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

Birthday Month!

Another year older. Alhamdulilah. I have the propensity to get afflicted with poor health right around birthday week. Could it be out of fear of getting old? I do not know.
I am usually excited when May rolls around but this time round I have been lackluster for lack of a better word. Not as excited, not as energized and most of all fatigued which I guess were symptoms to pending poor health.
AS the years go by; they leave us with something new. And this is no different. The last year was my most definitive year. Everything came together and dreams I had long forgot to dream finally came true. I learnt so much in the previous year than I probably will in another life but then again life in itself is a learning experience.
I once told my brother that my entire life is a study on patience and it couldn’t be an truer. Everything I want out of life happens through patience. Patience with myself, the people I am surrounded by and life. There is no better teacher on patience than God.
We all have that mental picture on how our lives should be wherein we are not willing to adapt ourselves to reality. Oftentimes, the picture in our minds never comes to pass because of our failure to change mindsets. I have learned that for one to have the life they picture themselves in, they have to be willing to change. Try to fit that mental image to reality and it will get you where you want to be.
That little thing called family/sibling loyalty no longer exists in this millennial generation of ours. Nope. Today’s siblings are as divided as the breasts they suckled on. This took hold after I watched the six season of Beverly Hills Housewives. Throughout the season, Kyle was trying to mend fences with Kim and her efforts went by unappreciated. It taught me that however much you may want to improve some relationships, it is better to leave things as they are.
What the heck am I sipping on to be in the reflective doldrums? Is this what it feels like to get old? Sitting on your porch with a cup of tea and looking back on your life like an old biddy in her senior years? If this is what I have to look forward to then I want none of it.
However, it is good to reflect on your life each passing year. Note your key achievements and the lessons that came with it. If you are a planner, go ahead. Plan. Although I would not encourage you putting much stock in the plans. Life never goes according to plan. It is full of sharp corners to cut across and intricate hairpins no one ever sees coming. Let everything happen as is or was meant to then you won’t be disappointed.
Happy birthday to me and all the May Babies that share this month with me. !!!!!!! :)


 Photo Credits: google

Work Firsts

With the Gomba district police

I think every job brings with it little new lessons and experiences to make you appreciate it more. Like I am doing of late. The more I learn, the more appreciative I am for the experiences because most of it is so new to me.
Recently, I was tasked with the creation of a weekly newsletter for the organisation I work with. To say it was daunting would be putting it mildly. I know nothing about content creation, lay-out and design. The newsletters I read are usually brief and to the point. On top of that there were design issues to consider. Aside from the content within the newsletter, the design has to be appealing as well.
This was serious food for thought. How do I have it created without incurring design costs? Why should it even dip into funds when it is for staff consumption? They do say ‘where there this a will there is a way’, right? Indeed. For the first time in my life, I looked into what MS Publisher is and what it does through the attainment of a manual. I downloaded the tutorial and after a skim of the first page on publisher, I dived right into the practical.
Going about its development brought this feeling of satisfaction I never expected. I enjoyed every little step of the way and could not be more proud. converting that baby into pdf added the finishing touches that brought it all together beautifully. I certainly feel confident in my creative abilities. Who knew? At this point, I can definitely hack it in the magazine world.
I also got the chance to go to a far off village for fieldwork. To sensitize the district police on handling women with disabilities in cases pertaining them. The officers were so young! Literally fresh from University and as smart as can be in their uniforms. Looking at them with the jaundiced eyes of a city born, I wondered if this is what the girls wanted out of life. To be district police officers in an undeveloped district going nowhere. It brought to mind the local officers we read about in novels whose only achievement in life is being the law in a two-bit town as they call it. Generation to generation.
Much as it was an educational experience, village life is so simple and so basic. People have to do a lot to get out of there if they want more out of life.

@NuwoduAdvocacy

Looking For ME!

There are situations or rather experiences we go through that are sometimes indescribable.  Situations where there are no words befitting of a description on what is being felt at that  moment. You find yourself going on with your life and the memories the experience left you with.
I have come to realise that just like everything else in life, words also come to you at  a time they are meant to and they couldn't be any less honest and befitting of past experiences.
These are my words to sum up a situation and an experience that thankfully no longer brings that hitch of regret.

At first I was looking for you,

Then I realised the reality of you,

Is much more different from my dreams. 

Now,

I am looking for ME. 

 

Incredible Experiences.

At the memorial lecture

 I had one of the most incredible weeks of my life! It kicked off with an attendance to my Grandfather’s lecture where this time round; I was roped into doing registration of invited guests and I got the chance to meet the Who is Who of Kampala. Seeing our Lord Mayor made me feel like asking for a selfie because I am most likely not going to run into him again.
And then came the Prime Minister of Buganda fresh from the success of his ‘tofaali’ collection. As the key note speaker for the night, he delivered quite an impressive speech, judging from what I was able to catch. I was so impressed by him. He is so eloquent, articulate and charismatic and very impressive. He left me in awe to say the least. I loved his little anecdotes on my Grand father. These are what I honestly love hearing the most at these lectures because these people knew him as a student, friend and colleague whilst I only knew him as Grand father- pillar of strength, infinite love and wisdom.
The Prime Minister proposed the development of a memoir for my Grand father’s works and brought to the fore the country’s poor reading culture which may or may not deter the development of this collection. The nation’s reading culture is appallingly poor and abysmal. Few Ugandans read and rarely out of interest which puts us behind on so many intellectual and development levels. However, the reading culture should not be a deterrent to the publishing of good books. Let the material be available and the decision to read or not be left to the individual. Besides, more people than I would be interested in reading my Grand father’s body of work.

On Radio

After that enthralling experience; I got the opportunity to be on radio! I still can’t believe it to this day because it left me mortified, petrified and very horrified. It is one of the experiences I have been through that I keep wishing never happened yet it did. The proof is in my memory and picture I took. I was so ill prepared I could kick myself and on top of that the program was in  a local dialect I have failed to master. Much as I may try, Luganda is not my strong suit and being unable to hold a full conversation in it leaves me at sea. I kept thinking, ‘I am not making any sense’ which I definitely did not and came across as stupid.

However much I may wish the memory away, it happened and left me with a little homework. I thought I need to practice public speaking and work on my low but husky voice but there is the urgent need to polish my Luganda if I am to continue with these radio (I hope not) things.