Manchester Happened

Travel Guide

Travel to Manchester from Kampala then back again BookTrail style

Manchester happened and so did Uganda. a series of short stories which allows you to see these two very different places and the people who move between them. Immigrants from Africa to England who adapt and then go back to see how their homeland has changed.

There are some really fun observations between the two cities, culture and languages:

The Sun

“He could not wait to get home to tell people how in Britain the sun had moods It barely retired in summer yet in winter it could not be bothered to rise.”

Religion

“In Uganda, God was hands-on. He watched and recorded every wicked deed, word and thought i his black book. Then he sent his angels to stockpile firewood in hell to burn you when you died. That’s why grown ups at home behaved – no messing about. But here in Manchester, where God gave up a lon g time ago , grown-ups are out of control.”

Manchester

The city centre was at once beautiful and scary. Here was his wish to travel beyond the seas coming true, without him even fighting in a war, but he was petrified just to walk through Manchester. The infrastructure alone – of brick and stone – was forbidding. The skyline – dotted by conical, sharp church steeples and tall chimneys – mad him feel trapped.”

Churches in Manchester

“Why would the British sculpt snarling devils on their walls when they lived in such dark misty environs?”

Kampala, Uganda

When one character returns after living in Manchester it’s interesting to see how the sights and sounds of a country are so different.

” I feel like a traditional bride coming out of the honeymoon bedroom to start a new life. Ever sense is attuned to the difference. a loud cockerel, goats bleating, someone chopping wood. I smell ripe jackfruit and my eyes search for the tree. A boda boda whizzes down the hill, raising a cloud of dust.” (Boda Boday – bicycle & motorcycle taxis)

The markets and food here are what all characters miss. There’s the matooke, the fresh beans and peas, the goats meat, the flavours and colours are missing in England. So too, is their language for when they return, they are mocked by Ugandans who feel they are too British and they are accused of speaking mangled Luganda.