Code and Coffee: My Ugandan Tech Adventure
Let’s be real, folks. Tech wasn’t exactly on the menu for most kids growing up in Kampala. Our days were filled with chasing mangoes around the markets, dodging potholes bigger than craters on our way to school, and squeezing into overflowing taxis that smelled like a blend of yesterday’s lunch and hope. The internet? A mythical creature whispered about in hushed tones at the local cyber cafe.
But then, life, like a Ugandan boda boda weaving through traffic, took a sharp turn. Here I was, leg propped up like a wounded crested crane, thanks to a particularly enthusiastic game of football. Video games were out, and boredom threatened to consume me faster than a swarm of locusts at harvest time.
One scorching afternoon, my grandpa (bless his educational spirit) brought home this bulky contraption with a flickering screen. "It’s a computer," he declared, eyes gleaming like he’d unearthed a pot of gold. "Windows something-something. You can learn on it."
Now, this Windows fellow seemed about as friendly as a grumpy mama gorilla guarding her young. But with the determination that comes from having nothing else to do and a healthy dose of "prove them wrong" fire, I dove in. Clicking, clacking, Googling everything from "how to use a mouse" (because apparently, that wasn't intuitive) to "what is coding?" – I was on a mission.
Let me tell you, deciphering code was like trying to understand my uncle’s riddles after a sip (or five) of potent Ugandan waragi. But slowly, a light bulb flickered on – or maybe it was the power going out, a common occurrence here. Code, I realized, was a language, a way to tell a computer what to do, like convincing your stubborn goat to finally move off the main road.
The more I learned, the more the tech world opened up. Building websites felt like constructing a whole new market stall, one line of code at a time. Fixing someone’s phone became a heroic feat, earning endless cups of coffee and eternal gratitude.
The journey hasn’t been smooth sailing. There were days when the internet connection was slower than a snail with a hangover, and troubleshooting felt like wrestling a stubborn Ugandan cow. But with every hurdle, every line of code conquered, came a sense of accomplishment that rivaled winning a game of chess against my sharp-witted grandma.
Tech, for me, became more than just lines on a screen. It’s a way to connect, to create, to solve problems as uniquely Ugandan as figuring out how to stretch a single rolex to feed three. It’s about taking that boda ride of an idea and turning it into something real, something that can make a difference, even if it’s just making my grandma laugh with a silly website I built for her drug shop.
So, the next time you hear about a kid in Uganda tinkering away on a computer, don’t underestimate them. We might be a world away from Silicon Valley, but with a good dose of curiosity, some serious hustle, and maybe a strong cup of coffee, we’re out here building our own tech adventures, one line of code at a time…
