Post by: Emily Jane Sullivan
When living outside of one’s home country, it is easy to notice the things that are different. However, I have found that it is often more interesting and remarkable to note what is similar. People’s desires tend to mirror each other all across the world when it comes to basics; a healthy family, a happy and fulfilling life, enough means to provide for themselves and their loved ones, and of course… ice cream.
I work in Mifumi Village in rural Eastern Uganda. The village sees very few cars or even motorbikes. Cows and herdsman rule the road. One particularly quiet evening, I went for a walk with my co-fellow, Faridah, and Ronald, the lab technician from our health centre. On the way, we made a few stops, including a farm to pick up milk, and a small shop to get greens and veggies for dinner. Goods in hand, we headed back to the health centre staff-housing that we call home.
On the way back, the chimes to a familiar tune could be heard in the air. “It’s a Small World After-all” traveled down the road and met my ears with sweet poignancy. As I searched for the origin of this soft melody, I noticed a gathering of children down the road. From every direction children flowed from their homes into the street.
A small girl dashed by my side brushing against my skirt, smiling up at me as she passed as if to say “Come on what are you waiting for? Let’s go!“
What force gathers children in the middle of the road like no other? Ice cream! Every child’s best friend, the ice cream man had come to the village from town on his motorbike. Strapped to the back of the bike was a cooler filled with scoops of heaven and to the front a small tape-player calling all children out of their homes at dusk. The scene and song were in harmony.
It is a small world. Not very long ago back in the States, in Jersey’s summer heat, my neighborhood pals and I would stop in mid water-balloon fight to chase the ice cream truck. After carefully selecting a flavor, we would sit on the curb enjoying every moment. Now years later, standing in the middle of a child-filled road in Mifumi Village, I wondered how the world would be if it were more communal and focused on our similarities rather than our differences. After all, as the old rhyme says, “We all scream for ice cream!”