Nebbi

  woman using walking sticks fashioned out of tree branches

I used to think Entebbe is the furthest place I’d been to within the country then I went to Gomba and now Nebbi. Nebbi is FAR! As far as the Kingdom of Far Far away in Shrek. And I have to say, the most arduous journey I have taken so far.
A trip slated to kick off at 8 am got off to a late start at 12pm. A late start never bodes well for such long trips so does the cramped space. Good thing is; I travelled with the big bosses and it couldn’t have been anymore interesting. I was the minion to their Gru. The trip was for a monitoring and evaluation exercise on the project they have going on in the Nebbi sub-counties of Kucwiny and Wadelai (Nebbi has three sub-counties).
Nebbi was an experience to say the least in so many ways. Unlike Gomba which looked truly like an abandoned village, Nebbi is more of a work in progress - on the way to development. The roads are good and smooth, fresh construction going on and vast expanses of land! So much fertile and free land over there. The civil war in their region set them back a little but it isn’t as bad as one would expect.
The town centre is OK and so are the accommodations. In fact, they were better than I had imagined. The room was self contained and the bed met my expectations because I have a bad back. If the mattress isn’t as hard as a new sofa, it makes for bad days and several aches. The only wrinkle was the lack of hot water which was easily fixed. Let’s not forget the lack of man candy! Nebbi has no young men at all! Where did they go to?
Kucwiny sub-county was the first area to visit on account of it’s near location. The women with disabilities(beneficiaries of the project) made quite an impression on me. They spoke with so much confidence and ease. You could tell how positive the project has been on their lives and the people around them. It was so good to see first hand because of who they are and their stations in life.
Who stood out the most for me amongst them was the woman using normal sticks as walking aides. Seeing her made me reflect on my life. Unlike her, I have my mother and brother who look after my walking aides needs. I get new rubber soles when they wear off on both crutches and not so long ago, my brother bought me a new set of legs after a fall that led to the demise of one crutch.
They, unfortunately, do not have people like these in their lives. Most of them were using normal sticks fashioned out of tree branches and if they had crutches, they were either mismatched, poorly adjusted or worn out at the soles. Majority were using the metallic bit at the end of the crutch which is hazardous. Seeing this made me want to make a ‘call for action’ which I do not know how to go about. What I do know is it would be a win-win situation for the parties involved.
We then moved on to the sub-county of Wadelai where the women were listless. The project did make an impact on their lives, however they were not as lively as the women in Kucwiny which made the trip to their sub-county anticlimactic.
On the whole; Nebbi was a successful trip. I didn’t do much sightseeing but what I did see was enough. The West Nile on which Moses travelled to Egypt in his baby basket, the acres of Sun Flower farms, Murchison Falls National Park and the Karuma Falls where a hydro-dam is being constructed. It was enough.

Smart Phone Addiction

We received new interns at my work place and being with them could not be any more disheartening.
One of my many Supervisors once said I had two strikes against me: being a girl and a three legged hussy. I shall not lie and say I grasped what he meant then, no. But I do see it now courtesy of the interns. The only difference between them and I is: I have two strikes against me while in my opinion they have three – they are girls, with disabilities and without ambition.
There is nothing as saddening as seeing educated girls with disabilities be without ambition. It is awful to witness. First of all; being a girl trying to navigate a prejudiced male dominated workforce is hard, twice as hard for a girls with disabilities and next to impossible for one lacking ambition. Instead of being alert and on the look out for opportunities this internship period could bring them, they would rather spend their every minute on the phone!
Smart phone addiction is the bane of unemployment especially for a girl. She cannot shift attention from those 140 characters, interesting WhatsApp conversations and gossip long enough to complete a task within an hour. If at all it is longer, she has to have breaks to scroll through her news feed, timeline or go like a picture on Instagram.
This marks the divide between them and I, because within two months of my voluntary work, there were talks of making me a staff member which finally happened in May. And it is official now for I got my letter of appointment last week. Would I have made staff if I kept to my Smartphone while supposedly working?
Our generation was dragged and pushed through school by parents. We all had the ‘my parents are making me go to school’ reason as to why we were in school accompanied by these dourest of facial expressions. Now, there is no such talk unless one is the child of the richest man in Uganda for them to use the ‘my parents are forcing me to work’ rejoinder. In their case, they have an inheritance to fall back on once the parents depart this life and do not see the need to work.
Regardless of the situation and inheritance. Every educated girl with or without disabilities should have an ambition and purpose beyond her Smartphone. Have a code of ethics, limit the time spent on the phone and engage with those around you. God did not make the sun shine out of these phones so do not act like it does.

PhotoCredits: Google

Quotes

Where  there is love, mistakes are forgiven. – What Life Took From Me

Don’t allow other people’s issues to become your own. – Tika Sumpter

A woman always knows when she incites desire in a man. – What Life Took From Me

Too many details smell like lies. – Brave Woman

Sometimes, death is preferable to the agony of life. – ARROW

Dreaming carries no risks. The dangerous thing is trying to transform your dreams into reality.- Paulo Coelho

I want you to know. I need you to know. Not choosing me is OK. – Scandal

Everyone has something to hide. We  can’t just expose all our secrets to the world. That’s how we get hurt. It’s how we risk hurting other people. We have to decide how much we let out and keep the truth to ourselves. – Greys Anatomy

Feelings don’t care about time. – La Malquerida

True Power hides in plain sight. – Scandal

There is a difference between a man with ambition and a man who enjoys doing nothing with his life. – Cathy Williams

The life we end up getting depends entirely on the moves we make. – Cathy Williams

It is when life is at its most demanding that we must seek inner peace. Your own ability for  quiet reflection can be an oasis in the storm of life. – Balfour Legacy

Love is not found; it’s created and then held onto. Love is a decision. – Paul Hudson

Writing is the best way to talk without being interrupted. – Jules Renard

People tell you who they are but we don’t listen. Because we want them to be who we want them to be. – Mad Men

To love with an open mind is to love with an open heart. – Elite Daily

We don’t fall in love with someone who makes us happy. Sometimes, we fall in love with someone who makes us suffer. – Fearless Heart