For those of you who have been to this country the word “shebeen” is not so remote from a “kafunda” of Uganda!
After an agonizing 2-year wait we finally had an opportunity of celebrating another independence day as a Ugandan community in South Africa.
With a scintillating football match between the two countries was lying in wait, honestly it couldn’t come at a better time.
Temperatures raise naturally given its summer this side!
But what is it with Ugandans that reduces us to failures when it comes to organizing events??
Honestly, one is given 9-months plus to look forward to the only event that unites us especially now that Gaetano is gone; and you only wish it had never come!
The community is sharply divided on the basis of who is who! Materialism has reduced us to a cat and dog affair!
There is a faction from Johannesburg which to be honest is a little tricky! They are called “nekolela gyange”! They have been accused of all sorts of things from muggings of fellow Ugandans at the airport to conning people into buying fake leaves and grass as herbal medicine!
Not to condone anything but guys it’s tough out here! You gatta survive!! This group would do anything to find its way into any event draped in Ugandan colours!
These guys have created such a bad name for themselves that they are now used as scapegoats when charging exorbitant fees during parties.
The whole idea is to hike any entry fee to eliminate them!
But unfortunately, many of us have turned out the victims inadvertently!
As witnessed at the independence party, all above 18 were charged R100 and those under 14 were charged R50! I don’t know what the 15-17 years were supposed to pay!
A colleague and I were approached by the core part of the organising committee a week before to mobilise the students!
It was then that we haggled on the fee that was fair to students while not compromising the “quality” of the function.
R50 was agreed!
On the very day of the party with many waiting to pay, I am told that it would not work that way for students. Many called me to rescue them and I managed to do for some although a majority I did not.
I tried to explain the whole situation but organisers would not burge! I ended up looking a crook whose independence day was April 1st.
Why would you charge a student the same amount like a doctor who earns close to $30,000 a month!
Even those us who are sketchers and not students per se felt cheated!
I am told the reason is, when one is a student they eat a lot, and they tend to consume more music by dancing longer and harder!
So comparatively they enjoy the most!
Agh! Not at my age hearing a man reason like this!
Some of us were promised first class organisation!
But what kind of party would one expect from a dressing room for Rugby players with all benches (reminds of Budo junior) crammed like in a kindergarten!
South Africa is suffocating with venues! I am sure if the whole country was to sit in a 5-minutes conference at once we would all fit in nice decent rooms!
One can easily argue that there are more conference halls than the chairs that would be used!
As if that’s not annoying enough, the food served made one long for our original bufundas at wandegeya!
After a cool 3 hour wait, Pavlov our famous Russian scientist intervened! His dream of serving our offsprings with Russians evaporated when boeremag (radical right wingers) came with force to complete the hotdog cycle!
I saw kids as young as 4 battle with hotdogs the size of a toilet roll, honestly!
But to my amazement, not even one a glass of water was given! Ladies and gentlemen those kids paid R50!!
Heavens! I am not a father yet, but not even 3-year old child heading a family of HIV/AIDS orphans would forget to give a drink!
Good breeding/slash proper nutrition!
Sorry, it was a cash-bar!
I was approached by one who asked for a sip of my drink! Little did he know I was taking Smirnoff Spin which is 5% alcoholic! Trouble is it looks like bottled water!
Dinner was served late coz of political speeches! Hon. Babu was the chief guest!
You don’t squeeze a hefty fee from poor souls, frustrate their appetites and on top of it talk about Ugandan politics! Boarding school mannerisms!
They should have told us that it would be a political rally and Fidel Castro was sending representatives!
God forbid! We know all our politics by heart!
It’s on the tips of every strand of our hair!
We are actually tired of it to our marrows!!
Now don’t ask me about the music coz I also don’t know why they play stadium like volumes in a cubicle!!! May be because we were at Rugby club!
Honestly it was just a thin line between small business and a rip off!
For sure organizers made a kill for the day and must be laughing their way to First National Bank!
Next time I think Organisers should first organise themselves into an organisation and organise a conference on organising events (a little verbatim is good for you!).
FOR GOD AND MY COUNTRY!
HANNINGTON
+27731627083
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