Friday, February 10, 2012

Every Effort, Every Penny Counts

Dear everybody, this morning i am compelled to write to you to help a couple of colleagues who urgently need help and save at least two lives.

Pius Engetu is a colleague of mine at FOWODE Young Leaders Alumni Association and with him, we have organised and carried out several school outreaches and charity outreaches to to providence homes of the disabled. Late last year, his dad was diagonised and recommended for a kidney transpalnt and he was confirmed the kidney donor. I promised to add my effort to his own when he approached me.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Patriarchal Ideologies and how it has entrenched inequalities in Uganda.

Patriarchy is a system of male authority that oppresses women through political, social, cultural and economic institutions. It is a system which accords men power and privilege and subordinates the women. The following seeks to illustrate to you how patriarchy has been natured, reproduced and sustained in our communities.
Masculinity and the media. The media helps to internalize and reinforce certain gender stereotypes that make the men superior and subordinate the women. The media is a socializing point for the children as they grow up exposed to both print or displayed media. In today’s society parents do not have control over what the children view as they leave them in the hands of house helps or even alone. It is important to note that the news rooms are filled with men; even where the women are they are often given the petty issues like fashion while real issues are given to their male counterparts. There are different roles women and men play in the media houses and the nature of publication is always different. The media plays an instrumental role in placing the men above the women,
Culture and masculinity People do not become men and women in the sterile environment of the womb rather; they do so in specific social and cultural contexts.
The social production of masculinity and femininity is often begun at home through socialization practices, which aim to instill specific personalities and identities into male and female children. Socialization experiences inscribe superiority into maleness and masculinity, and inferiority into femaleness and femininity.
It is important to examine some of these practices and values that are instilled in the male and female children and decide whether in this day and era, we still want to instill the same values. Male children are less likely than female ones to suffer rejection, prejudice, discrimination, and abandonment.

Power relation Patriarchy derives its power base from men’s access to and control over resources. The owner of resources has all the decision making powers in the household and overall economy. In the Household the man is the bread winner which give him

How Uganda can avoid the “oil curse”


Recently, 2.5 million barrels of oil were discovered in the Albertine Graben in western Uganda.  Today, it is estimated that Uganda will be able to support production of over 100,000 barrels of oil per day for 20 years.
For ordinary Ugandans, this news has been welcomed with two distinctive forms; the positive and the negative.  In the case of oil discovery, the positive expectations are truly hopes that the valued resource and the associated revenues will deliver substantial social, economic and infrastructural improvements, whilst liberating Ugandans from poverty by boosting economic growth.
Negative expectations also exist since resource abundance is considered a “curse.” While oil discovery presents considerable opportunities, it also carries a risk commonly known as the natural resource curse - a situation where abundance of