In the beginning of October a group of tourism people met in Rushaga Gorilla Camp on the edge of Bwindi, the rugged rainforest that hides mountain gorillas. They discussed how to promote tourism in Kigezi, the Ugandan side of the Gorilla Highlands region. I couldn’t attend but the hotel manager was present and shared the meeting results.
I had been part of the Kigezi Tourism Promotion group on the WhatsApp messaging platform, and his report reminded me of the doubts it had been giving me: so much praise-worthy desire to do something but little actual know-how. While Rwanda and Kenya hire professionals, Uganda hires somebody’s cousin. Ugandans love to talk about national service but then act according to the unofficial national motto: For God and My Stomach. Uganda is the realm of improvisation, low standards and excessive appreciation for any effort invested. Uganda is the realm of amateurs.
And I am one of them!
Sure, I’ve been trained to be a journalist, what (often unfortunately) isn’t so far from marketing. Sure, I’ve been around the world, I read a lot, I have ideas. Sure, I have managed to assemble a group of expert volunteers and helpers that would be anybody’s envy. But still…
During the months of July and August I devoted myself extensively to understanding the current trends in internet publishing. It was staggering to grasp how little I knew. I downloaded a lot of up-to-date articles, chatted with very smart people and eventually came up with a new concept for this very website. It’s radically different, exciting and … crazy demanding to implement. The one page that already works took over a week to put together! I have to be honest: I feel overwhelmed. There’s a numbing feeling that I am not progressing.
I am also ashamed that the website I promote in a lovely booklet that includes Uganda and Rwanda still doesn’t give Rwanda what is due, two months later! Not to mention that I have been unhappy with the frequency of our blog updates…
The sense that I would have to get personal has contributed to the problem. Posting a photo of myself up there, standing next to my co-director Blasio Byekwaso, is actually a breakthrough. I hate exposing myself. Above all, I am a European in Africa and feel that displaying my pink face is kinda wrong. Africans should talk about Africa. Yet here I am, writing about my personal struggles …
Why? Because I feel I have to. If I am to convince people around the world that it is safe to book and pay online for activities in Uganda and Rwanda, they should better know who is on the other side.
But now I’ve successfully forced myself to do it thrice in a row and created a possible red thread for the blog. We are getting somewhere…
text: Miha Logar