UgandAshis 72 Quiet X-mas
Kampala, December 21, 2009
It was half way the year when President Museveni declared that the global economical crisis would have and had no effect on Uganda. We are several months further down the path and it seems mzee was wrong. Droughts have lead to famine. This in a country that is so fertile where ever you drop a seed with out any support a plant will grow. Boutiques are not finding customers and have less than half the sales of last year. Advertisements for X-mas are just starting to be rolled out. Business in Flaming chicken a bench mark as a restaurant in a usually thriving Kabalagala is slow. And the worst sign of all nightlife in a ever busy Kampala in the student holiday season seems to be much less than in prior years.
One wonders what bubble the leaders of this nation live in. ‘Droughts are caused due to the lazy nature of certain tribes’ (Minister of Emergency). ‘Business as usual, no deficit in the budget.’ (President Museveni) It is time to make homosexuality a capital crime (certain member of parliament).
While classes of people are graduating from University their chances for jobs seem to diminish each and every year. All around me I am hearing people are struggling to pay school fees (supposedly primary school is free), rent, water and electricity bills. And then there are the ever expanding scandals, government money lost, bribes, big fish absconding, a judiciary that cannot keep up with the case load.
Museveni and his National Resistance Movement came to power on a 10 point program. One of his famous statements was that he should not remain in power for too long. That was in 1986. He is slated to run again in 2011 and likely in 2016. The opposition have managed to form a coalition. Now to find one candidate to represent all those parties. It is said the results of the election in 2011 are already fixed. The Supreme Court ruled that the prior Election Committee had made grave unconstitutional errors yet was reinstalled with one new member (a school teacher and wife to a NRM politician)
In the land of the blind however one eye is king. When I look at the rhetoric of the opposition leaders I see those that wish to come to power so they can fill their pockets. A peasant once told me that he knew the bag of sugar he got every 5 years and the promise to a road to his village was but a small appreciation for a vote. The road has never been built and he knows no other politicians so he might as well vote on the known one of the candidates.
Uganda has such a bright potential - people are really nice and at the same time you wonder how it is that so many people do not manage to finish secondary school (up to 72% estimates). Choice or chance?
Namaskar,
Ashis Brahma
Monday 21 December 2009
Friday 18 December 2009
UgandAshis 71 The way
UgandAshis 71 The way
Kampala, December 18, 2009
Turaco mischieveiensis aptly named
Take and break papaya’s fruit
Mischievous turaco
Nectarinia venusta a godly delight
Industriously in your blissful flight
Variable sunbird
Canis lupus familiaris of you two
Bhima brings might and passion
Yogi transcend and detach
Milvus migrans shine a light
Bring guidance to the astral path
Black kite
To stumble and bumble
To seemingly lose
Makes you humble
A condition to choose
When all is not well
Friends put you under a wicked spell
With diligent labor
The solution will favor
Unconditional love for One
The world is maya
The way is clearly shining
The way is clear
The way
Ashis Brahma
Kampala, December 18, 2009
Turaco mischieveiensis aptly named
Take and break papaya’s fruit
Mischievous turaco
Nectarinia venusta a godly delight
Industriously in your blissful flight
Variable sunbird
Canis lupus familiaris of you two
Bhima brings might and passion
Yogi transcend and detach
Milvus migrans shine a light
Bring guidance to the astral path
Black kite
To stumble and bumble
To seemingly lose
Makes you humble
A condition to choose
When all is not well
Friends put you under a wicked spell
With diligent labor
The solution will favor
Unconditional love for One
The world is maya
The way is clearly shining
The way is clear
The way
Ashis Brahma
UgandAshis 70 Kids on the street
UgandAshis 70 Kids on the streets.
Kampala, December 18, 2009.
A world wide phenomena and therefore it also exists in Uganda. Street urchins knocking at your windows or pulling your sleeve when on a boda boda in city center for money. A sad manifestation of global inequalities in fact the children we see here are from the North Eastern part of the country. A region called Karimoja with the Karimojong. The people are nomadic pastoralist and notorious cattle rustlers. Living on the fringes of modern society in an age old way of living - some call them thieves another way to look at it is a way of life that is centuries old.
With the climate change some parts of Karimojong region have become so dry that there is no more option to graze cattle. People have packed up and some of the children have travelled to Kampala to eek out an existence by begging. Far away from custom and tradition. Tradition as the use of ostrich shell as money - a female ostrich will defend her eggs so very hard to get a hold of. The rites to get a wife - rustle cattle from a another tribe or even your own. The clothes and hairdo which somehow remind me of the Masai in Kenya. Now exposed to abuse, violence, police raids, drugs, alcohol, sex predators and the sun and rain.
Today I recall the conversation I had with a new found fellow traveller. She told me how she and a group of Ugandans had organized a rally and food collection so it could be trucked to the area that is acutely suffering from malnutrition. Local companies and individuals gathered over 70 tons of food items.
Their next problem was to get the food to the region. Well Uganda is a straight forward place. You go to the Minister of Karimoja region which happens to be Janet Museveni, the Presidents wife and put forward your case. Even if that Ministry may not be able help across the hallway there is the Ministry of Emergencies and Disasters and lo and behold with in 4 hours trucks are made available.
Things can move and shake in Uganda if you know how and whose doors to open. The only ting of sadness about the productive day of my friend was the remark of one of the big fish of the Ministry. He claimed it was an embarassment to the Uganda people that the elders of the Karimojong had sent sent their children to the streets of Kampala to beg. What would all the foreigners think of the rag tag army of youngsters hustling for money. They should be sent back home.
The bubble of ignorance exists everywhere. Home to a draught. Coming from a man who is comfortably cruising in a Toyota Landcruiser with driver. How easy to condemn a man/woman when he/she is down or even a child. Yet this gentleman was seemingly oblivious to his countrymen’s plight.
Namaskar,
Ashis Brahma.
http://www.bumbasafaris.com/images/008-UgandaMystic.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karamojong
Kampala, December 18, 2009.
A world wide phenomena and therefore it also exists in Uganda. Street urchins knocking at your windows or pulling your sleeve when on a boda boda in city center for money. A sad manifestation of global inequalities in fact the children we see here are from the North Eastern part of the country. A region called Karimoja with the Karimojong. The people are nomadic pastoralist and notorious cattle rustlers. Living on the fringes of modern society in an age old way of living - some call them thieves another way to look at it is a way of life that is centuries old.
With the climate change some parts of Karimojong region have become so dry that there is no more option to graze cattle. People have packed up and some of the children have travelled to Kampala to eek out an existence by begging. Far away from custom and tradition. Tradition as the use of ostrich shell as money - a female ostrich will defend her eggs so very hard to get a hold of. The rites to get a wife - rustle cattle from a another tribe or even your own. The clothes and hairdo which somehow remind me of the Masai in Kenya. Now exposed to abuse, violence, police raids, drugs, alcohol, sex predators and the sun and rain.
Today I recall the conversation I had with a new found fellow traveller. She told me how she and a group of Ugandans had organized a rally and food collection so it could be trucked to the area that is acutely suffering from malnutrition. Local companies and individuals gathered over 70 tons of food items.
Their next problem was to get the food to the region. Well Uganda is a straight forward place. You go to the Minister of Karimoja region which happens to be Janet Museveni, the Presidents wife and put forward your case. Even if that Ministry may not be able help across the hallway there is the Ministry of Emergencies and Disasters and lo and behold with in 4 hours trucks are made available.
Things can move and shake in Uganda if you know how and whose doors to open. The only ting of sadness about the productive day of my friend was the remark of one of the big fish of the Ministry. He claimed it was an embarassment to the Uganda people that the elders of the Karimojong had sent sent their children to the streets of Kampala to beg. What would all the foreigners think of the rag tag army of youngsters hustling for money. They should be sent back home.
The bubble of ignorance exists everywhere. Home to a draught. Coming from a man who is comfortably cruising in a Toyota Landcruiser with driver. How easy to condemn a man/woman when he/she is down or even a child. Yet this gentleman was seemingly oblivious to his countrymen’s plight.
Namaskar,
Ashis Brahma.
http://www.bumbasafaris.com/images/008-UgandaMystic.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karamojong
Sunday 6 December 2009
UgandAshis 69 Culinary delight: nsenene.
UgandAshis 69 Culinary delight: nsenene.
Kampala, Uganda, December 6th, 2009.
In different part of the world there are various delicacies in the cuisine. The French love frogs, in certain parts of Congo bushmeat (in other words monkey meat) is eaten, in China duck eggs are put in the ground for weeks and once I had the pleasure of eating goat rectum in India - quite rubbery I can tell you. Here in Uganda everybody goes crazy in the months of April and November. These months are the rainy season and bring with it scores of Ruspolia baileyi, nsenene or more commonly known as the grasshopper.
Age independent people collect them off walls, electricity cables attracting with lights, their weakness, as it blinds them they slide down on poles in eagerly awaiting pots making a nice side living and a juicy snack. Originally it were the women who collected them for their husband in exchange for a new gomasi (traditional dress). HIstorically they were not allowed to eat the delicacy as it was believed babies would be born with deformed heads. Another reason was that it could point out to possible infidelity of the woman.
One sign of emancipation in Uganda is the fact that nowadays both men and women are eating nsenene. Some even say it is a huge boost to the economy in the Buganda kingdom. Everywhere where you go in Kampala you find young men walking with a bucket on their head making 200 Schilling per portion and Sch 5000 (2,5 dollars a day)
Recipe for Ugandan chicken-grasshopper-sate.
Purchase
Grasshopper 250 grams
Chicken filet 500 grams
Ground nuts 250 grams
Soy sauce sweet 10 ml
Red chili pepper 4
Maize oil
Rice
Milk 250 ml
Pluck legs and antennas off grasshoppers and ground in a morsel. Then ground the groundnuts and put in a bit of boiling maize oil, add all milk. In a separate pot fry the chicken in oil and soy sauce, red chile freshly chopped. In pot three cook rice for 2. Add the finished chicken to the sauce (on a low fire and let it set for some minutes).
Voila, chicken-grasshopper-sate.
Namaskar,
Ashis Brahma
Check out a photo of these lovely and tasty insects
http://twitpic.com/senjk
Kampala, Uganda, December 6th, 2009.
In different part of the world there are various delicacies in the cuisine. The French love frogs, in certain parts of Congo bushmeat (in other words monkey meat) is eaten, in China duck eggs are put in the ground for weeks and once I had the pleasure of eating goat rectum in India - quite rubbery I can tell you. Here in Uganda everybody goes crazy in the months of April and November. These months are the rainy season and bring with it scores of Ruspolia baileyi, nsenene or more commonly known as the grasshopper.
Age independent people collect them off walls, electricity cables attracting with lights, their weakness, as it blinds them they slide down on poles in eagerly awaiting pots making a nice side living and a juicy snack. Originally it were the women who collected them for their husband in exchange for a new gomasi (traditional dress). HIstorically they were not allowed to eat the delicacy as it was believed babies would be born with deformed heads. Another reason was that it could point out to possible infidelity of the woman.
One sign of emancipation in Uganda is the fact that nowadays both men and women are eating nsenene. Some even say it is a huge boost to the economy in the Buganda kingdom. Everywhere where you go in Kampala you find young men walking with a bucket on their head making 200 Schilling per portion and Sch 5000 (2,5 dollars a day)
Recipe for Ugandan chicken-grasshopper-sate.
Purchase
Grasshopper 250 grams
Chicken filet 500 grams
Ground nuts 250 grams
Soy sauce sweet 10 ml
Red chili pepper 4
Maize oil
Rice
Milk 250 ml
Pluck legs and antennas off grasshoppers and ground in a morsel. Then ground the groundnuts and put in a bit of boiling maize oil, add all milk. In a separate pot fry the chicken in oil and soy sauce, red chile freshly chopped. In pot three cook rice for 2. Add the finished chicken to the sauce (on a low fire and let it set for some minutes).
Voila, chicken-grasshopper-sate.
Namaskar,
Ashis Brahma
Check out a photo of these lovely and tasty insects
http://twitpic.com/senjk
Thursday 3 December 2009
Ugandashis 68 world HIV day
UgandAshis 68 World HIV day
Fort Portal, December 1, 2009.
There is a lot to think about once we reach the topic of HIV/AIDS and people living with the infection. Today is the day to remember those that have passed away, those that have been infected and those that will be infected in the future. For them some thoughts lined up in the form of a list
1. To navigate the Scylla of prevention and the Charibdis of treatment is not an easy course.
As the Argonauts had to navigate between a storm (I believe) and a terrible sea monster to reach safety so the International Medical Movement is trying to find a course between prevention and treatment. As it is right now there is in my mind more emphasis on treating those with infections than there is on preventing the pool of people that require treatment to become less. Let me be clear both are required and keeping the numbers of patients down is of the utmost importance
2. Religious and moral approaches to life are important and should be engaged in debate to prevent more infections.
How in 2009 a pope and imams can still declare the condom use to be a sin even in discordant couples (one partner HIV positive the other HIV negative) is just unbelievable.
3. The attitudes of many relating to condom use is mind boggling
‘Live sex is better’ and ‘the risk to me is not so big’ Statements of Dutch, American and Ugandan students.
4. HIV/AIDS does not kill any more it is a chronic disease I will take the tablets.
Yup and the side effects of the tablets is a long list some life threatening some just extremely un nice.
5. Vaccine and cure are in the pipeline
Yes and they have been for over 25 years, still no definite answers and in general we can wonder if there has been that much improvement in anti retroviral cure
6. The good news is that more and more of the people requiring Anti Retro Virals in Uganda are receiving.
The sheer number is huge and in a country that has so many people living with HI/AIDS of the 300.000 requiring ARV’s over 50% are getting them and that number is growing every year.
7. The bad news is that the number of people with infections is still increasing
Absolutely seen there are more than a million cases (UNAIDS 2008 report) in Uganda (in a population of 33 million estimated) and the number of cases is rising.
Tomorrow I will take my camera and ask some Ugandan doctors, nurses and perhaps patients how they feel about what is happening with HIV/AIDS in their part of the world. Bare in mind there is an amazing under investment in health in Uganda. Given that the outcome of the different Joint Clinical Research Centers is extra remarkable.
I would love to hear your thoughts on HIV/AIDS make a comment or write a post.
Namaskar,
Ashis Brahma
http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_the_truth_about_hiv.html
Fort Portal, December 1, 2009.
There is a lot to think about once we reach the topic of HIV/AIDS and people living with the infection. Today is the day to remember those that have passed away, those that have been infected and those that will be infected in the future. For them some thoughts lined up in the form of a list
1. To navigate the Scylla of prevention and the Charibdis of treatment is not an easy course.
As the Argonauts had to navigate between a storm (I believe) and a terrible sea monster to reach safety so the International Medical Movement is trying to find a course between prevention and treatment. As it is right now there is in my mind more emphasis on treating those with infections than there is on preventing the pool of people that require treatment to become less. Let me be clear both are required and keeping the numbers of patients down is of the utmost importance
2. Religious and moral approaches to life are important and should be engaged in debate to prevent more infections.
How in 2009 a pope and imams can still declare the condom use to be a sin even in discordant couples (one partner HIV positive the other HIV negative) is just unbelievable.
3. The attitudes of many relating to condom use is mind boggling
‘Live sex is better’ and ‘the risk to me is not so big’ Statements of Dutch, American and Ugandan students.
4. HIV/AIDS does not kill any more it is a chronic disease I will take the tablets.
Yup and the side effects of the tablets is a long list some life threatening some just extremely un nice.
5. Vaccine and cure are in the pipeline
Yes and they have been for over 25 years, still no definite answers and in general we can wonder if there has been that much improvement in anti retroviral cure
6. The good news is that more and more of the people requiring Anti Retro Virals in Uganda are receiving.
The sheer number is huge and in a country that has so many people living with HI/AIDS of the 300.000 requiring ARV’s over 50% are getting them and that number is growing every year.
7. The bad news is that the number of people with infections is still increasing
Absolutely seen there are more than a million cases (UNAIDS 2008 report) in Uganda (in a population of 33 million estimated) and the number of cases is rising.
Tomorrow I will take my camera and ask some Ugandan doctors, nurses and perhaps patients how they feel about what is happening with HIV/AIDS in their part of the world. Bare in mind there is an amazing under investment in health in Uganda. Given that the outcome of the different Joint Clinical Research Centers is extra remarkable.
I would love to hear your thoughts on HIV/AIDS make a comment or write a post.
Namaskar,
Ashis Brahma
http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_the_truth_about_hiv.html
Ugandashis 67 On monkeys
UgandAshis 67 On monkeys.
Fort Portal, Uganda, December 1, 2009.
A friend told me long ago that in case you see a single magpie you need to blink otherwise you have bad luck for ever. Magpies come in pairs and so do the Colobus monkeys. Today as I travelled by chicken route from Kampala-Fort Portal – LINK tends to stop in every hamlet to pick up a chicken or load off one passenger I had a firm wish to see Colobus monkeys. Three quarter of the journey I spent peeping out of the window and just 3 minutes after I let it go two popped up. I nearly blinked in utter joy.
Another friend – to be labeled Mr. S. actually had a pet monkey. As he was working and living in Kabalagala the monkey entertained himself, the next door neighbors and the entire neighborhood. In fact the neighbor used to complain that because is two young children spent so much time chasing the monkey they fell behind in school. This is a joyful existence for the children yet less scholarly. At the local fruit market the monkey to be labeled M. as not give away his truthful abundant nature would take his share of bananas and apples. Whenever Mr. S. would return home he would find anxious vendors demanding cash for the rescued fruits. Yes rescued who after all can deny that bananas belong to monkeys as matooke to the Ugandans?
When Mr. S. would fall asleep with the television still on, M would switch off the apparatus, shake Mr. S. until he woke up, guide him to his bed cover him in his bed sheets and assure that the bed room door handle was closed. Mr. S. confidentially told me that he rarely watched television any more as observing the fracas one little monkey created was much more fun.
Even the flat mate that Mr. S. had eventually came around from sharing the flat with a vile cretin to an absolute and total crush on the mischievous M. The whole neighborhood professed their love to the free roaming M. Then one day the unbelievable happened. Free spirited M. always home at 18.00 sharp to receive his evening food did not appear. Two children at the market had seen a burly man barrel of with M. in is knapsack. Heartbroken Mr. S. remains till today in a saddened state of mind. Of late however he is picking himself together.
Some say a dog is a man’s best friend, Mr. S. begs to differ. He has eyed a new prospect. Once he moves into a new house he shall be finding a new friend to fill the huge gap that M. has left behind. N. will do his magic tricks soon. O and I write about this because Mr. S. asked me to give shelter to his new to be monkey until he finds a new house. I wonder however how Yogi and Bhima, the German/Belgian shepherds would deal with it.
Namaskar,
Ashis Brahma
Fort Portal, Uganda, December 1, 2009.
A friend told me long ago that in case you see a single magpie you need to blink otherwise you have bad luck for ever. Magpies come in pairs and so do the Colobus monkeys. Today as I travelled by chicken route from Kampala-Fort Portal – LINK tends to stop in every hamlet to pick up a chicken or load off one passenger I had a firm wish to see Colobus monkeys. Three quarter of the journey I spent peeping out of the window and just 3 minutes after I let it go two popped up. I nearly blinked in utter joy.
Another friend – to be labeled Mr. S. actually had a pet monkey. As he was working and living in Kabalagala the monkey entertained himself, the next door neighbors and the entire neighborhood. In fact the neighbor used to complain that because is two young children spent so much time chasing the monkey they fell behind in school. This is a joyful existence for the children yet less scholarly. At the local fruit market the monkey to be labeled M. as not give away his truthful abundant nature would take his share of bananas and apples. Whenever Mr. S. would return home he would find anxious vendors demanding cash for the rescued fruits. Yes rescued who after all can deny that bananas belong to monkeys as matooke to the Ugandans?
When Mr. S. would fall asleep with the television still on, M would switch off the apparatus, shake Mr. S. until he woke up, guide him to his bed cover him in his bed sheets and assure that the bed room door handle was closed. Mr. S. confidentially told me that he rarely watched television any more as observing the fracas one little monkey created was much more fun.
Even the flat mate that Mr. S. had eventually came around from sharing the flat with a vile cretin to an absolute and total crush on the mischievous M. The whole neighborhood professed their love to the free roaming M. Then one day the unbelievable happened. Free spirited M. always home at 18.00 sharp to receive his evening food did not appear. Two children at the market had seen a burly man barrel of with M. in is knapsack. Heartbroken Mr. S. remains till today in a saddened state of mind. Of late however he is picking himself together.
Some say a dog is a man’s best friend, Mr. S. begs to differ. He has eyed a new prospect. Once he moves into a new house he shall be finding a new friend to fill the huge gap that M. has left behind. N. will do his magic tricks soon. O and I write about this because Mr. S. asked me to give shelter to his new to be monkey until he finds a new house. I wonder however how Yogi and Bhima, the German/Belgian shepherds would deal with it.
Namaskar,
Ashis Brahma
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