tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58061037380300928862024-03-13T16:29:00.640+03:00GRANARYA storehouse of my newspaper articlesDennis D. Muhumuzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784264577150328966noreply@blogger.comBlogger414125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806103738030092886.post-73302483202372211362017-05-31T15:52:00.004+03:002017-05-31T15:52:29.319+03:00Funny,bumpy and smooth road journey<i>TIDE AND TIME. From a funny Kampala bus journey, to a rough ride through
Ntungamo to the smooth roll to Mirama Hills. DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA tells
of his experience by public means of transport</i><br />
<br />
It had been a while since I travelled upcountry
by public means. So at the weekend when I jumped on a bus to Kafunjo
Parish in Ntungamo District to attend a friend’s wedding, I had not
prepared for the interestingly ‘new developments’ that would be part of
my long journey.<br />
<br />
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<div>
The first development was the black
<i>kaveera</i> (polythene bag) given to passengers. On such long distances most
of them eat all sorts of things along the way, and those with reactive
stomachs often puke them back. </div>
<div>
I had to applaud the
foresightedness of Global Coaches management for introducing the kaveera
(never mind that government banned kaveera)and small buckets to protect
their buses from the repugnant vomit of passengers. An old man behind
me asked the conductor if he could ease himself in one of the buckets,
and the bus roared in laughter.<br />
</div>
<div>
Another ‘development’
that is now ‘officially’ part of such long distances is the
sugar-tongued herbal medicine merchant who buys a seat so he can use the
journey to hawk his herbs. This time he was selling a powdered
concoction that he claimed it gives men “lasting power” in bed. The
same powder, he said, is a cure to diabetes, ulcers, varied allergies,
syphilis, blood pressure, joint pains and all sorts of maladies that
make life unbearable. He made a killing from passengers but I was left
wondering who regulates such ‘medics’ and their merchandise.<br />
</div>
<div>
<strong>The sardines</strong><br />When
I reached Mbarara I took a taxi to Ntungamo. We left the park 16
passengers but the driver kept stopping and picking up more passengers
until we were packed like sardines, with hardly breathing space. </div>
<div>
I
could not believe this ‘development’ in the 21st century, moreover in
the First Lady’s backyard. It did not help that the driver was driving
like a demon. I knelt down and prayed when we reached Ntungamo safely.<br />
</div>
<div>
<strong>Smooth ride</strong><br />From
here, we hired a saloon car and headed to Mirama Hills where the
wedding was taking place. The 37km-Ntungamo-Mirama Hills Road is newly
upgraded and smooth. This was not the story four years ago; this road
used to be so bad leading to several fatal accidents that the villagers
had nicknamed it <i>karyabantu</i> (one that devours people). The
most dangerous spot was at <i>Omukikoona</i> (the intersection) in Kafunjo
where one road goes to Kikagati – connecting to Tanzania, and the other
to Mirama border post of Rwanda. This intersection would get waterlogged
during the rainy season that vehicles would sink, killing people.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5x2MuIrfRmQ/WS68DKVc5OI/AAAAAAAAC-E/TAd9RIAAQyk51NfERVOA1i7T_j1nkzAIgCLcB/s1600/20170506_161007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="961" data-original-width="1600" height="192" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5x2MuIrfRmQ/WS68DKVc5OI/AAAAAAAAC-E/TAd9RIAAQyk51NfERVOA1i7T_j1nkzAIgCLcB/s320/20170506_161007.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A heavy truck on the Ntungama-Mirama Hill Road</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In 2014, the situation was so dire that the natives went on a rampage
and planted banana trees in the middle of the impassable road, and could
not be appeased until they had a meeting with Janet Museveni who was
the area MP. The government then engaged a Chinese company to upgrade it
from murram to bitumen standard. </div>
<div>
<strong></strong><br />Today,
the work is nearly complete and everyone is happy about the
development, from the locals who got manual jobs on the road to the
businessmen that use the road to transport produce such as beans and
maize and bales of second-hand clothes to Rwanda and from Tanzania.<br />
</div>
<div>
Now,
even buses from Kigali to Kampala and back ply this road which is
shorter than Ntungamo-Kabale-Katuna-Kigali route. Whereas it used to
take over two hours from Ntungamo to Kigali on this road, now it takes
close 30 minutes for big trucks and less than 20 minutes for the small
cars.<br />
</div>
<div>
Before heading back to Kampala, we drove from
Ntungamo to Mirama border post in 21 minutes. Our driver sometimes sped
but we love our lives more than the adrenaline rush. How long this road will last before it needs to be repaired will confirm whether the Zhongmei road engineers did a good job.<br />
</div>
<div>
<strong>Did you know?</strong><br />•
The Ntungamo–Mirama Hills Road is a road in the Western Region of
Uganda, connecting the towns of Ntungamo and Mirama Hills, both in
Ntungamo District.<br />• President Yoweri Museveni officially commissioned the construction of the 37 km Ntungamo-Mirama Hills road.<br />• TradeMark East Africa and government of Uganda jointly funded construction of the $22 million road<br />•
The Mirama Hills road route offers a shorter and less difficult route
to Rwanda than passing through the Katuna/Gatuna border post.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.monitor.co.ug/artsculture/Travel/Funny-bumpy-and-smooth-road-journey/691238-3934698-ioxeknz/index.html" target="_blank"><i>Sunday Monitor</i></a>, May 21, 2017 </div>
</div>
Dennis D. Muhumuzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784264577150328966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806103738030092886.post-31443795630757445382016-10-06T20:49:00.003+03:002016-10-06T20:49:36.011+03:00Distinguishing a man from a maleLESSONS. Do you know the difference between a man and a male? <strong><em>Dennis D. Muhumuza </em></strong>explores this.<br />
<br />
Did you know that not all males are men? There’s a huge gulf between
the two, as I learned at a recent Men’s Conference facilitated by Eric
Ssetuba, head of Men’s Ministry Makerere Full Gospel Church.
Accordingly, a male is created but a man is made. When a child is born
with a penis, he is male but it takes years of training and upbringing
and a track record of application for him to be considered a man.<br />
<br />
<strong><em>What a male does</em></strong><br />A
normal male above 18 years or even less can make a woman pregnant but
it takes a man to make a father. A male panics and disowns the pregnancy
but a man takes responsibility and cares, after birth he raises his
child until maturity and independence. He is involved in all the circles
of growth of his children and knows how to discipline his sons into
manhood, whereas a male leaves all decisions to his wife and when the
wife is not there his maid takes her place, including bedroom matters.
These are the kind of males who have no self-control so they could rape
and defile to satisfy their carnal appetites.<br />
<br />
A saying goes, no
matter how tall your father is, you must do your own growing. Males grow
only in bodies and not in character. What women call the “mama’s boy”
falls in this category.<br />
<br />
He is a cry-baby who does not know how to
assert himself or make manly plans. He runs to his mother for
solutions and cries when pushed to the wall by circumstances. A man has
the ability to stay calm when the going is tough. He is the
problem-solver who keeps his family afloat amid the storms of life. He
is the leader and provider and all his moves factor in the wellbeing of
his family and dependants. He also prepares for his exit through savings
and investments so that when he is gone his family will not suffer.<br />
<br />
You
have heard of “absentee fathers”. Those are males, not men while a real
man creates bonding time for his family no matter how busy he is. He
does not bring office work to his home because it is family time. This
is when he helps his children to do homework, prays with them and
listens to them. He remembers their birthdays and attends school
visitations. A male thinks buying toys for his children is enough.
Consequently, cartoon characters become the role models of his children
and they grow up weak like reeds that are tossed about by the wind.<br />
<br />
<strong><em>Make family time</em></strong><br />A
man does not only work hard but also teaches his children early to
embrace hard work and a saving culture. He involves them in budgeting
for the family so that they can learn how to spend responsibly. A male
on the other hand provides everything children ask for without question.
He is the kind who buys a smartphone for his six-year-old son with
limitless Internet without activating parental controls. It is also this
type of male that forbids his sons from working; everything is done by
the maids. In future these children fail to adapt to the hard and often
harsh realities of life and turn to drugs and become, in hip-hop
parlance, “messed-up hommies.”<br />
<br />
<strong><em>Work for survival</em></strong><br />Before
dawn when the real men are throwing away blankets to go and hustle,
that is when the male snuggles further in and snores. When he finally
wakes up, his “proggie” is all about going to the nearest sports betting
centre hoping for a quick kill and thrill. Such often sponges off his
sisters or rich mother to keep going. A man, even when he is not
employed starts something or volunteers somewhere because he must earn
his bread and be useful in society. Are you a man or merely male? If you
are male, start on a new journey to manhood. Bravo to real men!<br />
<br />
<strong><em>Fulfillment</em></strong><br />A
man also sets goals and runs after their fulfillment resolutely. Goals
about his health, finances, spirituality, morality and security. He
knows it is in the fulfillment of these goals that he can contribute to
his society because he knows life does not revolve around him alone, so
he tries to impact the world in everything he does. Thus he acquires new
skills to retain his cutting edge, and surrounds himself with people
that bring out the best in him. Males don’t care about legacy; they are
the heavy drinkers, chainsmokers and squander their time with loafers
and comfort themselves singing the Solomonic song which they sadly get
out of context, “enjoy today, for tomorrow you die!” Alas they die with
inner regrets, having left no legacy at all except a legacy of careless
living.<br />
<br />
--<a href="http://www.monitor.co.ug/Magazines/Life/Distinguishing-a-man-from-a-male/689856-3333940-crkxatz/index.html" target="_blank"><i>Sunday Monitor</i>, August 7, </a>2016 <br />
Dennis D. Muhumuzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784264577150328966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806103738030092886.post-8579816822047551832016-07-06T17:09:00.000+03:002016-07-06T17:09:22.313+03:00Every man’s healthy body needs<div>
<b>By Dennis D. Muhumuza</b><br />
<br />
In Uganda, the man is the leader and provider in the home. Even
the emancipation of women has not changed that status quo as most men
confess they do not know how their working wives spend their salaries.<br />
The women go on the defensive, saying a woman’s money is a woman’s
money and the man has no business poking his nose into how she spends
it. But that’s a story for another day. For today, the focus is on the healthy choices the man must make to live long and strong to fulfill his roles in society.<br />
<br />
Good
health and wealth is God’s will for man: “Dear friends, I pray that you
may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your
soul is getting along well” (3 John 1:2).<br />
<strong></strong><br />
But how can it be well with your body, soul and mind when you feed
poorly, have inadequate rest, and rarely do exercises? And if it’s not
well with you in body, soul and mind, how will you be able to lead and
provide for your family efficiently and sufficiently?<br />
<br />
At a
recent Men’s Conference organised by the Men’s Ministry of Makerere Full
Gospel Church, the key presenter, Dr Joseph Mwebe, told men that
despite advances in research and the glut of accessible information,
people are more unwell than before: “Because of poor healthy choices,
many men have been hit by an epidemic of diabetes, high blood pressure,
arthritis, allergies and asthma, obesity, low immunity, ulcers,
infertility, dehydration, stress and other illnesses that could have
been prevented with better health choices.”<br />
Dr Mwebe proposed
healthy choices that will keep some common diseases at bay, help in
better blood circulation, and keep the mind alert, helping the man to
stay vibrant physically and mentally.<br />
<br />
<strong>Know your health</strong><br />
First, every man who values life should go for a health screening.
Test for HIV, blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol and blood fats,
know your waist circumference, body mass index, do a liver function test
especially if you drink alcohol, screen for cancer (testicular and
prostate for men) and visit a dentist. Prevention is better than cure
and a timely health screening can prevent all sorts of diseases.<br />
<br />
Secondly, most men focus on making money at the expense of their
health. They often catch a quick late lunch washed down with soda before
they rush back to their desks.<br />
<br />
But Heather Morgan, a nutrition
expert, says, “Every time you eat or drink, you are either feeding a
disease or fighting it.” It is important for men to feed on a balanced
diet.<br />
<br />
<strong>What your body needs</strong><br /> “Ninety per
cent of our diet must be based on plant foods because plants have
complete protein and more protein per calorie than animals,” says Dr
Mwebe, “and 50 per cent of our foods must be eaten raw. Foods must
ideally be eaten ‘whole’ - unrefined and unprocessed; preferably with
their seeds and skins.”<br />
<br /> Health benefits of eating vegetables such
as spinach, nakati, dodo, sukamawiki, cabbages, cucumber, carrots, not
forgetting tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, garlic are well known. Even the
Bible vouches for vegetables. Daniel, Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego
refused King Nebuchadnezzar’s choice delicacies and wine in favour of
vegetables and water.<br />
<br />
And in 10 days they were healthier than
those who were eating the king’s delicacies (Daniel 1:5-16). So forget
chips and sausages. According to Dr Mwebe, sausages cause cancer and are
as dangerous as cigarettes. Also, ditch red meat in preference to white
meat (fish and poultry - preferably local chicken).<br />
<br />
It is
important to have enough rest to relax the mind and body after a good
day’s work. Doctors recommend at least eight hours of sleep for a
reason. That is when the body recharges ready to take on another day. A
well-rested body and mind can hardly be stressed. MPs doze in parliament
because most of them are unfit and rarely have adequate rest. Realise
how important sufficient sleep is and do not stay out late with the boys
drinking alcohol or watching soccer.<br />
<br /> A man who applies the above healthy living principles will live long and strong.<br />
<br />
<strong>Must-haves</strong><br />
Drinking lots of water is also a great healthy choice because water
is the “single most important nutrient for our bodies.” Dr Mwebe says
we are 65 per cent water, our brains are 75 per cent water and our lungs
80 per cent water.<br />
<br />
Basically we would be doomed without water.
So men, we must drink at least two litres of water each day; room
temperature - not hot nor cold.<br />
<br />
Also, do not drink while eating,
rather drink thirty minutes before and two hours after your meals. Some
of the signs that you are not drinking enough water include headaches,
backache, constipation, joint pains, fatigue, memory loss and weight
problems.<br />
<br />
To the workaholic men who rarely have time for
exercises you’re unknowingly committing suicide. As Dr Mwebe said
succinctly, “Money and insurance can’t make us healthy!” So it’s better
to rise from that swivel chair and engage in some sweat-breaking
physical activity.<br />
<br />
Jog, lift weights, punch a sand bag and
achieve maximum fitness. Before you know it you’ll be walking as if on
springs like Okonkwo and will become superman to your wife and children.<br />
<br />
--<a href="http://www.monitor.co.ug/Magazines/Life/Every-mans-healthy-body-needs/-/689856/3244818/-/m75lxr/-/index.html" target="_blank"><i>Sunday M</i></a><i><a href="http://www.monitor.co.ug/Magazines/Life/Every-mans-healthy-body-needs/-/689856/3244818/-/m75lxr/-/index.html" target="_blank">onito</a>r, </i>June 12, 2016 </div>
Dennis D. Muhumuzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784264577150328966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806103738030092886.post-73526623918679436142016-07-06T17:02:00.002+03:002016-07-06T17:03:02.974+03:00Fifty years of Song of LawinoBy <b>Dennis D. Muhumuza</b><br />
<br />
The year was 1966 when Okot p’Bitek’s lengthy poem, <i>Song </i>of <i>Lawino </i>as published. Fifty years later, it is still recognised as one of the
finest piece of literature to come out of East Africa.That’s why
on March 18, Makerere University’s department of Literature together
with key players from the humanities and writing sector held a day-long
symposium to celebrate the work and its author.<br />
<br />
“We organised this
to recognise and celebrate Ugandan literary icons that have left
indelible marks on the East African literary scene and beyond,” said Dr
Susan Kiguli, head of Literature department at Makerere. “In doing this
we hope not just to stimulate and revisit critical and cultural debates
that the publication of p’Bitek’s <i>Song </i>o<i>f Lawino </i>provoked, but also
revitalise Ugandan writing.”<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UpEQaCwc7ZI/V30OcvLEPDI/AAAAAAAAC1I/YhhZSeLB_Tgn4SXaBT-3KcK-FKqjUGzpQCLcB/s1600/reviews03pix.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="215" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UpEQaCwc7ZI/V30OcvLEPDI/AAAAAAAAC1I/YhhZSeLB_Tgn4SXaBT-3KcK-FKqjUGzpQCLcB/s320/reviews03pix.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jane Okot P’Bitek Langoya, deputy registrar general Uganda Registration
Services Bureau, Prof Taban Lo’ Liyong of University of Juba, South
Sudan, Prof Dumba Ssentamu, the Vice Chancellor Makerere University and
Prof Molara Ogundipe, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, during the
launch of Omulanga Gwa Lawino at Makerere University recently. Photo by
Alex Esagala</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The leading critic of African
literature, Prof Simon Gikandi, in his keynote address, said <i>Song of
Lawino </i>became a canonical literary text very early: “In 1972 the school
edition was issued. Apart from the fact that students were reading it
for exams, it was also read by the general public, using the language
and debate in the book to carry out a conversation on cultural change.”<br />
<br />
Prof
Gikandi, who has produced an encyclopaedia on African literature, said
in spite of the book being very important, it doesn’t always get taught
as world literature in American or European universities because the
Western world have a very limited notion of the world. <i>“Song of Lawino</i>
speaks about a very specific world and Okot is aware of how that world
is connected to the other world and one of the advantages of teaching
the book is for it to help us expand the notion of the world.”<br />
<br />
Prof
Gikandi attributed the book’s lasting appeal to its resonance with the
people. “The questions and the issues Okot was asking at the time are
questions we still ask ourselves. We are always going through periods of
cultural transition.”<br />
<br />
<b>The Luganda version</b><br />
Three
years after publishing <i>Song of Lawino </i>in English, Okot p’Bitek released
the Acholi version because he wanted his book to be accessed in as many
languages as possible.<br />
<br />
It has since been translated into more
than 30 languages; German, French, Spanish, and Indonesian, among
others. And during the symposium, its first Luganda version, Omulanga
gwa Lawino by Prof Abasi Kiyimba was launched.<br />
<br />
In a country where
even people with formal education struggle to express themselves in the
English language, having our finest literature translated into local
languages is certainly a progressive move. As Austin Bukenya
commented: “Song of Lawino is the jewel of East African and Ugandan
literature. Its translation and making it available to people who do not
necessarily speak English is a very remarkable achievement.”<br />
<br />
Joshua
Kigongo, a teacher of Luganda at Oxford High School in Kyebando, said
the Luganda translation will help his students to “gain a deeper
understanding and appreciation of the language” and hopefully inspire
them to write powerfully in the local language.<br />
<br />
Isaac Ssettuba, an
expert in Luganda, said Prof Kiyimba struck a good balance between the
spirit and the letter although for personal reasons he said he would
have preferred the title to have a direct translation, ‘Oluyimba gwa
Lawino’ not ‘Omulanga gwa Lawino’. “Omulanga is more serious, it’s a
call, appeal.” <br />
<br />
<b>Gains from the conference</b><br />
Jimmy
Muhangi, a student of literature at Makerere University, who performed a
14-stanza recital of the ‘Buffalos of Poverty Knocking People Down’
from the Song of Lawino said: “There would be no life without
inspiration, and all the speakers and writers at the symposium are faces
of inspiration that have left me with a creative longing to work harder
and represent the face of literature some day.” Such conferences, said
novelist Goretti Kyomuhendo, could provide the spark for a reading and
writing renaissance reminiscent of the golden years of Ugandan
literature – the 1960s.<br />
<br />
“Developments in the sciences are very
important but no society can call itself a civilization without a
thriving arts and culture industry,” said UPC party president Olara
Otunnu.<br />
<br />
Prof Mahmood Mamdani talked about “hard power and soft
power”. Hard power is wielded by rulers and soft power by common people
through their culture. “Culture is what makes us human beings and
that’s what Song of Lawino is about.”<br />
<br />
“We need more literary
conferences because they give us the conviction that we can make it like
Okot p’Bitek did,” said Judith Uwimana, a student of literature.<br />
<br />
Prof
Taban lo Liyong’s word to aspiring writers is to work real hard. “Not
everybody who puts pen to paper is a writer,” he said. “Writing is
difficult. You’ve to know the language fully enough to express what your
thoughts are.”<br />
<br />
<b>About Okot p’Bitek</b><br />
Born June 7,1931, in Gulu,
this poet with international acclaim to his name for the famous Song of
Lawino died July 20, 1982. He self-translated the English version from
which Omulanga gwa Lawino was formed. <br />
He followed Song of Lawino
with the pendant Song of Ocol (1970), the husband’s reply, Defence of
Lawino, White Teeth and Modern Cookery among other works.<br />
<br />
<div class="p--heading-2">
</div>
As the legendary poetic work of Okot p’Bitek’s Song of Lawino marks 50
years, the literary fraternity across Uganda met to celebrate it with a
translated version Omulanga gwa Lawino. Translated by Prof Abasi
Kiyimba, this Luganda text is a successful treatise of an attempt to
tell our own stories; by our own people.<br />
Prof Kiyimba paid critical
attention to the language in Omulanga Gwa Lawino, staying true to
Bitek’s meaning despite the word/lingual changes.<br />
<br />
“Much as we are
saying he eliminated most words in English, it is still a good text,
because there are words you can speak in English but cannot say in your
local language,” said Rosemary Nakasolya, a Luganda scholar and teacher
at Mityana SS.<br />
<br />
Kiyimba cleverly rephrased verses like my
husband’s anger is “...hot like the penis of a bee...” to simply
obusungu bwe “tebumanyi Njuki”. In English, that translation would mean
my husband’s anger ‘does not compare to a bee”.<br />
<br />
Therefore, the aspect of language, culture and representation was a very large part of discussion at the symposium. While
he was not present to defend his treatise owing to ailment, a consensus
was reached that translating it the way he did was marvellous. Charles
Kamulegeya also a Luganda scholar said, “It does not take away from the
text with text. Even Bitek must have had trouble translating from Acholi
to English but at least he is the original author.”<br />
<br />
“Translation
from English to Luganda, pertaining to the differences in Acholi
culture to Buganda should have been tricky. But we appreciate what Prof
Kiyimba did,” he said. Prof Kiyimba still maintained general themes in
the text.<br />
<br />
Justice James Ogoola, the guest of honour, launched the
book at Makerere University Main hall, hosted by the university’s
Literature department. Panel discussions studied the language, thematic
concerns like neo colonialism, immorality, culture, the representation
of women in the text and Prof Kiyimba’s choice maintain Bitek’s Acholi
words as in Song of Lawino.<br />
<br />
<i>Saturday <a href="http://www.monitor.co.ug/artsculture/Reviews/Fifty-years-of-Song-of-Lawino/-/691232/3133706/-/jol5c8/-/index.html" target="_blank">Monitor</a></i>, March 26, 2016 Dennis D. Muhumuzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784264577150328966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806103738030092886.post-50707761712325798682016-06-10T12:34:00.002+03:002016-06-29T15:19:12.632+03:00A long boring wait for men<div>
By <b>Dennis D. Muhumuza</b><br />
<br />
The 2015/2016 season of Barclays Premier League ends today [<i>May 15</i>]
after 10 sizzling months, leaving many Ugandan men wondering how they
will be passing their weekend afternoons before the new season kicks off
on August 13.<br />
<br />
Soccer, women, money and politics are the top
interests of men, no doubt, with soccer having an edge over the others.
Even deep in my village in western Uganda nine out of every 10 men who
have never stepped in class reel off the names of the star players in
the premiership.<br />
<br />
It is just amazing how English football has
stolen the hearts and minds of Ugandan men. Everyone is a pundit;
everyone has a jersey of his team, with his name or the name of his
favourite player and his jersey number conspicuously emblazoned on its back. As a
Gunner, I too have an Arsenal shirt with my name and number [16] of
Aaron Ramsey on it. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ep13m2UfJZA/V3O8P0buWtI/AAAAAAAAC0E/a40qj6X0RkoUO6MwCSyIKX_fw1RES3qBgCLcB/s1600/FB_IMG_1447779809321.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ep13m2UfJZA/V3O8P0buWtI/AAAAAAAAC0E/a40qj6X0RkoUO6MwCSyIKX_fw1RES3qBgCLcB/s320/FB_IMG_1447779809321.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
It is show time every weekend, and our wives
and girlfriends suffer unless they pull off great pretense as soccer
lovers too; pulling on jerseys of our favourite teams, jumping and
shouting with us when our team scores, and commiserating with us when we
lose.The women who have failed to train themselves to love
football know nothing but misery on weekends because that is when their
lovers squander a lot of money on betting and return home too drunk to
spend quality time with them.<br />
<br />
<b>Why is soccer so obsessive? </b><br />
Men
are natural hunters; they love the challenge, they love the chase, they
love the competition, they love risks; any adrenaline-inducing venture
and adventure excites them. The English Premiership gives them an
opportunity to wind down; a delightful break from the drudgery of life.<br />
<br />
Men
identify with rivalry, and the fiercest rivalry is served steaming hot
in the Premiership. It begins with top managers bullying one another
with words and actions; each trying to establish himself as the real
bull of the premiership kraal. Tempers flare on the touchline as
managers throw tantrums like Arsene Wenger shoved the pugnacious Jose
Mourinho who called him a “specialist in failure”. It is funny watching
star players pout when a dent in form gets them benched.<br />
<br />
<b>Drama</b><br />
One
time Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp broke his glasses celebrating a goal
while Louis van Gaal dropped his pants to show his critics that he has
balls.<br />
<br />
The rivalry trickles down to clubs in close proximity, for
example, Manchester United calls Manchester City “the noisy neighbours”
while Arsenal shares a neighbourhood with Tottenham Hotspurs and for 20
years the latter has been trying to finish above the former in vain.<br />
<br />
This extends to fans as we barb one another depending on how our respective teams are performing. The teams attack with a romantic eagerness or defend with extraordinary resoluteness or they are punished. The
tempo, the surprises, the howlers, the class acts and the overall
intensity and unpredictability leave you drunk with excitement or
disappointment as you watch your team shred its opponent. These are
moments that make even grey-haired men weep with joy or with pain,
shamelessly.<br />
<br />
<b>Tension</b><br />
Leicester City gave us the best tension this season. This is
how BBC Radio 2 presenter Jeremy Vine described the Foxes’ performances in February: “You are performing the kind of high-wire act
not seen since the French daredevil Philippe Petit strung a cable
between the Twin Towers and crossed it without a harness. Every week we
expect you to fall…but every week you stay on that cable.”<br />
<br />
Leicester City that had gone from last to first in the league in just 12 months
went on to win the trophy for the first time in their 132-year history.
They did that in style; upsetting the status quo; making the established
top teams look like “a bunch of bungling amateurs” as one pundit put
it. The underdog had grabbed its chance with aplomb; stirring us with
inspiration that we too can make it big time.<br />
<br />
In life rarely is
the underdog given the chance to prove himself, but in Premier League
anyone has his chance. The injury of a big star is an opportunity for an
often disregarded player to prove himself as a diamond that was hidden
in the rough.<br />
<br />
All the above combined is why it will be a tough wait for most men out
there before the top English professional football league resumes.<br />
<br />
--First published in <a href="http://www.monitor.co.ug/Magazines/Life/-/689856/3202916/-/11c0yabz/-/index.html" target="_blank"><i>Sunday Monitor</i>, May 15</a>, 2016 </div>
Dennis D. Muhumuzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784264577150328966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806103738030092886.post-57761477343092422592016-06-10T12:26:00.000+03:002016-06-29T15:29:17.849+03:00MISS JAMAICA 2015 VISITS UGANDA<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Beauty with
a purpose” is a <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">catchphrase<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"> </span></span>vocalised by many national beauty queens but few give
it tangible meaning like the reigning Miss Jamaica, Dr. Sanneta Myrie. The
25<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">-</span>year-old is a medical doctor who turned to catwalk not to show off her booty,
but to use the limelight to impact the world. That’s why she spent over ten
hours airborne from New York to Africa for two weeks of voluntary
service that saw her reach out to disadvantaged children in Ethiopia, Kenya and
Uganda.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“I came with
a team from Shashamane Sunrise, an international NGO focusing on supporting
children’s education in developing countries. I jumped at the invitation to
join their efforts because what the organisation does is in line with what I
like to do, which is to mentor young children from disadvantaged
circumstances.”</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">It’s easy
for Dr. Sanneta’s heart to beat for the underprivileged because she didn’t have
a rosy childhood either. She was born in the ghettos of Kingston, Jamaica, to a
single mother and a Rastafarian father she has never met. She was later adopted
and given an opportunity she maximised to become the woman she is today. <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zaTufw96DAc/V3O9GvjGSLI/AAAAAAAAC0Q/hGndN7qTgh4HaozIApJsrPHJrPGVT3pyQCLcB/s1600/20160316_143059.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zaTufw96DAc/V3O9GvjGSLI/AAAAAAAAC0Q/hGndN7qTgh4HaozIApJsrPHJrPGVT3pyQCLcB/s400/20160316_143059.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">The writer with <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">Miss Jam<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">aic<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">a <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">2016</span></span></span></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“If I wasn’t
lucky enough to be able to get quality education I wouldn’t have been able to
achieve all that I have achieved. So when it comes to providing good education
for children; giving each child equal opportunity to achieve, it’s really
something I’m drawn to because we are all capable; it’s just a matter of
opportunity.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Dr. Sanneta
spent five days at St. Theresa Ngora-Okoboi Primary School, in Ngora District,
eastern Uganda. She gave out books, pens, pencils, erasers and interacted with
the school’s population of 503 learners who she described as “bright-eyed
children in worn-out uniforms and tattered shoes and slippers”.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“I got them
to tell me their dreams and a lot of them expressed their desire to be like the
people they admire in their community: teacher, farmer, doctor, priest. No one
said they wanted to be a national beauty queen because the concept of catwalk
was alien to them. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“It was a
bit difficult to explain to them where Jamaica is. I told them about Bob Marley
and the world’s fastest man Usain Bolt who are from my country but they looked
at me bewildered because they didn’t know these people. I understood knowing
this is a rural setting with no electricity, no TV; no real exposure to the
outside world. That’s why it’s important for anyone with a massive platform to
use it to reach out to such children; to stimulate them and give them a broader
world outlook.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Mentoring children </span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Dr. Sanneta
held mentorship workshops; impressing upon the children the importance of
working hard and utilizing every opportunity. An accomplished dancer who
started dancing at the age of three, she also took them through dancing
routines because “dance is a form of healing; medicine heals the mind and body,
and dance heals the soul.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“I engaged
them in some Jamaican dances but the moves proved challenging for them to fully
grasp but they tried their best and laughed their way through it,” she said.
“It was a fulfilling day of putting smiles across many faces.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Away from
getting jiggy with the children, the beauty queen rolled her sleeves and got
involved in the harder work of renovating the school buildings. She
commissioned a group of local masons and as they built the unfinished walls and
others put a new roof on some of the buildings, she grabbed a paintbrush and
painted a whole wall. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Before
leaving Teso, Dr. Sanneta visited Sipi Falls which she described as a
“breathtaking site” and the hike down to the base of these falls was “quite an
amazing experience” for her. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">In Kampala,
Dr. Sanneta met the reigning Miss Uganda Zahara Nakiyaga.</span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“I took her to Special
Children Special People, a home in Bunga, that helps prepare children with
disabilities for formal education,” said Zahara. “She interacted with the
children and met their teachers. It was a great experience getting together
again and rehashing old memories at Miss World.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The Director
of that special needs home, Dr. Naboth Colle, said the children had a great
experience with Miss Jamaica: “She was interested in their welfare; how they
live and cope. She talked to and took pictures with them and we were all
honoured by her presence and touched by her compassion.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Dr. Sanneta
also met Pauline Akurut, the reigning Miss Tourism. </span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Such a world beauty
but she is out there working so hard and making a huge difference,” said
Pauline, of how the Caribbean queen's work ethic inspired her. “I learnt a lot
from her.” </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> <b>Beauty
tips</b></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Interestingly,
Dr. Sanneta's journey on the runaway started coincidentally. Her one dream was
to become a doctor and help the suffering lot. But after completing medical
school, her best friend convinced her to enter the Miss Jamaica pageant. She
won it and represented her country at the 2015 Miss World beauty contest in
China where she finished third runner-up, and won the Miss World Caribbean
crown. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">No doubt for
our national beauty queens to perform better on the world stage they have to
prepare adequately. Dr. Sanneta had to hire a specialist to train her in poise,
a dance master to help sharpen her dancing skills, and was coached by
public speaking scholars in the art of oratory as part of her preparations for Miss
Jamaica and Miss World beauty contests. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“When you
are in a competition like Miss World, you look in front there are beautiful
girls, you look behind there are beautiful women, you look aside there are
beautiful women; so you have to be versatile,” she said. “You have to have
something that sets you apart, and that is what comes from the inside. You have
to have exceptional self-belief because it helps you to perform without
pressure.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">To somebody
aspiring to be a strong woman, Dr Sanneta shares the importance of value
system: “You have to know what you stand for because if you stand for nothing you
fall for everything. Also you have to know that you have a lot to offer the
world and the determination to commit yourself to a task in line with with your
passion. That makes it easier for you to shine.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Shining is
what Dr. Sanneta does, giving concrete meaning to her name which loosely
translates to “shining sun.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">She stays in
shape by having enough sleep, drinking lots of water which “helps the skin” and
staying active by running more, dancing, connecting with friends, helping the
less privileged; generally doing things that help “the body, mind and spirit.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Dr. Sanneta
is dating and hopes to get married at the right time. But her focus currently
is to complete her reigns as Miss World Caribbean and Miss Jamaica positively.
“Then I’ll return to my regular life and practice medicine,” she says with a
smile.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
interview ends with a sermon on togetherness and industriousness: “Love and
unity is something I always preach; we need to unify as Africans; those abroad
and those at home, and continue to work and make a better world for our
children."</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
Dennis D. Muhumuzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784264577150328966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806103738030092886.post-64097477721618006972015-04-28T17:57:00.001+03:002015-04-28T17:57:16.004+03:00Time to tell our stories<!--[if !mso]>
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<span style="font-family: "UICTFontTextStyleBody","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">By DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "UICTFontTextStyleBody","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Could
it be that the main reason many influential Ugandans and Africans generally are
reluctant about telling and having their stories published is because they have
many skeletons in their closets that would come tumbling out? At least that was
Prof. Zakes Mda's fear. It's also the fear of many because the process of
writing the life story of oneself is equally the process of coming to terms with
his past, which often is mix of the beautiful and the ugly. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yR9rL-KLkAo/VT-faO2VDlI/AAAAAAAACnQ/MJu1bHt6-Ds/s1600/review002px.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yR9rL-KLkAo/VT-faO2VDlI/AAAAAAAACnQ/MJu1bHt6-Ds/s1600/review002px.jpg" height="215" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Prof. Mda with some of the participants </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "UICTFontTextStyleBody","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Prof.
Mda who delivered the keynote address at the second edition of the Uganda
International Writers Conference, an initiative of the African Writers Trust
(AWT), finally overcame his fear and in 2012 published his first creative
non-fiction book titled <i>Sometimes there is a Void: Memoirs of an
Outsider.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "UICTFontTextStyleBody","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"In
this memoir, Mda tells the story of a life that intersects with the political
life of his country but at its heart is the classic adventure story of an
artist, lover, father and teacher," notes AWT Director Goretti Kyomuhendo.
"There's no denying the raw honesty and inspiring penmanship of this work
of note, especially in relevance to our conference theme - 'Memoir and
Truth.'" </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "UICTFontTextStyleBody","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Prof.
Mda who teaches Creative Writing at Ohio University believes it's important for
the African to tell his story; not the peculiar narrative that reinforces the
stereotype of African suffering, but a narrative of an African rising; a
narrative of how a poor African child can beat the odds and make it, a
genuine portrait of who we are against misrepresentation by
outsiders. Writing would also "preserve our disappearing world".</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "UICTFontTextStyleBody","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
South African practices what he preaches. He has published over 21
books, ten of which are novels. The rest are collections of poetry and plays,
and a monograph, <i>When People Play People</i>, on how theatre can
be used to develop a people. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "UICTFontTextStyleBody","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Even more interesting is that since 2000,
Prof. Mda has been running a beekeeping project with the rural women in Eastern
Cape. His wealth of experience and knowledge as an all-round author, teacher,
Pan Africanist, well-travelled man, former exilee and beekeeper made him the
perfect choice to discuss the Conference's theme of 'Memoir and
Truth.' </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "UICTFontTextStyleBody","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The five-day
event which started on Sunday afternoon but was officially opened on Tuesday at
Fairway Hotel, brought together nearly 30 African writers of note and
supporters of the art from Uganda, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda,
Malawi, Cameroon, Somalia, US, and UK, including our own Daniel
Kalinaki who is basking in critical acclaim for his recent biography of Dr.
Kizza Besigye, Jennifer Makumbi, UK-based poet Mildred Barya
Kiconco and Dr. Susan Kiguli, among others.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "UICTFontTextStyleBody","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Prof.
Mda lauded Uganda's literary heritage, citing John Ruganda and Okot
p'Bitek among authors who greatly influenced him. He worked with
Ruganda and learned a lot from him about theatre while from p'Bitek "I
learnt how to write poems and plays drawing from the rich idioms of my
indigenous languages." </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "UICTFontTextStyleBody","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The participants
looked into successful literary initiatives, talked about space and identity in
African writing, discussed the rise of digital literature and the need to
embrace it. But the focus remained on the shift to non-fiction, with
Prof. Mda articulating the distinctions between memoir and biography - two
genres through which the story of African people would be
accurately chronicled while remaining faithful to the emotional truth
that would help the critic to understand us better. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "UICTFontTextStyleBody","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
whole point being that there is a whole lot to gain from telling our
stories. After all, if we don't write our story, the outsider who will
truly never be close to our reality will tell it...superficially.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "UICTFontTextStyleBody","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-no-proof: yes;">--<a href="http://www.monitor.co.ug/artsculture/Reviews/Time-to-tell-our-stories/-/691232/2652186/-/etcdjpz/-/index.html" target="_blank"><i>Saturday Monitor</i>, March 14</a>, 2015 </span><span style="font-family: "UICTFontTextStyleBody","serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Dennis D. Muhumuzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784264577150328966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806103738030092886.post-5605136761180878792015-01-31T20:43:00.004+03:002015-01-31T20:45:43.827+03:00Another literary candle burns outBY DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA<br />
<br />
Uganda has lost another literary luminary. The retired ambassador,
Godfrey Mwene Kalimugogo, who died on Sunday at the age of 71, was a
prolific author and arguably one of the finest satirists this country
has had. He authored 14 novels; a feat unaccomplished by any other
Ugandan novelist. These were classic works half of which were the
hotcakes during the golden era of Ugandan literature - the 1970s.<br />
<br />
His
third novel, <i>Trials and Tribulations in Sandu’s Home</i> (1974), was on the
literature syllabus back then, and ushered Kalimugogo into the spotlight
as a rare humorist. All his novels are packed with humour; leaving the
reader in stitches, although they explore dark subjects like corruption,
hedonism and the excesses of the rich and powerful. <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YqXVE2tmJ84/VM0T2zr4DhI/AAAAAAAACi8/M6UV3RHlDmY/s1600/Godfrey%2BMwene%2BKalimugogo%2B%282%29.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YqXVE2tmJ84/VM0T2zr4DhI/AAAAAAAACi8/M6UV3RHlDmY/s1600/Godfrey%2BMwene%2BKalimugogo%2B(2).JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The late Godfrey Mwene Kalimugogo was a literary genius</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b></b>Sadly,
at the time of his death, Kalimugogo was little known at home. Had
Kalimugogo been an American, he would have died a billionaire, and there
would have been several scholarly funds in his name. Not that he cared
about money or the applause of men; he was a humble soul who did not ask
for much. <br />
In 2010, he said to know that his books were read and
appreciated by Ugandans would be his best reward. His wish has partly
been granted now that his 2009 novel, <i>A Murky River</i>, is on the A-Level
Literature syllabus.<br />
<br />
“He was a literary giant whose works will
stand the test of time,” said Mary Karooro Okurut during the requiem
service at All Saints Cathedral, Nakasero, on Thursday. The church was
brimming with people from all walks who came to bid goodbye to the
wordsmith who once said besides the joy of family, there was nothing
else as enjoyable as reading and writing.<br />
<br />
Kalimugogo believed the
job of an artist is to recreate a situation. Thus, he became a keen
observer of society and its dynamics; vividly recreating what he felt
was of relevance to the contemporary world. In <i>A</i> <i>Murky River</i> for
example, he explores the norm of refusing to honour those who deserve
it. It is about a man, who in his obsessive pursuit of riches, abandons
his mother, only to discover after her death that no amount of money
could bring her back.<br />
<br />
<b></b>In
his other works, Kalimugogo called corruption a “malignant cancer” and
described the run-down public hospitals as “chambers of horrors”, not
places the sick go to for healing and relief. In <i>Bury Me in a Simple</i>
<i>Grave</i> (2009), which won a NABOTU award, he quips, “Is money, in the
absence of moral and social values, any good?”<br />
<br />
What distinguished
Kalimugogo’s works are the rapid-fire witty lines and ego-centric
characters who, in their arrogance, inadvertently reveal their
rottenness through devilish deeds that plunge society down the pit of
depravity.<br />
<br />
Kalimugogo’s comical style is reminiscent of that of
famous English author P.G. Wodehouse, who greatly inspired and
influenced him.<br />
<br />
Kalimugogo’s intimacy with literature developed at Nyakasura School
in Fort Portal, which he attended from 1959 to 1964. He had come from
the humble village of Kyokyezo, Rubanda County in Kabale District and
topped his class to win a secondary school scholarship.<br />
<br />
At
Nyakasura, he became the student librarian, an opportunity he maximised
to read all the great masters from Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare,
Alexander Pope, Thomas Hardy and Joseph Conrad, among other geniuses
that sparked his own literary ambitions. It was not a surprise that at
Makerere University, he studied literature and became the editor of the
literary magazine, Pen Point, graduating in 1968 with an honours degree
in English and Classical Literature.<br />
<br />
In 1969, he joined the
Foreign Service of Uganda and became a career diplomat in a number of
countries, including DR Congo, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Kenya. He retired
from diplomatic service in 2003 and devoted the rest of his life to
writing and family.<br />
<br />
During the requiem service, he was described by
his wife and children as a loving husband and doting father, who
inculcated in them the love of books, introduced them to great comedy
and left them the legacy of loving God and doing good. Talking of his
funny side, his son, Alex, recalled how his father once hand-wrote a
letter in which he poured out his frustrations with Arsenal (the club he
supported) and then gave the letter to Alex to deliver to Arsenal
manager Arsene Wenger.<br />
<br />
His daughter, Pearl, described her father as “a great cook who made very nice chicken soup.” <br />
<br />
According
to his wife, Dr Grace Kalimugogo, the deceased started having poor
health in 1978 but it was from 1983 that he was always in and out of
hospital. In spite of that, he had inner strength and never allowed
anything to stop him from performing his duties diligently. So punctual
and virtuous was he that he even won two awards from Umeme for the rare
knack of paying his bills on time, always.<br />
<br />
Kalimugogo used to
hang out at Speke Hotel with his best friend and fellow writer, Victor
Byabamazima as they talked literature, politics and society over tea.
When Victor died in July 2013, Kalimugogo’s life deteriorated. But he
retained a positive outlook, finding solace in the Bible, which he loved
to read a lot.<br />
<br />
“My God knows what he wants for me,” he often told his
wife. Well, his God wanted him Home, the Home of Everlasting peace and
bliss to which he was called on Sunday.<br />
<br />
--<a href="http://www.monitor.co.ug/artsculture/Reviews/Another-literary-candle-burns-out/-/691232/2607930/-/5xnawgz/-/index.html" target="_blank"><i>Saturday Monitor</i>, January 31</a>, 2015 Dennis D. Muhumuzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784264577150328966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806103738030092886.post-86875424217057171862014-12-22T17:39:00.003+03:002014-12-22T17:39:40.909+03:00Tapping into Uganda’s literary treasuresBY DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA<br />
<br />
In 1965, Uganda was described as “a literary desert” by Prof Taban lo
Liyong, a literary author. Today, 49 years later, it is right to flip
the coin and say Uganda is a literary oasis. Literary creativity is high
and acceptance and appreciation of Ugandan literature locally and
beyond the borders is becoming the norm.<br />
<br />
Writers like Dilman Dila
and Jennifer Makumbi had their stars shining brighter this year. Mary
Karooro Okurut released <i>Potiphar’s Grand Daughter</i>. A poetry anthology, <i>A
Thousand Voices Rising</i>, compiled and edited by Beverley Nambozo
Nsengyyunva of the BN Poetry Awards fame, caused excitement. Victoria
Atukunda Abigail emerged as the writer of romance to watch with her
second novel <i>The Edge</i>, while Evelyn Kasamba proved we can stand to be
counted among the best motivational writers with her book <i>School Room
for Life. </i>Then Dr Sr Dominic Dipio published an important book on
African cinema, and Dr Aaron Mushengyezi on oral literature for
children. Oscar Ranzo has proved himself as Uganda’s most prolific
children’s author by releasing three more titles this year.<br />
<br />
Back
to Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi. First, her short-story <i>Let’s Tell This
Story Properly</i> won the 2014 Commonwealth Short Story Prize. Then her
first novel, <i>Kintu,</i> was released by Kwani? The 442-page volume,
described by author Jamal Mahjoub as “an ambitious modern epic that
takes in family saga and history of Uganda, fusing the urgency of the
present with the timelessness of myth”, was launched in Kampala in June.
It sold out immediately, punching holes in the boring dirge that
Ugandans do not read.<br />
<br />
<b>The best thing that happened to our industry</b><br />
But the best thing that happened to
Uganda’s book industry this year is the crackdown on pirates that
infringe on the copyright of authors by illegally reprinting and selling
their books cheaply, thereby choking the market for genuine books. It
is the major reason Ugandan authors remain poor. Even the government
loses revenue since these pirates do not pay taxes. The Uganda
Reproduction Rights Organisation (URRO) takes the plaudits for the
commando-like-operations in which more than 80,000 pirated books worth
Shs1.8b were impounded.<br />
According to Charles Batambuze, URRO’s
executive director, our printing and publishing industry has lost at
least Shs10 billion since October 2013 alone through piracy. URRO, which
has the official mandate complete with the no-nonsense inspectors
reminiscent of the “yellow boys” of KCCA, will with the cooperation of
authors, genuine publishers and booksellers, crack the whip more in 2015
until the evil of piracy that has opened the floodgates of substandard
books on the market is uprooted.<br />
<br />
All the new books will in 2015
be affixed with holograms to distinguish them from fake ones. Anybody
caught selling books without holograms will be arrested and the books
impounded. URRO will continue to hold workshops to promote awareness
against piracy.<br />
<br />
<strong>Femrite’s role</strong><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some of the Caravan writers ready to set off</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Since 1996
when it was founded to give a voice to the woman writer, Femrite - the
Uganda female writers association - has continued to be a major player
in the growth of our literary industry. This year, it run a set
of literary activities but what stood out is the February Uganda Writers
Caravan, the first of its kind, which saw a carefully selected group of
fine Ugandan authors trek through 10 districts: Kampala, Wakiso,
Luwero, Gulu, Oyam, Lira Ngora, Kapchorwa, Mbare and Jinja to promote
writing and reading.<br />
<br /> “Even us prisoners we have stories to write,” a
prisoner in Loro Prison, one of the Caravan stopovers said, “thank you
for coming to encourage us to write our stories.”<br />
<br />
In July, Femrite
run its annual week of literary activities that included a reading with
Mellisa Kiguwa for her new poetry collection, a public reading at Hotel
Africana on the theme: “African Women Speaking for Themselves - What
Difference does it Make?”, a public reading at National Theatre and the
week was crowned with Poetry Night at Uganda Museum under the theme:
“Redefining Womanhood: A Celebration of Maya Angelou”.<br />
<br />
In the same
month, Femrite held the “Writing for Social Justice” workshop in which
20 women from different African countries shared on expressing
themselves freely and learnt how to identify and respond to issues of
social justice. The workshop will take place again in July 2015, and the
participants will use the opportunity to publish for the social justice
cause.<br />
<br />
In October, Femrite launched a new project with the Danish
Centre for Culture and Development— Developing a New Reading and
Writing Generation, the major aim being the establishment of 20 creative
writing clubs in 20 schools (14 schools in Gulu and six in Kabale).
Each club owns a notice board and they post their creative works weekly. These clubs are more like an extension of the Femrite Readers
Writers Club, which provides mentors to nurture writing talent, as well
promote a reading culture in these schools.<br />
<br />
According to Femrite Coordinator Hilda Twongyeirwe, 2015 will be a busy year for the organisation. <br />The
Writers Caravan will head to western Uganda, the Femrite Regional
Residency will this time be held in Gotland Island at the Baltic Centre
in Sweden, the reading tents will be pitched for primary school children
in Gulu, and the Week of Literary Activities will happen in mid-year,
among other activities.<br />
<br />
<strong>Other players</strong><br />
In
keeping Uganda’s literary flag flying, Femrite has found a competitor in
the Centre for African Cultural Excellence (CACE) that has since 2012
identified, mentored, published and promoted emerging African writers
through literary festivals, creative-writing workshops, online
mentoring, publication of flash fiction in newspapers, publishing an
annual anthology of short stories, and running short story prizes under
the “Writivism” programme.<br />
<br />
The fact that Okwiri Oduor won the 2014
Caine Prize for African Writing while Efemia Chela, participant in the
2014 Writivism workshop in Cape Town was shortlisted for the same shows
the potency of this initiative. In fact, some of the
Writivism-associated writers, including our own Glaydah Namukasa and
Okwiri Oduor, were named by the Hay Festival Africa39 initiative as
writers who shall shape the future of African writing.<br />
<br />
According
to Bwesigye Bwa Mwesigire, CACE’s Programmes Director, expect more
fireworks in 2015 as more than 50 talented emerging writers are going to
be identified around the continent through five creative writing
workshops in five different African cities. The best 25 of those will be
helped to develop their craft further through mentorship. Then an
anthology of 14 short stories will be published, and best five rewarded.<br />
<br />
The
highlight of 2015 will, however, be a literary conference expected to
take place at Makerere University, bringing together writers,
publishers, academics, readers, book distributors and the media around
the continent.<br />
<br />
--<a href="http://www.monitor.co.ug/artsculture/Reviews/Tapping-into-Uganda-s-literary-treasures/-/691232/2562476/-/item/0/-/g57xnq/-/index.html" target="_blank"><i>Saturday Monitor</i>, December 20</a>, 2014 Dennis D. Muhumuzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784264577150328966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806103738030092886.post-5214106372368991862014-12-16T15:32:00.002+03:002014-12-16T15:32:55.458+03:00Unlocking the Ugandan version of EnglishBY DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA<br />
<br />
A Ugandan researcher and cultural critic has published a book on
something that we have always laughed about in Uganda: the way we speak
English. Bernard Sabiiti spent four years figuring out the origin of
<i>Uglish</i> (/you-glish/), the derisive term Ugandans use to refer to their
weird variety of English. This is not something common only among
the uneducated, Mr Sabiiti says of Uganda’s own English. He writes that
even some highly educated Ugandans cannot speak Standard English.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fF-z7iZTIMs/VJAmO8pEuPI/AAAAAAAACgY/23-mBknZLYg/s1600/UgLish%2Bcover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fF-z7iZTIMs/VJAmO8pEuPI/AAAAAAAACgY/23-mBknZLYg/s1600/UgLish%2Bcover.jpg" height="400" width="276" /></a></div>
<br />
“Who
of us has never used the phrase “you are lost?” While almost all
Ugandans will understand what it means, which is that you have not seen
someone in a while, most foreigners will have no idea what that means.
The phrase is a direct translation of the local phrase. Most <i>Uglishes</i>
like to “dirten”, which means to “make dirty”.<br />
<br />
Others, however,
are completely created out of the blue. For example, the origin of
benching, which might mean the same thing as the American euphemism
“making out” or pursuing a woman with carnal/romantic intentions, is not
clear.<br />
<br />
The book traces the evolution and history of such words
and phrases, explains their meanings and gives reasons why Ugandans,
when their level of comprehension is fully stretched to the limit,
directly translate English words often with no regard to grammatical,
semantic or syntactic nuance that is required. As a result, you end up
with a phrase that makes no sense to the uninitiated.For
example, many Ugandans say, “Borrow me some money,” instead of “lend
me…”; “Museveni has ‘won Besigye” to mean “Museveni has defeated
Besigye, etc”.<br />
<br />
The reason for this, the author observes, is
because of our difficulty processing these linguistic phenomena when our
thinking is steeped in indigenous language and cultural backgrounds.
And this hampers our processing efforts. Lack of regular reading of books or interface with English speakers also exacerbates the problem.<br />
<br />
The
book has a chapter on the history of the evolution and development of
<i>Uglish</i>, and an extensive glossary of Uglish words that will blow you
away. Oh, and there is a whole chapter full of pictures of signposts!
Yes! Signs written in <i>Uglish</i> that will leave you in stitches.<br />
<br />
The
author, however, makes it clear that the book is not a laughing matter.
He writes that the growth of <i>Uglish</i> is much more than the impact
indigenous languages have had on English, or the creativity or lack
thereof of a people struggling to learn a foreign language.<br />
<br />
He
attributes most of the factors for the growth of this variety of English
to failing education standards, a poor reading culture and lack of
opportunities to regularly communicate in English; issues that the
government, parents, teachers, students, educationists and curricula
developers need to be concerned about.<br />
<br /> For some readers, especially
Ugandans therefore, the book is to be taken very seriously as there is a
lot to learn from it, even as you have some laugh while at it.<br />
<br />
--<a href="http://www.monitor.co.ug/artsculture/Reviews/BOOK-REVIEW--Unlocking-the-Ugandan-version-of-English/-/691232/2554118/-/mm4rnr/-/index.html" target="_blank"><i>Saturday Monito</i>r, December 13</a>, 2014 Dennis D. Muhumuzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784264577150328966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806103738030092886.post-41667819487585061642014-12-10T17:13:00.002+03:002014-12-10T17:13:29.000+03:00According to the full gospel<div>
<i>Using the case of the
missionary founder of Full Gospel Church, <b>Dennis D.</b> <b>Muhumuza</b>
illustrates how Christians can devote their lives to living by Christ’s
example.</i><br />
</div>
<br />
In 1960, Pr Hugh Layzell and his wife Audrey
left the comfort of their home in Vancouver, Canada, to bring the gospel
to Uganda. They held their first crusade under a mango tree in Nakawa,
and the open-air meetings spread to other Kampala suburbs and many
people got saved. One of those who got born-again was Princess Muggale,
the sister to Kabaka Muteesa I. In 1962, she represented the Kabaka at
the official opening of the first Pentecostal Church in Uganda—Makerere
Full Gospel Church which the Layzell’s planted on Makerere Hill. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A moment of prayer at Makerere Full Gospel Chruch</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Over
50 years later, not only has the church immensely grown, its founder
is one of the Christians running their race to win. Pr Layzell, now in
his 80s, is still strong and preaching the gospel fervently. Following Layzell’s example, Pr Fred Wantaate says believers must
continuously examine their lives and be careful how they live because
the times are evil, and the temptations to stray are many. Those who
fall during the race should pick themselves up and resume the race
instead of giving up.<br />
<br />“When things don’t go according to your
expectation as they are bound to sometimes because of the different
terrains we run over, stay in the race; run with the patience of a
farmer who stays in the field working even when the rain is pouring down
because he has work to finish. The rain should not stop you either.
Know that you are in this for a long haul and determine to complete the
race.”<br />
<br />Wantaate adds that some Christians miss the mark when they
start comparing themselves to those who are seemingly doing well. “No
need to get discouraged because someone is succeeding ahead of you. God
has gifted us differently and the grace He has granted you to run your
race is enough to bring you victory if you stay focused and don’t get
disqualified for straying into another’s lane hoping it’s easier there.”<br />
<br />The
overall secret to winning the Christian race is to keep our eyes on
Jesus. Paul the apostle compares the Christian life to a race that we
should run and never quit (Hebrews 12:1). Those who know the rigours of
training for a race later alone running it understand that Paul is not
talking about a walk in the park. Only those who finish the race will
win what the Bible calls the “unfading crown”.<br />
<br />So what can I do to
complete the race? Lay aside the barriers to progress. Remove from our
lives anything that would slow us down and the sin that so often makes
us fall,” says Paul. <br />
<br />Most of these obstacles may seem harmless yet
they choke the fire in our lives from blazing. It could be a job that
keeps you too busy to pray or read the Bible, it could be the weekend
movie that keeps replaying images of carnality in your mind, it could be
a relationship that makes you compromise your standards of chastity or
fidelity is a weight designed by the devil to slacken your progress on
the race.<br />
<br />“The devil is very smart,” says Pr Wantaate. “He may not
stop you from being a Christian but he may make you miss the best God
has for you. If the devil weighs you down enough to finish last or
second last instead of first, he has won at least a partial victory.”<br />
<br />When
we turn to God repeatedly in prayer, and for wisdom, the tempting
things of this world lose their appeal as he helps us to run and finish
this race for God’s glory and honour.<br />
<br />
--<a href="http://www.monitor.co.ug/Magazines/Life/According-to-the-full-gospel/-/689856/2547128/-/107dwc0/-/index.html" target="_blank"><i>Sunday Monitor</i>, December 7</a>, 2014 Dennis D. Muhumuzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784264577150328966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806103738030092886.post-3880425875033781652014-11-10T19:39:00.004+03:002014-11-10T19:39:59.160+03:00Preserving the African culture through booksBY DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA<br />
<br />
<br />
In living up to the notion that a university should be the hub of
academic engagements and intellectual exchanges, Makerere University’s
Department of Literature on October 31 launched two books written by two
of its staff members.<br />
<br />
The first, <i>Gender Terrains in African
Cinema</i> by Sr Dr Dominica Dipio, explores the field of African cinema;
analysing three categories of women (the girl child, the young woman
and the elderly woman) and the various roles they play in relation to
their male counterparts.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(L-R) Sr. Dr. Dipio, Mr. Tumusiime, Dr. Mushengyezi and Dr. Danyson Kahyana at the launch</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Dr Dipio began interacting with African
cinema as a graduate student at the Pontifical Gregorian University of
Roma in 1999, and has never looked back. As a woman from a
male-dominated society, she was particularly piqued by the treatment of
the African woman by the African filmmaker and other African
chroniclers.<br />
<br />
It is not surprising therefore that in her book, she
brings together the intersections between and among film, literature,
gender and popular culture. As a specialist in African film studies,
cinema overides as she analyses 14 films directed by male African
filmmakers; films spanning the 1970s to 2000s from which she draws
general conclusions.<br />
<br />
One of the conclusions which was drawn by Dr
Consolata Kabonesa, who has already read the book, is that the only way
to change gender inequalities in our society is for the mother to model
her boy children from when they are still boys to grow up loving and
respecting the women. “She also looks at the role of the filmmaker as a
transformative agent in society,” said Dr Kabonesa.<br />
<br />
<strong>The second book</strong><br />The
second book, <i>Oral Literature for Children: Rethinking Orality,
Literacy, Performance and Documentation Practices</i> by Dr Aaron
Mushengyezi, is the first major attempt at capturing hundreds of texts
from the Ugandan oral culture for children – folktales, riddles and
rhymes – making them available in four Ugandan languages, including
English.<br />
<br />
Dr Mushengyezi took interest in local folklore when he
was still a little boy, entertaining their home guests with folktales,
riddles and rhymes that were all cherished for their cultural and
educational value. But the advent of modern technologies that brought
the internet and social media, and television with its glut of
entertainment programmes, have blotted these cultural materials from our
traditional psyche.<br />
<br />
Yet these cultural materials are still
needed for our identity and overall national value. As the author said,
you cannot promote tourism, nationalism and patriotism when you neglect
your traditional cultures. <br />
Makerere University’s Prof Austin
“Mwalimu” Bukenya, in his analysis heaped praise on Dr Mushengyezi’s
book and recited a line from a William Wordsworth poem that succinctly
captures how he felt on reading the book: “My heart leaps up when I
behold a rainbow in the sky.” The book made his old heart leap like a
young man’s in love.<br />
<br />
It reminded him of Rosa, a five-year-old
story-telling maestro he fell in love with at the age of four. Bukenya,
particularly liked the story in the book about a lazy girl who could not
dig and had to call her mother’s ghost to help her. “That is the last
story my mother told me before she passed on,” Bukenya revealed, turning
to the author, “thank you for bringing back my youth.”<br />
<br />
In a
veiled swipe at the government, which has chronically belittled the arts
in favour of sciences, Bukenya said, “the arts that make us human are
not useless.” The guest of honour, James Tumusiime (Managing director,
Fountain Publishers) hammered the point further home, “Our own culture
and thinking cannot be sacrificed at the altar of science.”<br />
<br />
In
preserving our cultural expressions, Dr Mushengyezi has given tangible
meaning to the words of Ngugi wa Thiongo that “literature is the honey
of a nation’s soul, preserved for her children to taste forever, a
little at a time.”<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.monitor.co.ug/artsculture/Reviews/Preserving-the-African-culture-through-books/-/691232/2514884/-/sioir3z/-/index.html" target="_blank"><i>Saturday Monitor,</i> Nov. 8</a>, 2014 Dennis D. Muhumuzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784264577150328966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806103738030092886.post-85236304525517927282014-10-24T14:47:00.001+03:002014-10-24T14:47:29.476+03:00An anthology of provocative verseBy DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA <br />
<br />
In 2009, a spirited woman named Beverley Nambozo Nsengiyunva started
the annual BN Poetry Awards, to stir Ugandan women poets to write more
and better. In just five years, the yields have got the whole continent
feasting.<i> A Thousand Voices Rising</i> –an anthology of contemporary
African poetry, compiled and edited by Nambozo herself, is the latest of
the yields.<br />
<br />Never before has a poetry collection brought the mighty
and the budding, the old and the young, male and female, the bold and
the subtle poets of the continent together, as this anthology does. Poets
from Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Malawi, Rwanda,
Zimbabwe, South Sudan, Tanzania, Liberia, Algeria and DRC, tackle all
the imaginable and tangible subjects under the sun, with such power as
art for social change, in varied styles as will meet the varied needs of
the varied readers that will buy the book.<br />
<br />
The 122 poems are divided in eight parts comprising poems of related themes. The varied subjects are of course inevitably linked with the temperaments and experiences of their individual authors. For
example Beatrice Lamwaka’s “Acoli Dirges” is a barb aimed at the modern
generation of Ugandans who have been so influenced by western education
that they speak English with a twang in imitation of their British or
American counterparts. The poet observes that our mother tongues
have become too ‘difficult’ that we now “speak Acoli with a twang like
we are speaking English…/We speak English like we are eating sweet
potatoes/ No one can defeat us/ We defeat the English in their mother
tongue!” The poem basically laments the breakdown of our cultural authenticity.<br />
<br />Another
poem that depicts the poet as a keen observer of modern society is John
Kariuki’s “Silenced Forever” about outspoken analysts and critics;
often the voices of the voiceless who go silent as the graves as soon as
they get jobs from the government or other establishments they had
previously severely criticised or spoken up against.<br />
<br />
Some poems
are about the ugly past or things we would rather forget such as Susan
Kiguli’s “I laugh at Amin” or Ivan Okuda’s “Kyadondo, July 2010” which
recalls the black day terrorists bombed soccer lovers in Uganda in 2010,
while some, such as Eugene Mbugua’s “My Village Crush” brings back
memories in some of us who went to village schools. It’s about the
poet’s childhood sweetheart whom he meets many years later when she’s
married with several children and is shocked at how changed and altered
she is from the village beautiful sweetheart she was back then.<br />
<br />The
anthology also contains all the winning poems from the BN Poetry Awards,
starting with Lillian Aujo’s inaugural winner, “Soft Tonight” (2009),
with imagery in all its sensuality. But its erotic nature pales
compared to Beverley Nambozo’s highly rhythmic “Sseebo gwe Wange” with
its colourful and picturesque lines like “…you pound me like the
engalabi/ I slap the wall to your rhythm…I moan like thunder…”<br />
<br />Poetry
enthusiasts whose love for the genre was particularly evoked by the
classic anthology, <i>Poems from East Africa</i> (1996) will especially love <i>A
Thousand Voices Rising</i>, for its significance and relevance. It’s an
anthology that is as provocative as is evocative; simple yet complex,
plus you will be impressed by the sheer potential of the up-and-coming
poets whose works give it its uniqueness. As award-winning Malawian
poet, Prof Jack Mapanje lauds the anthology, its “original, fresh and
represents some of the best African minds.”<br />
<br />
--<a href="http://www.monitor.co.ug/artsculture/Reviews/An-anthology-of-provocative-verse/-/691232/2489770/-/r51ibhz/-/index.html" target="_blank"><i>Saturday Monitor</i>, October 18</a>, 2014 Dennis D. Muhumuzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784264577150328966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806103738030092886.post-34920669612688453592014-09-22T13:02:00.001+03:002014-09-22T13:06:01.945+03:00Facing the knife is macho<div>
<i><b>Dennis D. Muhumuza</b> shares why circumcision is manly and not for the fainthearted.</i></div>
<br />
Don’t be deceived; circumcision remains a macho
thing regardless of where it is done. Some say that only cowards go to
hospital and real men face the crude-looking traditional knife as used
live among the Bagisu. But as I found out on August 19, and in the three
weeks of throbbing pain and discomfort that followed, even medical
circumcision is not for the fainthearted.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Wi440i4qwm8/VB_zQJcAB-I/AAAAAAAACc0/VkxSreJ1tkI/s1600/19082014729.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Wi440i4qwm8/VB_zQJcAB-I/AAAAAAAACc0/VkxSreJ1tkI/s1600/19082014729.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A wooden phallus showing the beauty of a circumcised penis</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
On that day, which
coincided with this year’s <i>imbalu </i>season, I woke up with excitement as I
was finally going to do something I’ve wanted to do for a long time—the
removal of my foreskin. I was also apprehensive in case the procedure
went horribly wrong like the case of a man whose tip of the penis got
severed off!<br />
<br />
But the doctor who welcomed me that morning allayed
my fears saying the circumcisers were experienced experts who had no
record of messing up. He held a wooden phallus depicting the beauty of a
circumcised male organ. He articulated the rewards of circumcision: it
being a HIV/Aids preventive measure, hygienic benefits and better sex.
He was so convincing that had he pulled out a knife then I would have
faced it without anaesthesia.<br />
<b></b><br />
Next,
I was counselled and HIV-tested by a doctor who asked me to be honest
and tell him how many times I have had sex this year, and whether I used
a condom. The way he talked you would think I’m a sex machine with
unrivalled notoriety for hanky-panky. <br />
<br />
After that, I was shown into a
small room to remove my clothes and wear a circumcision gown. Therein, I
found a plus size boy of about 12 who looked dead-frightened and asked
me in a shivering voice if I thought it would hurt. Obviously he had
been dragged to face the knife.<br />
<br />
I
was moments later stunned to discover that the physician who was going
to circumcise me was not only female but also a ravishing beauty. My
eyes quickly run to her fingers looking for a wedding ring. Alas! her
hands were gloved. She looked me in the eye and ordered me with
professional authority to lie on my back on the operating table. I lay
there in utter surrender, spread my legs and closed my eyes praying that
her first touch would not make my body react. “I’m going to
anaesthetise you and it won’t hurt thereafter,” she said tenderly, like a
mother to her beloved child.<br />
<br />
Three
times I felt dizzying pricks of injection at the base of my sexual
organ and wanted to yelp like a little girl. But I remembered a Mugisu
young man somewhere who as the traditional knife descends sharply on his
foreskin is not expected to wince no matter the pain. What I was
facing in the hospital paled in comparison, and that helped me to face
my trial with courage.<br />
<br />
The procedure took about 20 minutes. I was then
ushered into another room where a doctor advised me to clean my member
with salty water twice everyday and to let the stitches come out of
their own accord. I was also strongly warned against having sex before
six weeks have elapsed, and to use a condom in the first six months
after that. <br />
<br />
The pain began
on my way home. Ceaseless, stinging pain like red ants were mauling me
beneath the bandages. For the next fortnight, I could not walk. And I
could not sleep. It would get worse while passing urine. The morning
erections brought unbearable pain too. I was swollen. In panic, I
called one of my doctor friends, who brought me some liquid with which
to cleanse the wound and powdered antidote to apply thereafter. This
really helped. At the end of the third week, I began wearing trousers
again and going about my business without pain.<br />
<br />
Today I’m glad
it’s all over. The three-week discomfort and pain helped me to
rediscover my ability to endure. I feel better, cleaner and stronger.
Circumcision regardless of where it’s done is truly a rite of passage
that turns big boys into real men.<br />
<br />
--<a href="http://www.monitor.co.ug/Magazines/Life/Facing-the-knife-is-macho/-/689856/2459680/-/kg5xnyz/-/index.html" target="_blank"><i>Sunday Monitor</i>, September 21</a>, 2014 Dennis D. Muhumuzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784264577150328966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806103738030092886.post-10073171299502594932014-09-08T20:01:00.000+03:002014-09-08T20:01:13.861+03:00A poet’s view of society dynamicsBY DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA<br />
<br />
The first time I saw the title of the book, it evoked in my mind an
image of graceful movement. <i>Poetry in Motion</i> is an eclectic collection
of 49 poems grouped in five parts, each devoted to a particular theme.
This arrangement creates a flow. It also means a variety of readers are
remembered. A lover of sights and sounds will appreciate the poetic
techniques used, for instance, in the first part, 'Rhythm and Rhymes' with
its vibrantly descriptive nature.<br />
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<br />The second section, 'Cakes and
Candles', gives you a clue about the kind of poems you find here; poems
inspired by birthdays and other celebratory days.<br />
<br />
'Riddles of
Fortune', the third section, captures everyday struggles in our society,
for example what people<br /> “When I got money<br />I drank wine and gin<br />dished out to everyone<br />that hailed my name!<br />Now I’m penniless<br />now I’m hopeless<br />whoever I fed<br />is laughing at me!”<br />
go through while looking for money and the
ramifications that come with reckless spending. This is explicitly
depicted in the poem, Lamentations, which begins thus;<br />
<br />
In
'Thorns and Roses', the poet, in seven poems, captures the contrasting
emotions that come with falling in love; the joys and pains, hence the
image “thorns and roses”. <br />
<br />The last section, 'Gospel Truth', has five poems, all inspired by religious beliefs and Christian living. <br />
<br /><i>Poetry in Motion </i>is Ivan Matthias Mulumba’s first publication as a poet and
author, and it is a commendable effort. It is devoid of those structural
and grammatical errors that stain most self-published Ugandan works
because of the 10-year incubation period it enjoyed before hitting the
bookstores. Being a member of the Femrite Readers Club, Mulumba used the
opportunity to have his poems critiqued by club members, and used their
feedback to improve them.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-42K6SD6TKX4/VA3fFYyP6nI/AAAAAAAACb4/XtRqCrC3Uag/s1600/mulumba.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-42K6SD6TKX4/VA3fFYyP6nI/AAAAAAAACb4/XtRqCrC3Uag/s1600/mulumba.jpg" height="268" width="400" /></a></div>
A graduate of Land Economics from
Makerere University, Mulumba started writing poetry in primary school,
but his interest peaked in high school when he was introduced to the
poetry of T.S. Eliot (1888-1965). This is his Number One inspiration,
followed by Uganda’s Henry Muwanga Barlow of the Building the Nation
fame.<br />
<br />What Mulumba shares with his mentors is a keen observation of
society and its dynamics. Some of his poems are written to capture a
moment and provoke the reader to look into the life of various narrators
and what drives them.<br />
<br /><i>Poetry in Motion</i> can basically be summed up as
an anthology that chronicles the first steps of a poet, and captures
the beliefs, experiences and some ideologies in society.<br />
<br />
--<a href="http://www.monitor.co.ug/artsculture/Reviews/A-poet-s-view-of-society-dynamics/-/691232/2441900/-/qdmp0az/-/index.html" target="_blank"><i>Saturday Monitor</i>, September 6</a>, 2014 Dennis D. Muhumuzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784264577150328966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806103738030092886.post-46238384343167516802014-06-02T15:29:00.002+03:002014-06-02T15:29:47.698+03:00A star that lit all corners of the world<div>
<i>Award winning author, poet and civil activist Maya Angelou’s philosophy
on life was, “I think you say to life – I am with you kid; let’s go!”.
Described as a renaissance, this approach to life took the poet, author,
dancer, playwright, director, actor, professor and civil rights
activist to extraordinary places.<strong> Dennis D. Muhumuza</strong> reflects on her life that touched many world over. </i><br />
</div>
<div id="article_text">
<br />
<div>
It has been three days but tears of grief stream
on down the eyes of millions of people who met her physically or
through her works. The pain in their hearts is intense because their
icon, Maya Angelou, is gone.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The late Maya Angelou</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The African-American author, poet,
essayist, editor, composer, performer, director, lecturer and civil
rights activist, died quietly in her home in North Carolina, on
Wednesday, at the age of 86. Social media immediately rippled with
tributes about a woman who came from a broken family, endured biting
poverty, cruel blows of racism and childhood rape, but still rose to
global recognition as an inspiration to countless people.<br />
<br />
“My
mission in life is not merely to survive but to thrive and to do so with
some passion, some compassion, some humour, and some style,” she once
declared, and went on to fulfill it to the letter.<br />
<br />
Goretti
Kyomuhendo, writer and Founder of African Writers Trust, was won over
by Maya’s first autobiographical novel, <i>I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings</i>
(1969) before she devoured and savoured all of her works.<br />
<br />
“For me what
stood out most from her writings was that she always wrote from the
heart. She wrote her ‘Truth’ - her writing resonated with
emotional truth hence making it more believable, more powerful.”<br />
<br />Ms Kyomuhendo also shares what it was like to meet Maya in person: " In 1997, I was invited to participate in the Yari Yari conference which
brought together hundreds of African women writers (and women of African
descent) from around the world. The conference was held in New York
and Maya Angelou was scheduled to speak. I waited patiently as she made
her way out of the room after her presentation; and I was rewarded with a
firm, powerful handshake and a tender, wise, knowing smile! I felt
inspired to go back to my hotel that evening and write some more. The
memory of that special moment is still deeply etched on my mind! Sleep
well, Dear Sister."<br />
<br />
Anyway, that
memoir, which ushered Maya into the limelight to the point of no return,
captures the author’s early life, including how she got raped at the age
of seven; an experience so traumatic that it made her silent for five
years.<br />
<br />
David Benon Kangye, a literary scholar at Makerere
University, says this is the book that paved way for women to open up on
topics like rape. “It is argued that the likes of Oprah (Winfrey) were
inspired by Maya Angelou, whose works remain central to the study of the
poetry of civil rights movement at university level,” Kangye says.<br />
<br />Indeed
at one time, Oprah said, “What stands out to me most about Maya Angelou
is not what she has done or written or spoken; it’s how she lived her
life. She moved through the world with unshakable calm, confidence and a
fierce grace...she will always be the rainbow in my clouds.”<br />
<br />
It
is that ability to inspire the famous and the ordinary that Maya will be
remembered for. A Ugandan girl whom she inspired with poetry took to
writing that genre as well and went on to win the inaugural BN Poetry
Award in 2008. Lillian Aujo, who has since had several poems and short
stories published, says of Maya: “Her verse is simple yet nuanced, and
beautiful. What I admire most about her is her graceful resilience
against whatever was going in her life and society.<br />
<br />
If the role of
the writer is to educate, heal, explain, portray and examine all
aspects of society, as Sudanese writer and academic Michael Baffoka once
explained, then Maya Angelou excelled in all.<br />
<br />
The prolific genius whom Barack Obama praised as “one of the brightest lights of our time”, may be gone but she lives on. “In your words, in our hearts, you will live on Maya,” affirms Femrite Coordinator Hilda Twongyeirwe.<br />
<br />
<strong>Her popular works</strong><br />
• <i>I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings</i> (1969)<br />• <i>Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water ‘Fore I Die </i>(1971): The first of her poetry collections.<br />•
And Still I Rise: (1978) The author’s third volume of poetry including
two of her most well-known and popular pieces, Phenomenal Woman and
Still I Rise.<br />• <i>All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes</i> (1986).<br />• <i>On the Pulse of Morning </i>(1993): The poem Angelou read at President Clinton’s first inauguration.<br />• <i>A Brave and Startling Truth</i> (1995): The poem Angelou read at the 50th anniversary of the United Nations.<br />•
<i>A Song Flung Up to Heaven</i> (2002): Her sixth memoir, which describes
her friendships with both Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X and her
reactions to their assassinations.<br />• <i> Letter to My Daughter</i> (2008): A collection of essays about her life that notes.<br />•
<i>Mom & Me & Mom </i>(2013): Her final memoir, about her mother who
disappeared when Angelou was three, only to reappear a decade later.<br />
<br />
--<a href="http://www.monitor.co.ug/artsculture/Reviews/A-star-that-lit-all-corners-of-the-world/-/691232/2332216/-/1020tuvz/-/index.html" target="_blank"><i>Saturday Monitor</i>, May 31</a>, 2014 </div>
</div>
Dennis D. Muhumuzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784264577150328966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806103738030092886.post-88082191407949660272014-02-23T21:58:00.001+03:002014-03-05T22:20:15.586+03:00Taking literature back home<div>
<i>Through the Writers’ Caravan,
organisers hope to inspire potential writers by taking established
writers as living testimonies to the communities, writes <b>Dennis D. Muhumuza</b></i>. </div>
<br />
“Taking writers back to their communities” as
the literary journey is dubbed, will see 10 of the country’s best
writers tour the country for 11 days, engaging in literary activities.
Some of these activities will include public readings in schools and
universities, poetry recitals and performances, community discussions,
visiting public libraries and writers’ groups, and crown it with an
event back in Kampala with a public reading at the Uganda Museum on
February 17.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some of the caravan writers before set-off</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
These writers will travel from Kampala to Wakiso,
Luwero, Gulu, Oyam, Lira, Ngora, Kapchorwa, Mbale and Jinja where they
are sure to relive several memories as they share their stories and
interact with their communities.<br />
<br />
“The aim of the Caravan is to
create a shared space for conversation between writers and their
communities,” says Femrite coordinator Hilda Twongyeirwe. <br />
<br />
She is
validated by Glaydah Namukasa who, when she gets to her home area in
Wakiso, will not only talk about how her writing is connected to the
community but hopes to get “known in my community as a writer, and
inspire students in the school I went to that they too can make it.”<br />
<br />
Julius
Ocwinyo, who will be the headliner in Lango where he is born, says
there is more to gain for the literary industry when its writers get to
meet the wanainchi, some of whom have heard about these writers but are
clueless about the relevance of what they write: “It’s
all about establishing that link with writers and the community. We are
saying, ‘Look this is the relevance of what we do as writers; we draw
inspiration from here, and by giving out books we are growing their
literacy and raising awareness.”<br />
<br />
It will also be a time to show the
communities that these writers have never lost touch with what
culturally distinguishes them. For example, Nakisanze Segawa will
perform a Luganda poem, <i>Zibogola</i> (a poem about the African drum and how
it communicates) at her former school, Mwerere Secondary School in
Luwero. It will be her way of telling her audience that you can earn a
living through writing and performing traditionally-inspired poetry.<br />
s<br />
Beyond
talking about her writing, Beatrice Lamwaka will give out books to
students of Sacred Heart Secondary School and Gulu High School near her
rural home as a way of celebrating Ugandan writers and motivating them
to dream more. <br />
<br />
Funded by Prince Claus Fund for Culture and
Development, and in partnership with Kampala Capital City Authority, the
project is hoped to raise awareness about Ugandan literature and deepen
its reception by the communities.<br />
<br />
“It is hoped that at the end of
the Caravan, the writers will be inspired to write short stories or
poems, which will be translated in their local languages,” says
Twongyeirwe. “These will be published by Femrite in a multi-lingual
anthology that will be distributed back to the communities that will be
visited.”<br />
<br />
<b>The writers</b><br />
Prof Timothy Wangusa. Poet and novelist <br />
Beatrice Lamwaka. 2011 Caine Prize finalist <br />
Julius Ocwinyo. Author: <i>Fate of the Banished.</i><br />
Glaydah Namukasa. Femrite Chairperson<br />
Austin Bukenya. Critic, dramatist<br />
Laury Ocen. Author: <i>Alien Woman.</i><br />
Peter Kagayi. Literature teacher/poet<br />
Nakisanze Segawa. Poet<br />
Simon Peter Ongodi.Multi-lingual writer<br />
Betty Kitiyu. Poet.<br />
<br />
--<a href="http://www.monitor.co.ug/artsculture/Entertainment/Taking-literature-back-home/-/812796/2207106/-/gf9s9y/-/index.html" target="_blank"><i>Saturday Monitor</i>, February 15</a>, 2014 Dennis D. Muhumuzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784264577150328966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806103738030092886.post-49400057873381410152014-02-05T22:15:00.002+03:002014-02-05T22:15:59.957+03:00Writing to transform society<div>
BY DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA<br />
<br /></div>
<br />
Just where does she get the time? It was the
question on the lips of many when Gender, Labour and Social Development
minister and Bushenyi District Woman MP, Mary Karooro Okurut, launched
yet another novel, in Kampala, at the weekend.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mary 'Mother-Hen' Karooro Okurut</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
To this, she answered simply, “I love telling stories, and it’s not difficult to find time to tell stories.”<br />
<i>Potiphar’s Granddaughter,</i> published by Totem Publishers, is her latest
story; summed up as “a tale of love, forgiveness, and resilience amidst
the pain that follows betrayal and suffering”.<br />
<br />
The writer assured
guests that “once you take this book into your hands, it’s difficult to
put it down!” Only those who have read the 271-page volume have the
right to question the veracity of her claim.<br />But jab Karooro with a needle, words are bound to pop out instead of blood.<br />
<br />
Before
she linked up with Goretti Kyomuhendo to found the Uganda Female
Writers Association (Femrite), Karooro was already an accepted and
admired author of <i>The Official Wife</i> (1994), <i>The Invisible Weevil </i>(1994)
and the play: <i>The Curse of the Sacred Cow</i> (1994). She has also authored
short stories, children’s fiction and newspaper articles to cement her
position as one of Uganda’s most prolific women writers.<br />
<br />
No man
has a better grasp of her obsession with literature than John Nagenda,
an enviable wordsmith himself. At the launch of Potiphar’s Granddaughter
where Nagenda was chief guest, he revealed that when President Museveni
first sought his advice on appointing Karooro Presidential Press
Secretary, Nagenda opposed the move, afraid that politics would keep
Karooro away fro<br />
m writing. He was wrong.<br />
<br />
“Mother Hen,” as she’s
fondly labelled by Femrites, kept writing, and has more eggs to hatch.
In fact, <i>Potiphar’s Granddaughter</i> will be followed by <i>The Switch</i>, which
will be about female genital mutilation, and <i>The Man with the Olive
Branch</i>, which draws from the life and times of President Museveni.<br />
<br />
<strong>Why she writes</strong><br />Karooro
writes to “change our realities into a better reality and for the
generations to come. She is also inspired by Uganda’s dismal reading
culture and wants to create relevant reading material that would impel
school-goers and other Ugandans to read ravenously.<br />
<br />
“We (writers) act as cultural ambassadors; we tell our story,” she says.<br />
<br />According
to John Nagenda, there is everything to love about words. “God is a
very wise creator; it’s a miracle to me that people can speak, and
writing is so fantastic,” he said. “When you get to a point when people
are writing exciting stuff, then you know you are in the presence of
beauty!”<br />
<br />
He advised up-and-coming writers to read widely and measure themselves against the best writers.<br />
<br />
--<a href="http://www.monitor.co.ug/artsculture/Reviews/Writing-to-transform-society/-/691232/2168460/-/idcuaz/-/index.html" target="_blank"><i>Saturday Monitor</i>, February 1</a>, 2014 Dennis D. Muhumuzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784264577150328966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806103738030092886.post-20975921594703738642014-01-27T20:51:00.001+03:002014-01-28T21:56:55.621+03:00We are fleeing from the high maintenance girl<div>
BY DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA<br />
<br />
I was chatting with an OB I had not seen in a while. He asked
when I was planning to get married, and I confessed that I am determined
to put a ring on it this year. “I hope your woman is not a
high-maintenance girl,” my friend said. “Those ones are not
marriage-material; they should be avoided like a scandal!”<br />
It
struck me that I had heard the expression “high-maintenance girl”
(hereafter called HMG) before but didn’t have a true picture. So, I run
to my Facebook friends for elucidation, and gosh the things they said
about HMGs!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9iH0TGEtxi0/Uuf9QHg0enI/AAAAAAAACSw/U6Y2xAtby9E/s1600/_MG_5863.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9iH0TGEtxi0/Uuf9QHg0enI/AAAAAAAACSw/U6Y2xAtby9E/s1600/_MG_5863.JPG" height="320" width="213" /></a>My colleague Daudi even extracted a meaning for me
from urban dictionary. It says a HMG is one who has expensive taste (on
the man’s account, of course!), is constantly concerned about her
appearance, feels she is hotter than most girls, and usually judges
others based on outward appearance.<br />
<br />
This was put in proper
perspective by Herbert who said the HMG expected her man to have an
exclusive weekend budget to the tune of millions because she has to shop
at high-end places like Forest Mall, go for a Shs200,000-movie at The
Hub, tell you to park at some posh salon and wait on her while the
hairdresser works magic on her hair, does her manicure, pedicure,
massage, and facial makeover. Meanwhile, you are still waiting for her!<br />
<br />
Then,
Lauryn said the quickest way to spot a HMG is to look at how high her
heels are: “If they are past two inches, run for your life!” It’s with
these filthy-expensive spike heels that she announces her presence as
they clang on the tiles and make heads turn.<br />
<br />
Even more, a HMG
never holds one phone for long. Peter says when she asks if it is okay
to give away her I-phone to her “Baby Sis” because she heard the Samsung
S4 takes better pictures, she is the one!<br />
When KFC, which sells
chicken in bucket-fulls hit town, HMGs immediately dumped other chicken
hangouts for KFC. “To them,” says Dan, “the chicken from other
restaurants is usually diseased!”<br />
In short, according to Kenneth, the HMG is one who “takes more money out of your wallet than you can put in!”<br />
<br />
Interestingly, men love hanging out with these girls even when they
pay through the nose for their company. Yet, they avoid them when
looking for wives. Most girls that are labelled by the press as
“beautiful but unlucky” are often HMGs.<br />
<br />
“Many men would
really love to hang around a HMG but when the marriage equation comes
in, it becomes a different situation altogether,” Dan explains. “You
probably want to hang around with this suave chic, but deep inside you
are thinking that if you got married and you hadn’t built a house, she
would want you to rent a posh flat or upscale house of Shs2m a month.”<br />
<br />
Miriam also has an inkling why HMGs cannot make wives: “They
usually look good all the time, the reason you can never eat supper at
home since she can’t wash the dishes.”<br />
<br />
<b>Sound off : Does being high maintenance necessarily mean not marriage material? </b><br />
“That
is just something girls use to set a standard for who should approach
them. We just play with the man’s ego and confidence. Even when they get
married, they try to maintain that standard. We should remember though
that when a girl loves a man, they usually are not materialistic. There
is a possibility of marrying a relatively low standard man. If love is
not the reason for marriage, though, money shall talk then. <br />
<b><i>Bridget Bamulinde,</i></b> <b><i>Data Entrant, MTN</i></b><br />
<br />
“They
need money to be happy, always hard to please. Basically annoying. I
would say typical high maintenance women are not marriage material.
However, there are women who are high maintenance at their own expense
(the financially independent). <br />
<b><i>Agnes Akello, Statistician </i></b><br />
<br />
“They
are definitely marriage material, if you can afford them. And all guys
deserve one because she motivates you to earn. Usually, such girls are
actually capable of taking care of themselves. Because if you want
something, you will earn it. People that judge them are those that get
comfortable living the low life. They only want to live the life she
deserves. <br />
<b><i>Sheila Atukei, University student </i></b><br />
<br />
<b><i>--<a href="http://www.monitor.co.ug/Magazines/Full-Woman/We-are-fleeing-from-the-high-maintenance-girl/-/689842/2159144/-/po4he7z/-/index.html" target="_blank">Saturday Monitor, January 25</a>, 2014 </i></b></div>
Dennis D. Muhumuzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784264577150328966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806103738030092886.post-58648616379124039072014-01-20T14:58:00.001+03:002014-01-20T14:58:28.830+03:00He dropped out of school for 18 years<div style="text-align: left;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<i>He has fought
for every drop of greatness in him. Without a transcendent desire to
acquire university education and the resolve never to give up, he would
not be who he is today, writes D<b>ennis D. Muhumuza</b></i><br />
<br />
It is said some people are born great and others
have greatness thrust upon them. <span lang="EN-GB">But Rwabatongore
Rweishe has fought for every drop of greatness in him. Without a transcendent
desire to acquire university education and the resolve never to give up, he
would not be who he is today, seeking to represent the people of Rubabo County
in parliament in 2016. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ybLev0bJV2A/Ut0NsIMtiDI/AAAAAAAACR8/8dlMWIUKL1A/s1600/Rweishe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ybLev0bJV2A/Ut0NsIMtiDI/AAAAAAAACR8/8dlMWIUKL1A/s1600/Rweishe.jpg" height="214" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Mr. Rweishe is eying the Rubabo County parliamentary seat in 2016</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
For 18 years, Rwabatongore deferred
his dream because of circumstances beyond his control. The first
obstacle struck in 1983 when he completed primary school. His father
told him that was enough education since he could now write his name and
speak some English. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
“As heir apparent you must stay home and
learn to be a responsible man when I’m gone,” said Rweishe’s father,
shattering his son’s dream. His parents Elnest and Joselyn Rwabatongore
of Nyakabungo village, Buyanja, Rubabo County, Rukungiri District, did
not want their only child out of their sight. They reasoned that there
was no need for him to study more since they had enough wealth to give
him a comfortable life.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Rweishe kept home for nine years, but
never gave up cajoling his parents to let him return to school. In 1992,
his father relented and sent him to the nearby Nyabutete Secondary
School. Rwabatongore,20, was the oldest student in Senior One with a
moustache already forming . </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Soon Rweishe won over fellow students
with his outgoing personality and eloquence. He was appointed the
Chairman School Council and became a vibrant student leader who was not
afraid of confronting irresponsible teachers.<br />
<br />
“I once asked a
drunken teacher what precedent he was setting by being drunk,” he says
adding, “The teacher later became my friend and interested me more in
politics by telling me that John F. Kennedy had eight brains and had not
even used half of them by the time he was assassinated in 1963.” </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
It
stirred in Rweishe the belief that to be a great leader you must be
very intelligent and knowledgeable. He started reading everything he
could find about exemplary leaders. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
“I was profoundly stirred by
Kennedy’s challenge to fellow Americans asking what they can do for
their country instead of asking what their country could do for them.”</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Since
then, Rweishe vowed to serve his country as president one day. He began
by sharing what he read with the wanainchi to empower them. When he
completed O-Level in 1996 at the age of 24, he joined Universal High
School in Kampala because it was easier to access books and vital
information in the city. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
But tragedy
struck in 1998 just after Rweishe had completed high school. His father
died. Being an only child, he shelved his university plans and stayed
home for another nine years comforting his mother and taking care of
their home. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
In 2007, at the age of 35, Rweishe applied and was
admitted to Kampala International University for a Bachelor of Arts in
Public Administration on the long-distance scheme. This gave him the
flexibility to take care of his three children while he studied. He had
married and had a child those days he stayed at home at the urging of
his parents. But as fate would have it, his wife had died after their
third child, and Rweishe chose not to marry again until all his children
are grown up and independent. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
At the time he was studying for
his degree, Rwabatongore also pursued a diploma in Mass Communication at
the Uganda Institute of Business and Media Studies, as well as a
certificate in Administrative Law at the Law Development Centre (LDC). </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
He
is so concerned with using his discoveries to empower the larger
community in Rubabo County where he moves from home to home teaching
them how to increase their produce and earn income for self-substance
and for investment. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
As a farmer and cattle keeper’s son who was
raised on the farm, he understands agriculture and animal husbandry and
argues that these sectors alone have the capacity to eradicate poverty,
unemployment and boast the Ugandan economy. He showed me a 50-page
manuscript titled ‘15-Point Program for National Development’ in which
he articulates things that can transform this country from the
grassroots and keep it on the economic growth curve. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
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--><span lang="EN-GB">"Uganda’s arable
land of 5200000 hectares’ produces 610000 metric tones of banana but most of
these bananas are not being processed to benefit the economy on a grander scale,”
says Rwabatongore. He proposes an Act of Parliament that will establish the
Ministry of Food Processing to<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>advance
food processing and production. He also wants the government to open an
agricultural bank where farmers may get loans to improve and increase their
output.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Rwabatongore
is passionate about his ideas on empowerment and transformation. He
reels off statistics with the adroitness of a professor to back his
arguments. <span lang="EN-GB">He accuses the current Rubabo Country MP Paula Turyahikayo of being a politician rather than a servant
of those who elected her, which is why he has chosen to take her on in 2016.</span> </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
“A politician is concerned about
his lofty office and the allowances he gets while a servant always
touches base with those he represents and collects their ideas for
implementation,” Rwabatongore explains. “As Jesus said, a great leader
must be a great servant.” </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
--<a href="https://www.blogger.com/"><i>Sunday Monitor</i>, January 19</a>, 2014 </div>
Dennis D. Muhumuzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784264577150328966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806103738030092886.post-18025253730569076572014-01-05T16:33:00.002+03:002014-01-05T16:33:25.006+03:002014 promises to be a better literary year<div>
<i>It appears most writers’ major
resolution this year is to release more books and continue to grow the
industry to high standards, writes <b>Dennis D. Muhumuza</b></i><br />
</div>
<br />
The excitement that comes with the folding of
the year (2013) and the unfolding of the new one (2014), has not spared
Uganda’s literature fraternity either. The writers’ major resolution is
to release more books in this year and continue to grow the industry to
high standards.<br />
<br />
The death of literary guru Chinua Achebe in March
2013 was seen as the coming down of the curtain on the old-school
writers, whose works have dominated the industry for decades, and the
beginning of the real shining of a new generation of African writers
whose works are enjoying rave reviews worldwide.<br />
<br />
Setting
the pace is Nigerian author Chimamanda Adichie, 35, whose newest book,
<i>Americanah</i>, is a must-read in 2014. When Adichie released <i>Half of a
Yellow Sun</i> after her first novel, <i>Purple Hibiscus</i>, she was described by
Chinua Achebe as “A new writer endowed with the gift of ancient
storytellers.” No doubt her star will continue to twinkle this year.<br />
<br />
In
my opinion, however, NoViolet Balawayo of Zimbabwe is better than
Adichie, and if you haven’t read any of her works, you must do so this
year. If you are looking for one African novel to read this year, I
recommend <i>We Need New Names</i>, which made the 2013 Man Booker Prize
shortlist, making Balawayo the first black African woman and Zimbabwean
to make it there.<br />
<br />For the non-fiction lovers, you must not miss <i>The
Hero Within</i>, the autobiography of Dr Jane Kengeya Kayondo. Released in
November last year, this is a brutally honest odyssey of her life from
poverty to becoming the first Ugandan woman epidemiologist, and the
first to study Aviation Medicine. The autobiography also inadvertently
serves as a commentary on Uganda’s politics, especially in the 1970s. A
must-read, I tell you.<br />
<br />
Last year saw the launch of Writivism, an
initiative aimed at spotting and nurturing new writing talent. The
participants were taken through mentoring process and wrote short
stories, which were published in the local press. The finest of those
have been anthologised as <i>Picture</i> <i>Frames and Other Stories. </i>The
initiative is continuing from where it stopped, and this time is
involving the rest of Africa.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mElw9__EajM/Usleo7FYsRI/AAAAAAAACRc/G6fMX1yqX8w/s1600/writivism.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="268" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mElw9__EajM/Usleo7FYsRI/AAAAAAAACRc/G6fMX1yqX8w/s400/writivism.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Last year's Writivism participants </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
According to Brian Bwesigye, the
brain behind the programme, they have already received 120 applications
from emerging writers across the continent. Ten training workshops will
be held; two in each of the countries of Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria,
Zimbabwe and South Africa. It is in these workshops that the emerging
writers will be paired with writing mentors and a short-story prize will
be introduced. Such initiatives are timely in positioning the emerging
African writer to relay the African story with experimentalism never
before imagined.<br />
<strong></strong><br />The Uganda
Female Writers Association (Femrite) also continues in pushing the woman
writer into the arena of excellence. Just last year, Femrite launched <i>
African Violet and Other Stories, </i>an anthology of 15 stories, including
the five short-listed for the 2012 Caine Prize at an event in Kampala
attended by the 2012 Caine Prize winner, Rotimi Babatunde. This is an
anth<i>Bombay’s Republic</i>, and Beatrice Lamwaka’s
<i>Pillar of Love</i>.<br />
ology worth reading for its exceptional variety, including
Babatunde’s hilarious hit, <br />
<br /> Uganda’s literary industry, though still held back
by low participation in local prizes, and blinded by the search for
western/outside approval by the writers themselves, will perform way
better this year than it did in 2013.<br />
<br />
--<a href="http://www.monitor.co.ug/artsculture/Reviews/2014-promises-to-be-a-better-literary-year/-/691232/2133166/-/dtjxfhz/-/index.html" target="_blank"><i>Saturday Monitor, </i>January 4</a>, 2014 Dennis D. Muhumuzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784264577150328966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806103738030092886.post-90852822194461976072014-01-02T14:45:00.000+03:002014-01-03T19:28:36.029+03:00Dancing, rejoicing and worshipping<div>
<i>As the world waits for the midnight
hour that will usher in 2014, millions of believers will be reaching out
to God, writes <b>Dennis D. Muhumuza</b></i></div>
<br />
On the night of December 31, Makerere Full
Gospel Church, the first Pentecostal church in Uganda and its sister
churches in the city, will gather at Makerere University main sports
ground for an overnight service and celebration of the end of the year.
The story will be the same in many other venues around the country as
churches have made it a custom to end the year with an all-night
spiritual jamboree characterised with hyperactive performances from the
best gospel musicians, dancers, actors and comedians, complete with
plangent fireworks.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sxW3UKQiJQ0/UsbkSgCOVzI/AAAAAAAACRI/IzRyTbrKrfs/s1600/dennnis+004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sxW3UKQiJQ0/UsbkSgCOVzI/AAAAAAAACRI/IzRyTbrKrfs/s400/dennnis+004.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pr. Fred Wantaate at the pulpit with a mic leads church members in prayer</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Long gone are the days when such events were
left to the secular world with multitudes cramming sports venues like
Namboole and Nakivubo stadiums to be entertained by musicians. Others
would gather in strategic spots with a panoramic view of the city, to
watch the fireworks. According to Ivan Wobusobozi of Redemption City
Church, evangelical and Pentecostal leaders of more than 1,500 churches
in Uganda, have adopted popular ways of ushering in the New Year, but
retained the spiritual and transformational angles without taking away
the fun and excitement.<br />
<br />
But how important are such overnights?
According to Pastor Fred Wantaate, the senior pastor of Makerere Full
Gospel Church, the last day of the last month in a year is special in
the lives of many people for it signals an end to a season and announces
the beginning of a new season.<br />
<br />
“For many Ugandans it is time to
congratulate themselves for having “survived” another year. It is
therefore in order for them to celebrate and thank God for enabling them
to go through another year,” says Pr. Wantaate. “It is also time to
rededicate oneself for next season in prayer, set goals and make
resolutions. It is a time to be spiritually recharged and rebooted for
the next journey of 12 months. Ugandans repent and pray for their
leaders and families.”<br />
<br />
Unlike last year’s overnight which focused
on prayer, this year’s event has been dubbed a family affair where
parents and children will feast on food, tea and cake, with fireworks
display to last at least five minutes. There will be no long brimstone
sermons admonishing congregants to live pure lives in the next year lest
they perish. Rather ordinary Christians will testify of the goodness of
the Lord, according to the cleric.<br />
<br />
And in line with the night’s
theme, “Praise Precedes Victory”, emphasis will be on celebration and
thanksgiving with lots of music and dance. The theme is drawn from 2
Chronicles 20 in which King Jehoshaphat is led by God to respond to the
fear of imminent destruction with praise and worship. He received a
revelation that spiritual worship is the ultimate ambush against Satan
and all his designs. And when the king and his men marched to war
singing and praising God, the Lord set an ambush against the men of
Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah, and they were so
defeated that it took three days for Jehoshaphat and his people to
carry away the spoil from the battlefield which they baptised the Valley
of Blessings.<br />
<br />
“Many Ugandans are facing the unknown; the future
is littered with serious physical, financial, marital, economic and
career challenges. But just like Israel, we must turn our fears and
doubts into spiritual praise and overcome our challenges even before we
enter the New Year,” Pr. Wantaate says.<br />
<br />
May God bless you in the New Year.<br />
<br />
--<a href="http://www.monitor.co.ug/Magazines/Life/Dancing--rejoicing-and-worshipping/-/689856/2127770/-/jd5xmo/-/index.html" target="_blank"><i>Sunday Monitor</i>, December 29</a>, 2013 Dennis D. Muhumuzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784264577150328966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806103738030092886.post-35987818378371942102013-12-22T12:49:00.001+03:002013-12-22T12:51:57.146+03:00Teaching children of Uganda’s presidents<i>Go-getter: An outstanding educationist, loving mother and wife, Mary
Mulumba has left her footprints in the lives of many in her journey of
life, writes DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA</i><br />
<br />
<div>
She has had the
privilege of teaching the presidents’ children, but most remarkable
about the life of Mary Mulumba is how she rose from being a nursery
teacher to owning one of the most prominent urban primary schools in
Uganda- Kampala Junior Academy (KJA).<br />
<br />
Her big brother, Samuel
Baddokwaya, believes his sister’s success has much to do with God’s
favour and hard work. He still remembers a prayer she said at a
Chr<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VRp0CLTbszM/Ura0ssDnMhI/AAAAAAAACQs/I0NxqtCSveo/s1600/39.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VRp0CLTbszM/Ura0ssDnMhI/AAAAAAAACQs/I0NxqtCSveo/s320/39.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mary and her husband</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
istian gathering when they were still very little: “‘Me Mary, please
God help me, Amen!’ And sincerely God has helped her ever since, because
no one in our family has achieved as much as she has.”<br />
<br />
Mulumba
was born in Mengo Hospital, on Christmas day in 1941, the second of Rev.
Canon Yakobo Gabunga Baddokwaya and Ruth Baddokwaya’s eight children.
Her father was a teacher and schools inspector before he became a
full-time minister serving in the Church of Uganda.<br />
<br />
She remembers
that their home in Busega was always full of born-again Christians and
members of Mothers Union who often came for prayer and fellowship. She
says they taught her to pray and sharpened her interpersonal relations
and communication skills.<br />
<br />
“I also learnt a lot from my father
who often took me along with him to visit his friends, inspect schools
and supervise some church projects. It was his way of teaching me
hard-work and protecting me from bad influences by keeping an eye on
me,” she says.<br />
<br />
<b>Attaining an education</b><br />
Mulumba
grew up at a time when the education of girls was not prioritised.
Luckily, her father had a different perspective and educated all his
children regardless of their sex. His mantra to his children was: “Get
educated, work hard and look forward to a better future.”<br />
<br />
When
she joined Primary One at Buloba Primary School, she vowed never to
disappoint her father. By the time Mulumba completed Primary Eight, she
knew what she wanted to be. In 1957, she joined Ndejje Teacher
Training College. She was impressed by how the college Principal, an
English lady named Drakely, combined motherliness with toughness. This
is the woman she aspired to be like when she left college in 1960 as
certified primary school teacher.<br />
<br />
Mulumba immediately got her first
job at Mengo Girls School. Then something exciting quickly happened –
she met the man of her dreams.<br />
<br />
<b>The love of her life</b><br />
Daniel
Mulumba had just returned from UK with a degree in Accounting. He was a
tall, handsome man. At 25 then, he was suave, collected and a proud
owner of a white VW car to complete his stature as the most eligible
bachelor then.<br />
<br />
At the time, it was prestigious for a young man of
Daniel’s age to own a car. So when his mother asked him to drive her to
Lweza on Entebbe Road to attend a meeting for born-again Christians, he
agreed out of the love and respect for his mother, but also to show off
his prized car! This turned out to be one of his best decisions because
it is at that meeting that he met Mary, a dazzling 19-year-old beauty
fresh from college. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n5rk_YRecjc/Ura0FjyMBkI/AAAAAAAACQg/3hq_X7KcRng/s1600/52.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="248" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n5rk_YRecjc/Ura0FjyMBkI/AAAAAAAACQg/3hq_X7KcRng/s320/52.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mary weds Dan in December 1960</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
A leaf from her journal of the time reads:
“In 1960, I met a wonderful, educated, simple and quiet man called Dan
Mulumba. We fell in love straight away!” They were married the same
year, on December 17, 1960, at Namirembe Cathedral.<br />
<br />
After the
wedding, the couple moved to Mugongo, near Kyengera on Masaka Road. Four
months after their wedding, Dan was offered a job in the Ministry of
Finance and moved to Entebbe. Mary had to move back to her parents’ home
at Busega in order to keep her job at Mengo Girls School. Later, she
joined Daniel in Entebbe and got a job there at Namate Primary School
where she taught for three years.<br />
<br />
<b>A great opportunity</b><br />
In 1964,
Mulumba was offered a scholarship by the Uganda government to pursue
further studies at Stranmillis College in Northern Ireland. She
was a young wife of 24 with a husband and three little children, but at
the urging of her husband, she accepted the scholarship, and for three
years, specialised in Infant Methods. <br />
<br />
“Children found me so
strange because they were not used to seeing black people,” she recalls.
“One child wetted her finger and rubbed it on my arm to see if my skin
was made of soil.”<br />
<br />
When she returned in 1967, she got a job at Lake
Victoria Primary School in Entebbe, as the head of its nursery section.
This was a prominent school of mostly expatriate children. Mulumba
became its first and only African teacher.<br />
<br />
After three years, she
was posted to Nakasero Primary School, where she stayed for a year
before being appointed the first African Headmistress of Kampala
Kindergarten in 1970. This was a school for diplomats and upper class
families of the time. The school was located near State House. In the 23
years Mulumba worked there, she taught the presidents’ children from
Obote, Amin to Museveni.<br />
<br />
She managed to go through the volatile
1970s unscathed, considering many professionals fled the terror and
dictatorship of Amin. Mulumba avoided politics. This and prayers, she
believes, is what saved her and kept the school operating throughout
those perilous times. She had learnt from her father that in life, if
one is to make a difference, they must be willing to take risks and make
tough sacrifices.<br />
<br />
<b>Life begins at 52</b><br />
Mulumba’s
success at Kampala Kindergarten attracted criticism from individuals
who started making slighting remarks about her age and how it was time
she moved on. She pondered the situation, and in 1993 decided to resign.
She was 52 years with no idea that her life would never be the same
again.<br />
<br />
After combining her savings with her husband’s, Mulumba
hired an old building on Clement Hill Road from which she started
Kampala Junior Academy. Mulumba believes in the success formula of
‘Think Big, Start Small and Grow Big’ which enabled her to avoid loans
and move forward patiently. She started with only nine children, but before a year elapsed, the number had risen to 200, thanks to her credibility. <br />
<br />
Herbert
Kijjagulwe who has been the Principal of KJA since 1997, says the
current location of the school at Yusuf Lule Road was bushy with no
clear road. Whenever it rained, muddy puddles would form and cause cars
to get stuck. But this did not discourage the parents; they kept
bringing their children. Today the road to the school is tarmac, the
school has modern storeyed structures,more than 1,000 pupils and employs
more than 150 staff. It has grown so that a kindergarten branch has
been opened in Ntinda to absorb children from the age of one to four.<br />
<br />
Mulumba
says: “Three quarters of the pupils in my school are the children of
the children I taught in school way back. I’m teaching ‘my’ grand
children.”<br />
<br />
By 7am, she is already at school, shaking the hand of each of
her pupils, greeting each by name and speaking words of affirmation to
them. At break-time, they gather around her like bees around nectar,
freely playing on her laps, asking questions and telling stories. The
warmth on Mulumba’s face says this is a company she would not exchange
for anything.<br />
<br />
“She is a mother to us teachers too,” Robert Kimuli
Kaweesa, a teacher at KJA says of Mulumba’s heart of gold. “On top of
ensuring that we get our salaries on time, she is helping us with school
fees. We have our children in this school and we pay subsidized fees in
small installments. Ms Mulumba is really an angel to us.”<br />
<br />
As an
educationist of excellence, Mary has won several awards from reputable
organisations like Rotary Clubs, Nile Breweries and the Nabaggeka Trust
among others. Her biography titled; <i>Woman of Action</i> was launched on
December 14, 2013, by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Nagginda" target="_blank">Her Royal Highness Sylvia Nagginda</a>, the
Nnabagereka of Buganda.<br />
<br />
--<a href="http://www.monitor.co.ug/Magazines/Full-Woman/Teaching-children-of-Uganda-s-presidents/-/689842/2111028/-/eeoijk/-/index.html" target="_blank"><i>Saturday Monitor</i>, December 14</a>, 2013 </div>
Dennis D. Muhumuzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784264577150328966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806103738030092886.post-18170782233266548602013-12-07T19:41:00.003+03:002013-12-07T19:41:54.910+03:00Fathers, don’t abandon your responsibilitiesBY DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA<br />
<br />
The recent sex-tape scandals featuring university students left many
parents wondering what they must do to stop the bug of promiscuity and
shamelessness from sucking their children. Stephen Langa of
Family Life Network, says the antidote is in parents, particularly
fathers taking up their positions to train their children in the right path and they will not depart from it when they grow up.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZT7DqEq0Sq4/UqNLZxt11XI/AAAAAAAACPE/_ol8HQ0cgfI/s1600/SDC12356.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZT7DqEq0Sq4/UqNLZxt11XI/AAAAAAAACPE/_ol8HQ0cgfI/s320/SDC12356.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mr Stephen Langa and his wife</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The
family life counsellor and sexual-purity crusader was the key speaker at
a recent Men’s Convention organised by the Men’s Ministry of Makerere
Full Gospel Church. Langa says immorality and general corruption is
linked to the absence of mentors and true fathers in our society. Materialism has led fathers to relegate the role of parenting to
househelps in a bid to make more money.<br />
<br />
“Expensive toys and flat TV
screens beaming Cartoon Network 24/7 make children rootless and weak,”
Langa said, adding that the role of a father is to raise God-fearing,
autonomous, responsible and productive children.<br />
<br />He proceeds to give
essentials of true fatherhood that will help the nation to raise
responsible children who will protect the moral fibre of the nation. Fathers need to create time from their business and ‘busyness’ for
their family. Most of them leave early and return late all week
through. And on weekends they are busy talking and watching soccer, and
squandering time in bars. Long gone are the days when parents and
children used to enjoy the closeness at the dining table as they had
supper together. Such days must resurrect. As someone said on Facebook,
“If you can find time to make children, you should find time to spend
with them.”<br />
<br />
Attend visiting days at school, celebrate your
children’s birthdays, call a photographer and pose for pictures together
and have one-on-one time with each of your children at least thrice a
week. And then they will not grow up seeking attention and love which
makes them susceptible to wrong elements.<br />
<br />
Langa also
advises fathers to make conscious decisions to be good fathers.<br />
<br />
“It will
cost you a lot; it involves self-sacrifice but it is worthwhile,” he
says, “It’s the pride of every parent when children grow into
responsible citizens who cannot get easily compromised, and with
integrity love to play their role in building the nation.”<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tbzt-R1yVHE/UqNO8HDA54I/AAAAAAAACPQ/hcp0niyKywI/s1600/100_0876.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tbzt-R1yVHE/UqNO8HDA54I/AAAAAAAACPQ/hcp0niyKywI/s320/100_0876.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fathers, teach children the right path and when they grow up they won't depart from it</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
He adds that fathers need to discover themselves; know their strengths
and resolve weaknesses. This tip is essential to prospective husbands
and fathers particularly those who were brought up in broken homes. They
don’t want to make the mistake of carrying the baggage of the past into
their marriages and loading it onto their wives and children. Part of
discovering yourself, says Langa, is accepting who you are, which will
give you the confidence to face the responsibilities and challenges that
come with fatherhood.<br />
<br />
“Do yourself and your children a favour
by loving their mother,” Langa advises, adding that when your children
know that you love their mother, it gives them inner stability,
security, confidence and joy essential for them to perform well in
everything they do. A good father should have the discernment to
understand the emotional needs of his children.<br />
<br />
Langa says some
fathers make the common mistake of discriminating against their children
depending on their talents and intelligence.<br />
<br />
“Children need
unconditional love. Speak words of affirmation and always encourage them
to give their best because children need a sense of self-worth that
comes from seeing you value them.” <br />
<br /> Moreover, 80 per cent of
what children know is learnt through observation and imitation. If you
curse and handle people roughly and disrespectfully and tell lies, be
sure your children are bound to emulate you. Therefore, be everything
you want your children to be: honest, hardworking, generous, kind, and
all those ideals, well knowing that tough lectures are not effective
compared to demonstration. <br />
<br /> It is also essential for
fathers to get equipped with good parenting tips by attending men’s
conventions. Iron sharpens iron, so it takes a man to build another. By
learning from each other, they can go a long way. There is also a lot to
learn from books on fatherhood and from the internet.<br />
<br />
Felix Laiti, father of six confesses that he does his best to talk to
his children: “Whenever I am home, we talk and they have a myriad
questions whose answers are not as easy but I answer,” he says. “Talk
with rather than talk at or down your children.”<br />
<br />
Langa
agrees as he advises men to be approachable: “Do not be the type of
fathers whose children run away when they enter the sitting room. Hold a
conversation with your children, be a good listener and know what their
little fears and triumphs are. They love it.” <br />
<br /> Great
fathers run their homes using Biblical values and principles. These
include love, kindness, honesty, hard work, generosity, patience,
forgiveness and related virtues.<br />
<br />
“If you apply the positive values given
in God’s word,” concludes Langa, “fatherhood will be a blessing.”<br />
<br />
--<a href="http://www.monitor.co.ug/Magazines/Life/Fathers--don-t-abandon--your-responsibilities/-/689856/2084880/-/1120lilz/-/index.html" target="_blank"><i>Sunday Monitor</i>, November 24</a>, 2013 Dennis D. Muhumuzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784264577150328966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806103738030092886.post-43235855934804802462013-11-12T21:19:00.002+03:002013-11-19T20:21:47.539+03:00Cashing in on arts, cultural opportunities<div>
<i>House of Talent East Africa’s chief
executive officer is a performing arts entrepreneur who is making money
by nurturing creativity to preserve Uganda’s cultural heritage. He also
wants to ensure the transfer of cultural assets and values from one
generation to another through expressive cultural arts such as
storytelling, writes DENNIS D. MUHUMUZA.</i></div>
<br />
For many would-be entrepreneurs, finding the true profession occurs in the hour of need. <br />
Andrew
Lwanga Ssebaggala had never appreciated those words until December 2008
when the donor-funded projects he had been managing under the Uganda
Theatre Network (UTN) ended their lifecycle.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BsPn4R2ZXg8/UouddZ4B6bI/AAAAAAAACOw/gC4m0xQXmGQ/s1600/House+of+Talent.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BsPn4R2ZXg8/UouddZ4B6bI/AAAAAAAACOw/gC4m0xQXmGQ/s400/House+of+Talent.jpg" width="400" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5i8igqmZPuU/UoJwK-IvrkI/AAAAAAAACOU/m2-jvWn022w/s1600/Ande.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="264" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5i8igqmZPuU/UoJwK-IvrkI/AAAAAAAACOU/m2-jvWn022w/s400/Ande.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ssebaggala shows off the Award he scooped after
his business proposal was voted the best business plan by Private Sector
Foundation. Photo by Rachel Mabala.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Instead of pushing
the panic button, Ssebaggala established House of Talent East Africa
(HOT)—a cultural and performing arts company to create employment and
enhance the appreciation of the role of culture in national development.<br />
<br />
“I
started in January 2009 with about Shs1.2 million which was part of my
savings. I used this to hire working space, and buy cultural instruments
like a set of drums, xylophone, shakers and a few costumes,” he says.<br />
<br />
Ssebaggala
then combed for multitalented youths: actors, dancers,
instrumentalists, singers, writers, poets, producers and motivational
speakers because he was determined to make HOT a one-stop shop for all
live arts with tailor-made services where a client would walk in and
have all their entertainment needs met. This quickly gave HOT an edge
over the competition.<br />
<br />
The 33-year-old who holds a Makerere University diploma in
Music, Dance and Drama, and a Human Resource Management degree from
Makerere University Business School (MUBS) is a city-born whose first
job was a bar attendant.<br />
<br />
While at Makerere University, he worked
as a freelance reporter for Sanyu FM and Radio Maria. He also worked as
a general manager for Kingdom FM. He also performed with Abu Kawenja’s
Adzido Performers, and taught music, dance and drama in primary and
secondary schools during his vacations – which all combined to refine
his management and communication skills, giving him vast knowledge of
the arts and culture sector.<br />
<br />
With that diverse experience and
professional expertise, it did not take long for Ssebaggala to win
credibility as an arts manager and entrepreneur. He was the manager of
this year’s arts projects UMOJA Cultural Flying Carpet Uganda, NUVO Arts
Festival and Alfajiri Productions’ Silent Voices.<br />
<br />
HOT employs 34
artists who have performed at State, corporate and private functions.
This year, the ensemble was the key performer at the National Heroes
celebrations in Nakaseke. This elicited a standing ovation, handshake
and an ‘envelope’ from President Yoweri Museveni. The group has also
performed at local and foreign festivals alongside live bands and world
music artistes like Ndere Troupe and Joel Sebunjo, hypnotising foreign
and local audiences with live cultural music played on traditional
instruments, accompanied by the dances and songs.<br />
<br />
Alongside the
provision of a complete cultural package from all regions of Uganda, HOT
also offers short training in music, dance, drama to individuals,
organisations and schools. It has public address/music systems for hire
and offers audio and video production services that continue to attract
clients in entertainment circles.<br />
<br />
“Today, our business is worth more
than Shs300 million as per our latest balanced sheet. Talking of the
balance sheet may sound surprising in the arts business, but we audit
our books to be professional in all we do,” says Ssebaggala.<br />
<br />
<b>Turning point</b><br />
Ssebaggala’s dictum is ‘Good art makes good money and good money makes good art.’<br />
<br />
“So,
I always encourage my team to be innovative but remain true to our
cultural expectation and authenticity. Quality matters in this business
as in any other. We package our artistic products professionally,”<br />
Ssebaggala
says. It is no wonder that organisations such as the Certified Public
Accountants of Uganda, ministry of Gender, Labour and Social
Development, State House, Office of the President, Lions Club
International, the Cross Cultural Foundation of Uganda, and the Uganda
Coffee Federation, among others, have engaged their services for more
than three times because they get value for money.<br />
<br />
Ssebaggala’s
real turning point was when he won the 2010 Start-Your-Business
competition organised by the Private Sector Foundation of Uganda. His
business proposal was voted the Best Business Plan and won him about
Shs126 million ($50,000) which he injected back into HOT.<br />
<br />
A year
later, HOT got another award during a cultural gala organised by the
Uganda National Cultural Centre as the best performing group and the
best arts and culture service provider.<br />
<br />
<b>Future prospects</b><br />
Determined
to avoid the fate of business founders whose businesses die with them,
Ssebaggala sold some shares in his company, but retains the title of
chairman and executive director of HOT. He says, “HOT is not a one-man
show like other arts organisations, but has shareholders who are
directors.”<br />
<br />
He shares the model that his company
has adopted, “We have devised a robust system and management to
operationalise the strategic and business plan of the company. We have a
formidable system and clarity of where we want HOT to be and who is
responsible for what.”<br />
<br />
He is optimistic that in the next seven
years (2014 to 2020), the company will have an “artistic centre with
professional facilities including a 2,500-seater auditorium, dance
studio, art gallery, audio-visual studio, cultural arts library,
training rooms, gym, open-air theatre, and housing for resident
performers and staff.”<br />
The company will also have the capacity to
fully employ at least 50 artistically talented youth as full arts
professionals with salaries and not just allowances, well trained in
both technical aspects of the arts and business operations.<br />
<br />
“We
shall also start the plan of opening HOT Centres in the Northern,
Eastern, Western and South western parts of Uganda, and finally be among
the top 100 tax payers – which will be a wake-up call to government to
prioritise arts and culture and invest in it.”<br />
<b></b><br />
<b>The potential of Uganda’s arts and cultural industry</b><br />
According
to the Ugandan Constitution, the country has 65 tribes to draw from yet
Ssebaggala says not even an eighth of these have been tapped. The
industry has more than 100 cultural troupes and drama groups, each
comprising more than 20 artists, more than 50 direct cultural
institutions, many musicians, bands, events companies, production
studios, fine artists and craft makers, music, dance and drama teachers.<br />
<b></b><br />
“This
is a big constituency that one cannot take for granted. Cultural
industries have the potential to greatly reduce the unemployment problem
in Uganda, and improve the livelihood of the marginalised, the poor and
the vulnerable,” Ssebaggala says. “Cultural artists also promote
all the aspects of our cultural heritage that attract tourists and
widen our revenue base. They also play the educational and sensitisation
role as they facilitate community action against practices that impinge
on human dignity.”<br />
<br />
<b>Challenges</b><br />
Yet the
industry is still beset by insufficient skills especially in management
and marketing of artistic and entertainment services; lack of all
required music equipment, training facilities and transport means plus
limited exchange with other professional entertainment groups outside
Uganda.<br />
<br />
Others include limited access to professional venues for
artistic performances; many unregulated entertainment groups; little
interest from private business sector; limited access to information on
the industry; few theatre schools for further training; non-operational
cultural policy and copyright law; insufficient funds allocated for the
arts and culture sector all compounded by the poor perceptions on arts
and entertainment as a profession.<br />
<br />
But who is to blame for the
industry’s negative perception? “All the unprofessional acts are rooted
in the fact that there is nobody setting the standard for us to follow,
strategise and plan for the industry to become robust with well-trained
and disciplined artists who respect professional ethics and earn well
from the industry,” says Ssebaggala. “We need to know the exact number of the players so that the relevant bodies can plan for the industry.”<br />
<br />
Ssebaggala
is already setting the precedent for professionalism at HOT by
implementing what he describes as “Continuous Professional Development –
an important concept in the arts and culture realm.”<br />
<br />
It
is because of his faith in Uganda’s arts and culture industry and the
lack of professional arts managers that Ssebaggala is pursuing a Masters
degree in Business Administration (MBA), positioning himself as a
professional arts manager.<br />
<br />
“I also do a lot of self-education with
the bias in the arts and culture since I am now confident that this is
my calling and purpose for living,” he says. “All our efforts should revolve around the need to have a higher rank for culture on the national agenda.<b>"</b><br />
<br />
<b>--<a href="http://www.monitor.co.ug/Business/Prosper/Cashing-in-on-arts--cultural-opportunities/-/688616/2069358/-/ufw2ee/-/index.html" target="_blank"><i>Daily Monitor</i>, Tuesday, November 12</a>, 2013 </b><br />
<b></b>Dennis D. Muhumuzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784264577150328966noreply@blogger.com