My friend texted me after she had read the “Happily Never After” story that I featured on this blog last week. She asked whether I was only writing about Ugandans that had overcome abusive relationships and I told her that if I got an opportunity to interview those outside Uganda, I would definitely take it…
Little girls dream of the day when their fathers will hold their arm, walk down them aisle to hand them over to the man of their dreams to live happily ever after. However, for some Ugandan women, the case of happily ever after is a tale that has remained in the story books and Telemundos.…
Last Sunday, I returned to the spot where I met Jaffari. I had came with glad tidings. Some readers of Jaffari’s story driven by compassion sent me mobile money to help him start his dream business. But he was not there, I stood confused. As I turned to leave, there was a young man in…
After three years in Luzira prison, Jaffari is back to his spot in the city. Back to homelessness. Back to sleeping under the bare sky. Unsure of where to start from. Prison gave him food and shelter, but the streets give him hope and freedom. The a 23-year-old narrates his story. “ My father run…
“Is it possible that everyone can be connected to the Internet?” I wondered. During the session themed “A positive outlook: Leaving No One Offline’ at the Stockholm Internet Forum, my thoughts wandered to Fudencia, a 70 something year-old widow in my village. She is taking care of her five grand children. Unfortunately, Fudencia cannot read…
To tame an elephant, catch it young or make sure that it is born in captivity, she will never know her power. You will use her in the circus to entertain humans, You will ride on her the safari to see other animals, You will use this elephant as crane for construction projects, and you can use her in…
” I have ever made 100 dollars. You know how? Someone hooked me up with a white man at the Sheraton that wanted my services, he was going to pay me well. I was 19 and I was hot. I thought 20,000 shillings maybe. So I put on my best clothes and there I was…
“Everyone knows me as the mama of the prostitutes in this area. I came here in 2000 after the death of my husband. He loved me. He pampered me. We had property together. I lost him to sickness in 1999 shortly after the birth of my son. My Husband’s elder brother had been hitting…
Think of a Vitz car owner, every three months they will service their car at 100,000 Ugx. A new Pirelli tyre (65/70R14) is about 250,000 Ugx, they will pay without questioning but the same car owner will frown when a dentist tells him that a dental checkup is at 35,000 Shillings. Priorities anyone? Many Ugandans…
This is the story of Kemirembe a 24-year-old sex worker in Bwaise Kimombasa. “When I was 16, a woman picked me from my village in Bushenyi to work as a housemaid. I saw this as an opportunity because I wasn’t going to school. My parents were poor. All I had were the clothes on my…
Out of curiosity, last Saturday, I called a friend, a community mobliser, who had worked in Bwaise Kimombasa for years rehabilitating sex workers and connecting them to health care services and education programmes for their children. He had shared their stories with me but I wanted to hear and see for myself. I wanted to treat…
She was my life’s constant until she met a guy, a Bengal with six packs. She didn’t hang around our compound anymore, was not there to welcome me and eventually, I moved on too. She reappeared 3 weeks later looking like she had put on some weight. I suspected she was pregnant and by the…
Thoughts to words.
“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” ― Maya Angelou
Everything Is a Story
The world of Lemn Sissay
"You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore."-Cesar Chavez
