Thursday, 04 September 2008
8.30pm

Andrew Paul is an IT executive living in Perth. His family left Uganda fleeing a hostile regime in 1971. Andrew sees himself as 100 per cent Aussie and enjoys the trappings of a single life, a good job, a house, a car and lots of friends. But Andrew also likes to trade on his African heritage even though his mother is Anglo-Indian and his father is from the island of Mauritius.

Andrew has not spoken to his parents for 20 years after a teenage falling out tore them apart. His parents yearn to reconnect with their son and Andrew sees his journey to Uganda as a possible route to contact his parents again.

Travelling to Uganda is a long ordeal and a culture shock. Andrew will live in the old city and work in a busy restaurant similar to the one his grandparents once owned in a neighbouring city. His mentor, Salim, is also a 40-year-old bachelor.

Andrew throws himself into his new life, working in Salim's kitchen, an outdoor tin shed with no power, where the stoves are recycled truck wheel hubs filled with charcoal, with a machete and a can opener for tools. He is expected to help cook and deliver 100 meals a day to Salim's three busy restaurants.

Andrew struggles with the primitive conditions and it is not long before the craziness of Kampala starts to get to him. Disenchanted and encouraged to take a break, he is introduced to the idea of working with a local village leader, John Tinka, surveying a new tourist route that will one day link two of Uganda's most significant national parks in Eastern Uganda. Together they travel on pushbikes along the proposed tourist trail encountering breathtaking scenery, amazing wild primates, elephants and hippos.

Andrew eventually makes his way back to Kampala to take up the final challenge to run Salim's busiest restaurant for one day while he goes to a council meeting for local government. Andrew is sure that he can, but he is not accustomed to this type of ‘hard day at the office’. It is truly a test.

But the time soon comes when Andrew must bid farewell to his new Ugandan ‘family’. He returns to Perth to confront the reality of his own broken family. Has his experience led to enough insight for Andrew to bridge a silence lasting 22 years? His parents, waiting anxiously for his return, certainly hope so.