It’s a moment to say thank you to Christina who is now saying goodbye to us for the accomplishment of all what she has achieved either to an individual or as a group. Changing a community is one of the hardest things on earth because it’s a group of organisms living in a geographical environment with common interest or culture. Some people it’s hard for them to change their cultures much as it might be beneficial to them but until they see its fruits. That is why some tribes in Uganda have vowed never to give up with female circumcision much as the majority is against it. Thank you Christina for having community empowerment campaign at heart. I belief you are taking breath from the big crowd while watching as they enjoy the party, or complaining but you shall be always contacted where necessary.
While the host takes a breath from the crowd, there is always a master of ceremony who keeps on informing the audience or visitors about the party proceedings. For this matter I would like to welcome and congratulate Grace upon taking this challenging task. And with the experiences she has because she has been the audience I belief she will emulate and perform better too. It’s my wish for the new managing director of life in Africa foundation to continue empowering communities by either creating more communities and empower them or empowering those already created. There are some people who don’t know even that they have rights and can also do some thing unless they are retrieved from that deep asleep. Do you know why every body on earth is jubilating about Obama’s victory? Is because people thought that those who have served America as presidents, since they were/are white, could be that they are not human being but divine :) so historians now belief Kwamekuruma of Ghana’s saying that apart from color, we are equal where as it was the day for musicians to remember the late lucky dube’s song of different colors one people.
I can see that life in Africa foundation is accomplishing its aim and objectives, from the time of its inception this has been the vision and it’s good to appreciate this big achievement. When you empower some body or groups of individuals, is the best gift on earth. Because you have empowered him/her/them in all aspects of life right from socail, economical, plotical and emotional. Just as a mother raises her child until he/she is capable of doing by his/her own. This is the time that, that kind of a child comes back and surprises his/her parents with gift and say thank you for raising me up.
The fastest community that benefited from life in Africa foundation's vision is life in Africa Kireka community and many individuals. Life in Africa Kireka is also challenged to sit with its community and see if they can meet their desires.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Moment of Joy
Music dance and drama is one another thing that brings people together to relax the mind after the whole day of rehearsal. Much as one has thousand problems, people have different ways of spending leisure that you know yourself, life in Africa kireka members just at the quarter have what we call a get together party on the last Saturday of every month. Even a sad one will one day rejoice!
Look at the members dancing with sacks of groundnuts on their heads. Some with children strapped on the back :) for every celebration for all Ugandan tribes, ladies are honored when in Gomes and men always have no choice. Every body has his/her own ways of rejoicing when that moment comes.
Look at the members dancing with sacks of groundnuts on their heads. Some with children strapped on the back :) for every celebration for all Ugandan tribes, ladies are honored when in Gomes and men always have no choice. Every body has his/her own ways of rejoicing when that moment comes.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
POVERTY PERSPERTIVE
To know the causes of poverty, perhaps we need to first know what poverty is and who is considered to be poor. It always amazes me when I hear people talk about poverty, you will get surprised to hear that even person who is doing fairly good will say that s/he is poor perhaps may not know what being poor means to an ordinary man. At the grassroots level we understand poverty as lack of necessities such as food, clothing, shelter and safe drinking water, health care and not forgetting lack of access to opportunities like education and employment which fuel the escape from poverty or allow one to enjoy the respect of fellow citizens. Perhaps if some body does not belief that s/he is rich then should use the word not having enough.
There are levels of riches just as poverty, if one gets sick and rushes to the clinic without rushing first to the neighborhood to borrow money either for transport or medical bills, then that person is neither too rich nor too poor but just has enough which our community discus as the best. Some people have turned luxuries to be necessities when people in our community may have not even met one basic necessity. The members of this community still live below the poverty line not because they want it or lazy but perhaps the world does not know that such people exist not because of their own making.
They are trying as mush as possible not to be spoon fed but to be productive that they can only cross over the poverty line if some one outside there supports them either in their income generating activities as you must have learnt in this blog or even sponsoring a child’s education. When the children’s parents are poor and not encouraged to go to school, they will be poor even for the tenth generations to come! And that is what economist say poverty cycle; this is what Kireka concern is concerned about.
Much as the government agencies may try, but might not rich all these needy people. But thank God for the upcoming of non governmental organizations, they have helped the government to reach many than before. I was amazed to read on the local news paper about the growth of Uganda’s economy at a rocket speed and this is very common with developing countries, they tend to measure only economic growth without considering economic development. And when they measure economic development, you can find in the hands of 1, 2, 3…5 people, with the majority yawing! There is massive production but is not backed by the market and at the end of the day a sack of maize is sold only to purchase a small basket of necessities leaving them with empty hands to take their children to school or get medical care and this does not make the balance sheet balance.
That is why lia kireka has engaged its community in income generating activities like making handcrafts that if they are supported in, their balance sheet will perhaps balance. We can therefore belief that the majority poor are the illiterate ones, a good number of people in developing countries like Uganda can not pick their names if even if they find it on the way. Based on enrollment data less than 1% of what the world spends every year on weapon was supposed to put every child in school but this did not happen. Infectious diseases like HIV/aids still is a cause of poverty, parents die at an early ages leaving behind helpless orphans, these need be cared for in terms of education, health etc. with no access to clean water, almost 2 – 3 people lacking access to clean water live on less than a dollar a day, including lia kireka community lacks access to clean water and sanitation, this kind of community of displaced persons is supposed to have proper sanitation and clean water. Apart from HIV/aids that can be controlled by other means, malaria may not be the same... 95% of the life in Africa kireka community living in Acholi quarters the outskirt of Kampala depends on cracking stone apart from the in hand crafts, from morning to evening in order to get what to eat but not to buy mosquito net!!
People used to die of natural deaths at the ages of 70 and above but today in Africa people die of natural deaths at the ages of 2 to 40 because of extreme poverty. They lack every thing including shelter, howver much you may eat, get satisfied and medical care, but you sleep in the drainage, you have wasted the food you have eaten. I refer you to my friends’ blog GHETO LIFE. Some people have theory that high birth rate is the one causing poverty in Africa and Uganda in particular, to some extend may not be true because China is considered to be one of the most populated country in the world but they are doing better than Uganda. Anyway, whereas the high birth rate in China is high, it matches its economic growth and development as Uganda is not.
Poverty can not be ended but reduced by access project this can be done by financing and implementation of projects supported by whatever fund and through community led development at the village level to help them achieve the community prosperity for all programs.
There are levels of riches just as poverty, if one gets sick and rushes to the clinic without rushing first to the neighborhood to borrow money either for transport or medical bills, then that person is neither too rich nor too poor but just has enough which our community discus as the best. Some people have turned luxuries to be necessities when people in our community may have not even met one basic necessity. The members of this community still live below the poverty line not because they want it or lazy but perhaps the world does not know that such people exist not because of their own making.
They are trying as mush as possible not to be spoon fed but to be productive that they can only cross over the poverty line if some one outside there supports them either in their income generating activities as you must have learnt in this blog or even sponsoring a child’s education. When the children’s parents are poor and not encouraged to go to school, they will be poor even for the tenth generations to come! And that is what economist say poverty cycle; this is what Kireka concern is concerned about.
Much as the government agencies may try, but might not rich all these needy people. But thank God for the upcoming of non governmental organizations, they have helped the government to reach many than before. I was amazed to read on the local news paper about the growth of Uganda’s economy at a rocket speed and this is very common with developing countries, they tend to measure only economic growth without considering economic development. And when they measure economic development, you can find in the hands of 1, 2, 3…5 people, with the majority yawing! There is massive production but is not backed by the market and at the end of the day a sack of maize is sold only to purchase a small basket of necessities leaving them with empty hands to take their children to school or get medical care and this does not make the balance sheet balance.
That is why lia kireka has engaged its community in income generating activities like making handcrafts that if they are supported in, their balance sheet will perhaps balance. We can therefore belief that the majority poor are the illiterate ones, a good number of people in developing countries like Uganda can not pick their names if even if they find it on the way. Based on enrollment data less than 1% of what the world spends every year on weapon was supposed to put every child in school but this did not happen. Infectious diseases like HIV/aids still is a cause of poverty, parents die at an early ages leaving behind helpless orphans, these need be cared for in terms of education, health etc. with no access to clean water, almost 2 – 3 people lacking access to clean water live on less than a dollar a day, including lia kireka community lacks access to clean water and sanitation, this kind of community of displaced persons is supposed to have proper sanitation and clean water. Apart from HIV/aids that can be controlled by other means, malaria may not be the same... 95% of the life in Africa kireka community living in Acholi quarters the outskirt of Kampala depends on cracking stone apart from the in hand crafts, from morning to evening in order to get what to eat but not to buy mosquito net!!
People used to die of natural deaths at the ages of 70 and above but today in Africa people die of natural deaths at the ages of 2 to 40 because of extreme poverty. They lack every thing including shelter, howver much you may eat, get satisfied and medical care, but you sleep in the drainage, you have wasted the food you have eaten. I refer you to my friends’ blog GHETO LIFE. Some people have theory that high birth rate is the one causing poverty in Africa and Uganda in particular, to some extend may not be true because China is considered to be one of the most populated country in the world but they are doing better than Uganda. Anyway, whereas the high birth rate in China is high, it matches its economic growth and development as Uganda is not.
Poverty can not be ended but reduced by access project this can be done by financing and implementation of projects supported by whatever fund and through community led development at the village level to help them achieve the community prosperity for all programs.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
PEOPLE AND CULTURES
Apio Dorcus and Adongo Dorren my twin girls made one year on 14th October 2008 :) happy birth day to them. In some African cultures like japadhola in Uganda, twins are very important and it becomes a miracle when one gives birth to twins. In most cases people call it a blessing, when twins are born, there are some rituals performed to welcome the new born in the family. First they are not allowed to be seen by the neighbors until some simple celebration is done, normally food is cooked and served.
Twins have special names like in my females twins are named Apio for the first one to come out and Adongo for the last one to come those applied to girls and if boy’s opio is for the first one and Adongo is for the last one. Apoi/opio means first and Adongo/Odongo means last. The parents of twins are renamed Bawengi for father and miniwengi for mother. The twin mother does not go to their parents until q big celebration is done. Normally the mother of the twins invites her relatives and the father of the twins too invites his relative and celebrates. After this the mother can begin to visit her parents.
The father of the twin can not marry another wife unless the mother of the twins has given birth to another baby. That is about twins in my culture. The above are my first born and moreover twins
Saturday, November 8, 2008
How to transform communities
Reaching out the communities has never been easy. When we talk about communities, here I refer to the most vulnerable communities of Africa. Among such communities is life in Africa kireka. This community was formed to see how they exchange their thoughts into meaningful ideas that can help sustain themselves by being productive.
The members are engaged in innovative with recycling as the major activities. Among which are recycling paper beads and many other polythene products. This they think can help them over come challenges at home. And this prompts me ask how one would want to help this kind of community! The best way to leave positive impact to this community is by supporting them in what they are doing. They have beautiful handmade crafts that one would use as gifts for his friends. Take a chance to know what they are doing and see how you can help and make positive impacts.
The members are engaged in innovative with recycling as the major activities. Among which are recycling paper beads and many other polythene products. This they think can help them over come challenges at home. And this prompts me ask how one would want to help this kind of community! The best way to leave positive impact to this community is by supporting them in what they are doing. They have beautiful handmade crafts that one would use as gifts for his friends. Take a chance to know what they are doing and see how you can help and make positive impacts.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
UNDERSTANDING CONFLICT
It may not be easy for an ordinary man to understand what conflict is in local community public speaking. Its very interesting that our parents took us to school learn. People learn and excel but how do we rewards our parents apart from one kilogram of sugar? Its quite healthy to analyze certain issues in local languages, which in most case have been found to be deeper than English. For some one to learn well, he/she should first understand the concept in his own local language. In most cases African educated people tend to even mix vernacular with English when speaking to their parents who may not understand the meaning.
In this aspect Life in Africa Kireka is begging to translate these common English words into local language (luo) in this respect, the community members will be learning. For example there are these terminologies:
“Thawi” meaning quarreling
“ kigesa” meaning complaining
“kale” meaning okay
“Tich acheil” meaning Monday
“sabiti” meaning Sunday
And so on and so forth. These are very common words in our daily speeches that our community needs to understand well.
Back to the topic, one may need to know if conflict is normal, unusual or if it occurs.
In my perspective, conflict occurs in all relationships and it occurs at all levels ie, international, national, community, domestic and personal level. It might be good but if not handled properly may end into negative results. This is one of the biggest challenges in our communities that those leading the communities should learn how handle or to resolve peacefully and this is what life in Africa kireka strives to discuss with its community members.
It’s not easy to separate the people from the problem or conflict but how do we do it? People develop conflicts every one other time depending on many factors that surrounding them. Some time I think conflict develops as a result of stress. It’s truly essential to develop tools that will help in the process of separating the people from the problem or conflict. This is very important because may make do not mistake each other for being the conflict, which only leads to fighting each other instead of fighting the conflict or problem.
With this common understanding of conflict or problem, there is need to be soft on the people but hard on the problem. But one may ask what some of these tools are? To solve the problem, know the cause. In this respect the first tool here would be dream game, belief me or not try ask your friend what his dream is and hear if does not tell you about dreaming for good things only.. such as being able to have enough food, having security, more children completing higher education and getting into gainful employment, reduced death from voice and thousands of good things human being can ever talk of.
Another interesting tool I would think of is the human knot game, one time try to ask people to join their hands and form a circle. Ask for the few to act as observers. choose to fall in and out of the game as a leader they will follow you joyfully but let them entangle into a completed human knot ask them to restore the circle it may not be easy to reverse the process. We may therefore understand that conflicts begin simply but becomes hard to manage later. And also conflict needs analysis and cooperation of those involved because you may realize that from the observer’s perspective, some people are in great pain during the conflict and as a matter of fact even the leader of the game gets caught up in the conflict. Let conflict not get on your way and if does how do go about?
In this aspect Life in Africa Kireka is begging to translate these common English words into local language (luo) in this respect, the community members will be learning. For example there are these terminologies:
“Thawi” meaning quarreling
“ kigesa” meaning complaining
“kale” meaning okay
“Tich acheil” meaning Monday
“sabiti” meaning Sunday
And so on and so forth. These are very common words in our daily speeches that our community needs to understand well.
Back to the topic, one may need to know if conflict is normal, unusual or if it occurs.
In my perspective, conflict occurs in all relationships and it occurs at all levels ie, international, national, community, domestic and personal level. It might be good but if not handled properly may end into negative results. This is one of the biggest challenges in our communities that those leading the communities should learn how handle or to resolve peacefully and this is what life in Africa kireka strives to discuss with its community members.
It’s not easy to separate the people from the problem or conflict but how do we do it? People develop conflicts every one other time depending on many factors that surrounding them. Some time I think conflict develops as a result of stress. It’s truly essential to develop tools that will help in the process of separating the people from the problem or conflict. This is very important because may make do not mistake each other for being the conflict, which only leads to fighting each other instead of fighting the conflict or problem.
With this common understanding of conflict or problem, there is need to be soft on the people but hard on the problem. But one may ask what some of these tools are? To solve the problem, know the cause. In this respect the first tool here would be dream game, belief me or not try ask your friend what his dream is and hear if does not tell you about dreaming for good things only.. such as being able to have enough food, having security, more children completing higher education and getting into gainful employment, reduced death from voice and thousands of good things human being can ever talk of.
Another interesting tool I would think of is the human knot game, one time try to ask people to join their hands and form a circle. Ask for the few to act as observers. choose to fall in and out of the game as a leader they will follow you joyfully but let them entangle into a completed human knot ask them to restore the circle it may not be easy to reverse the process. We may therefore understand that conflicts begin simply but becomes hard to manage later. And also conflict needs analysis and cooperation of those involved because you may realize that from the observer’s perspective, some people are in great pain during the conflict and as a matter of fact even the leader of the game gets caught up in the conflict. Let conflict not get on your way and if does how do go about?
Sunday, October 26, 2008
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.
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.
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