Birthday in Uganda

I celebrated my birthday in Uganda yesterday.

I’ve never thought of my birthday as a time to reflect on how fortunate I am just to make it to this age. I’ve usually thought “Ooh it’s my special day!”  And how it’s fun to toast, and spend time with friends, family and loved ones, and to have some good sweets.  Or maybe even a time to consider existential questions, like “Am I where I thought I would be in life by this age?”  But I’ve never thought about how lucky I am to still be alive at the age of 34.  

Some of my Ugandan colleagues sent me birthday greetings yesterday which really brought this home for me, especially considering how many people here (and in other parts of east Africa) are never lucky enough to reach this age.

Birthday messages/greetings:

“Many have always wanted to reach those years but have always failed and you should always thank god that you are among the blessed ones, many happy returns.”

“Happy birthday. This is a very special moment in life since it comes once in a year. May the loving God bless you and grant you more life to celebrate and blow more candles.”

Birthday Lunch

My coworkers were also thoughtful to cook me a wonderful birthday lunch.  It consisted of beans (which I opted for instead of the chicken that we received the day before that was slaughtered in the back yard that morning), eggplant and atapa. 

Making Atapa

Atapa has a slightly nutty taste and was quite good and very filling. It's made from either a combination of millet and sorghum flours, or in our case yesterday, cassava flour, stirred into boiling water.  It takes a lot of elbow grease to work the flour into the gummy, almost playdough-like texture. 

Steaming pile of atapa (I know it looks scary, but it's actually pretty tasty) 

While I was watching it being made, a coworker explained that it used to be tradition that before a man would marry a woman, she was given a very large pot and had to make atapa.  If the atapa was not of good quality (like if it still had little balls of unmixed flour) he wouldn’t marry her.  So I asked the cook if hers was worthy of a marriage proposal, and she just laughed. 

Birthday lunch of beans, atapa and eggplant

It was a delicious lunch!   And a good birthday!