The Ebola Scare: Lord have mercy!!

A couple of days ago, I was walking home when I met my friend Morgan and extended my hand in greeting.
“No handshakes, man,” he said with a nervous laugh, “have you forgotten?” He was alluding to the Ebola scare. I quickly understood, and we chatted on the unpredictability of the times. Earlier that day, a friend we went to campus with had collapsed in his office and died instantly.

Ebola has killed many Ugandans but few are taking precautions

And now with Ebola cases reported in Mulago, we had to be extra careful for sure. But being optimists, our conversation soon drifted to the brighter side of life, and we were soon cracking jokes and crackling. Suddenly Morgan looked at his watch and whistled. He had a date and was already late.

“I gotta run, man,” he said grabbing my hand and shaking it vigorously before he hurried off. In his excitement, he had forgotten we were not supposed to shake hands! I found that simultaneously funny and scary but not strange. It’s typical of Ugandans and Africans generally. Remember the story about Jacob Zuma having unprotected sex and diving into the bathroom shortly after to rinse any viruses off? One moment we are prudent, and another, incredibly imprudent.

First we come with all our guns blazing against HIV/Aids and become a model on how the pandemic can be outwitted. But a few years later, abstinence is forgotten, being faithful laughed at, and the condom mocked as an inconvenience as men and women go on rampage devouring each other. Now the infection rate is so alarmingly soaring that the other day the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton voiced her worry on our behalf. It is incredible how nonchalant we are about it.

Back to Ebola, you ask yourself what precautionary measures the government or other institutions have put in place since it was first announced the virulent epidemic had stormed Kampala as well? We were advised to avoid shaking hands but why are night clubs still operating? And why are people still hugging and shaking hands at church when they have been told they will contract the epidemic through close contact?

The absurdity of our recklessness or sheer stupidity brings me to the only conclusion -- that God is really doing a great job of protecting us.Otherwise we would have long been wiped out of the face of this earth. But how long will He wait for us to grow up? Because, evidently, even in the face of the most deadly plague, the word “precaution” is non-existent in the Ugandan dictionary.