BEFORE you cover the night: Watch “A life without Kony”

A few days ago together with a group of bloggers and storytellers we drove over 300 kilometers to Lira District in Northern Uganda to document stories of war victims.

As concerned citizens of Uganda we are aware that even though the war in Northern Uganda ended over six years ago, some of the effects of Kony’s brutality will never go away. Evelyn Akullo and her mother Mildred Omara survived narrowly when the rebels set their house (grass thatched hut) ablaze about 6 years ago. Even after numerous medical surgeries the duo sustains big scars from the severe burns.

As we excavate more stories of the victims of the war we learn that Kony remains the least on the agenda’s of the victims.

Evelyn Akullo, war victim + student

Evelyn is now back in school and her biggest worry is whether she will ever achieve her dream. Her dream is to become an engineer. She believes that her determination can get her there but she worries about the school fees. Her mother’s right hand and part of the neck remains paralyzed which makes it hard to bank on her for school fees.

Bosco Okema is a former child soldier – he regrets the things he was forced to do while in captivity. He escaped from captivity and he is one of the many returnees who got a chance to go back to school and later get a job. He is now the Administrator at Action for Community Development – Uganda. This non-profit organisation supports sustainable agriculture through giving seeds (ground nuts, soya beans extra) to war victims in different parts of Northern Uganda.

Morris Okello is a peasant farmer, his wife was 50 years old when the rebel abducted her. She was later voluntarily released from captivity and she returned home. Morris’ family is one of the 50 beneficiaries from Action for Community Development’s program.

Morris’ farm is his sole source of livelihood and this has helped him to support his family and send some of his children back to school. “What he did was actually very very bad, I have heard where they would even roast people in pots in some other adjacent villages there. capturing small children….. those were very very bad thing” Morris laments. He says that he doesn’t see capturing Kony as a priority because Kony is not in Northern Uganda at the moment. He recommends more sustainable ways of supporting the people of Northern Uganda.

to be continued….

The big shift in the flow of knowledge – From Developing Countries to the “Developed Countries”

Pupils in Kitgum, Northern Uganda

Uganda before me

So Great Britain colonized Uganda for 66 years (from 1896 to 1962). In 1962 Uganda got her independence and since then Uganda has been led by Ugandan presidents. Somewhere in between 1962 and 1986 there were quite a number of civil wars and military coups in Uganda.

In 1987 I was born, was a few months after the end of the war which saw the incumbent president of Uganda Yoweri Kaguta Museveni over throw Idi Amin.  My mother told me a lot of stories about the 1986 coup and how my family had to move places running away from war.

The real story

But that is not the real story. The real story is that even though developing countries have over the years looked up to the so called “developed countries” as the sources of knowledge, pace and trend makers, in reality there has been a huge backward-shift in knowledge and information sharing patterns. Today we are witnessing more knowledge gaps in the developed countries. We are seeing outstanding personalities originally from the developing countries rising on to the international scene.

Rewind

Unfortunately on many of my international trips people still ask me about Idi Amin – one of my recent encounters was in South Africa in 2010 when a stranger from Zimbabwe read off my conference tag that I was from Uganda. He posed a bit before he asked me – so, you are from Uganda? The land of Idi Amin.

Usually I want to tell people that I never even knew him (Idi Amin) – even though I learnt a lot about him in School. I was born a year after the fall of his regime and even though he was the president of Uganda at some point, his legacy doesn’t represent the Uganda/ Ugandans of today. But then again how much can you teach a person whose knowledge about your country is only until 1986?

Earlier I watched this “A Dam Relief begins in May 2012 – Uganda’s Truth will follow” video and at some point a bunch of Americans are asked what they know about Uganda or even whether they have considered coming to Uganda on holiday – the lady in the video says “Uganda has never actually appeared to me as a place for holiday”!

The Uganda I live in

This is when I want to scream that Uganda is actually the Pearl of Africa, home to the Source of the Nile, the famous snow capped Mountain Rwenzori, Lake Bunyonyi the second deepest lake in Africa, home of various and unique cultures. That Uganda flourishes with wild life..holds the most potential in uncovered wild life.. That Uganda is a peaceful country and full of life.

More Knowledge gaps

It is quite interesting and rather DEPRESSING every time I learn that people in the so called developed countries know so little about Uganda and other developing countries at large. I watched the above video just a few minutes ago and all I see is a huge imbalance in knowledge.

On my international travels people ask me “where did you learn to speak English? Its quite interesting to hear that you can speak so well!” So I explain how English is my official language extra. Apart from speaking English so well, I also know a lot about North America, parts of Europe, Asia and of course lots about Africa – the cultures, economic activities or geography of these regions. This is because my (Uganda’s) education system makes it mandatory for me to learn about the world at different levels through my education.

When I reflect on all this ignorance I appreciate that my education system opens boarders and teaches me about the parts of the world which as a child or student I never even imagined I would visit in my life. As I speak, I have been blessed to see different countries across Africa, parts of North America, Asia and spent a couple of hours in Middle East.

However, I am very much concerned and disappointed when I learn that the rest of the world learns almost nothing about my country, culture extra.

The new era of human interaction

Thank God for the social media and interactive social networks! People can now share information and learn about cultures in very interactive ways. But then again, this opportunity is a take or leave for many of the young teenagers who should learn about as much about the world they live in.

Question remains: Is this shift in the knowledge sharing patterns going to be effective if the countries in the west do not make it mandatory for the children to learn about the east the same way my education system does?

 

Uganda Government’s Official Statement on KONY2012

12 days: that’s how long it took the whole of Government of Uganda to release an official statement on the controversial Kony2012 video. Again what this reminds me is that Social Media is for citizens – if you have been following the story, you have probably noticed that Uganda on the web criticized the video the moment it as launched.

Today the government of Uganda released an official statement on the #Kony2012 campaign. The statement was delivered by the Minister of Information – Ms. Mary Karooro Okurut.

The Information Minister described the Kony 2012 video as follows – “But the impression created in this documentary that Uganda is a war zone and that the conflict is still raging has got serious connotations on this country because it will scare away Uganda’s friends, tourists and potential investors. It does not bring out the fact that Northern Uganda is now under reconstruction and that  government and other organisations are doing a lot to see that it comes up and catches up with the rest of Uganda. All is this left out”

At the same time a women’s movement group today described the video as demeaning to the efforts of the Ugandan Civil society and thousands of both local organisations which have played a key role in championing peace restoration efforts in North and North Eastern Uganda. “If there wasn’t civil society in this country, people in North and North Eastern Uganda would be no more. But we held the whole mantle as the civil society, we went door to door; that is our approach of advocacy. But theirs which is your know, those pla-cards campaigns; that’s what it means in the west.” says Ruth Acheng, Director – Isis, WICCE.

My take on KONY2012 Campaign and Lessons learnt

Disclaimer: Even though I write from an informed perspective, my comments do not represent the voices of millions of survivors or victims of the war in Northern Uganda and Central Africa at large. I have seen some people on twitter being rude about my opinions on KONY2012. If you are interested – READ below else hold your peace forever! Again, dont ask me why I havent stopped Kony or whether I intend to stop him and how. I am a civilian and I have my own ways of promoting social change, peace and reconciliation in Uganda – through promoting and sharing skills on use of technology to enhance access information and advocating for human right. That I have done!

I can’t certainly remember the first time I saw Kony’s photo in Uganda’s newspaper. What I certainly remember is that his picture has been stuck in my mind since then. I cant forget his famous picture with dreadlocks, wearing the army uniform – he sure looked “bad”. Since then every other day I learnt that Kony was and is a bad guy. There were more horrible stories of his crimes against humanity as I grew up in the newspapers, on radio and television. Stories such as: how Kony abducted children and turned them into child soldiers, how he rapped women, burnt them alive or even ripped off their lips! Of course there were some controversial stories where Kony denied some of the reported crimes claiming that they were committed by the Uganda People’s Defense Force to tarnish his image. This was very hard to believe because if Kony had an image, he had tarnished it himself.

Now that you are reading this you have probably already seen the KONY2012 video or heard about it somewhere. The KONY2012 campaign video which started going viral just 2days ago has been viewed over 32 million YouTube (also available on Vimeo).  The topics #StopKony and #KONY2012 are trending on twitter.

The Campaign is aimed at making Joseph Kony famous, not to celebrate him, but to raise support for his capture – according to Invisible Children’s co-founder Jason Russell.

If you have seen the video and you think that KONY2012 is a brilliant campaign, you should read on.

Fact about Joseph Kony:

1. He is a war lord and together with his Lord’s Resistance Army, he has committed terrible crimes against humanity
2. Kony was indicted by the International Criminal Court in 2005
3. For over 26years Kony abducted children and turned them into child soldiers in Northern Uganda
4. Kony fled Uganda with the LRA in 2008 following Operation Lightening Thunder in which the US provided financial support and equipment to Uganda People’s Defense Force (UPDF). Kony is expected to be somewhere in Central Africa jungle – probably Congo or South Sudan.
5. READ MORE ABOUT KONY HERE

My basis of criticism:

I despise Joseph Kony and the LRA but I have no confidence in Invisible Children. Rebuilding Northern Uganda should be through promoting peace and reconciliation NOT through endorsing war – (I wonder whether you have seen the picture of Jason Russell (of Invisible Children) posing with weapons and SPLA -http://bit.ly/9R8bDd). Human Rights Activists don’t show off with guns like this – I know this because I am an activist myself! A picture like this actually declares war. There is a difference between an armed civilian or “human rights activist” and a soldier.

Kony fled Uganda because of the pressure from Uganda People’s Defense Forces, this is evidence that Uganda has made some remarkable progress in fighting the LRA. Why is Invisible Children not pressuring the Uganda Government to collaborate with regional forces in Central Africa – South Sudan and Congo to capture Kony? This is a gap that this campaign leaves uncovered. Such a gap continues to create an impression that Africa cannot bring the desired change without western support.

The approach this campaign takes is aimed at deriving support from the United States and other western countries to intervene. It’s about time that the whole world realised that Africa appreciates the support (foreign aid and donations) but we – Africans want to be more involved in solving our own problems. Over the years Africans have tried to prove to the world that we can contribute sustainable solutions not just to Africa’s problems but also to some of the world’s biggest challenges. The problem is that, often Africa’s opinions are disregarded. I must acknowledge that it’s partly an African problem – that some lazy Africans like to be provided for – or spoon-fed.

@RosebellK reckons here “my major problem with this video is that it simplifies the story of millions of people in Northern Uganda and makes out a narrative that is often heard about Africa – about how hopeless people are in terms of conflict the only people off this continent can help and yet that is not entirely true: there are local initiatives to end this war…”

In the video Invisible Children claims that they pressured the US government to intervene. “After 8 years of work, the government finally heard us, and in october of 2011 100 American advisers were sent in to Central Africa to assist the Ugandan Army in arresting Kony and Stopping the LRA. It was the first time in History that the United Stated took that kind of action because the People demanded it. Not for self defense but because it was right.” Says Jason Russell.  This is not necessarily true because as a Ugandan I know that the United States has provided a lot of financial support to the Uganda government to fight Kony since 2008’s Operation Lightening Thunder. This is one example of the many flaws in the video. And I must say that KONY2012 is a misrepresentation of the voices of Ugandans and Central Africans who have been victims of this war.

“I find this strange… The Ugandan military together with some local militias fought for 20 years to uproot Kony from Northern Uganda, Most of these service men died in this war. Without any state of the art technology nor weapons, they were able to defeat Kony…. But to date, no one gives them credit for that! No one… When the US sends 100 “military advisors”, then all of a sudden, 15million people share one “video” showing that they really care! Where were they all this time???? With or without these so called military advisors, Kony will be brought to justice by the men and women in the Ugandan Armed forces!!!! For they are our true heroes! We don’t need to make this crook famous for he ain’t anything…” comment from a Facebook Friend

The message this campaign brings to me is based on mostly events which happened in Northern Uganda in 2003 – since Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) fled Uganda, the strategy of this “war” must change. People of Northern Uganda are in the process of rebuilding their communities based on peace and reconciliation. It is evident that people are already settling back in their abandoned homes.

“We will fight war”  “We will stop at nothing” – as stated by the action group in the video. The issue is messages or slogans like this are very provocative.  Daring Kony in a mocking way like this could cause more pain to the people in Central Africa. Such statements could either make Kony weaker or stronger – the later is more likely to happen. I wonder whether Jason thought through the consequences of using such words before he used them! I want Kony captured but not through use of provocative statements which could cause more harm than good!

Just like Invisible Children many non-profit organizations continue to market their work in the name of “helping Africans” the only difference is that, some campaigns collapse even before they start.

Lessons learnt from #KONY2012: For Western Countries

• People in America, UK and other countries spend more time paying attention to events in their own little bubbles that they know so little about the world. When such people encounter a campaign like #KONY2012 they will think that it’s actually going to change the world in a snap.
• If you are seeking to solve a problem outside your own country involve the people who are being affected/ local people. The magnitude of some problems is much bigger than you would anticipate and some of your approaches will not necessarily work.
• It’s a western syndrome to think about Africans as a bunch of helpless goons. That we are not. And again if you think this way, this is another reason for you to get out of your deadlocked-bubble
• It’s important to think about the consequences of your campaign before you make it go viral

Lesson Learnt from #KONY2012: For Ugandans and Africans at large

• Like the saying goes “if you don’t speak for yourself, someone will speak for you”. This is exactly what Jason Russell is doing – speaking for a bunch of “voiceless Ugandans”. But even as a storyteller I will tell you that there is a multiplicity of stories. And no one can ever tell my story for me!
• Foreign aid and support has greatly contributed to our economies but has also made corruption rampant in our governments because of lack of transparency and accountability. Our economies have now grown to be sustainable and it’s about time we quenched the “begging syndrome”.
• Be careful when you deal with the international media and other international organizations they can take away your dignity in the name of “social good”. From my travels I have had several encounters where people ask me about Idi Amin. Branding Uganda based on Idi Amin’s actions and Kony’s atrocities is unacceptable – this doesn’t make our international image, it makes it worse! Actually there is more to Uganda than that. There is a part of Uganda’s history which is PAST and that doesn’t determine who we are now.

The bottom line is the people in Northern Uganda have seen enough weapons, wars and been oppressed enough. They just want to live a new (normal) life – without war. Plus, the child soldiers are not total strangers; they are relatives of the survivors or victims – brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, nieces, nephews of the same oppressed people. The children were used and now, they are caught up in a war which was never theirs. I would really appreciate this campaign if Invisible Children really worked with people in (Northern) Uganda and the regional governments to bring this desired change as opposed to mobilising people who technically have no influence in this region.

I have been to different parts of Northern Uganda where Kony’s army committed most of these crimes and I have talked to people. Even though the memories of this terror is still fresh in their minds, they are ready to start a new life and indeed this is already happening.

Now we all know that NGOs need donations to remain in “business” but then again what happened to ethics? From my point of view, Invisible Children is using the story of KONY to solicit more money from their supporters. And this is NOT okay because it is misrepresentation of the people of Uganda who endured many years of pain and now settling back in their homes.

Other Important Opinions about KONY2012:

• Visible Children write: “We got trouble“
• Rosebell Kagumire’s video: “Kony2012; My response to Invisible Children’s campaign.“
• TMS Ruge writes: “A Peace of my mind: Respect my agency 2012!”
• Siena Anstis writes: “On Invisible Children’s Kony 2012 Campaign.“
• Asteris Masouras writes: Uganda: Reactions to the “Kony 2012″ campaign
• A Pod Cast from BBC Africa Have Your Say
• Mark Kersten writes: Taking ‘Kony 2012′ Down A Notch
• From The Guardian: Kony2012: Whats the real Story

Internet connectivity & Landlocked Countries: Counting on Marine Cables

Saturday morning, I am all in my working mood, I plug my 3G modem into my computer and booom – internet is NOT working!! Usually when my internet fails I trying to fix it. I try to fix my own internet because I don’t like wasting my time calling customer support – who often doesn’t even know how to help! After over 14hours of trying my service provider sends me a text message:

Over 36 hours of limited internet connectivity and I must say that these have been some of the longest hours of my life. You know one of those days when you badly need to read your email but you can’t because the internet is down – Why is the internet down? You basically do not know. And just when you are about to go to the internet café you learn that the internet is down because apparently the marine cables which are supposed to be delivering a link of fast internet connectivity to your country are broken. The Marine cables are undersea optic fibre cables which were installed to deliver a link of fast internet connectivity to different corners of the world.

3G Vs Broadband Vs Dialup

At times like this I am very pissed at MTN (my internet service provider) and at the same time thinking, life was so much easier when we used to have broadband or that little dial-up connection. It is for that reason why I keep Orange as my other internet service provider on standby – this time Orange didn’t do any better. Back in the days dial-up and broadband internet was much slower than the 3G but much more reliable in terms of uptime.

The completion of the installation of the marine cables is the best thing that has happened to the internet speeds in Uganda as this was very much anticipated. Hoping that the fibre optic cables would bring fast internet to Uganda – I couldnt wait! Yes, to a certain extent the long wait was worth it; with 3G+ internet speeds in Uganda have greatly improved. But people like me are already seeing the cost that the failure of these marine cables will impose on our work/ businesses and economy at large.

Uganda like many other landlocked countries in East Africa are currently investing huge amounts of money to ensure that 3G internet connectivity is widely distributed but I must remind you all that we need to have backup plans for times like this when the marine cables are broken or malfunctioning. Many districts in Uganda don’t have access to broadband which means that when 3G is down, they are (almost) completely unplugged.

Recommendations to service providers about Customer Care

Oh and I probably forgot to remind MTN – I know that your services suck so much but can please send the SMS much earlier next time so I don’t waste a lot of my time “trying to chase the wind”? Thank You!

And to Orange Uganda – my other service provider, what happened to those timely SMS notifications? I used to be so proud of you but I now I am thinking that you have been in Uganda too long that you are already forgetting that Customer Care is key!

And again, broadband and dialup internet connections should still be considered as very strong substitutes to our “beloved” 3G!

Life in the URBAN SLUM: Kisenyi

“I was born in Masajja – a Kampala surburb. My mother worked in Owino market, when I was young she used to carry me on her back every morning and bring me along to the market. Eventually I got used to Owino and found my way to the Kisenyi area. One day I walked out of the market and I didn’t return. This is how I found my way out of the market onto these streets. My mom’s workplace was no place for kids – it was boring.” a fifteen year old street kid said to me.

Often I see young boys and girls on the streets of Kampala looking shabby, starved, lost and puzzled and I wonder – where do they come from? Do they have parents? How do they end up on the streets like homeless cats or stray birds? It breaks my heart to see teens on the streets eating from the garbage, doing drugs, chasing around people; begging for UGX100 (barely a penny!) Monday through Friday when in actual sense they should be in school or their parents’ homes. Many times I have witnessed Kampala City Council Authority “enforcement officers” and Uganda Police roughing them up like wild animals – and only one question comes in my mind: Whose responsibility are these children?

Three weeks ago I found some vague answers to the above questions. I say “vague” because there is very many complicated answers to those questions!

I walked to Kisenyi – the biggest slum in Kampala with friends to do a photo shoot. The idea of the Kisenyi Photo Shoot was born by Andy Kristian (a professional photographer): to go to Kisenyi, take portraits of the people who live and/ work there, print them and then give them a copy to keep. Photos are always beautiful to take, see and keep. Together with a couple of friends (Andy Kristian, Rosebell Kagumire, Edward Echwalu, Ruth Aine, Evelyn Namara, Patricia Twino, Patricia Kahill, Joan Nagujja, Ford Tumwesigye) we went to Kisenyi – the biggest slum downtown Kampala.

It was a very hot Saturday and I got sweatier as we entered the slum. On a hot day like this you need to drink a minimum of 2 liters of water to avoid dehydration. Just like any typical slum, Kisenyi fills up the air soon as you enter the slum; smoke from burning plastic bottles, rubbish littered all over, uncensored language from the youth standing along the road side, shabby young boys and girls, sewage and groups of young men doing drugs openly.

As we entered the slum, my mind wandered 12years back; I used to walk through this slum frequently. In the year 2000 I lived on the outskirts of Kisenyi about 5 minutes walk from this slum; at the time I was only 12. Kisenyi is not just a place for street children, it’s a very commercial slum – maize millers set up their machines here. Kisenyi is the source of most of the maize flour on Kampala’s market, metal works extra. As a child I had to be careful when I walked through this slum. It was always a filthy environment to walk; also the boys and men on the streets were always aggressive. The crime rate in the slum was always high.

My recent visit to the slum (12 years later) was not very different. I could recognize most of the buildings and shortcuts. The young people (I am talking about boys and girls between the age of 4 and 25) in this slum are still doing the drugs in pubic, they don’t have access to clean water, sanitation is still very poor, they all look sweaty and dirty. How or whether they get food at all is not a question because most of them look starved.

Quick forward:

Unlike me, most of my friends had never walked through this slum. And they were all terrified by the kind of environment these young people live in. We walked into the slum carrying smart phones, expensive professional cameras, laptops, iPads and other valuables. Again, you can’t feel safe with this expensive equipment in an environment where people are starving, when young people are doing drugs around you.

Joan Nagujja a volunteer at Peace for Children in Africa together with her colleague helped us to mobile these young for the photo shoot. Peace for Children Africa is a local NGO which is helping rehabilitate and educate the street children in Uganda. One of their projects is focused on rehabilitating the street children in Kisenyi.

After about 30 minutes of mobilizing, we finally got a chance to interact with the young boys and girls who immediately put their demands before the photo shoot. Some of them said that they wanted sugar cane, money, food, water while others were bothered by the heavy presence of camera. When all that was sorted Joan’s colleague talked to a handful of strong looking boys. He told them to maintain order and that he would give them some money after the photo shoot. I was actually hoping that we could get some “big boys” to maintain some order.

Andy Kristian and Edward Echwalu did the actual shooting while I walked around taking random photos. Rosebell and Ruth recorded some of the stories. These young people told different stories on how they ended up in this place, the difficulties they were experiencing and shared some of their dreams. Some of the boys said that their step mothers mistreated/ bewitched them, while some of the young ones were born here – the slum is their home!

Even though some of the youth looked desperate and of course they had higher expectation from us; thinking that we would pay them to take their photos. Others only wanted to smile at the camera, take a few shots and leave.

Edward Echwalu (Left) and Andy Kristian (Right)

As we recorded the stories a woman who was watching from the veranda of her house asked loudly – “why aren’t you taking photos of the girls?” We would very much want to take photos of the girls, but we can’t find any big girls – we responded collectively. She immediately asked a young lady and woman to join the photo shoot. The old woman had scars on her arms she said that they were a result of domestic violence – he husband battered her.

survivor of domestic violence

The myth about slums:

Almost everybody thinks that everyone in the slums is a thief, sex worker, does drugs or has some kind of ill habits. When you go to the slum, the story is different. Well, the myth is partly true but there is more to the myth. The little beautiful children; born in the slum. Women and men work to earn a living to feed/ support their families. I remember the woman who sells sugarcane and I saw a couple of young people sorting rusty pieces of scrap to find reusable parts.

Earning a living in a slum

We can blame the government and Kampala City Council Authority (KCCA) all we want but, by now we should know that the government has failed to create a better environment for the children. Let’s stop judging these children or treating them like hooligans and instead help make them better people. It’s about time we all returned to our rightful senses as human beings and find a way of help!

To these cute little children, the slum is their home!

Yes, Spiderman once lived in Kisenyi or some how a little version of his constume ended up here!

The Rest of the photos are available in my Facebook Photo Set: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151236538490381.806679.524350380&type=3&l=3551baaa04

Nodding Victim: Tormented 12-year-old girl lives like pigs

Edward Echwalu – a professional photographer documents the life of a 12 year old girl who has been tormented by the Nodding Disease. It is a very touching and sad story. Click the link to read the full story.

Nodding Victim: Tormented 12-year-old girl lives like pigs.

When doctors make mistakes: blame technology or ethics?

In my opinion, it is acceptable when I go to a doctor with a complicated illness and he says “I don’t know what this illness is” or “sorry I can’t help but I will refer you to another hospital…” instead of misinforming me. Giving a patient the wrong information whether good or bad news is not acceptable under any circumstances when it comes to health.

A few months ago my sister was pregnant and through her antenatal care she was advised to take a couple of tests to monitor her developing baby. One of these tests was the ultra sound scan. She did the first scan at Rubaga hospital (one of the National referral hospitals in Kampala, Uganda). The results indicated that she was expecting a baby whose sex was not yet clear.

Because she was anxious to know the sex of her developing baby, when the pregnancy clocked 6months she decided to do another scan. This time she did it at Kadic Clinic in Nakulabye – just about 10 minutes walk from my house. Kadic is one of a handful of high profile clinics (ok let’s say reputable private hospitals on Ugandan standard) in Uganda. This day is still fresh in mind. After the test she couldn’t wait to break the news to everybody, at 11am immediately after the scan she called to tell me over the phone: “guess what? I just finished the scan and I am going to give birth to TWINS! Two boys!” she said with emphasis. The results of this scan indicated that she (my sister) was expecting twins. She was excited about the news; actually the news of twins is exciting in Uganda (like in many other African countries I believe). From this day on, we all started expecting the first set of twins in the family.

Quick Forward:

Last week my sister’s pregnancy was due so she went to Rubaga all ready for the twins – personally, I was excited about the first set of twins in the family. The news came in at 11pm January 21st from my mother over phone, my sister was operated on and that she had given birth to a baby girl! Now this came as a (good) surprise considering that we were all expecting twins. So, I started spreading the news to my friends via social media. I cant forget the comments from: Siena “CONGRATS! But how is it possible that two boys became one girl. This is not possible!” and Nelly said “Congratulations!!… My, she is going to be a smart kid that one.  She tricked us all!! ”

Flashback:

Now that this happens I remember the time when my mother took my 8 year old nephew to the same clinic – Kadic for an ultrasound scan. He had complications in the stomach so his doctor recommended Kadic Hospital to do the scan. The results of the scan show that he had sores in the stomach. The results went on to show that even though the doctor was not sure about the cause of the sores, he was pretty sure that the sores were quite severe and that he needed serious medical attention.

When my mother took the results back to my nephew’s doctor (who had in fact recommended Kadic), the doctor said that the results didn’t make sense – “this young boy can’t have sores in his stomach or I should have realized in my examination”. So, the doctor asked my mother to take my nephew to Mulago Hospital (the national referral hospital) and do another scan from there. The doctor said that he needed to be certain about these results before he could cause alarms or make recommendations. My mother was already worried about my nephew – the results were already traumatizing and this meant that the young boy’s life was in danger.

The following day my mother couldn’t wait to see the doctor at Mulago Hospital to examine the young boy and do the scan. The results from Mulago indicated that the boy’s stomach was doing just fine – no complications. Now my mother was confused: which one of the two doctors/ results to believe. She needed to go back to my nephew’s doctor before she could draw any conclusions even though she was already terrified by the results from Kadic. “All along I was thinking: How do you tell your eight year old grandson that he has sores everywhere in his stomach? And what health implications would that have on his life?” said my mom.

So, my mother went back to my nephew’s doctor, she presented the results from Mulago hospital – the doctor keenly compared the two results before saying to her “not to worry, the young boy is alright he could have had some minor complications in his stomach but it’s nothing serious – no sores”. He said that the results from Mulago were correct. The boy’s tummy didn’t have any sores as indicated in the results from Kadic.

None of my family members has been back to Kadic to seek an explanation about the controversial results. This is because when we realized that Kadic’s ultrasound scan has provided wrong results in my nephew’s case, we all took an assumption that this was a negligible mistake. And now with my sister’s incident, I think we should have taken the results seriously and hold Kadic accountable; try to find answers from them.

Blame it on technology or ethics?

Until the present day, I am still wondering how a trained doctor could make such a mistake – causing a false alarm. My nephew and sister’s cases are just two of the thousands of patients who get the wrong results every single day not just from Kadic but from different health centres around the country.

One question keeps crossing my mind: “What went wrong with the health sector?” Now I know technology fails (sometimes) but what happened to the professionalism and ethics? Aren’t doctors supposed to double check the findings of their tests before they break the news to the patients?

To all doctors out there: I want to remind you that when you break the wrong news to the patients/ care takers about their illness, you not only cause panic, you (could) cause mental damage, confusion sometimes leading to more serious illness which could cause sudden death! We trust you with our lives and lives of our loved ones – you should treasure that trust.

There is definitely need to raise more awareness about health consumer rights to help patients learn how to deal with such incidents when they happen. It’s a shame because a lot of patients have no idea on how to handle with situations like this.

For the patients/ people out there, know your right as a health consumer/ user; Speak out!

Reflecting on 2011 – Uganda: Pictures of the year by Edward Echwalu

2011 has been a great year with lots of remarkable achievements but on issues of governance I must say that, 2011 has been a very disappointing year! If you asked me, 2011 has been a year of the civil society in Uganda. The civil society has continued to show their influence and strength amidst pressure and oppression from the Uganda government. Citizen took to the streets to protest high food and commodity prices – “the Walk to Work campaign”, Civil society also protested against the government’s directive to give away part of Mabira Forest to the Sugar Cooperation of Uganda Limited. Social and Digital Media were key tools in mobilizing.

Walking a lone street, downtown Kampala. - Photo by Edward Echwalu

For many Ugandans 2011 has been full of tonnes of sad moments and memories. Memories that will probably not go away in a short time. The year started off with a lot of energy as Ugandan went to polls; to vote for the president (February, 2011). There was a big wave of anticipation – wishing that this would be the time of “change”. A time for Uganda to vote “right” and have a new president.

Question was, if Uganda voted for a new president, what would be next?

Anyways, this was was all wishful thinking – Museveni who has been president since 1986 won with a landslide victory (as usual).

Edward Echwalu a professional Ugandan photo journalist followed all of these events and his blog post gives you a comprehensive summary of the events with pictures. PICTURES OF THE YEAR 2011.

Climate change – an “abstract theory”?: A regular African’s Perspective

Like the rest of the world, African countries continue to silently-struggle with the impacts of climate change on life every single day. But what is “Climate Change” to majority of the African populations? I talked to a couple of farmers 4 months ago and to them “Climate Change is just a huge abstract theory”. Many people still find it hard to believe that “Climate Change” is real.

In Uganda, over 80 percent of the total population depends on agriculture as the sole source of livelihood. However, the changes in seasons have greatly affected food and crop yields in the country. Prolonged droughts, pests and diseases have made agriculture barely reliable to majority of the peasant/ rural farmers. As a result farmers have resorted to engaging in other economic activities such they don’t have to totally rely on agricultural produce.

The Challenge:

On the African continent majority of the population is illiterate and not aware of impacts of climate change on social and economical development. So, how do you ensure that the communities get ready to take on a challenge that they are not even aware of?

Majority of the Africans live in failed states which means that civil societies have very little/ no influence on government policies. For example, recently the government of Uganda under the influence of President Museveni’s directive tried to give away part of Mabira Forest to Mehta Group an investor who owns the Sugar Cooperation of Uganda Limited. The civil society in Uganda openly challenged this directive and vowed to protect Mabira Forest. Under such circumstances, the smaller communities have very limited room for negotiation with the governments to influence government policy.

Outside Africa:

Javie Ssozi (left), with Teddy Ruge of Connect4Climate at the World Bank in D.C

Two months ago I had the opportunity to meet the Connect4Climate team in Washington D.C – Connect4 Climate is a World Bank project, the goal of C4C is to raise awareness about climate change issues around the world, with an initial focus on Africa. The team is looking to engage the youth through use of new media. Connect4Climate is already engaging the African youth on climate change through social media and a photo/ video competition.

After meeting with the Connect4Climate team, I took the pleasure to meet Dr. Vernon R. Morris, the Director, Principal Investigator at The NOAA Center for Atmospheric Sciences at the Howard University (http://ncas.howard.edu). Dr. Morris has conducted various researches on Climate Change across the Sub-Saharan Africa and he agrees that Africa is a very special case when it comes to climate change.

A word with Dr. Morris, the Atmospheric Science expert:

In my conversation with Dr. Morris he pointed out one of the findings of his research from the Sub-Saharan Africa which basically shows that global warming can expose dangerous bacterium which can cause diseases like blindness. He added that the recent research in the western Sub-Saharan African shows that blindness is becoming a common disease in parts of northern Mali. “We followed the track of this bacterium and the findings show that due to the direction of the wind, the bacteria is moving west towards the Atlantic ocean.”

“In Chad, we used the satellite data to analyze the issues of climate change in the region. We found that Lake Chad is shrinking. When we talked to the people who live just along the shores of Lake Chad, they said that they had not noticed any significant changes in the size of the lake!” says Dr. Morris.

What this means is, even though the African communities are willing to understand and make sense out of climate change, there is limited awareness and limited access to aggregated data to help the ordinary people understand issues of climate change better.

A Projection on Africa:

As you already know, most of the countries inside Africa are low developed which means that they have limited access to resources which would come in handy in the efforts of climate change mitigation. And by resources I not only refer to money; I am talking about (skilled) human resource (specifically on climate change issues), research, information facilities/ programs and infrastructure.

I must recognize the role of the various civil society groups and local NGOs in Africa which are activating action on climate change.

While developed countries like the United States, Germany, China and Japan have highly invested in research, training experts, building infrastructure and in raising awareness on global warming and climate change, African countries remain too corrupt and irresponsible to consider the effects of climate change as a major threat to life.

Quick Way forward:

Even though the developing countries have conducted extensive research on climate change in and outside Africa, it’s very important that we (Africans) consider revisiting those almost abandoned banks/ techniques of indigenous knowledge that our ancestors used centuries/ decades ago. Those should be our climbing stones towards finding sustainable solutions to reduce on the effects of climate change on lives.

The developed countries have a huge role to play in terms of giving African countries access to visual data from the research conducted on the African continent and perhaps relate this data to other continents of the world. As such, African countries will have access to information which will help the wider communities digest the meaning, implications and effects of climate change and global warming.

Individual African countries will perhaps find the cost of access to satellite resources very high but forming if African countries through the European Union collectively invest in climate monitoring networks and regional climate models for Africa.

International organizations such as the World Bank, the United Nations, “African Union” and many others understand their role in influencing government policies in developing countries. They should take advantage of that same influence for the better good to ensure that governments in African integrate issues of “climate” in their policies.

African governments should also understand and recognise the role of civil society, scientists and NGOs in climate change mitigation. From my experience in Uganda, the government of Uganda has oppressed civil society groups like the “Save Mabira Activist”.

Children collecting water at a bore hole in Amuru district, Northern Uganda