I write in the lounge of the Entebbe Airport, awaiting the first of three flights that will bring me home tomorrow afternoon, God willing. This is a trip of firsts and lasts. It was my first visit to both Sudan and Uganda (it’s been a while since all of my stops on a trip were new-to-me countries). But it is also my last international trip with Overseas Council, as I prepare to transition full-time in March. Although I know that I will remain very much a part of the networks that have nourished and taught me in recent years and will continue to interact with my OCI colleagues, there is something deeply bittersweet for me in such a moment.
Africa remains for me a part of the world where I feel my understanding is minimal. Each time I visit this wildly diverse and deeply beautiful continent, I feel as though I understand a bit more. Yet I go away with more riddles as well. There is, I often say, a bit of my heart in many parts of this big world. But there is something increasingly special to me about Africa. Lions and tigers, safaris, hungry children, Table Mountain, the pyramids, Masaai tribesmen… all of these are overplayed stereotypes of Africa (though are all rooted in some form of reality). But the following are some abiding images of Africa for me.
Light bulbs in roadside shops – Thoughts of Africa always conjure up for me the thousands of small shops that line African roads, usually lit at night by a single light bulb or two, or perhaps a candle or gas lamp when the power is out. I’ll never forget a street like this in Bangui where candles flickered in the breeze of the dark night. Evening life thrives around these shops, as the flow of humanity moves by.
Pedestrians – Coming from a pedestrian-challenged nation like the US, I can’t help but remark at the sheer quantity of humanity moving on foot along every kind of African road, from highways to city streets to country roads. On crowded city streets, they flow along with the traffic (and occasionally a donkey cart or a herd of goats). I enjoy the adventure of joining these flowing rivers of people sometimes.
Hand-made furniture along the roads – Perhaps “hand-made” is the wrong term, for this furniture seems to be constructed with tools in hundreds of little workshops that dot stretches of roads in Africa, ranging from sofas to highly carved and elaborate bedroom furniture. Some of it features remarkable workmanship.
Charcoal smoke – I often say that many countries have distinctive smells. In Russia or Ukraine, one need not go too far to find the smell of dill and/or garlic. The smell of masala spices hangs on the air of India. In Africa, although the spices differ, charcoal (or sometimes wood) smoke always seems to hang on the horizon, bearing witness to thousands (or millions) of meals being cooked.
Peanuts – from peanut-laced soups in West Africa to peanut sauces in East Africa and greens cooked with peanut sauce in southern Africa, “groundnuts” are a feature that seems to unite highly diverse African cuisines.
Social time – I don’t know the right word to capture this, but I am always admire the time that Africans find to talk, whether men chatting along the side of a country road in Nigeria, young men gathered on the street here in Kampala, or ladies sharing a cup of tea on the streets of Khartoum. Africans do things together. There’s always time for a chat. There’s always time for a friend.
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