Uganda > Kenya

Posted by larsviggo on May 22, 2010 · 3 Comments 

Meet Stephen.  He’s one of the guys from Nyaka that’s going to be working with us all summer.  Probably the first thing you should know about Stephen is that he’s awesome.    At least that’s what I gathered after hanging out with him all day.  He took us to a fantastic buffet of African food for lunch.  I’m realizing that I’m really going to love eating the food here all summer.  My favorites so far are the greens and the motoke with a ground peanut sauce.  You just feel healthy eating it.  The food’s not heavily seasoned, but it tastes fresh.  Ugandans eat a lot of fruits, vegetables, beans, rice, and millet.  None of it’s processed, which gives me hope I’ll actually lose weight this summer.

After lunch Stephen took Adam and me to buy a cell phone and to get some basic groceries for the next few days while we’re in Kampala.  It looks like, for the most part, we’ll be eating peanut butter sandwiches and dried banana until we escape Kampala to head south.  We had a great time getting to know Stephen.  We talked about everything from the contents of sushi to Stephen’s annoyance with British accents to the value of yoga (Judy Watts, be proud of me!).  After spending a day with the dude, I can tell that Stephen is going to be a great working companion for the summer.

Now – why I gave this post such an audaciously nationalistic title.  On our way back to the hostel after our little grocery shopping adventure, Stephen asked us rather casually if we’d now like to go to a soccer match instead of just going home.  We asked who was playing, and he said it was an international match between the Uganda and Kenya national soccer teams.  Sensing our chance to talk smack to our fellow colleagues that make up Team Kenya (Ryan, Watterson, and Patrick), we jumped at the opportunity.  And boy, it did NOT disappoint.  The impressive stadium (Mandela National Stadium), the jubilant songs and chants, the spirited banter between us and the Kenya fans in front of us, the numerous injuries (including an intense head-to-head collision), and of course a HUGE 1-0 win for Team Uganda!!!

As great as it was today proving that Uganda is better than Kenya, for me this game was just a prelude to what I’m about to witness in a couple weeks.  The World Cup in South Africa is going to be a massive coming-out party for the continent, the likes of which I doubt Africa has ever experienced before.  The pride that people here have for the game of soccer (I still can’t bring myself to call it “football”) is admirable, and I’m sure that all of Africa will glimmer with pride to prove to the world how great a tournament it can put on.  In many ways it’s only a symbol.  Hosting the World Cup isn’t nearly as important as reducing poverty, fighting disease, empowering women, or any number of other development goals in Africa.  But I’ve learned at the Clinton School that symbols are important.  They provide meaningful and necessary indicators.  And when leveraged to their maximum potential, they serve as inspiration to keep moving forward.  This is the case with the World Cup.  The tournament won’t solve all of Africa’s many challenges, but it is a symbol to the people of this beautiful continent and the rest of the world that Africa is advancing.  It is moving forward and won’t look back.  Yes, the road is long and gut-wrenching.  But with all the progress it’s already made, Africa can be confident that it is now ready to take its rightful place on the world stage.  And I can’t wait to join the party.

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