National Boyfriend Day: Roses in America, Invoices in Uganda
By James Peterson
October 3rd is marked in the United States as National Boyfriend Day, a time when partners are encouraged to shower their significant others with affection, gratitude, and maybe breakfast in bed.
It is a gentle nod to romance, a cultural pause to say, “We see you, and we appreciate you.”
But in Uganda, “boyfriend appreciation” takes on a different shade. Our boyfriends are not serenaded with flowers or hefty meals. Instead, they are handed what can only be described as daily invoices.
A typical day might unfold like this. Morning arrives with the familiar request, “Baby, some data.” By midday, it has shifted to, “Baby, some lunch.” Afternoon brings, “Baby, some transport.” And by evening, the curtain falls with, “Baby, my hair is embarrassing me.”
Far from being showered with tokens of love, Ugandan boyfriends have become parallel ministries.
There is the Ministry of Airtime, the Ministry of Transport, and the Ministry of Emergency Lunch. They are expected to function as mobile ATMs, open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Of course, this is not to say women cannot or do not reciprocate. Consider Speaker of Parliament Anita Among, who famously gifted her husband a Range Rover. The gesture was not only extravagant but also symbolic.
It proved that women, too, can spoil their partners and contrary to the jokes, such generosity does not automatically lead to an untimely demise.
And so we must ask: if American boyfriends are celebrated with roses and French toast, while Ugandan boyfriends serve as financial first responders, what truly constitutes love in our context?
Perhaps National Boyfriend Day deserves a reframing. Not merely as a time to pamper men or satirize relationships, but as a chance to reflect on reciprocity itself.
If love is an exchange, how balanced is the trade?
The question lingers, quietly but provocatively: in Uganda today, when was the last time you sent your boyfriend a text that began not with “baby, some…” but with a simple, “thank you”?
