What is your deepest fear?

I have been reading in the papers about how floods are destroying large parts of (mostly Northern) Uganda causing a lot of damage to property. To the extent that roads are being cut off! In one of the papers there was a commentary about a government official mentioning that the floods could be a blessing in disguise as the water level of Lake Victoria has been dropping. The implication of the floods is that the water level shall rise and help to generate more power.

Meanwhile in other news the government was seeking huge amounts of money to save the situation. I was just wondering to myself how come the government did not cooperate with countries like Egypt that are downstream from the source of River Nile to harness all this water. Afterall they (downstream countries) stand to benefit from more water. But when I ask such a question, my cynical side immediately kicks in to remind that the intention of those in charge might not be developmental at all but rather personal gain. So why involve Egyptian authorities at all when you can get money from donors and divert it to your personal funds.

There was a nice newspaper putting the governments efforts to help with the floods into perspective.

That time of the year has come again when family and close friends send me all kind of messages wishing long life and a good year and happiness and health and wealth and children and the list goes on… There is nothing routine about this by all means because even though it might seem that way, the people wishing it are not just doing it as a formality (at least I hope not). They really DO wish these wonderful things. (Or do they…?) It is a time when you get to realise in some ways how you have touched the lives of some people just by existing in this world.

But let’s not to go into a very long mushy text. Whenever people get old(er) they always learn things and have all kind of lessons to pass on. These are my 3 lessons in accumulated wisdom! When I get older the list might even grow to 10. I hope you like them.

1. Do not live in the Netherlands. All that happens there is rain throughout the year. Forget the images of tulips and blue-eyed blonde girls carrying mugs of Heineken. You NEVER see these girls and you have to go to a specific part of the country in the month of May to see the tulips. I can personally verify that the heineken does exist though. “Do not judge a book by its cover”

2. At 50yrs young and subsequently at 100yrs young (if you get there) you shall know better. I know quite a few people who are considerably older than I am and whenever I have some kind of puzzle, dilemma or even a seemingly simple situation, the comments and/or reactions I get from them are always surprising. So I figure that when I get older, much of what I think I know now shall have a whole new perspective to it. But for now I shall enjoy my youthful ignorance! “Perspective is everything”

3. Do not take life too seriously. If you are dutch and read the blog and seem offended about my suggestions.. relax… do not take it too seriously. I would still not advise to stay in the Netherlands but that is a very personal point of view. I do not have a preference for rain almost throughout the year. Besides that there are really wonderful things about the country and I have even read somewhere that when there is a passionate love-hate chemistry between a couple they are likely to stay together longer.. so… “Always look on the bright side of your life”

On a more serious note, I started this thing out as a joke but, ignoring the bulk of text, turns out that the parts in italics really are attitudes that I like to follow. So HAPPY BIRTHDAY to me!

Today I learn my first dutch nursery rhyme. I walked in and one of my office mates asks me. “When is ‘kortjakje’ sick?” And the answer..? You have to find it in the rhyme. I also found out that it follows the melody of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. So we can all sing along!

Altijd is Kortjakje ziek
Midden in de week maar ‘s zondags niet
‘s Zondags gaat zij naar de kerk
Met een boek vol zilverwerk
Altijd is Kortjakje ziek
Midden in de week maar ‘s zondags niet

Today, 9th October, is the celebration of Uganda’s independance day. I was looking through The Monitor newspaper and came across an article by Nicholas Sengoba that I HAVE to quote.

” An agonising reality is that as a result of the machinations of the leadership provided after independence, the ordinary African is so traumatised that he has become unbothered, apathetic, fatalistic, and cynical towards his own predicament and is therefore hapless as a factor in the process of changing the destiny of the continent.

Sadly, this leaves the other potential agents of change, the opposition and civil society without a powerful domestic base financially, materially and morally. Instead, they look to the West for a panacea to rein in dictators and kleptocrats yet in many cases the West and its agents are opportunistic bedfellows of the leaders on the continent.

That is why one must be either very naïve or dishonest to still speak of a bright future for this continent as was envisaged at the dawn of independence. Happy Independence Day!”