WWII reparations in Mbale

“Excuse me, are you Jews?” asked a very tall, middle aged, white woman with a thick German accent one afternoon as I was walking through town with Eric, another volunteer at the Abayudaya. “Yes,” we replied, unsure exactly why she was asking us such a blunt question. I imagined that, like many bazungu, whites, in Mbale, Uganda, she was a missionary, trying to convince us to become “saved.”

            Instead, she replied, “I am German” and stuck a clean, new $100 note into my hand. “This is for the history of our peoples. It’s not much, but take it.” Wide-eyed, I looked at Eric, he looked at me, and we were completely dumb-founded. Had I not been so shocked, I would have invited this woman to sit down and talk about her background and the reason that she offered random Jews money on the street in Mbale, Uganda, but instead, I just replied, “are you sure?”

            “Yes! Very sure, she replied and smiled.” I told her that we would donate it to a worthy charity. “That’s good,” she remarked. I wished her a good day in German and she walked away talking to a Ugandan a few feet away. She never looked back at us, and it was clear that she was sure about what she was doing.

            I felt very strange taking the money; a million questions entered my head. I wondered if she was related to Nazis and by giving us money, her guilt was lessened just a little bit. Perhaps someone in Germany sent her as a messenger to deliver this gift, but why to Uganda? Had she been thinking about doing this before she came and found the right opportunity just as we were passing through town? Why had she chosen Mbale of all places, where there is a Jewish community, to give the money? Would she even have given the money to a Ugandan Jew? After all, their families were not affected by the Holocaust. Has she ever given money to a random Jew before? Does she give money to every Jew meets? And, if so, for how long has she been doing this?

            Eric and I have to now figure out what to do with the money. Should it go to a Jewish charity? Should it go to a Ugandan charity? Can it go to the BCC library? Eric and I rode back to Nabugoye Hill in a daze. What are the chances of receiving money as World War II reparations in Uganda?