In our free time and during the weekends, we either travel around Uganda or simply relax in Kampala. I’ve also been able to do some reading in that downtime, so I thought I would share a few of the good books I’ve finished here -
Kampala Cake Festival
No One Had a Tongue to Speak (Utpal Sandesara and Tom Wooten) – My cousin co-wrote this book! Shout out to Utpal : ) With a forward by the renowned Dr. Paul Farmer of Partners in Health, this book unravels the history behind one of India’s deadliest floods in Morbi, Gujarat. Through the stories of a select number of families and individuals, the authors show how lives were changed when the Macchu II Dam burst, unleashing its wrath on Morbi and the surrounding villages. The book details how improper engineering, inadequate notice and response, and politics played into the disaster. It’s extremely well researched, as Utpal and Tom carried out hundreds of interviews of survivors uncovering the details of the ill-fated event, and wonderfully retells the story of the forgotten flood.
Ugandan dances at Ndere Center
This is a Soul (Marilyn Berger) -Dr. Rick Hodes went from the comforts of suburbia to some of the most difficult situations in Africa. For the last couple decades, Hodes has made Addis Ababa, Ethiopia his residence, working closely with Mother Teresa’s clinic. The book chronicles the challenges of working in those circumstances but more so delves into the lives of the boys and girls he rescues off the street and adopts as his own children. For those with specific medical interests, Hodes largely works with patients who suffer from spine disfigurement due to TB and arranges for them to have spine surgery. This is a story of sacrifice, persistence, and more than anything, passion.
The Teeth May Smile but the Heart Does Not Forget (Andrew Rice) – Everyone who travels to Uganda should definitely read this book. It’s a fascinating work even for those who are not traveling there. It is the story of Duncan Laki, a Ugandan living in suburban New Jersey, who decides that he needs to find out what happened to his father, Eliphaz. His father was a village chief who disappeared as did so many others under Idi Amin’s reign of terror. The book details Duncan’s quest as one clue intriguingly leads to another in discovering the elder Laki’s fate and bringing those responsible from Amin’s time to justice for the first time in Uganda’s history. The neatest thing about the book’s organization is that it ties the events of what happened to Duncan’s father with the overall history of Uganda from prehistoric times through colonialism to independence.
Boating on Lake Victoria
National Antiretroviral Treatment Guidelines for Adults, Adolescents, and Children – June 2009 (Ministry of Health, Uganda) – Ok, obviously this is not “casual reading” but it’s a must for anyone working in HIV/AIDS care and treatment. Each country tends to have its own guidelines, but regardless they are written in line with CDC and WHO recommendations and modified given the resources and circumstances of each nation. This is what I used as a basis for a background into testing, ART initiation, PMTCT, and opportunistic infections associated with HIV/AIDS.
Tide of Fortune (Manubhai Madhvani) – This book is great for anyone with an interest in studies of the Indian diaspora, specifically in Africa. Madhvani goes back to telling the story of his courageous forefathers who arrived by boat to Mombasa, Kenya in the 1800s and made their way to the interior of Uganda. The Madhvani name is synonymous with business empire here in Uganda, but the author goes into detail about how that empire was created, how it fell with the Indian expulsion under Idi Amin, and how it was resurrected. It details the family’s history and provides kernels of wisdom on successful business enterprise. A special thanks to Mr. Ronnie Madhvani for gifting this book to me.
Weekend outings
The Challenge for Africa (Wangari Mathai) – I actually read this last year, but I wanted to mention it anyways because I thought it was so fantastic. Mathai, a Kenyan, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her work in the Green Belt Movement, environmentalism, and conservation. She gives her very informed and honest opinions on why the problems which exist in Africa exist, and what is the best way forward in tackling them. The issues she addresses include corruption, environmental degradation, religion, tribalism, loss of indigenous culture, leadership, health, development, and reliance on Western aid. For those who don’t have any background in Africa and even for those who do, this is an incredibly insightful book.
