Ugandan Ingenuity

Ugandan ingenuity beats American ingenuity hands down. These folks can do anything with nothing, or at least it seems that way.

Today I was on my way back from Kampala (more immigration issues.) We were driving past a row of shops along the road. In front of one shop were two guys. One was holding part of the frame of a wrecked car and the other one had a hacksaw and was sawing through a piece of metal that was part of the frame.

Now in Chicago, I've seen wrecked cars get stripped down for all their usable parts, but the shell of the frame is still usually left. Not here, the frame itself is used for the metal which is sawed, pounded, welded and shaped into something else, like cooking pots. NOTHING goes to waste around here.

People I've come to know sometimes give me food from their gardens--bananas, avocados, passion fruit, mangoes, maize--whatever is ripe at the moment. The kids will bring the gift in a bag and wait while I unload the food so I can return the bag. We're just talking cheap plastic grocery bags, but if you don't buy much, you don't get bags, so they're a commodity to carefully preserve.

When I buy pork the guys at the shop have started wrapping my purchases in banana leaves and tying it with fiber they cut from the stalk of the banana leaf. I figure it is more biodegradable than the plastic bags, which I'm not likely to reuse after they have fresh meat inside--OK--after they have fresh, greasy meat inside.

Even the kids know which plants are edible and which are not. Some plants can be used to sooth an upset stomach, others take care of a headache. You'll sometimes see a kid chewing on a bunch of leaves. If you ask, you find out they have a headache and these leaves will get rid of it.

I sometimes think American ingenuity, for all the talk of it, is a thing of the past. We are spoiled. We just go to the store and buy stuff. Here, people figure things out. They make due. They use their creativity to survive and develop little creature comforts. There's a practical knowledge here the people depend on for survival. It's amazing.