Cultural Norms

Once again; I accompanied my bosses on a trip to the Northern region of Uganda specifically the districts of Koboko, Pader and Karamoja on a monitoring and evaluation exercise for one of the ongoing projects over there. What these districts have in common are distance between each other, dark as sin people and extremely dry weather! I used to lament about the distance from Kampala to Entebbe until I travelled north. That journey to and fro is enough to make location as an item on my list of deal-breakers in a potential partner.
Aside from the journey and the extremely hot weather plus short and stout cows; the north is actually beautiful. I loved my first visit to Nebbi and thought it one of the developing districts in that region but Koboko puts up a good fight. It is coming along wonderfully. What impressed me most though was Karamoja. It is incredibly beautiful! The dryness of the earth and weather add to its beauty and I was told it is something else when the rainy season is upon them. If it wasn’t so dry and far, I would consider having a weekend home over there.
To get back to the purpose of the trip, the project under monitoring and evaluation had to do with the mitigation of gender based violence against girls and women with disabilities. Inasmuch as it was successful across all three districts, the main challenge against absolute success; prejudice and attitude towards persons with disabilities notwithstanding are the cultural norms.
In Kakwa culture (a tribe of people from Koboko) it is a taboo for a woman to report her husband to the police in case of gender based violence. A practice enabled by family members and friends who decide to keep silent about the crime thereby obstructing the judicial system. A victim in Karamoja narrated a similar experience where her partner an officer of the law at that couldn’t be brought to justice over child negligence and abuse out of fear and cultural beliefs. They would rather suffer in silence than bring shame upon themselves and their partners in the community.
If we the educated, well travelled, sophisticated and modern city dwellers can be ensnared in its tight far reaching tentacles when push comes to shove, how about the uneducated and helpless village dwellers? These are ideologies set before us and will continue to live on after us. One cannot battle pre-conceived notions until it is a do-or-die situation which I believe gender based violence is. It always comes down to someone’s inner strength and the need to do better for and by themselves because help alone is nothing. Until one comes to such a point, these tentacles will never be let go of.

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

Volunteer Workshop

“You control your fate, you control your time and you control your life. Doing things changes things.” – Ross Simmonds

NUWODU Uganda recently held a small workshop for its volunteers and interns with the salient objective of boosting self confidence and esteem during the job hunting process and overcoming the challenges they face as girls with disabilities.
I found it not only educational but insightful. I love hearing about other people’s experiences. I may not necessarily like to share mine but I do love to hear what others have to say especially from girls with disabilities. This is the second time in my life where I have been given the opportunity to rub shoulders with people with disabilities. Before April 2014 and March 2015 I had never been in such environments.
Hearing from them and the challenges they faced as girls with disabilities during the job hunt was eye opening. What stood out to me most were the challenges: rigidity of thought pertaining opportunities and self marketing because they cut across both groups.
Rigidity of thought hit home because I have come into contact with several people who do not want to change their school of thought nor look at situations or opportunities differently. To them it has to be done the way it was meant to, for example, I have a Bsc. Information Technology and as such I should only look for jobs in Information Technology. If something you studied for fails to bring you that which you desire, why not find something else? Why not acquire a new skill set that will help you get where you would love to be? This is why people end up being bitter and frustrated yet opportunities are there, all you have to do is change your mindset and do self development if necessary.
Self marketing. As imparted to us in the workshop, we are now living in a generation where employment is not as clear-cut nor guaranteed as was previously done. It is about what you are offering, the skills you are bringing to the table and projects you are trying to pitch. Academic qualifications as a stand-alone are a thing of the past for the not so lucky ones. I came across an article by Ross Simmonds on Elite Daily where he said, ‘you are good as your last project. You are as good as your last pitch. You are as good as your last review. And with every day that passes that project, pitch or review will loses its wonder,’ and academic accomplishments mean nothing if you don’t create value – this can only be achieved through self development.
I personally believe in self development because I managed to land a job I never studied for academically. I spent a good year teaching myself secretarial studies specifically typing (I wanted to improve my speed on the computer which I did) and working for my mother helped me gain the interpersonal, communication and customer service skills which came in handy at my former place of employment. When the opportunity arises not necessarily out of lack of what to do, no. Out of interest. I take the time to catalogue that which I am doing here though not of late. I hate doing nothing! Sitting there and twiddling thumbs is not who I am. I have this belief that the things we teach ourselves stay with us much more than those we were taught.
The point is; do not be a stick in the mud where your thought process is concerned. Have an open mind because you are closing yourself off to so many opportunities yet you should be capitalizing on them. And do not be picky! Opportunity favours the prepared, prepare yourself, take the time to learn something new or teach yourself a new skill or subject you are very interested in. Your qualifications might not get you where you want to be but the skills you teach yourself will.
Ps: You can find Ross Simmonds article on elitedailydotcom under the title, ‘11 worthwhile pieces of advice for every ambitious young person.’ It made a good impression on me and re-enforced the thought to write about the workshop and follow nuwodu uganda on twitter @nuwoduadvocacy