Women in Uganda use the Internet for business, political dialogue, to blog their thoughts, share beauty and hair tips, to gossip, to counsel, to inspire, to advocate, to preach, to connect, to chat, to rant, selfies and whatever. It is ideally supposed to be space for free expression. What happens when this space is invaded? I…
Your Excellency, since you were sworn as the new president of the republic of Uganda, one thing has been on your mind – transforming Uganda into a middle-income country by 2020. The year 2020 is four years away, how do you plan to achieve this your Excellency? For countries like Singapore to achieve this…
Girls in Uganda continue to bear the brunt of injustices; from statutory rape, child marriages, early pregnancies among others. Some of these injustices are embedded in a culture that feeds the patriarchal society. Girls’ voices are trained to be silent from childhood. There is a certain way that girls ought to speak, sit and even…
I paid the price recently when I complained about the potholed, rugged road that leads to my home. As a tax paying citizen, I was convinced that I have the responsibility to demand for better services. This road has been rugged for a year now and gets worse by the day. Some drivers that use this road…
Rose Byogero is 30 years old; she has 8 children – 4 boys and 5 girls. Her first-born is 17 while her last-born is one-week-old. The only thing on this mother’s mind is to have a permanent family planning solution. She has been hesitant because her peers told her that she is too young to…
Ideally, human beings are supposed to visit a dentist twice a year. For many Ugandans, a visit to the dentist is when the tooth gave you a sleepless night. Whilst we don’t take oral health as a priority, we also think that most dental services are expensive and the word dentist is associated with pain…
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” – Martin Luther King, Jr. Mr. Byamugisha (not real name) is a troubled man. Last year, his 7-year-old daughter was raped on her way to school. The culprit is 16 and by every definition, this is statutory rape. Immediately Byamugisha went…
“This woman’s placenta membrane burst at around 10:00 am this morning. I am stuck because the mid-wife didn’t come to work today because she lost her grandfather.” Lolkalol David the nursing officer said “I am alone here, I am trying to call the ambulance but my phone has run out of credit.” It was 11:45…
Nasieku is expecting her fourth child. She has come for antenatal check up at Kapedo Health Center 111, Kabong district in Karamoja. She gave birth to two of her children from home. “It is humiliating for me to have a torch pointing at my private parts when giving birth. If there is no electricity…
Money for airtime has inevitably crept into the budgets of 19.5 million Ugandans that subscribe to various telecom companies in this country. But the question is, can airtime purchase data tell us about vulnerability to poverty? As the United Nations sits next week to launch the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),private and public partners are rolling…
Dear Uganda’s First Lady, You are an ardent reader of the good book. I have heard you quote this good book many times. Did you by any chance land on the verse that says “But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak…” ? You were quoted saying that the women of Uganda should…
Being brought up by a Mukiga father, I didn’t survive lecture sessions marked by proverbs and sayings that painted graphic images in my mind. He probably hoped that this imagery would stick and strike at the right time to sabotage my self-destructive ventures. My mother on the other hand was not a woman of words…
