Saturday, 8 September 2007
Thursday, 9 August 2007
Sport has reamained one of the major attractions in every part of the world, and it is for this reason that many organizations including UNICEF have used it to fight HIV/AIDS
Uganda is one of the worst hit nations by the AIDS scourge, and every available opportunity has been used to fight it.
As there is no known cure at the moment, the most prudent means used against Aids ,has been the awareness drive, starting right from children.
"Using sport and recreation to bring children together, was the major reason TKL was started three years ago in Uganda’s
capital, Kampala" Said the founder, Mr.Trever Dudley.
Sport as a tool for Development
“You throw a ball into a village in Uganda and within 10 minutes 100 children have gathered,” explained TKL’s country programme director, Trevor Dudley.
“Any sport – be it netball, football or basketball – is like a magnet and is a wonderful way to unite children and break down barriers.”
The TKL project is a powerful tool for spreading important messages on health and education.
The results are impressive. According to Mr. Dudley, attendance rates in schools where TKL is active have improved, and children are much more aware about problems such as HIV and
Alzheimer's Society.
 |  You throw a ball into a village in Uganda and within 10 minutes 100 children have gathered  Trevor Dudley TKL founder.  |
They were successful on one count - that tests to assess Alzheimer's are discriminatory in people with learning difficulties or those who speak English as a second language.
But claims that NICE did not properly evaluate the impact of the drugs on the quality of life of carers and that the figures on the cost of long-term care used in their analysis were too low were not upheld by the court.
AIDS.
“Taking part in activities such as The Kid’s League makes children believe in themselves,” added coach Eddie Butindo.
He added:“I have seen their behaviour change. They are more disciplined, show more humility but are also positive about their lives.”
Teamwork, friendship and leadership
Many of the children in the programme come from the north of Uganda, where conflict and violence have been a part of life for 20 years.
More than a million people live in internally displaced people’s camps where conditions are harsh and often unsafe.
“I come from a place where life is very, very difficult,” explained Richard Oloya Aceba, 14, who lives in a Kitgum District camp for people displaced by the conflict.
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“Before I joined The Kids League it was bad, as I had nothing to do all day and spent my time thinking about worrying about tomorrow,” he said.
He continued “Now I am much happier, as I can get out and see other places.”
Through sport, TKL children learn about teamwork, friendship and leadership skills. Volunteers from the community work as referees, coaches and administrators.
Very often, it is the children’s parents themselves who participate.
TKL team visits Barcelona
Keen to demonstrate the importance of UNICEF’s sports for development programmes, FC Barcelona invited the TKL members to spend the day at the club and play a game against one of Barcelona’s junior teams earlier this year.
Amongst the TV cameras and photographers, 16 boys from Uganda shivered in the cold and rain but waited patiently.
When the moment arrived, they walked out onto the pitch in Camp Nou – the stadium of Football Club Barcelona – and the crowd roared in appreciation.
The boys appeared calm but deep inside, they said later, they could not believe what was happening to them. “I saw Ronaldinho with my naked eyes!” enthused one boy, Ali Abujeri.
The teenagers belong to The Kids League (TKL), a non-governmental organization supported by UNICEF in Uganda.
Wednesday, 8 August 2007
The History of Uganda
UGANDA
- 1900 Land sharing
- 1962 Independence from the British
- 1966 Abolition of Monarchs
- 1971 Amin overthrows Obote
- 1979 Amin toppled
- 1986 Museveni takes power
- 1995 - New constitutionhttp
About 500 B.C. Bantu-speaking peoples migrated to the area nowcalled Uganda. By the 14th century, three kingdoms dominated, Buganda (meaning “state of the Gandas”), Bunyoro, and Ankole.
Uganda was first explored by Europeans as well as Arab traders in
1844. An Anglo-German agreement of 1890 declared it to be in the British sphere of influence in Africa, and the Imperial British East Africa Company was chartered to develop the area.
The company did not prosper financially, and in 1894 a British protectorate was proclaimed.
Few Europeans permanently settled in Uganda, but it attracted many Indians, who became important players in Ugandan commerce.
Uganda became independent on Oct. 9, 1962. Sir Edward Mutesa, the king of Buganda (Mutesa II), was elected the first president, and Milton Obote the first prime minister, of the newly independent country.
With the help of a young army officer, Col. Idi Amin, Prime Minister Obote seized control of the government from President Mutesa four years later.
On Jan. 25, 1971, Colonel Amin deposed President Obote.
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Obote went into exile in Tanzania. Amin expelled Asian residents and launched a reign of terror against Ugandan opponents, torturing and killing tens of thousands.
In 1976, he had himself proclaimed “President for Life.” In 1977, Amnesty International estimated that 300,000 may have died under his rule, including church leaders and recalcitrant cabinet ministers.
After Amin held military exercises on the Tanzanian border in 1978, angering Tanzania's president, Julius Nyerere, a combined force of Tanzanian troops and Ugandan exiles loyal to former president Obote invaded Uganda and chased Amin into exile in Saudi Arabia in 1979.
After a series of interim administrations, President Obote led his People's Congress Party to victory in 1980 elections that opponents charged were rigged. On July 27, 1985, army troops staged a coup and took over the government.
Obote fled into exile. The military regime installed Gen. Tito Okello as chief of state.
The National Resistance Army (NRA), an anti-Obote group led by Yoweri Museveni, kept fighting after it had been excluded from the new regime.
It seized Kampala on Jan. 29, 1986, and Museveni was declared president.
Museveni has transformed the ruins of Idi Amin and Milton Obote's Uganda into an economic miracle, preaching a philosophy of self-sufficiency and anticorruption.
Western countries have flocked to assist him in the country's transformation. Nevertheless, it remains one of Africa's poorest countries.
A ban on political parties was lifted in 1996, and the incumbent Museveni won 72% of the vote, reflecting his popularity due to the country's economic recovery.
Uganda has waged an enormously successful campaign against AIDS, dramatically reducing the rate of new infections through an intensive public health and education campaign.
Museveni won reelection in March 2001 with 70% of the vote, following a nasty and spirited campaign.
Close ties with Rwanda (many Rwandan Tutsi exiles helped Museveni come to power) led to the cooperation of Uganda and Rwanda in the ousting of Zaire's Mobutu Sese Seko in 1997, and a year later, in efforts to unseat his successor, Laurent Kabila, whom both countries originally supported but from whom they grew estranged.
But in 1999, Uganda and Rwanda quarreled over strategy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and began fighting each other.
The two countries mended their differences in 2002. Uganda also signed a peace accord with the Congo in Sept. 2002 and finally withdrew its remaining troops from the country in May 2003.
In July 2005, parliament amended the constitution to eliminate term limits, thus allowing President Museveni another term in office.
In August, a multiparty political system was reinstituted after a 19-year absence. In Feb. 2006, Museveni was reelected with 59% of the vote.
Uganda's 18-year-long battle against the brutal Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), an extremist rebel group based in Sudan, showed signs of abating in Aug. 2006, when the rebels agreed to declare a truce.
Between 8,000 and 10,000 children have been abducted by the LRA to form the army of “prophet” Joseph Kony, whose aim was to take over Uganda and run it according to his vision of Christianity.
The boys are turned into soldiers and the girls into sex slaves. Up to 1.5 million people in northern Uganda have been displaced because of the fighting and the fear that their children will be abducted.
Kony and four other LRA leaders are wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court.
See also Encyclopedia: Uganda.
Tuesday, 7 August 2007
At least 300 believers have so far come up to accuse born again pastors of such crimes. The growing list is being compiled by a prominent pastor, Solomon Male and Lawyer John Kaggwa.
"I have so far received more than 300 complaints and lawyer Kaggwa and I are opening cases to bring these 'big men and women of God' to justice" Said Pastor Male.
Pastor Male runs a Christian counselling organisation-Arising for Christ.
Military and Government connections
He said that many pastors even have military escorts whom they use for protection and intimidation.
"Many of them are high level crooks in one way or the other, they enjoy army protection, they are highly connected and can kill to cover up their sins," Pastor Male told Sunday Monitor in an Interview.
But the army denies knowledge of such escorts: "Whoever is doing it does so on individual basis and it must stop immediately," Army and Defence spokesman Major Felix Kulayigye said.
Sex slavery
Among the many sexual assault cases is that of a 23 year old girl with initials A.K, who accused one Pastor in Mengo (names withheld) of sexually exploiting unemployed young girls.
"He convinced our parents that he would get us employed and he kept us in a hotel in Mengo where he would pick one of us, take her in a nice restaurant and demand sex after. When I refused he beat me up badly" the girl narrated in tears.
A former interpreter of a pastor accuses him of impregnating more than 10 girls in his church in Kawaala.
"He exploits girls who are desperate. Calls them for special prayers in his bedroom and forces them into sex" Richard Nsubuga explained.
He said that when he tried to expose him, the Pastor got him jailed and tortured for several days at Old Kampala Police station. He was released after the intervention of Pastor Male.
Nsubuga showed Sunday Monitor wounds and bruises which he claimed were inflicted on him during his detention.
Manipulation
Mr. David Nsubuga of Bombo accuses his Pastor of and another church official (both names withheld) of taking his pick up truck by false pretence.
"They told me that if i offered them my Pick Up reg. No. 209 UAN I would get blessed six times and in six months with a Pajero. It is now seven years and my car is no where to be seen" said Nsubuga.
Soon after Pastor Male picked up Nsubuga's story a UPDF lieutenant in military uniform came to his office and "tried to intimidate me into leaving this case but we are not shaken.
Monday, 6 August 2007
This Web Site
Who is responsible for the destitute children? Is Government doing enough to save our Children or it has left all the work to be done by Non Government Organisations? But again should we trust these NGOs are they really genuine or they are also using children for self agrandisement. But how about the general public? Has it played its role as far as shaping children lives is concerned. Do we have role models any more? Then the Parents. There are those who produce for the Government to look after. Something must urgently be done.