My Encounter with America
Part 5: American ignorance about Africa
By Zadok Ekimwere
zomwere@hotmail.com

I got the real taste and feel of America during the tours as we interacted with communities, institutions, and families. We criss- crossed over 40 states in three months. This is because the tours coincided with the 1980 presidential and congressional elections into which we were readily co- opted as observers, monitors, and reporters. We were on demand from both Republicans and Democrats. This was a real thrill for me.

However, most Americans I interacted with regarded me with so much curiosity, as if I was some primordial man. Perhaps they were right because the 1970s and 80s were very bad years in Africa. Political commentators dubbed them "lost decades" because of the horrendous times occasioned on the citizens of the continent by brutal and dictatorial regimes headed by ruthless killer soldiers.

Uganda had its share under Field Marshall Idi Amin until he was ousted in 1979. As if that was not enough, natural disasters, too, claimed many lives. A number of African countries including Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia and Sudan experienced terrible famines and droughts that killed many lives or starved many into mobile skeletons.

Most stories and pictures from the continent at that time only portrayed misery. That is why when my hosts saw me with chubby cheeks and glittering skin, they could not believe I was from Uganda. They expected to see an emaciated pitiful figure ready for drip- feeding. Another reason there was a lot of enthusiasm to receive the Ugandan wherever we went.

I was also amazed by their ignorance about the African continent. Though most of them scored 100 percent by linking Uganda to Idi Amin, none of them was aware he had been forced out of power nearly two years ago and was exiled in Saudi Arabia.

Some of the questions I was bombarded with were "Where did you learn English from? Who taught you English?"

In my mind, I thought that every American knew Uganda was a British colony, a member of the Commonwealth, with English as the medium of instruction in its education system. Moreover, it is both an official and national language to this day, 45 years after independence.

Others asked, "Is Uganda the capital of Nigeria?" Is Uganda the port of South Africa?"

During my stay with a family that had been to Uganda with the Peace Corps, their high school daughter asked if African elephants were older than Indian elephants. And whether there is electricity for elevators up the trees. As a polite guest, I had to answer in the affirmative. The parents blushed because they knew the truth having been to Africa.

I also realized that the American and Ugandan education systems were very different. In Uganda, there is so much general knowledge pumped into students. In geography alone, we learned about the prairies of Canada, the corn belt of America, the economic activities of the Great Lakes, the Red Indians, and reindeer with trees growing on its head.

In history we learned that a European navigator, Christopher Columbus, discovered America.

I was still in elementary school when President Kennedy was assassinated. That became a national event, and the school closed. And during the Bay of Pigs debacle, we were told the world was coming to an end because the Russians and Americans were going to blow it up with their deadly bombs.

After the first two weeks we met as a group to review performance. The results were astounding.

(Next week: Difficulty with money and food)