I met Grace the first day I arrived in Uganda. She is the daughter of our landlord, who apparently works for the government and earns a respectable wage compared to majority of the Ugandans. While introducing herself to me she appeared to be aloof. Her handshake as well as her look was distracted, and I was absolutely not impressed with her at all.
Since she worked long hours, from around seven-thirty in the morning and to around eight or nine, so I hardly ever saw her at all. With the few limited brief greetings we exchanged, I was curious with why she, a hair designer, often had her hair covered with a piece of cloth. Don’t hair designers enjoy having their hair style changed every week? Nevertheless, I still remained distant from her. The first impression of her was still embedded in my head and hence discouraged the thought of making friend with her.
However, it wasn’t until later that I found out more about Grace’s family situation. As far as I know, the number of the Christians as well as the divorce rate is overwhelmingly high. And Grace’s father is one of those. I could see that it could be tough for her, the only girl in the family except her father’s new wife and their little girl, Stephanie, currently going to one of the top private schools and demanding most of the attention.
Believing a sensitive and insecure soul is hidden underneath Grace’s tough and cool look, I was more willing to have a more in-depth conversation than a formality ritual. Yet, it was still not easy to win her trust. Nonetheless, she did satisfy my curiosity of her wearing the cloth over her hair. “I’m having my hair attachment done,” said Grace. I was amazed to discover that most of the Ugandan women who either have fake or real hair attached to their frizzy short hair or have their hair straightened.
Depending on the amount of one’s hair, it takes about three to six hours to have the hair attachment done. Since Grace had just opened her own hair salon, a common scene in Kampala, having the hair attachment done for herself turned out to be a long process.
She was so surprised to see me standing in front of her salon as I promised to. While taking off my shoes to get into their salon, they insisted me bringing in my boots. “A lot of people are poor in Uganda, on the first day of our opening, somebody stole the shoes we left outside,” stated Grace with a laugh. I’m glad that she still remains her sense of humor despite the challenging environment she’s in. Good luck, Grace.
