Culture shock

Uganda is one of the most diverse countries on the planet. It has many native languages, each with their many dialects, each arguing the other is a broken version of their own.

Religious belief varies widely. There are many born-again Christians and converted Muslims, while others may speculate that religion is a contentious topic. But in fact, all agree: God is the same for all; where this isn’t the case, they simply choose to live in peace and harmony. Uganda is a country that blends traditions, cultures and beliefs. People of all faiths live alongside one another, in a colourful mix of new and old. Friends and neighbours celebrate each other’s festivities; coming together for the Muslim festival of Eid, we feasted together on goat, chicken and an impressive amount of rice.

Attending church on Sunday, the pastor chose to focus his sermon on the wearing of short skirts in the community. The aim seemed difficult for me to comprehend. The subject was brought up later with our host family, as they seemed confused about our reaction. We explained the far greater necessity to educate men not to leer at women and treat women as equals, regardless of the amount of skin being shown. The point was taken, but tradition and religion still swayed opinion in the community. It undermined our own, as we thought, more enlightened views.

As women we accepted the fact we should wear skirts or dresses daily. Trousers were either seen as informal or unusual (improper). During some encounters we were told to sit on the floor, following Ugandan tradition. We were also told to bow to our elders. These new behaviours were alien to us and without meaning, and seemed even offensive at times. While male volunteers enjoyed a chair, we women were left to get comfortable on a mat.

We discovered other traditions that were thought normal and common in time, polygamy being the first – and not restricted to Muslims. At the same time, divorce rates are among the highest in Africa.

During our time as ‘peer educators’ we noticed how sex was taboo. Children never having discussed the topic asked us why people engaged in such a ‘sinful’ activity. As volunteers we were instructed to encourage abstinence first and foremost, followed by staying faithful to your partner and finally, using condoms. The idea of describing sex as a pleasurable, intimate and fun activity became unthinkable – heaven forbid! Sex was for married people and for having children. We were given a manual to teach in schools. This described how as boys went through puberty they developed sexual urges. This was not mentioned for girls.

While conducting lessons on gender, young girls even appeared to stereotype certain activities as ‘just for men’ or ‘just for themselves’. We were given the task of talking to people out of school about family planning, HIV and AIDS, and demonstrating condom usage, but only in the absence of children. The need to maintain a constant balance between culture and educating people about how to practise safe sex became a struggle.

Other issues of sex and sexuality were a problem. We could not help but think that views on homosexuality in Uganda would not be as they are today had it not been for Christian missionaries. Ugandan men hold hands freely, and people embrace without fear of being thought of as ‘gay’. Has homosexuality always been such a wicked act?

Another unthinkable concept is atheism. When asked about our faiths, many turned away and disapproved of our responses. Again, had it not been the whites that came and gave them their current belief system? Many current values held by the Ugandan population may never have existed had it not been for colonization. The irony was profound.

Although education is taught as a right to Ugandan citizens, it is not free. Children are sent home frequently when school fees have not been paid. In our time in Nakalama, however, we visited an enlightened school which offered free primary education to the orphans of the village. Although being the most remote, it was also the most progressive, encouraging us to give young people condom demonstrations and to educate them on issues of sexual and reproductive health.

Attending school sessions gave us a greater insight into the educational system and the notion of ‘discipline’. In class children memorized, recited and repeated the lessons they had learnt. They were told only to speak English. Obedience was seen as vital to learning. Caning, although illegal in Kampala, is still widely practised, and unfortunately we bore witness to it many times, without power to intervene. After hearing the headmaster of the secondary school give a speech on violence, we all shook our heads in dismay at the hypocrisy.

‘You must keep your integrity, violence is never the solution.’

One day on placement, a little girl had been hurt when a cane broke into pieces and flew in her eye. We accompanied the school director (also our host father) to the hospital. She needed surgery but thankfully kept her eye. After witnessing so much without being able to speak our minds it began to grate on us. In time we hope it will become outlawed. As our Ugandan counterparts did not flinch at the idea of caning (having gone through it themselves), we resigned ourselves to the idea that it was, after all, a matter of cultural acceptability. Strict child protection laws are very new even to our own societies.

‘Idleness’ in Ugandan culture is associated with immoral, deviant behaviour, such as smoking, drinking, substance abuse, and prostitution. For this reason, being idle is punishable by law. New schemes to keep young people away from such behaviour are constantly being thought up in order to tackle far more urgent issues such as the spread of HIV and STIs.

These cultural aspects were only observed in the small part of Uganda in which we had the privilege to live for three months, and just as Uganda’s landscape varies so dramatically, so does its culture.