baby steps

the text of the billboard reads: "family planning is the way forward: have a small family that fits in a [14 passenger] taxi." really? believe it or not, a "less than fourteen people" guideline may be a step in the right direction as far as family planning in uganda is concerned. this country, which i love, has one of the highest birth rates in the world. i have met people who tell me they have eight, twelve, twenty, sometimes even thirty children. culturally speaking, i can understand these numbers. polygamy is common and there is a belief that having many children signifies power, wealth, and success. in fact, family planning campaigns are occasionally received with hostility among locals who think it's an outside attempt to reduce their power and influence, or even a racially motivated tactic to slowly eliminate africans. keeping in mind cultural differences, these feelings are easy to understand. it is a very delicate matter to offer advice to people on the number of children they should have, and when this advice comes from outside one's community, or even continent, skepticism should be expected.

looking around, however, one can easily see the strain this country is already under: jobs are scarce; trees and forests are disappearing; many unfortunate children go uneducated because their parents cannot afford to send them to school or cannot afford supplies for them; arable land is largely saturated with crops. if population growth estimates hold true, the number of people living in uganda could quadruple in the next two generations. that number is not just surprising, it's scary. i hear about peoples' struggles here every day, struggles that exist because of the current scarcity of jobs and resources. i don't even want to imagine how difficult life could be here in forty years if four times the number of people are competing for essentially the same resources. sadly, this rich and beautiful piece of land in east africa cannot get any bigger to accommodate a rapidly growing population. for the good of all ugandans, i hope the idea of responsible family planning gains widespread acceptance...and soon.