Hilarie: Old friends reunited through the power of internet

Mar 14 2009 By Hilarie Stelfox

THE Man-in-Charge was brought up in Uganda and has fond memories of a childhood spent playing in swamps and running wild with his African friends.

His family was forced to leave while it still could when he was nine-years-old and, I think, part of him has never quite recovered.

England, he says, seemed a cold, damp and dreary place by comparison and the culture shock of arriving here left a permanent mark.

When I first met him he was applying for jobs in Africa because he wanted to return. Africa, he says, gets under your skin and into your heart.

He never made it back – except for a brief holiday more than 20 years ago to revisit some of the people and places that were dear to him. But our children have been raised with the stories of his African upbringing – his dog, Carl, who, with spectacular misjudgement, once bit the Bishop of Uganda, the colour-changing chameleons in the mango tree that provided hours of entertainment and the peanut stew and matoke that were favourite family foods. But, most of all, he has regaled them with tales of his "best friend in the whole world,’’ Sematimba.

Last weekend we watched a DVD of the movie, The Last King of Scotland, which is about the rise to power and misrule of Idi Amin in Uganda.

It was filmed in Uganda, a country of lush, fertile beauty. Afterwards, the Man began to pine and reminisce.

The fortunes of Africa’s people have been affected by so much war, persecution, revolution, starvation, AIDS and the sort of nightmare struggles we can barely imagine. that The Man has always feared the worst for his old pals.

But, two days later, we found out exactly what Sematimba’s doing now. He’s a father of five, grandfather of one and still living in Nakasero, the place where he went to school with the Man-in-Charge.

Over the years I’ve become a believer in synchronicity. The most common manifestation of this phenomenon being the way that thinking about someone you have not seen for some time causes them to ring up.

In this case it was Sema’s older brother Eddie, who rang. He’d found a telephone number for the Man’s veterinary surgery by trawling the internet. From him, the Man got Sema’s number. Sema was, understandably, gobsmacked.

"There was silence on the end of the phone, he couldn’t believe it was me,’’ said The Man.

The strangest thing about the whole reunion is that we have had The Last King of Scotland in our DVD cupboard for at least six months. since nicking it from my brother. For one reason or another we just hadn’t watched it.

The Girl and me thought it might be a bit gruesome and not the sort film that makes relaxing Saturday evening cinema. We weakened only because there was nothing else on offer.

If you have yet to see it then the movie comes highly recommended for its drama, pace and the quality of the filming, but it does, indeed, feature disquieting scenes of the sort that makes the popcorn stick in the back of your throat.

The discovery that Eddie and Sema are alive and well was the perfect antidote to the images of mutilation and the atmosphere of menace captured by the film makers.

Uganda, like so many African nations, has a recent bloody history but its people somehow struggle on. We’re now hoping to see Eddie later this year when he comes to England on business. In the meantime, The Man is going to email some old photographs of their days together hunting crocodiles in the swamp and posing in the sunshine.; little boys from different worlds sharing the innocent pleasures of childhood.

As they say, it’s good to keep in touch.He works for a bank and has been to London before. "He didn’t like it,’’ said The Man, "because he said the people were unfriendly and it was cold.’’

Unfortunately, there’s not a lot we can do about the weather but we’ll give him some warm, Yorkshire hospitality.

In the meantime The Man is going to email some old photographs of their days together hunting crocodiles in the swamp and posing in the sunshine; little boys from different worlds sharing the innocent pleasures of childhood.

As they say, it’s good to keep in touch.