Kiran's Tale

When you are of a very young age and find out your father was born in another country like Uganda, you tend not to pay too much attention. In your head it is a way of life exactly like yours but just in a warmer climate. He gets the bus to school, hangs out with friends, visits local cafes and restaurants, an identical upbringing to you but just without the latest gadgets. You are blind to how different each corner of this place we call earth is. However as the years go on and you start to expand your knowledge of the world, you realise not everybody’s upbringings are the same. While I feel that I could say I had a very fortunate upbringing compared to my father in terms of accessibility and availability to technology and resources, he undoubtedly had a childhood that that you now could only dream of. To live in a country with such diverse landscapes from snow capped mountains to the giant that is Lake Victoria. Where we would cycle to the park and play on the monkey bars, my father would walk into the forests near Mbale and play with actual monkeys. Fruit was picked fresh from its source and vegetables were picked straight from the ground. A sense of freedom in wildlife some of us can only imagine.

In the early 1960’s my grandfather moved his family from Mbale in eastern Uganda to Jinja, right at the source of the Nile. This was in order to take charge of a cinema purchased by one of his relatives. Here, my father spent a large portion of his childhood, living in a flat adjacent to the cinema. I have heard stories of him and my aunt sneaking into the projector room to watch movies their father wouldn’t allow and eating the restaurant’s kebabs until they were too full to move.

However, in the early ‘70’s Uganda went through a torrid time under dictator Idi Amin and my grandfather emigrated with his family to the UK. 20 odd years later and sadly after the passing of my grandfather, I was born. So when the opportunity with UgandAid arose, I didn’t have much choice. I wanted, nay, needed, to walk the footsteps of my forefathers, little did I know this would be literal. After a few phone calls and emails I was all booked, I was going to have the chance to see where my father grew up.

Prior to the trip I had a discussion with my father about if there is anything he would like me to go and see and his eyes lit up; “The Odeon Cinema” he said, “You have to try and find it”. After a bit of research we found the location but would this building still be standing? After all it has been 50 years since my father was last in the country.

Fast forward to Saturday March 4th, a few of us were having lunch at a local spot called The Deli and Laurie informed me the location of the cinema was a short walk away. Well now was a better time than any, so myself, Chris and Laurie take the short walk down and much to my amazement there it is. In all its glory the cinema still stands. It is beaten, rundown and in fact now a church, but for me that didn’t matter. I was able to walk around a building my father spent years of his life in. Tread the exact path he took almost 60 years ago. Walk the aisles he used to run up and down chasing his siblings. Sit in the still existing seats Ugandans sat in to watch the latest Alfred Hitchcock or Clint Eastwood movie. For a second I felt like I had gone back in time.

At this moment I realised going on this trip was not about me, it was not even about my relationship with my father. I have fond memories of time spent with him and hopefully many more to come. This trip was about my Grandfather, the patriarch of our family who had to survive through torrid times, being forced to have his family flee their home and relocating to an unfamiliar country. Where he was challenged to rebuild a business and support a family off almost nothing. This was the closest I have ever felt to him. If you are someone who believes that your loved ones do look down on you when they pass, I would like to think my grandfather was looking down on me then. As I walked through that cinema I felt my life had come full circle.