Marco F.M

My friend flew back to the UK yesterday.. No airport photos. No farewell party. Just an evening flight out of Entebbe, touching down in the UK around 7am — quietly, like she was never really here. A year ago, she went home buzzing with hope. London had ground her down. The cold, the loneliness, the bills that never stopped. She missed Kampala. The noise, the warmth, the feeling of belonging somewhere. I understood that feeling — I'm still here in the UK myself, and some days Uganda feels like the only answer. But missing home and actually living in it are two different things. The power cuts hit first. She'd be working and the lights would just vanish. Not for an hour — for two days. No warning, no reason given. Then Entebbe Road started stealing her mornings. Out of the house at 5am, sitting in traffic until 9, already tired before anything had even started. Then a boda-boda knocked into her. Clearly his fault. But she looked like she had money, so the crowd had already made up their mind. The police weren't much better — they looked at her and saw an opportunity, not a victim. Every conversation had an invisible price attached to it... nobody looked at what actually happened — they just looked at her and saw a transaction. Every conversation came with a price tag. She tried to start something small in Kikuubo. People took advantage. Faces she trusted disappeared with her money. The jobs she interviewed for offered salaries that couldn't cover her basics — like her years of experience abroad counted for nothing. Then came the family pressure. The same people who celebrated her return started knocking every day. And when the money wasn't there, the comments started: "So UK didn't work out?" UK yakulema ehhhh "You came back for this?" That hit differently. Because in London, yes — she was lonely. I know that loneliness too. But it's a straightforward loneliness. In Kampala she was surrounded by people and somehow felt more alone, because most of them only saw what she could give them. So she left. No big goodbye. Just packed her bags and got on that evening flight. Back to the cold, back to the struggle — but at least it's a struggle with some order to it. At least you know where you stand. I'm not saying this to attack Uganda. I say it as someone who is also sitting in the UK, also missing home, also wondering if the grass is actually greener or if I'm just tired of winter. Most of us who leave don't stop loving home. We just get honest about what home is asking us to carry. So before you judge someone for going back — or for never leaving — just know the decision is never simple.

Mimi nafikiri GPA siyo muhimu kama skills. Siku hizi waajiri wengi wamepunguza kuulizia matokeo ya chuo na wanakazia kwenye practical assessment na interviews. Nilimaliza chuo, hadi nilipoacha kuajiriwa sikuulizwa cheti wala GPA. Kuna watu nawafahamu hadi leo hata kwenda kuchukua vyeti vyao hawajaenda, more than 10 years later. Yes kuna baadhi ya kada bado GPA ni msingi, ila miaka inavyokwenda itapoteza umuhimu zaidi. Tuwafundishe wadogo zetu na watoto wetu kuwa GPA bila skills ni mateso.

Hakuna kazi utakayopata BOT kwa sababu ya GPA tu.. Watu si Wajinga bhana