THE BEST GIFT FOR A CHILD

The twentieth war in northern Uganda is one of the unfortunate activity still living in the minds of people who directly affected by it or those who witnessed and indeed those who read and watch as journalists present on media and other stake holders who take interest in creating awareness. It may just even one day to disorganize and destroy what is already put in place but it may take many different steps and years to reconstruct it or to put things back together. Bring back people’s memories back to normal from bad happening is yet another difficult task. Human beings memorize bad events longer than good events. Americans will never forget about their twin towers and I wonder whether it has been reconstructed!

With reference to Osama Bin lad en’s brutality on the world trade center which lasted for just few hours, one may think it took him centuries and yet it was just a run and hit tactics but is one of the world’s biggest record known to any living creature on earth. In comparison to Joseph Kony’s twenty years insurgency in northern Uganda, then one can guess its negative impacts on the civilian innocent people. The rights of the people have been denied from all aspects of life, including the right to live and to live where one wants to, education and many others.

Much as Uganda says that its backbone depends mainly on agriculture, any Ugandan following my blogs will agree that the biggest percentage was coming from northern Uganda with cotton the leading cash crop. Cotton growing is becoming history with few growers in the east and that is why probably the textile industries in eastern Uganda is doubt able whether still exists. Though there are many factors for the disappearance of such industries in eastern Uganda but partly as a result of agricultural set back in the north. This therefore has distorted education system in that region in many ways. One which is that people have developed mental problems, secondly the physical structures are destroyed and most importantly no economic activities taking place. People were used to selling their cash crops to get money for their children’s fees but is not the case as I point fingers to this keyboard!

Apart from educational hardships, the majority are unable to get basic needs of life because they lack economic activities or jobs either because there is still fear resettle back home or the job that they would do requires certain skills that is lacking. All these can not be solved in one day and but there should be some thing done to overcome it. You will also realize that there is education hardship because most of the children are either orphans whose parents became victims of the war or war related negative impacts and now living with extended families who may be old/elder persons that needed to be cared for instead!! Some have their parents whom I may say young parents who became parents as a result of forced marriages because they were war victims. Others may not be war victims but engaged in early marriages just to make ends meet. It’s very true that education can delay marriages but if some body is not educated, can marry at the age of 13. The law of Uganda allows a persons to get married when 18 and above but those who went to school think about marriage when they are 30 and above. And one will agree with me that uneducated/poor people are more fertile than the elites/rich. In otherwise, there is no reason for family planning.

How should these problems be solved? Well, Life in Africa Kireka is concerned about these issues and that is why it has come up as a grass root organization to see how they can help themselves. These are members comprising of the displaced persons living in the outskirt of Acholi quarters Kampala. They believe education is the best gift for any child. As organized displaced people, crafts making has become the economic activity in this temporary place but we think beyond that.