Migingo Island in Kenya is only the size of one football field, yet in 2009 this small fishing island became the center of a full-scale international conflict that continues to echo throughout East Africa. This piece explores the effects that the conflict has had on the residents of Migingo.Migingo Island in Kenya is only the size of one football field, yet in 2009 this small... more
Every day millions of Christians pray to be spared from being put to the test. For some in Uganda, where an anti-homosexuality bill (pdf) is being put to parliament, this prayer may be especially deeply felt. This extremely unpleasant proposed law targets not only lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) people but also human rights and Aids prevention activists and people in positions of trust.Every day millions of Christians pray to be spared from being put to the test. For... more
KASESE, Uganda – For years, Charles Wesley Mumbere worked as a nurse's aide in Maryland and Pennsylvania, caring for the elderly and sick. No one there suspected that he had inherited a royal title in his African homeland when he was just 13.
On Monday, after years of political upheaval and financial struggle, Mumbere, 56, was finally crowned king of his people to the sound of drumbeats and thousands of cheering supporters wearing cloth printed with his portraits.
At a public rally later in the day, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni officially recognized the 300,000-strong Rwenzururu Kingdom. Museveni restored the traditional kingdoms his predecessor banned in 1967, but has been adamant that kings restrict themselves to cultural duties and keep out of politics.
*complete story at link aboveWhat an amazing story ~
KASESE, Uganda – For years, Charles Wesley Mumbere worked... more
A man who worked for years as a nurse's aide in the US has been crowned as a king in Uganda.
Charles Wesley Mumbere inherited the title in his homeland at the age of 13, but it was until he was 56 that he was crowned after years of political upheaval.A man who worked for years as a nurse's aide in the US has been crowned as a king in... more
The Lord's Resistance Army, one of the most feared guerrilla groups in Africa, has moved into Darfur, one of the continent's most troubled regions, intelligence sources in Sudan say.The Lord's Resistance Army, one of the most feared guerrilla groups in Africa, has... more
Ruling party MP David Bahati wants the death penalty for those having gay sex with disabled people, under-18s or when the accused is HIV-positive.
Homosexual acts are already illegal, but the Anti-Homosexuality Bill proposes new offences and urges the toughening of existing penalties.
Earlier versions of the bill were widely criticised by rights groups.
The BBC's Joshua Mmali, in the capital Kampala, says the bill has a good chance of being passed as senior figures from the ruling National Resistance Movement are likely to back it.
President Yoweri Museveni has made several speeches outlining his own anti-gay views.Ruling party MP David Bahati wants the death penalty for those having gay sex with... more
BWINDI IMPENETRABLE FOREST, Uganda (Reuters Life!) - Lurking deep in the mist-glazed forests of east Africa, Uganda's mountain gorillas are preparing to "tweet" for their survival.
With the launch on Saturday of the "Friend a Gorilla" campaign, human fans will soon be able to follow the everyday drama of one of the few remaining 720 mountain gorillas online, far from the red ants, mud and tropical rain of their habitats. (more at source)BWINDI IMPENETRABLE FOREST, Uganda (Reuters Life!) - Lurking deep in the mist-glazed... more
THE army has captured another senior LRA commander in the on-going military push against the rebels in the DR Congo and the Central African Republic.
Mickman Opuk, who was close to LRA leader Joseph Kony, was captured from the jungles of the Central African Republic a fortnight ago as the joint military offensive pursued a group of rebels.
“We picked him like a grasshopper and he is intact,” said army spokesperson Lt. Col. Felix Kulayigye yesterday. “Our forces had been in hot pursuit of Kony’s group which he was part of.”THE army has captured another senior LRA commander in the on-going military push... more
Born in September? Give up the gifts and ask for your age in dollars instead.
Not born in September? Run, walk, bike, skydive – do just about anything to bring
clean water to those in need. Help us help a million people, and then keep going.
- the charity: water teamBorn in September? Give up the gifts and ask for your age in dollars instead.
Not... more
On the surface, it seems like a fine idea; reproductive rights groups certainly think so. In July, the Ugandan government announced that, using cash from the U.N. Population Fund, it would distribute 100,000 female condoms in a bid to stop a resurgence of HIV/AIDS. Advocates cheered the initiative, saying it would give women more control over their own bodies. But in the weeks since, major funders of anti-HIV/AIDS programs have shown far less enthusiasm, with many deciding not to back the plan. Instead of serving as a surefire weapon against the spread of HIV, Uganda's female condoms initiative has become the latest example of the limitations faced by governments, advocacy groups and donors in the fight against the virus.
When Uganda announced its plan to hand out female condoms, it got plenty of support. "The number one issue for women is to be able to negotiate," Serra Sippel, president of the Center for Health and Gender Equity in Washington, tells TIME. "The main issue was the desire for women to be able to say, 'OK, you're not going to use yours, then let's use mine.'" In the fight against AIDS, say the advocates, any little bit helps. True, studies about the efficacy of female condoms are inconclusive. But, they insist, women, especially in Uganda, need as many choices as they can get.
Many experts, however, disagree. They fear that by offering yet another choice, the government's move may only distract from other drug and condom programs. "You can't just put 100,000 condoms out in district warehouses and expect something to happen," says Mike Strong, coordinator for the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in Uganda. "Since we try to be an evidence-based operation, we're waiting to see any evidence that this is a cost-effective method of protecting women against unwanted pregnancy and HIV transmission."
With funding so limited, many donors argue, why invest in an expensive product that faces deep skepticism from the people who would use it? Female condoms, originally introduced in the early 1990s, have struggled to gain widespread acceptance because they are more expensive and less familiar than male condoms — they're big and baggy, make rustling noises during sex, and you need instruction and practice to learn how to insert them properly.
But Uganda sees the female condom as one way to regain the success the nation had in the fight against HIV/AIDS in the 1990s. After slashing its AIDS rate from more than 20% in the late '80s to about 6% in 2000, Uganda saw a leveling off of AIDS cases and then a slight rise. No one has been able to explain the reversal. Some say it's related to failed distribution programs for the male condom in the past. Other experts suspect that it's a result of foreign NGOs and governments pushing Uganda away from effective domestic programs that were aimed at keeping people from having more than one sexual partner, a relatively common practice in the country.
Stung by the failure of a female-condom initiative it tried 10 years ago, Uganda will start by distributing only the 100,000 female condoms it has in stock in two regions. The government says it has learned its lesson from the earlier program, and will put more effort into distribution and teaching people how to use the condoms. The government plan is partly a response to demand from civil society groups, who say Ugandan women are bearing the brunt of the AIDS epidemic. In a meeting on July 7, government officials agreed to start the program this year and extend it after a year if donors contribute more money.
Click link for more...On the surface, it seems like a fine idea; reproductive rights groups certainly think... more
Bobby Bailey of invisible Children takes to congress leading up to The Rescue event on April 25, 2009 to ask, WILL IT WORK?
The event was the efforts of thousands around the world in 100 cities abducting themselves representing the many that are abducted still by Joseph Kony's Lords Resistance Army and camped out til we were rescued by a mogul, whether it be important people in the media or congress.
We abducted ourselves so the media and people of the western world know; we abducted ourselves to alert our governments of the need to end one of the longest running atrocities known to mankind; and we abducted ourselves for the children who are still away from their homes and in dyer need to be RESCUED.
howitends.tv
invisiblechildren.comBobby Bailey of invisible Children takes to congress leading up to The Rescue event on... more
During the production of the Invisible Children Rough Cut, founders records young boys interpretation and curiosity over the meaning of the word 'bitch.' It is just pure innocence that these child soldiers have that pushes the need for more to be done in the efforts to bringing the 23 years war in Uganda to an end and bring them to safety.
THIS little island doesn't look like much. It's a slab of rock not even half a hectare big, packed with rusty metal shacks, garbage, fishermen and squads of prostitutes - essentially a micro-slum bathing in the middle of Africa's greatest lake.
But Migingo island lies along the disputed watery border between Kenya and Uganda, and politicians have even threatened to go to war over it.
The reason? Fish. Lots of them, but maybe not enough. The island is an angler's paradise, surrounded by schools of tasty - and exportable - Nile perch. But Lake Victoria, one of the world's biggest bodies of fresh water, which 30 million impoverished Africans depend on for their survival, may be running out of these fish.
According to a recent study, Nile perch stocks are down by nearly 70 per cent.
But there may be an even bigger issue here - the rapidly receding lake itself. Water levels have dropped nearly a metre in the past 10 years and algae blooms are choking the fish.
This is irrefutable evidence, environmentalists say, of climate change, overpopulation, pollution, deforestation and other modern ills coming to a head in a part of Africa unprepared to deal with the problems.
At a recent rugby match between Kenya and Uganda, Kenyan fans chanted: ''Migingo, united, can never be defeated.''
In April, Kenyan hooligans ripped up the railway line to Uganda. Fishermen on Migingo say that the Ugandan police prowling the island have been dishing out beatings - and worse, stealing their catches.
The dispute heated up this year when Uganda sent soldiers to claim the island. The Ugandans even planted a flag.
The Ugandan Government claims that Migingo is in Ugandan waters and that it is illegal for Kenyans to fish there.
Each year, Uganda earns more than $A120.2 million exporting Nile perch, though overfishing and environmental mismanagement are imperilling that trade.
end of excerptTHIS little island doesn't look like much. It's a slab of rock not even half a hectare... more
One of the continent's biggest stars, East African musician Jose chameleone, shows us the other side of Africa as he takes us on a tour of his home-town of Kampala, Uganda.One of the continent's biggest stars, East African musician Jose chameleone, shows us... more
Uma Thurman must desperate for an Oscar, because she's signed up to play a crusading nun in her next movie, Girl Soldiers.
The story is set in Uganda and is based on the 1996 Aboke abductions, which saw 139 schoolgirls taken from their boarding school to be used as child soldiers and sex slaves. A nuns who taught at the school, called Sister Caroline who is in Kathy Cook's book on the tale, Stolen Angels. However Sister Rachele Fassera by birth, followed the abductors and negotiated the release of 109 of the girls. She then rallied the people, government, United Nations and Pope to try to end the abduction and indoctrination of child conscripts.
Directed Will Raee, had the screenplay written by Stephanie Pinola and Karen Croner, who previously worked on Dexterity and One True Thing. The film is produced by Caspian Pictures, who aims to make "socially conscious" and watchable films.Uma Thurman must desperate for an Oscar, because she's signed up to play a crusading... more
The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation just recently allocated 50 million to male circumcision programs in Africa based on studies that showed it reduced the HIV AIDS transmission rates. This new information calls male circumcision partially into question.
Dr. Maria Wawer of Johns Hopkins and her Uganda colleagues stopped their most recent male circumcision trial because it proved ineffective at preventing the spread of HIV from men to their female partners.
Wawer's earlier studies of male circumcision in Uganda — like other studies in Kenya — showed unequivocally that male circumcision could reduce female-to-male transmission rates. As nearly 3 decades of dealing with HIV-AIDS as an international public health crisis has shown, simply educating people about barrier contraception and making contraception more readily and inexpensively available — both difficult endeavors in developing countries, for a variety of reasons — are simply not having the same effect in some countries on reducing HIV transmission rates that developed countries like the U.S. experienced (let alone that such efforts seem to plateau when the perception of immediate danger declines and rates go up again). It's entirely possible (and somewhat unsurprising) that education and contraception access simply don't trump human sexual urges, culture and tradition, which is why scientists think adult male circumcision programs could provide a necessary addition to the HIV-AIDS reduction arsenal.
Wawer and her team were hopeful that male circumcision could reduce male-to-female transmission rates as well, given that in many places, women don't have access to barrier contraception or the power in sexual relationships to demand its use even if their partner's HIV status is known. Unfortunately, their hypothesis was incorrect.
"However, the efficacy of male circumcision for prevention of HIV in uninfected men is clear, and reductions in male acquisition of HIV attributable to circumcision are likely to reduce women's exposure to HIV-infected men. Male circumcision programs are thus likely to confer an overall benefit to women," the researchers concluded.The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation just recently allocated 50 million to male... more
Born in the bush, raised in the bush, these children have not known peace. In Northern Uganda over 65,000 Acholi children have been abducted from their homes and forced to fight in the rebel ranks of the Lord’s Resistance Army. For 20 years the perpetual war has gone unnoticed by the international community and has resulted in a mass genocide of the Acholi people. An entire generation of children have been born and raised in conflict and have never known peace. This is the story of three young people who were abducted by the rebels and have lived to share their experiences.Born in the bush, raised in the bush, these children have not known peace. In... more
When pessimists said that rhinos in Uganda would never again procreate; they raised their horny snouts and said "Yes we can!"
And lo and behold, little baby Obama has been born. The first baby rhino to be born in the African country for 2 years, after poaching wiped the animal out.
The nod to the leader of the free world comes from baby Obama's parentage. His dad's a Kenyan rhino, and his mum's an American.
What a little cutie.When pessimists said that rhinos in Uganda would never again procreate; they raised... more
