FROM UGANDA TO SWEDEN TO THE U.S.:
Although Uganda is most recognized today for the brutal dictatorship of Idi Amin, it has not always been that way. Uganda is a beautiful country and was at one time peaceful and prosperous. My early memories were of growing up in a happy middle-class family. However, after Idi Amin came to power he unleashed a reign of terror and murder that made life very difficult. Because of the killings and lack of freedom, I left the country. A Brief Geography of Uganda Uganda is a small country in East Africa of about 80,000 square miles and a population of 22 million people. It is bordered by five countries: Sudan, Kenya, Tanzan-ia, Rwanda, and The Democratic Republic of Congo. With the equator crossing a few kilometers from the capital city of Kampala, Uganda has a beautiful climate—warm most of the year with heavy rainfall between the months of March and May. The longest river in the world, the Nile, flows from Lake Victoria, the second largest fresh water lake in the world. Uganda is also blessed with scenic snow-capped mountains and abundant wildlife, including a rich variety of animals and birds.The Family Since I come from a large family of 12 kids, my parents had to work hard. We lived a comfortable middle class life: a big house with electricity and running water, television, radio, refrigerator. My father, a dedicated school administrator, was educated at Makerere University in Kampala, Birmingham University in the United Kingdom, and Kansas Teachers College in the United States. With his high academic credentials, he was able to serve the government of Uganda and the East African community in various important posts. As a result we were able to live comfortably. It is very difficult to make a good living without a formal education in Uganda, since those without education are relegated to low-paying menial work. Public assistance is non-existent. My father therefore emphasized to us the value of education and always preached to us to “get married to books.”Beginning of the end I was about 6 years old when things began to change in Uganda. One of my uncles, who used to come by our house on his way to playing tennis, stopped coming by. My older brothers spent more time tuning to BBC News on shortwave radio. One evening at about 10 p.m. my uncle’s wife and other people were sitting in our living room and crying uncontrollably. My mother asked me to go to bed, but I still wanted to know what was going on. Something wasn’t right. I kept peeping from the side of the door to see what was going on in the living room.I later came to learn that there was a military coup and Idi Amin had taken over power. As a result, many people who were from the northern part of the country were being arrested and executed. My uncle had been abducted by soldiers and no one knew where he was. My father, a District Education Officer at that time, kept under low profile. He could have become a victim otherwise. He was from the Luo tribe, to which the former president also belonged, and he was educated. Many people lost their lives because of those two reasons. Great Escape from Amin’s men One night the Secret Police knocked at our door and, without knowing what was happening, one of my sisters walked toward the door to open it. Fortunately my older brother Christopher was coming downstairs to get some ice. He noticed what was happening and immediately stopped my sister from opening the door. We would never have seen my father again had my sister opened the door.The church arranged to smuggle my father from Arua, the town where we lived, to Kampala 300 miles away. There was only one route from the town to Kampala, across the main bridge which crosses the River Nile. Since the bridge was heavily guarded by soldiers, my father was disguised like a porter and driven safely across the bridge without arousing suspicion. Many months later transportation was arranged to pick up the rest of our family so we could move to the city to join him. After settling in Kampala, my father started working with the ministry of education as an assistant executive secretary for the East African Examination Council. While in office, the risk of being arrested and killed increased. There were many attempts on his life, but with the help of friends he was able to escape. He retired to one of our ranches about 200 miles north of Kampala and stayed there until Amin was overthrown. Uganda has never fully recovered from Amin’s state-sponsored terrorism. Subsequent leaders came to power and left, with little changed for the better. We realized that the best thing for us to do, if we were to have a better future, was to leave Uganda. Leaving the Equator I flew to Sweden, where one of my uncles had fled during Idi Amin’s rule. I stayed there for eight years and adjusted to the life there—both climate and culture. Moving from the equator to close to the Arctic was not an easy transition, but I learned a lot in the process.The most common questions Swedes asked me were, “Why did you come to Sweden?” “Do you have televisions in Africa?” or “Do you see lions on the streets?” Africa was once called the “dark continent” because nothing was known about its interior. We are in the 21st century, but Africa is still a dark continent to many people overseas. All one will encounter on Swedish television about Africa is “Tarzan.” Even though I could speak Swedish fluently, I thought it would be easier for me to accomplish my education in English, since that was the language I grew up speaking back home. Oklahoma City In 1995 I left Sweden for Oklahoma to complete my undergraduate education. People there asked me questions like “Why Oklahoma?” Well, why not? When looking at the U.S. from a distance, I couldn’t see much differences between the states. One reason for choosing Oklahoma was the lower tuition costs and affordable life there.Four months from the time I landed there, I woke up to the sound of a bomb. This time it was not Amin’s men terrorizing people. It was Timothy McVeigh bombing a Federal office building. The bomb sent some shock waves through my spine and reminded me about what had been happening back in Uganda. I spent four years in Oklahoma finishing college before I moved to the East coast. Baltimore City My brother Philip, who had been living in Maryland, encouraged me to move here and live with him. This was not a difficult decision to make. The difficult part was driving 1,500 miles by myself. I had never driven that far before. I managed to convince one of my friends to accompany me. He was good with directions, but he had no driver’s license, so I drove and he navigated. After driving for two days, we were in Baltimore.Baltimore City is much more congested than Oklahoma City, with the buildings closer together and the roads narrower. Also, in Oklahoma City the pace is slower and fewer people live within the city. When I joined the University of Baltimore, my friends were more amused than surprised that I chose to go to Oklahoma for college—but those of us who are not seafood lovers enjoy the barbecue and steak in Oklahoma. Leaving Uganda has not been a pleasant thing to do. But I have gathered a wealth of knowledge about different cultures. And I never knew how important freedom was until I started living in a free country. Solomon Ochola is studying toward a master’s degree in publications design at the University of Baltimore. He has been an intern with this newspaper.
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