Independence Day

Last Saturday, Uganda celebrated its 48th anniversary of independence. The significance of the day seemed to have gone unnoticed for most of the country as there was hardly any mention of it in the newspapers until the following day. Even then, the journalists only reported on a relatively small gathering in Kampala where the president gave a speech to boost nationalist pride. Beyond that, most of the op-ed columns were about the wasted benefits of colonialism since the day the Union Jack was taken down. Reading theses pseudo-defenses of the colonialist days, I couldn’t help but think these authors would be viewed locally as heretics. I naively expected that it would be taboo to note anything positive about this period of oppression, especially on the anniversary of Uganda’s reclamation of the dignity of seeing its own people lead the country. Most of the op-ed writers, however, commented on how the British had at least provided strong public institutions and services (i.e. schools, hospitals, roads etc.) when they exploited Uganda’s natural resources and suppressed the population’s ability for self-determination. They also noted that Ugandans now are too tired and worn out from poverty and years of civil war to give up any of their free time for celebrating the birth of a nation that still feels like it’s being born. Interestingly, Michael Dewan (a classmate from medical school for those of you who don’t know him) was asked to take part in an information session for Makerere medical students applying to do a 6 week rotation at Yale next year. During the session, one of the Ugandan medical students, who just returned from doing a rotation in New Haven this past summer, noted to him how strange the 4th of July seemed to her; it was unbelievable that Americans have so much pride in their country that they put on giant firework displays and host barbecues in its honor.

My host parents (who wish to maintain some pseudo-anonymity on this blog so will be called Mr. and Mrs. M) honored the day at their Baptist church. Mr. M was asked to give a sermon on the role of independence in political and spiritual life, in which he also described some of the perks left over the from the Brits including the English language, Christianity, and the country’s judicial system. In the bible study group that I attended with them, there was a long debate about verses in the book of Peter regarding submission to civil authorities. In brief, the passage states that God smiles on those who are submissive to their leaders, even when the authorities are irrational. Not to get into a debate about Christian theology, but I felt this palpable tension in the room between the text and its readers. These were all devout Christians sitting around the table, who had lived through both Amin and Obote’s regimes, trying to find wisdom from a statement so hard to accept on its own. Though it wasn’t quite hot dogs and sparklers, debating how to live with a contradiction intact felt like a very appropriate way to celebrate the day nonetheless.