Uganda: Where did we go wrong?
Uganda is a gifted country with a lot of natural resources, favorable weather conditions and an admired tourist centre. One would expect all of these opportunities to yield increased incomes among households, which would be essential in meeting household basic needs and improving on people’s wellbeing. In fact, the Uganda economy profile for 2013 shows […]
Live it and Love it: The Thrill that Comes with Compassion
It is a tradition in many cultures to help one another and to express love and kindness in times of good and bad. These cultures have evolved from handing over gifts like chicken, goats and other material gifts to now the much talked about funding of projects in the developing world – in other words […]
Why Growing Old Is Admirable No More
The word ‘old’ used to be synonymous with the words: respect, wisdom, intelligence, experience, seniority, blessings, leadership. Old persons (“the elderly”) were seen as a source of inspiration and were responsible for nurturing future generations based on their long life experiences with the notion “Experience is the best teacher” being widely accepted. My father once […]
The Children and Mothers of Karamoja: Who Will Save Them?
“There is a lot to be desired from our government and development partners. We do not have even a single orphanage or child care centre in Karamoja and yet thousands of orphans and abandoned children exist,” said Bishop George Joel Omara of Pentecostal Assemblies of God in one of the meetings held to develop a […]
X-Mas in Uganda – “The Good, the Bad and the Unacceptable”
In Uganda, public holidays are usually viewed as the time to ‘run away’ from the ‘not so interesting’ jobs that people get glued to in search of a living stipend. The anticipation of this holiday season has become disgusting in a way, due to the behaviors exhibited by certain individuals, from business men to housewives, […]
Fighting Corruption – My Own Perspective
Corruption, as defined by Wikipedia, is spiritual or moral impunity or deviation from an ideal situation. Corruption may include many activities like bribery and embezzlement. Uganda has been sighted as one of the most corrupt countries in the world with Bureaucratic corruption (Bribery, Nepotism, Misuse of official positions and resources), aided by complex regulatory procedures […]
Why Not Family Planning?
It was about 10 AM on a bright Saturday morning when I visited Mr. Hussein’s household in a small village in Eastern Uganda. A father of 21 children, Mr. Hussein is a peasant farmer and one of the 3 productive members of his family – the other being his 2 peasant sons. I am certain […]
A ‘curse’ faced by over 2 million children under age 5 in Uganda
Uganda has one of the highest malnutrition rates in the world with 38% of infants under 5 years (2,000.000 children) affected. Malnutrition is the underlying cause of 60% of infant mortalities and 25% of mothers especially in the rural parts of the country. These remarks of the Minister of Agriculture, Professor Zerubaberi Nyiira while officiating […]
The Power of LOVE in the Global Health Fight
Love is to show affection to someone or something. If only we can show Love to each other, several human lives can be saved. Consider the following examples: In 2000, the Ebola hemorrhagic virus struck the Gulu district in Northern Uganda, killing over 250 out of the 425 infected persons. Most of the medical workers […]
The sky will not be the limit!
“Ring..Ring,” goes the phone as I received a call from one of the recruiting officers of the Global Health Corps. “Are you Ariong Moses?,” to which I answered in the affirmative. He was informing me that I was wanted for an interview in the next day by 2:00 PM, as I had passed preliminary screening […]