money thing Meanwhile people grasping They To You crops Grow Plant While these enjoying driving Mercedes these And problem I going Breaking private sector meanwhile offers challenges Commerce Kampala dominated groups Asians Indian Pakistani ancestry Baganda tribe country The British Uganda through Baganda dominated country economy since Othieno doesn Baganda Their thing money We Entebbe Road pockmarked highway Lake Victoria airport Othieno illustrated feelings about Baganda famous story happened along stretch A years Nasser Ntege Sebaggala former mayor Kampala Muganda individual member Baganda presidential aspirant traveled Bos conference garbage disposal The police there unimpressed title arrested arrived outstanding warrant passing phony traveler checks The episode might seemed America there outrage Kampala I place I coming direction night Othieno Any mzungu being smashed They smashed This Baganda thing Ssebagala thief nature Because already But makes these checks And these Kampalans because their Othieno honked pulled It grudgingly moved forward couple pulled dusty parking building painted bright advertise Close Up toothpaste We arrived Othieno first Kampala fresh disappointment Nairobi He prospects shrinking hopes He lived cousin brother house jammed relative children Deliverance evangelical Christian charity called World Vision The Americans place volunteer working southwest country It OK because bought mattresses bicycle Othieno threw himself before earning salary That helped three nieces nephews educated Othieno Catholic around became saved He paints decision purely tical terms When I joined World Vision I again something He hardly alone Uganda where missionaries everywhere evangelism permeates culture streets where those hellraising matatus spray painted slogans Redeemed blood Jesus stadiums where revival preachers crowds screens showing World Cup soccer matches halftime ramshackle roadside churches where faith healers offer cures AIDS When I states girls saved wearing trousers Othieno meaning wearing modest skirts opposed pants Or making their Or making their nails World Vision stringent rules employees You allowed drink allowed smoke allowed afternoon enjoyed cigarette Kampala Othieno think Americans religious people World Vision But I agains States It Here extremists They Christian Talibans Othieno rapidly within World Vision organization Eventually promoted oversee entire subcounty He school orphans small loans He charge building schools orphanages I But Othieno still bigger plans For years calling uncle America asking arrange I pester Othieno accepted In Othieno boarded plane first After three travel sleeping airport terminals posited strange called Indiana For first three months I couldn believe myself Soon after arrived tives American shopping He aisles aisles televisions stereos jeans Man I opened mouth He dropped Othieno uncle family They He cared about money material things He could their embarrassment provincial One uncle document applica permanent residence United States He paperwork started Othieno refused always intended return Uganda He moved afterwards Still Othieno loved America He still talks about place sometimes somewhat skewed terms In Othieno America everyone works hours Burger King Red Lobster shops Las Vegas vacation Even rainwa better Uganda In U S runoff cleaner drinking Because comes clean grass clean The water drink village Where drink Granted America overwhelming first In Uganda school children discouraged talking class taken disrespect lecturer At Indiana students talked A teacher person Othieno touch approvingly I found difficulties beginning But I realized going I copied He adapted quickly He working dealership restaurant money village He learned kinds rules classroom rules social rules rules There differences Uganda For instance police behind their lights He discov after unfortunate understanding involving dealer plates speed chase dealership He explored places Bullwinkle Bloomington Some friends there loved He pictures place bring Uganda Othieno swears Bloomington largest population United States First San Francisco Bloomington Whether Indiana seemed Gomorrah Uganda where homosexuality still illegal prevailing attitude about might charitably described medieval One government minister woman champion gender equality cently suggested quarantining Uganda serted island Othieno things differently Now I I about because friends there He kinds people I never friends Africans States Othieno He avoided Af rican Americans because heard negative things about before America prone violence crimi nality He mostly dated white women The African American women glared The experience however returning difficult I girlfriends I having these girls anymore Othieno Ok these black girls really about At least better American girls He flashed Since I I But those American girls about They somebody loves loves Most girls America together dinner money dinner Most these girls cause money because materialistic things That Othieno since returned girlfriends They asked things airtime their cellular phones I telling I money And telling I And I saying Ok That culture about change which I We A woman stood small beneath Othieno apartment curiously Othieno through narrow corridor building It opened small courtyard tered garbage A group small shabbily dressed kicked soccer forth front concrete houses larger sheds When passed stopped kicking stared Othieno smiled They sleep filthy place there They share their mother We turned right climbed stairway building second floor Othieno unlocke walked apartment The Walking passed bathroom purely ornamen toilet place doesn running guest bedroom filled boxes Othieno small windowless bedroom His clothes hooks above The hallway ended living It floor furnished yellow black print furniture His American DVD player beneath large television A small balcony overlooked rolling hills outside Kampala dotted puffs smoke where farmers burning underbrush Plas tered balcony facing faded peeling election poster Museveni So place Othieno A simple place least beginners Othieno place first cheap shillings around month He three months front latrine His power At night mosquitoes feast I money clean around collect rubbish people throwing I thought garbage I But again Be cause neighbors throwing Othieno about broke brought first buying Toyota He spent amount balance village His search fruitful Shortly after returned Uganda Othieno offices World Vision He still people there above working Christian Taliban But there The program officer brother position Othieno specific ideas about where wants He wants America European embassy charity governmental organiza anything working white people He hardly alone sentiment Among young Ugan working middleman NGO quickest route wealth A NGO about shillings about month Othieno niece contrast works makes about fourth I asked Othieno thought about increas uneasiness Uganda donor organiza tions World Bank playing shaping country politics economy Some newspaper colum nists calling colonialism Museveni recently called country itself foreign money Wouldn better Ugandans chart their course These Africans corrupt replied If bring American Briton money thrown Someone these construct house S Othieno keeps looking There interview raiser charity building school Jinja The Englishman Othieno project director Ugandan The project director would appointments about would One Othieno convinced Ugandan bring along meeting Jinja Halfway through project director excused himself strand Othieno about hours Kampala But Othieno keeps coming I whether materialize admits There salary I there And I Othieno Sting CD living drank The afternoon seeped through curtains closed deter burglars I asked If Othieno smiled You I missing Uganda I missing family And cheapness place Because America I I spending money paying bills Sometimes I school nieces nephews It family responsibilities brought Othieno Uganda But I whole story behind return Last winter Othieno mother In December family clinic where doctors X rayed found large cancerous tumor Her health clined through spring Othieno finished school already purchased ticket Uganda May The airline wouldn change return On April Othieno sister couldn afford America relayed message through friend His mother Relatives buried mother where Othieno raised A after pected hotel newly purchased Toyota respects It hours driving roads No drives Walaweji Outside village cousins route through underbrush They astonished Most people I would Most people US Othieno They surprised father believe When pulled father seven sisters alerted return waiting Someone brought chicken slaughter honor Everyone pulled chairs outside house prodi supposed enter until after celebratory sacrifice performed His father hobbled outside crutches Not Oloka dislocated And course taken hospital because there money Othieno So remained He person Othieno heard about father ition sisters scraped together money father mattress luxury village where people sleep papyrus His sisters about mother final My You greet Innocent All asking Where Where Innocent Everybody started crying Othieno Even I started crying It emotional Othieno thought about bringing flowers mother grave America But decided flowers Kampala expensive Instead village bought liter plastic filled kongo local brewed millet villagers share That night village party outside They traded stories gossip about goings village One cousin recently foiled government attempt build through casting magic spell snakes appeared workers Another villager stubborn convinced placed under spell burned shrines local practitioners magic Many people greet Othieno Well greet I brought Visiting expensive Othieno It everywhere Africa The hooks extended family hearts pocketbooks almost every African journalist Blaine Harden wrote Africa Dispatches Fragile Continent With labyrinthine rights extended family social security welfare system This system commerce welfare follow market precepts Marxist dogma It governed blood tradi guilt Othieno benefited system young brother schooling He repay providing orphaned cousins upbringing Now however returning village America eryone To Americans people America wealthy people Othieno They thought I money But I I I before No believed Distant relatives pulled Othieno aside dismal stories And putting Real Othieno Shoes dreams Othieno brought clothes donated roommates Bloomington which distributed around village But needed His father needed doctor about His sister children weren going school there money school uniforms books An other sister showed party bruised She explained husband recently taken second beating She wanted marriage But divorce O thieno would dowry And I The village quite Othieno remembered He struck darkness filthiness His family brought water drink refused He brought Even I eating I struggling chasing flies Bedtime couldn According tradition during mourning period family sleeps outside house grave deceased comfortable while adjusting afterlife Othieno dried banana leaves village tried sleep under stars The mosquitoes savaged By Monday after arrived Kampala I wanted finish I couldn Othieno Because mosqui hardships there I short money sleeping really horrible Mosquitoes ugggggh So I Kampala In village Othieno afternoon apartment maybe confused Because I gotten along without married I I Because I sleep mattress drive funny Culturally I should having Reproducing But disparaging Othieno still talks returning village He He wants start business importing Mombasa He already knows people He figures million shillings about started I piece village Some years began building house restarted construction Like Ugandans places great importance owning person person established himself person person great Land Othieno One finished house plans spend possible It Othieno Thieves thick along Entebbe Road night All along little shacks jammed TV their bluish screens flickering against It struck Othieno dreams future white village represented divisions within divisions living faraway afflu culture never always remain Othieno friends States Africa never escape place Not really wants I asked Othieno whether happy return village mosquitoes relatives His broke smile I dirty place I happy I Yes I INSTITUTE OF CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS Fel their Activities Martha Farmelo April ARGENTINA A Georgetown graduate major psychology minor Spanish Master Public Affairs Woodrow Wilson School Princeton Martha Institute Suzanne Ecke McColl Fellow studying gender issues Argentina Married Argentine economist mother small focusing genders which immensely important Italo Latino machismo Martha involved Latin America professional having worked Catholic Relief Services Inter American Development Bank Costa Rica Human Rights Watch Ecuador Inter American Foundation El Salvador Uruguay UN World Conference Women Beijing Curt Gabrielson December EAST TIMOR With Missouri background MIT degree physics Curt spending years East Timor watching nation create education system ashes I ndonesian system Since finishing MIT Curt focused delivering inexpensive culturally relevant hands science education minority income students Based Teacher Institute Exploratorium San Francisco worked youth teachers Beijing Tibet Mexican agricultural Watsonville California Andrew Rice May UGANDA A former staff writer New York Observer reporter Philadelphia Inquirer Washington Bureau Newsday Andrew spending years Uganda watching waiting reporting possibility anticipated African Renaissance might begin administration President Yoweri Musevene Andrew B A Government Georgetown minor Theology after having spent semester Charles University Prague where served intern Velvet magazine later traveled experienced wrote about conflict Balkans Matthew Z Whee August SOUTHEAST ASIA A former research assistant Rand Corporation specializing South Southeast Asia Matt spend years looking proposals plans realities regional integration disintegration along Mekong River China Vietnam With B A liberal Sarah Lawrence M A Harvard East Asian studies Blakemore Fellowship Thai language studies Matt short conflicts Burma Thailand Laos Cambodia account lives writes learns about region James G Workman January Southern Africa A policy strategist national restoration initiatives Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt Jamie ICWA Donors Fellow looking southern African nations South Africa Botswana Mozambique Zambia maybe Zimbabwe through their utilization conservation fresh water supplies A Yale graduate History spent junior Oxford Jamie journalism fellowship Poynter Institute Media Studies wrote New Republic Washington Business Journal before years Babbitt Since served Senior Advisor World Commission Dams Cape Town South Africa ICWA Letters ISSN lished Institute Current World Affairs Inc exempt operat foundation incorporated New York State offices located West Wheelock Street Hanover NH 03755 The letters provided charge members ICWA available libraries professional researchers subscription Phone E Mail ICWA valley Fax Web Site Executive Director Peter Bird Martin Program Assistant Brent Jacobson Publications Manager Ellen Kozak Institute Current World Affairs The Crane Rogers Foundation The formation contained publication reproduced without writer permission Author Rice Andrew Title ICWA Letters Sub Saharan Africa ISSN Imprint Institute Current World Affairs Hanover NH Material Type Serial Language English Frequency Monthly Other Regions East Asia Mideast North Africa South Asia Europe Russia The Americas Institute Fellows chosen basis character previous experi promise They young professionals funded spend minimum years carrying designed programs study writing outside United States The Fellows required report their findings experiences field month They write subject formally informally The result unique reporting analysis periodic assessment interna tional events issues