March has delivered to me two anniversaries. On March 1st, I celebrated one year as a licensed General class amateur radio operator. Yesterday, March 15th, marked my 5th month in Uganda. I am still a uninitiated outsider here. I have lived in cultures other than my own for most of my adult life, first on the Navajo Nation in northern Arizona, then the Caribbean, and now Uganda. I have come to accept the reality that I am a perpetual outsider but not a tourist. My engagements with foreign cultures have been mostly vocational, not avocational.

To most Americans, Europeans, and those living in “westernized” cities in other places (like Hong Kong, Singapore, or Shanghai), a fast pace and high powered lifestyle is normal. I too like V-8 engines and high-speed internet. I did tire of the pressured corporate lifestyle and made the move to the Caribbean a few years ago, but that’s another story. I find reassurance in reliable and speedy parcel delivery, toll-free telephones, and fast food. But for most of my life I have been able to live without them.

Where I live now there is no cable TV, but we do have a DVD player. We might get mail 2x a month. The internet works most days, but slowly. All in all one learns to adapt and not get too frustrated. When a scheduled appointment does not show up on time, I remember that “on time” in Uganda is as much as an hour and half late. If I call and ask where the appointment is, he will most likely say, “Right now I’m coming.” Which means that as soon as I hang up the phone he will order another drink and get around to actually leaving for his meeting with me sometime later.

This drives some Americans crazy, and it will do so to anyone who insists on imposing an overlay of American customs on Ugandans. Kampala moves more quickly than the rest of the country, but even so it cannot match the pace of Los Angeles or New York. A couple of years ago American consultant was here researching the feasibility of a certain business in this economy. Frustrated at not getting a taxi soon enough, he decided to walk. With briefcase affixed underarm, he set forth to conquer the streets of Uganda at the pace of his native New York. Reports began to circulate in the gossip circuit that there was a muzungu (Ugandan word for white man) mad man out in the streets, you could see him fiercely clipping his way through the crowds of the hotel district.

They thought he was mad, an opinion formed by observation not conversation. I suppose, if we were to look at it from their point of view we would come to the same conclusion. What, they wonder, is the hurry? Why the need to press through? The accompanying photos show only two uses for a bicycle. Motored transport is available, but the bike works just fine and in some cases, gets through better.

Ok, I guess I need to draw some correlation to radio since this is a radio blog. But it is a blog about radio in Uganda and if you check the archives, you will see more than one article about QRP. Qrp is all about doing more with less, about getting a signal through without ramming it through, and about homebrewing. All of these match Uganda living perfectly. When I owned a custom millwork shop in the islands I had lunch one day with friend who owned a cabinet shop. I told her that I saw a big contrast between the people of Uganda and the people of the US. While we in the States enjoy the highest standard of living and the broadest selection of consumer goods, too many of us, I felt and still feel, are frustrated, driven, and angry. But in Uganda, the vast majority are poor as Job’s turkey yet happy, content, and enjoy life when everything I own and use will never be theirs.

Her answer was both remarkable and insightful. She thinks, and I have to agree, that so many Americans  are frustrated and angry because we have become a society of consumers, not producers. Very few people actually make anything any more, not even lunch. (We are not suggesting that most Americans feel this way, only that many of us do). We are no longer a manufacturing society. We have outsourced manufacturing and therefore craftsmanship along with the satisfaction of making something ourselves.

This could explain why amateur woodworking is the biggest avocation in North America. This also helps explain the resurgence in QRP and homebrewing. We hams hearken back to the time when we put things together ourselves, when technology was embryonic, and so much about radio was unknown. Back then we threw parts together based on what theory we understood, put power to it, and fired off a signal.

We’re a bit more sophisticated these days, but in principle little has changed. Most of us still don’t know a lot about radio and our grasp of technology is still in its infancy. But we’re having a great time. QRP combines both elements. Pursuit of QRP these days has virtually become a movement within amateur radio. No longer the fringe actions of those odd guys over there, we are rediscovering how good it feels to solder components into circuits and build a radio. Kits help us get over the design hump, clubs add in motivation and assurance, even the internet provides gathering places for mutual education. And QRP is a gentler, even more genteel way of making contact. I’d like to think we are a satisfied lot, but I cannot answer for others. As for myself, I feel pretty good.

Hold on, the phone is ringing.

“Where am I?… Right now I’m coming... Bye.”

Now, where did I put my drink? And where is that assembly manual. I’ve got to go…in a few minutes. Let me solder one more connection.