By Apolot Catherine
I know many people have left for villages to enjoy the festive season with their loved ones.
Though this comes with a cost; you have to spend some of your sweat earned savings whether you like it or not.
It’s okay to spend but I don’t think it would be sweet to spent every penny on you because you want to show off to the extent of running out of transport which would have taken you back to where you came from.
So there some things you should be cautious of when you go to your village to enjoy the Christmas holiday;
1. Talk less. Folks don’t care how much you know until they know that you care. They like being listened to. Even if their conversation is boring just pay attention. That’s all they need.
2. Show interest in what has been happening in their lives while you were away. Laugh or cry with them when need be.
3. Keep your city stories to yourself unless asked. They don’t want to know whether the GDP has increased by 20%, why Dr. Stella Nyanzi was fired by Makerere University or whether Uganda will gain a middle income status by 2020.
4. Ask for things you know they can offer. You don’t ask for KFC food, chillies, McDonald’s or data bundles to facilitate your social media.
5. Carry enough money especially in small denomination. Everyone needs a penny from you and they don’t give change.
6. Teach the children how to greet the elders. They get disappointed when their grandchildren can’t utter a single word in their mother tongue. They don’t understand the ‘Hi’, ‘Whazzup gran’pa’ business.
7. Be thankful. Thank them for doing a great job while you were away. Even if they have successfully failed to do anything good, thank them for being alive.
8. Give them gifts. It’s important to carry something for them from the city. It doesn’t matter how cheap or expensive it is. It could be an opener, key holder, calendar, T-shirt, umbrella mention it.
9. Use what is available. You don’t have to ask for a toilet if all they can offer is a pit latrine. If you can’t pee in the basin at night then hold it till morning. The basin is usually the only alternative for those who fear to walk in the banana plantation 30meters away where the latrine is located.
10. Leave the village before spending all your money including your transport. The city is waiting to milk you twice as much.
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