A house collapsed on me and left my left leg paralysed. I spent a very long time at Mulago National Referral Hospital in Kampala, Uganda getting treatment.

When I was in hospital, my husband used this opportunity to sleep out with so many women. When I came back, I could not reclaim his love and he continued to sleep out with other women.

He learnt the habit of drinking too much and going to discos. He did not also feel comfortable with me because of my disability. I lost sexual interest in him but he could still force me into sex.

After some time, his life started deteriorating. He became sickly, weak and weaker. He later confided in me that he was HIV positive. I was devastated. I went for testing and I was also found positive. He later died. I struggled with his relatives who wanted to take everything we had away from me including the plot of land and the house.

I have five children that I am struggling to raise, and I am on ARVs. Before he died, he confessed to me that he acquired HIV/AIDS as a result of sleeping out with various women as I spent a long time bedridden and because of the eventual disability.

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Hajji Musa reportedly found his neighbour only identified as Joseph in bed with his wife Sarah.

A source in Ttula LCI village council told us that Hajji Musa reportedly beat Joseph and afterwards sent him away naked. The drama surrounding the story was that Joseph ran away with a condom on his dangling short leg.

The wife and the children of Joseph looked on in amazement with him arriving home naked and were left in utter shock!!! Talk about the price of adultery!!!

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I am Harold Kaija, one of the aides of Uganda’s main opposition leader, Col. Kiiza Besigye. I have a story I want to tell you colleagues.

In 1923, eight of the wealthiest people in the world met. Their combined wealth, it is estimated, exceeded the wealth of the government of the United States at that time. These men certainly knew how to make a living and accumulate wealth. But let’s examine what happened to them 25 years later. 1. President of the largest steel company, Charles Schwab, lived on borrowed capital for Five …years before he died bankrupt.
2. President of the largest gas company, Howard Hubson, went insane.
3. One of the greatest commodity traders, Arthur Cutton, died insolvent.
4. President of the New York Stock Exchange, Richard Whitney, was sent to jail.
5. A member of the President’s Cabinet, Albert Fall, was pardoned from jail to go home and die in peace.
6. The greatest “bear” on Wall Street, Jessie Livermore committed suicide.
7. President of the world’s greatest monopoly, Ivar Krueger, committed suicide.
8. President of the Bank of International Settlement, Leon Fraser, Committed Suicide.
What they forgot was how to make life! Money in itself is not evil! Money provides food for the hungry, medicine for the sick, Clothes for the needy; Money is only a medium of exchange. We need two kinds of education:
(a) One that teaches us how to make a living and
(b) One that teaches us how to live.

There are people who are so engrossed in their professional life that they neglect their family, health and social responsibilities. If asked why they do this they would reply that they were doing it for their family. Our kids are sleeping when we leave home. They are sleeping when we come home. Twenty years later, we’ll turn back, and they’ll all be gone.

Without water, a ship cannot move. The ship needs water, but if the water gets into the ship, the ship will face problems. What was once a means of living for the ship will now become a means of destruction? Similarly we live in time where earning is necessity but let not the earning enter our hearts, for what was once a means of living will become a means of destruction.

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They allegedly justified their denial of entry of the child in their schools as follows: Fellow pupils might beat the child to which mother could blame the school; Fellow pupils could tease the child as she looks terrifying. To date Pauline has not yet been admitted to any school. There is one school which promised to admit Pauline in the first term of 2012, on condition that she first be operated on and look better.

Pauline had her first operation at CoRSU Rehabilitation Hospital, Kisubi in May 2011. Her second operation is scheduled for May 2012, yet the schools begin in February. This means all this time, Pauline will be home while watching other children go to school! Pauline has no other health problem to prohibit her from enrolling into school. These schools which rejected Pauline, advised her mother to try other schools in Makindye and Kabalagala, but these are far away from where the child stays in Nsambya. What happened to Pauline is unfortunate. Such is the plight of children with disability. Shame be on the head teachers of these four schools and to all those who

would do the same if they are approached.

What they did shows clear discrimination of children with disability and violation of their basic rights. If this happened in Kampala where such school heads are expected to be at least more informed and enlighten, what if it were in rural schools? Children with disabilities are also children like others, with full rights especially the right to education or to be admitted in school, no matter how they look. We should respect diversity in humanity. What if such a child belonged to you or to one of these head teachers? Statistics indicate that there are over 500,000 children with disability in Uganda. The most commonly observed disabilities are loss and limited use of limbs, spine injuries, hearing difficulties, seeing difficulties, difficulty in speech and conveying messages, mental retardation, and mental illness, among others. It is observed and reported that despite efforts put in place by Government and other actors, children with disability are still treated with low priority in society. Consequently, this discrimination and neglect further erodes these children’s self-esteem and confidence to the extent that they cannot voice their needs and freely socialize with others. In 2010, Comprehensive Rehabilitation Services Uganda (CoRSU) CBR program carried out a disability mapping exercise in Katabi Sub-county, Wakiso District. Findings revealed that among the many difficulties faced by children with disabilities (CWDs) and other vulnerable children is the right to health, food, love, education, play and parental care.

Some sections of the community feel that spending resources on disabled children is “useless and deserve no attention because they are regarded as non-productive”. In the same exercise, during the consultative meetings held with the councilors, community development officers, parents and the sub-county chief of Kasanje, it was noted that attitude towards CWDs is

very negative and as a result, such children are often denied basics of life like healthcare, education and protection. This therefore shows that rights of these children are neither respected nor protected. Children are innocent; whether they look normal or different (abnormal), they are

human beings. They should not be discriminated against. All members of society should strive to protect them from discrimination. Disabled People’s Organizations and Government should scale up efforts to educate the masses about disability and basic child rights in Uganda.

By Hamad Lubwama

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Mao says that the queen advised Museveni to surround himself with intelligent people. Museveni reportedly informed the Queen that he has surrounded himself with professors, doctors among other intelligent persons and scholars.

The queen reportedly called her prime minister and asked him to answer the following riddle.

”Your mother and father have a child. It is not your brother and it is not your sister. Who is it?” the prime minister answered that that child is ‘me.’

Museveni reportedly returned to Uganda and asked the following question to his cabinet ministers but none of them laboured to answer the question. Mao alleges that Museveni reportedly went ahead to ask the same question to all his friends in NRM. The DP President says that if Museveni had asked the same question to DP members, none would fail to rightly answer him. So Mao asked Museveni to sack all his ministers, quit politics and let DP takeover power, causing laughter among DP members.

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A source in statehouse Nakasero told us this morning that the president wonders how the statehouse website of www.statehouse.go.ug can spend seven months without having fresh information uploaded on it. We are told that the president summoned his press secretary Tamale Mirundi to brief him about the development and the motor mouthed press secretary was this time reportedly wordless.

The president, we are told, has given the members of his press team only one month to improve their service or else they lose their posts. Indeed we visited the statehouse website and what we found there was so amazing. The latest story we found there was published Monday July 2011.

The post Museveni to sack press staff over negligence of duty first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.

DeLisi will replace current Ambassador Jerry P. Lanier after the changes are by the US Senate.

DeLisi wrote in his Facebook status that he had got a White House notification about his new posting to Uganda.

By the time of filing this story, there was no official communication from the US Department of state on the new posting of Scott H. DeLisi, or where Jerry P. Lanier will be posted after his replacement.

DeLisi, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service and, was appointed US ambassador to Nepal in March 2010.

Prior to his assignment in Nepal, Ambassador DeLisi was the Director of Career Development and Assignments in the State Department’s Bureau of Human Resources.

During his 30 year career in the Foreign Service, DeLisi has served as Ambassador to the State of Eritrea and as deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Gaborone, Botswana.

He also served as director for Entry Level Programs in the Bureau of Human Resources, Director for Southern African Affairs, and Chief of the Political Section in Sri Lanka.

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Ultimate Media

It looks demonstrations inKampala and Uganda in general is part of the daily menu. Every day there must be a story about people killed in demonstration, or the people police have arrested while demonstrating along the road and on streets. Most of the demonstrations inUgandatake place inUganda’s capital cityKampala.

Most of the demonstrations inUgandaare sparked off over load shedding, corruption, torture of civilians, politically motivated arrests, land grabbing, tribal conflicts and others are a result of differences in political ideology.

Today for instance, the residents of Wankulukuku, aKampalasuburb have today morning demonstrated over road shedding. They threw big stones and tree branches to the police. They sang anti government songs and in the process the police arrested dozens of them. The violent demonstration lasted for not less than two hours.

 The demonstrators said that the prolonged load shedding has made them to incur heavy loses in their businesses. The business community closed their premises and places of work as the police fired bullets and tear gas into the demonstrators.

The post Residents of Rubaga in Kampala demonstrate first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.

The Centre for Internet & Society (CIS), Bangalore, and HIVOS Knowledge Programme, The Hague, kickstarted the 2011 Digital AlterNatives Video Contest on 15 December 2011. With the tagline of ‘To Be, To Think, To Act, To Connect’, the contest revolves around the theme of the ‘Everyday Digital Native’ and asks participants to share stories on what makes their everyday life ‘digital’.

“The Everyday Digital Native is hiding inside each of us. You ‘think’ digital. You connect using digital devices and gadgets. You act digital, always clicking, linking, tagging and Liking. You know what it means ‘To Be’ digital. It’s simply a way of life,” goes the catchphrase of the video contest.

The contest, which will run over the first year of the new year, through to April 2012, will progress through four main rounds. In the first stage, participants send in their written abstracts by 26^th January 2012, giving details of their video proposal and what inspired their story line. The proposals are then judged by a panel of jurists where 25 ideas get shortlisted to the next round. “The top 25 videos will be put up on both, CIS and HIVOS websites as well on the organization’s YouTube Channel, Super Digital Natives. The public will vote for their top ten favorites. Finally, the judges pick the two best videos among the ten,” say the organizers.

Unlike other video contests where only one winner gets to take it all, the Digital AlterNatives Video Contest will award the Top 10 videos the winning prize of EUR 500 each. All shortlisted videos also get a chance to be part of a film screening at CIS premises in Bangalore before the close of the contest in April next year. The two best video makers also get the ‘Digital AlterNatives with a Cause?’ books and loads of other CIS goodies, including a one year subscription to their favorite digital magazine.

A panel disucssion on ‘The Everyday Digital Native’ is also on the cards, where participants can discuss their ideas and inspiration for the videos at a workshop and interact with the judges. Judges for the video contest come from a wide-ranging spectrum of art, technology and society, including Sweden-based media-art historian, cultural theorist and psychoanalyst Leon Tan, documentary and feature film maker Shashwati Talukdar from India, Dutch installation and digital media artist Jeroen van Loon, ICT practiotioner and technology-for-communities acitvist Becky Band Jain from New York, Namita Aavriti from India, who’s a legal researcher and media practitioner, Mr Abinandhan Ramanujam, cinematographer from the south Indian film industry, HIVOS Knowledge Programme Officer Fieke Jansen, and CIS Director of Research Nishant Shah.

The video contest is part of the ‘Digital Natives with a Cause?’ project, a three year knowledge inquiry into the field of youth, technology and change undertaken jointly by CIS and HIVOS. “The project uncovers the ways in which young people in emerging ICT contexts make strategic use of technologies to bring about change in their immediate environments,” elaborates Shah. Ranging from personal stories of transformation to efforts at collective change, it aims to identify knowledge gaps that existing scholarship, practice and popular discourse around an increasing usage, adoption and integration of digital technologies in processes of social and political change.

The organizers are planning a Webinar in the beginning of 2012, where jury members will talk about the idea behind the contest and share tips with participants on how to go about sending in that winning video proposal.

There is no restrictive criteria such as age, language or nationality to apply to the contest. Entries can address topics such as, but are not restricted to digital activism, changing dynamics of relationships in a digital world, education and technology in the classroom, privacy and open data, social media and information sharing, new ways of collaboration, work and research, the rockstar status of hackers, the varied demographics of those who use digital technologies. The written proposals have to be sent in by 08 Janaury 2012 either through the online submission form available at CIS, India website (http://cis-india.org/digital-natives/contests) or through a Word Document via Email. Proposals have to be sent in English, however, the final video can be in any language with English subtitles.

Besides written proposals, the organizers are also anticipating creative submissions in the form of storyboards, sketches or a collage. “We encourage participants to explore the range of visual media at their disposal. Be it a short video narration or a power point presentation, we encourage participants to submit ideas through the medium that best conveys your story.” Organizers say that contestants have a free reign when it comes to the genre and execution of the script. The only stipulation being run-time: the video cannot exceed 10 minutes in run-time and the lower limit is set at 60 seconds.

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The deadline for submission of written proposals is 26 January 2012.

For more information, visit contest page: http://cis-india.org/digital-natives/the-everyday-digital-native

Contact:

Nilofar Ansher

Community Manager: Digital Natives with a Cause?

Email: digitalnatives@cis-india.org | Twitter: @cis_india

The post Digital natives video contest opens first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.

The problem stemmed from a news story aired on the radio on 17^th/November/2011 which alleged that the former district boss in being investigated for his involvement in the disappearance of solar panels.

Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda (HRNJ-Uganda) has learnt that after the story was aired, Kikola called and invited the journalist to his home but he declined. Several calls followed and Kikola allegedly asked the journalist why he refused to go to his resident. As he was hanging up his last call, he allegedly threatened the complainant that something strange will happen to him.

Over 80 solar panels were donated by the African Development Bank through the ministry of water and environment in 2010 to help in circulating clean and safe water in Kalangala Town Council. Unfortunately, about 40 (forty) are missing.

Since 14^th/November/2011, police has been investigating officials who were allegedly involved.  Several suspects have been arrested and about 21 solar panels have been recovered.

“I called Mr. Kikola for a comment after coming across his name on the list of those police is supposed to investigate and he refuted allegations saying the solar panels at his home were among those donated saying he purchased them years ago.

Ssembuusi added that after getting the comment he wrote the story and it was later aired which triggered the endless calls.

He has also reported that he has filed a case at Kalangala police station.

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