Synopsis of the Book

NB: This synopsis is NOT the whole Book “Life in Kampala City” but rather a brief highlight to guide someone interested in reading the entire book.

Life in Kampala City. Copyright © 2017 by Boaz Opio. All Rights Reserved. Printed and Published in Kampala Uganda by Imprint Graphics Limited. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews SECOND EDITION Designed by Manzi Max-wel Imprint graphics, Nasser Road Kampala 0759 868787 [email protected]

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Table of Contents INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................. 3 ABOUT LIFE OF THE AUTHOR ........................................................................................................................ 3 WHY SHOULD I READ THIS BOOK? ................................................................................................................ 5 CHAPTER ONE: .............................................................................................................................................. 7 THINK MONEY AND SWAGGER ..................................................................................................................... 7 CHAPTER TWO: ............................................................................................................................................. 8 LOVE YOUR CITY ............................................................................................................................................ 8 CHAPTER THREE: ........................................................................................................................................... 9 CUT YOUR COAT ACCORDING TO YOUR CLOTH ........................................................................................... 9 CHAPTER FOUR: .......................................................................................................................................... 12 MASTER TOWN BUSINESS TACTICS ............................................................................................................ 12 CHAPTER FIVE: ............................................................................................................................................ 13 MASTER THE ART OF TECHNICAL KNOW WHO .......................................................................................... 13 CHAPTER SIX:............................................................................................................................................... 13 MIND YOUR BUSINESS ................................................................................................................................ 13 CHAPTER SEVEN: ......................................................................................................................................... 15 MIND YOUR SAFETY AND SECURITY ........................................................................................................... 15 CHAPTER EIGHT:.......................................................................................................................................... 17 ENJOY YOURSELF......................................................................................................................................... 17 CHAPTER NINE: ........................................................................................................................................... 20 LEAVE THE CITY GLORIOUSLY...................................................................................................................... 20 BUY A FULL COPY ........................................................................................................................................ 22

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INTRODUCTION Life in Kampala City is an inspirational, self-help book by Boaz Opio, unveiling what life in the Capital City of Uganda, Kampala is like. The author uses mostly his own experiences as a citizen of Uganda born in his village, Akadot in Tororo district and attracted by the positive achievements of life, leaves his village, leaves all the other small towns Uganda has, and choses to live in the biggest city. Now facing the highly monetised lifestyle typical of every city unlike rural lifestyles, the author works ordinary jobs, lives “all kinds of life imaginable” but endures and emerges to “live the kind of lifestyle he desired—a noble life. This he calls the “true Kampalan.” In the nine chapters, the author talks about “life in Kampala” in form of instructions to especially city rookies, and to all the people of Kampala community. The book begins off in its journey in form of steps someone should follow in order to live a good-life in the city.

ABOUT LIFE OF THE AUTHOR Boaz Opio moves with naked Camera and a Laptop on the streets of Kampala like no other journalist. He is a citizen journalist, a blogger, an entrepreneur, and a philosopher who has lived all kinds of lifestyle imaginable from lowly slums to places high on the hills of his city. His work as a freelance journalist bonds him with different classes of people. He currently lives in Ntinda but is often spotted in Nsambya. 3|BOAZ OPIO – LIFE IN KAMPALA CITY

Just as Boaz leads all lives, he has worked all kinds of jobs. From a supermarket labourer to unpronounceable NGOs and from Street hawking in his early youth, Boaz attended St. Peter’s SS Nsambya before Makerere University where he pursued Development Economics. In this book, he talks about Kampala in a way that gives instruction and hope to citizens that they can live up to the expectation of modern life or city life. Boaz is also a widely published personality. His articles regularly publish not only in Uganda’s mainstream media but worldwide. He is also a blogger for Modern Ghana in Accra. If you wish to read some of Boaz’s works in Uganda and worldwide during your spare time, just click the links below: 

Lifting Veil on Graves: Rethinking our environment - New Vision

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Why the Government should not pay lip service to climate change preparations - N.V

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Ministry of climate change needed --N.V

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Against all odds: Meet Ronnie, a Makerere student who uses….—Campus Eye

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Letter to Uganda’s President Museveni – Modern Ghana

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Is your New Year resolution green? --- Kenya Monitor

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Is there a break free from kerosene dependence? (https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BxoPQ2PLpdboejRLalZidy1LYzg) -- N.V

 Fossil Fuels to become History  Paris Agreement puts death spell on fossil fuels—Caribbean News Services 

Bonn with climate vision—New Delhi Times, India

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WHY SHOULD I READ THIS BOOK?

BOAZ OPIO, Ntinda, Kampala—photo by Boaz Opio

Living in Kampala City is hectic: traffic jam that annoys; robbers and thugs that kill, rising costs and standards of living hard to cope up with... yet all of us are here to live a good life and escape rusticity. Phew, thanks we are here, the question now is how do we live a good life? How do we build, or make something good, leave alone life? This is how you build the tallest flat or bake a sweet-delicious cake: you select the right materials or ingredients. Keep off the wrong ones. And work according to some steps because you don’t want to bake your cake and eat your cake before it’s ready to eat. The main purpose of this book is to share with you my thoughts on the ingredients and recipes for a good living in the city as Kampala I’m familiar with. 5|BOAZ OPIO – LIFE IN KAMPALA CITY

Came from home district Tororo, I have worked and lived in Kampala city for the greatest part of my life. Living, I’ve seen a lot of good things and bad things happening to city people only because they did not know or neglected some important rules of a good urbanite. I have also seen hopeless street people rise miraculously and become some of the most successful people at art and business. But I’ve also seen really rich people of the city slip back to paucity mysteriously. I have seen urbanites in search of meaning to life end up in jail or in mental asylum facilities in a busted irony. This book discusses the mystery of being a Kampalan beyond just ordinary senses. Here, you’ll find true stories and parables that show you the challenges of life in the City so that you may see a clear distinction between a nasty life and a true touch of nobility expected of you a Kampalan. Even if you’re not a Kampalan, this book will be your best companion if you consider migrating to the City. I share nine (9) instructions that, based on my inquiry and experience, can make our city voyage a wonderful one with direction and pleasure. Each instruction is a step written in a chapter form, and detailing real-life stories, anecdotes and tales that will hopefully impact your stay.

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CHAPTER ONE:

THINK MONEY AND SWAGGER Step one or instruction number one is “Think Money and Swagger”. In this step to becoming a true Kampalan, Boaz instructs people, especially those who come from less monetised country-side to look at life in a city as demanding money. Boaz is not the only artist commentating about the importance of money in Kampala but many Musicians including Geosteady. ; listen to Motto Ye Kampala by Kalifah, Aganaga.

Man packing bundles of money is a sack—photo by Boaz Opio 7|BOAZ OPIO – LIFE IN KAMPALA CITY

To write about the necessity of having plenty of money, Boaz looks at the major intention or the initial reasons for the formation of cities as “business and trade”. “Those days’ people come to work in Kampala, today people come to sit, to watch Television…this is the beginning of all economic hardships facing our city.” As a closure for this chapter, Boaz also looks at choosing living in Kampala, leaving all the 122 smaller towns of Uganda, as the noblest choice reason being Kampala is the administrative, highly politicised district of the Country.

CHAPTER TWO:

LOVE YOUR CITY In this step to becoming a true Kampalan, Boaz notices the challenges associated to a modern urban environment with specific reference to Kampala City. These challenges look varied but the author choses to look at them as if they are initiated by “lack of love for the city.” Kampala, this city with 65 tribes of Uganda, divergent minds from different countries, will mock you one day like a villager, he writes, citing series of events that makes him funk with mixed feelings each time he reflected on them.

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A traditionally dressed man freaks people out in the Kampala Capital City Authority Festival—photo by Boaz Opio

A man and a woman got down to ride right from the middle of the road between parliament and Serena hotel at midday. Were they mad? Caught for indecent exposure, the guy said: “but we’re just playing!” Indeed, the couple was just playing though an old man took off as if he’d seen a predator. Kampala she is always stimulating to me and I love her. What about you?

CHAPTER THREE:

CUT YOUR COAT ACCORDING TO YOUR CLOTH Here the author was trying to show citizens that the city is comprised of various backgrounds of people with different social, political and economic orientations. To cut your coat according to your cloth means living within your means—not trying borrowing other

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people’s behaviours even if they’re just your next-door neighbour—if they don’t sit right with you.

Passengers in a Taxi—Photo by Boaz Opio.

I pray you lend me your ears and hear me warn you by saying one of the biggest tragedies and blessings of the city today is that people with different economic and social realities live too close with one another. Some neighbours came from South Africa, some from Nairobi, others from England, others Washington DC, others from Abim, Kasese…

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Some neighbours came from South Africa, some from Nairobi, others from England, others Washington DC—Picture by Boaz Opio. According to the author, a closer instruction against “band-wagon spending” is to “rebuke the devil of money chopping.” It seems to the author that there is a lot of money chopping business as a result of band wagon influence going on in Kampala City: When you see someone seeming to enjoy as you suffer; driving an empty car when your legs are paining of over-walking, try to think and be convinced they’ve probably worked hard for it. If not, their parents worked for them in the days when yours didn’t innovate to come to Kampala and make money. With this in mind, you can resist that “evil” temptation that sweet-talks you into band wagon spending most typical of city.

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CHAPTER FOUR:

MASTER TOWN BUSINESS TACTICS If you also have been wondering how some people seem to make it up so quickly in a city, you would like to think of business as the sole aid to their quick financial success. As an opening to this chapter, the author uses his own experience working as a lowly store keeper at a Chinese supermarket—Kampala Stocks Supermarket in Nakasero—Namaganda plaza, and how he mastered town business tactics by buying all the sugar in crisis—when the price of sugar was high and then selling it at a profit. “For this, I ought to be awarded “Masters in Opportunity Mgt” from Kampala Street University but the bad thing you’re the first person to know,” says Boaz. Now I did not buy a private jet just yet, or built white castle in Munyonyo but this marked the beginning of my quitting the job. I sold the sugar at the market price of the scarcity to small retailers in Nakasero Market and to street vendors and surprised my bank account with sudden six figures. Other contents of this chapter talk about offering quality goods or services in the market as one of the most efficient ways to get a head.

Offering quality goods and services opened a way for one boda-boda man.

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CHAPTER FIVE:

MASTER THE ART OF TECHNICAL KNOW WHO

Had you ever heard that in Uganda, particularly in Kampala, a city of three million where competition for jobs is stiff, blood is thicker than walls and company rules. By “blood” the author means the connections people have with one another. The relationships people forge each day within themselves and the, in essence, technical know who. Whom you know before going to which office, Boaz says, will greatly determine whether you are going to succeeded in your mission or not.

CHAPTER SIX:

MIND YOUR BUSINESS

Whether, like most Kampalans, who originate from a rural setting or you have passed a long lineage of ancestry within the metropolitan environment, you will likely be affected by what Boaz describes as noise:

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Street Preacher making too much noise near Mapeera House—photo by Boaz Opio

I long learned that an excellent city-life is built on your ability to cut off distraction and concentrate on your affairs. The city is a very noisy place. Here, the author uses his experience living in a slum of Kamwanyi, a Kampala suburb, and reflecting upon himself sharing a “ramshackle” block with citizens of strange personalities: I couldn’t afford to live in a classy neighbourhood I wished to live. I imagined living in a flat someday in Kololo or Ntinda. My immediate neighbour to the left was a strange personality who often came back home in the middle of the night, who knows where from, only to suppress the only few hours of the night’s calm with disquieting music. But through not allowing external environment to affect his focus, Boaz describes his experience emerging from a slum, going to Germany for a writing and journalism fellowship with Climate Tracker dot org, and then shifting to Ntinda, his once upon a time a dream residence. 14 | B O A Z O P I O – L I F E I N K A M P A L A C I T Y

Here, he also describes his experience with a group of Kamwanyi youth who called themselves “Bad Boys”: This group wore headstocks on unwashed dreadlocks and smocked weed. They loved Lil Wayne’s and Bobi Wine’s hip-hops and reggae music and called themselves “BAD BOYS.” Closing the chapter, Boaz reflects upon what he describes as the “bitter talks” of the city that “Spread like Smog.” In life in Kampala City Boaz describes these “five bitter talks” as harmful for the psychological composure required or perhaps even expected of the city: These talks sound as though jokes on the surface but deeply is eating the hearts and souls of Kampalans, causing them live a pitiable life.

CHAPTER SEVEN:

MIND YOUR SAFETY AND SECURITY This chapter is full of reflections as to how life can turn tragic to somebody who does not take caution of their own safeties and security. The author reflects deeply upon the life and death of his own acquaintance, Cerinah Nebanda, the once upon a time woman member of parliament for Butaleja District: Recalling reserved, but breathless body of the former Member of Parliament for Butaleja District, Cerinah Nebanda, lay in Mukwaya General Hospital, Nsambya awaiting nothing but burial back in Butaleja at the time her parents would rather be expecting a huge New Nissan parked in their compound and Matooke and Meat glimpsing in the boot behind, I’m provoked to say a minute of insecurity can draw you back to the village breathless. With his poetic style, Boaz surprises Ugandans with strong accusations against “innocent” wild animals—the Lions, by maintaining that “Invisible Lions Still Hunting Kampalans.”

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Using the “mysterious” death of his acquaintance Nebanda as an example, the author says: Perhaps the pathologist could have found that Nebanda was bitten by Invisible Lions. Or mad impala. Or that Nebanda did drugs too much as the national pathologists suspected. Or that her day had come.

That man in hood could be your worst nightmare.

But wait a minute before drawing conclusions. Remember the legend of townsfolk and country’s folk in chapter one? The impalas were the true owners of Kampala. But lions killed the impalas. But a king, a Kabaka, killed the lions. And he’s named a lion. Then be no impala. Be no lion. But be a lion-king.

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After sharing security tricks that have saved many high profile Ugandans from assailants and attackers, Boaz continues to reflect upon different insecurity traps that have slain many in Kampala: You will finally find a perfect reason why you would never again accept unsolicited car lift offers from strangers. This, I think, is again connected to remembering to “cut your coat according to your cloth” and to not allow to be swayed by the good things, so much in the city. Here, he uses an incident where his own sister, Bernadette Anyango who was a student of Makerere University, together with her friend named Resty lost two laptops in laptop bags alongside other belongings to wrong people “pretending to be passionate about their struggles.” “So Resty left the collage with the bags and left me waiting on the lawn. When she reached at the campus’ main gate, the rushing girl met two men in a car; these men friendly hallowed her and she stopped. By their belongings seeable through their car—laptops, books… they looked to be students, definitely from the same University. To clear off that doubt, one of them claimed to have seen Resty loaded with two laptop bags,” Boaz’s sister Bernadette narrates.

CHAPTER EIGHT:

ENJOY YOURSELF If you really worked hard and sold your sweets on the streets as Boaz describes in earlier chapters of “loving the city,” time will come that you should worry no more but simply enjoy your sweat. However, Boaz’s major sympathy goes to urbanites who, seeing good things around always, assume it’s okay to enjoy one’s sweat—to chop one’s money every time of the day. “If you 17 | B O A Z O P I O – L I F E I N K A M P A L A C I T Y

have not sold sweets we described in chapter to, and you try to enjoy your sweat, then you are headed for trouble in Kampala—you’ll be soon broke.”

City girls enjoying evening party at National Theatre—photo by Boaz Opio Within this very chapter, it is interesting how Boaz finds his own unique muse by the fact that Ugandans generally love to drink alcohol, including himself. He does not intend to praise alcohol or drugs itself, but rather praises the happy state of minds it gives to people who use them correctly.

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Kampalans drinking in a slum bar at night—photo by Boaz Opio

Boaz’s Book also realises that misuse of booze and drugs can be a single worst mistake of your “city times” or metropolitan voyage using an illustration “From bar to Behind Bars,” the same tragedy he later described in grater details in the last chapter of the book as “The Fallen Aristocrat of Uganda,” a story of how Eng. Charles Kazibwe, the ex-husband of the former Vice President Dr. Speciosa Wandira Kazibwe, was taken aback by over engagement with “those brown bottles.”

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Getting off stress— photo by Boaz Opio

CHAPTER NINE:

LEAVE THE CITY GLORIOUSLY

The instructions in this last chapter may be so crucial to townsfolk who still have connections with relatives in the village or countryside where they originated using a saying: “Tell me you don’t want to leave the city and I will tell you how you’ll die.” To youth who come to the city to make life and, sometimes forget where they came from, a very enlightening story involving a man the author knows as Okello who came to Kampala in the 1940s from his village in Tororo district. Okello spent 40 years before stepping his ancestral land. When he went back, he got lost and stuck in the jungle looking for his home:

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Lost and frustrated, Okello stopped the car and started wondering where his ancestral family had gone. It must have been a bitter lesson for citified ageing man discovering forest for an old family yard. The story ended tragically for Okello by death. He never left the city gloriously. If he’d been a home coming son, perhaps things would have ended differently for Okello and the Okello’s. Related to leaving Kampala City gloriously is another phenomenon Boaz the Author describes as “White Hair Needs Peace and Tranquility.” Here, he emphasised that one needs to retire from the hectic work of a town environment, leave, and live peacefully in a farmyard close to his ancestors—close to the Jajas. Ugandan youth complain to me that old men’s not wanting to leave the goodness of the city is the reason for continued lack of jobs for the young. They begin working at the dawn of their youth and will retain the office until they’re in filth grey. Some continue, especially with public jobs, even when they’ve amassed pronounced family responsibilities—they’ve firms and they’re themselves employers. Finally, Boaz is inspired by Barrack Obama’s leaving Chicago and paying a visit to his grandmother’s home in the humble village of Kogelo in western Kenya and to his father’s grave: “When he arrived in Kogelo he headed straight to the gravestone where his father Barack Hussein Obama Sr. had been laid to rest six years earlier,” Boaz says. “Obama later revealed that the move to remember his origin was among the most illuminating experiences of his adventure digging up his roots.” This is what Boaz coins “The Secret of Visiting one’s origin” to encourage Kampalans to visit back where they come from.

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BUY A FULL COPY To purchase a copy of Life in Kampala city, visit Aristoc Bookshop on Kampala Road or call the following agents: Juliet (+256714910893) Suzan (+256777979812) Max-Wel (+256780581920)

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http://www.facebook.com/boazopio Email: [email protected]. You can also visit newspaper agents along Kampala Road and Entebbe Road for your copy. If you like this book, visit our blog: http://kampalapress.wordpress.com and share in the community of urbanites sharing more information about Kampala city.

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