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Ugandan and American girls party via twitter

February 14, 2012 By 2 Comments

The year has barely got under way and in my world this promises to be the biggest Social Media story of the year. I was back in Uganda last month for the Villages in Action conference. This is where the rest of the world gets to listen to people who are never invited to conversations about them nor listened to.
In its second year now the organisers decided to shake thinks up by have having a children’s party the night before the main conference.

In Washington DC the @Grilup a UN Foundation initiative uniting girls to change the world was responsible for the American girls whilst we were responsible for the girls on the ground in Kikube Masindi NW Uganda girls aged between 12-15.

The Village of Kikube is rural with no electricity or phone lines and as such the girls here are far removed from the world of their peers in DC and were really excited about finding out about their lives. Before the tweet up the girls got together for a brainstorm session. They wrote down all the questions they would put to the American girls and it was fascinating to listen in from the sidelines. You could tell that there was a genuine interest in the lives of girls their age on different continent. The questions ranged from
• The weather
• Fashion
• School
• Authority
• Relationships with parents
• Food
• Culture
I was a little late for the party as technology failed me, the Orange dongle would not work but luckily for me most of the adults at the party were geeks! So one of theme advised me to take the sim card out and insert it in my iPhone instead. At this stage it transpired that I did not the pin to remove the sim in the iPhone and my earrings had to come to my rescue!

Having done all that and logged in the party got underway. We each had a girl or two and we helped them through the process by tweeting their questions and answers and at some point Ivanka Trump joined the conversation.

There was so much energy under that tree as night set in that I can’t tell you what that felt like.

The girls were surprised to learn that at some level they grapple with the same challenges that come with being a teenager regardless of what part of the world you live in.

I would love to see more of this type of exchange that allows children to hear first hand the stories of their peers from all corners of the world. If you would like to see the photos of the girls that were at the party head over to the Villages in Action Facebook page

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Where the London riots caused by systemic poverty?

August 10, 2011 By 4 Comments

London and several other Cities in the UK  have been on fire quite literary since Saturday 6th August following the death of a Mark Duggan a young man of mixed parentage. The riots started in north London and have since spread across the country.

 

Several reasons have been put forward as to why mostly young people took to the streets including Race but the one that has left me shaking my head is POVERTY. It is not because I believe they are no poor people in UK cities and incidentally poverty as a reason to riot and burn down cities reminded me of a post I wrote in March of last year on poverty in UK Vs Poverty in Africa

 

One of the issues I raised in that post is SYSTEMIC POVERTY, this is a phrase I made up as it appeared to  me  that it is possible to be poor here in the UK because of the system. So the meaning I assign to the phrase SYSTEMIC POVERTY is poverty created by the system.

But what does poverty has to do with looting, rioting and burning down whole neighbourhoods and cities? In a word nothing as far as I can tell!

I agree that the System has stripped authority away from parents, the teachers, the Police as well as the community at large. This same system has given children and young people generally too many rights so much so that those that are meant to guide them along the right path are instead afraid of them.

These youth have failed to realise that  with rights come responsibilities

Responsibilities

  1. To be a good neigbour
  2. Have due regard for the law, the community, parents and your fellow citizens
  3. To contribute to society in a meaningful way

As far as I can tell the London riots and elsewhere in UK are about fighting authority or the system and excuses of poverty and racism are just that excuses.

Nikki Pilkington and fellow blogger over at BIRDS ON THE BLOG has an interesting take on this, she argues that it is possible to fight the system and win. I agree.


My own story is that of an immigrant that came here with  only a suitcase, but worked with that very system to gain an education, a job, a home of my own in a smart town and finally that very system has enabled me to help those less fortunate than I am such as the woman in this photo in Ruhanga SW Uganda.

 

My point is there is so much advantage to be gained from out the system if one so chooses, granted it is not easy and some will need more guidance than others.

It seems to me therefore that the best way forward is that the system should give power/authority back to parents, teachers, the police and the community so that they can guide children through the system in order that they can get the best out of it instead of becoming its victims.

Victims? Yes! For when parents, teachers and the community are absent in a young person’s life, a void is created and sadly whenever a gap or void is created someone or something will fill it. In the case of some of these young people it can Gangs, drugs, alcohol, crime or all of the above.

 

What do you think?

Is there such a thing as systemic poverty?

What is really behind the riots in your opinion? Is it simply a case of being poor or belonging to a certain ethnicity?

 

 

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Time to tell Africa’s story?

February 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment

This is the conclusion reached by  The Observer newspaper and they have written several articles to prove it

In the first article The Observer editorial tells the readers that Africa has regenerated itself , Europe and Britain in particular must sit up and listen  and most importantly they must take note of the economic development that is unfolding as well as the investment opportunities that available of which China has taken/is taking advantage

I love the second article from The Observer, especially the heading, it says_ IT IS TIME WE LISTENED TO NEW STORIES OUT OF AFRICA- Well I couldn’t argue with that! there are a couple of interesting points in this article-

  1. The Economist revealed last month that six of the 10 most rapidly expanding economies over the past decade were in sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria, Angola, Rwanda, Chad and Mozambique
  2. When dealing with Africa we should strive for trade not Aid…
  3. Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf likes to say, there are no poor countries, just rich countries that are poorly managed-
  4. There is still a long way to go. Repression remains rife, corruption endemic, infrastructure woeful, bureaucracy stifling. But one result is that people respond with immense ingenuity and world-beating innovations emerge.

Mrs Johnson makes a  very important point and as the story of Africa evolves  those BAD MANAGERS  should not be shocked when people get fed of poor management and throw them out.

Point number 3 is  important too in the story of Africa- it is the ingenuity that carries us through.

I discussed this story last Sunday in a conversation with the broadcaster Henry Bonsu at VOX AFRICA

I love the third article finally Bono agrees that even he must get out of the way so Africans can tell their stories and even quotes Ory Okolloh as having told a conference that there was a new train leaving the station in Africa – and that people in the west had better get on board or they’ll miss out.

The final article is from an African who lives in Africa- how about that? this article too goes over the History of Africa and end on a positive note of a continent going places and calls on the West to pay attention.

The stories are fascinating for me and no doubt some of my close associates especially those of African heritage will find them fascinating too. For you see we are not as pessimistic as some of the people who have taken the time to comment on those articles even though they had nothing good to say. I bet they would be surprised if I told them that I know Africans who have quit Britain for instance and are paying their mortgages with income they generate out of Africa.

The sort of Africa that we know and love is certainly going places. If you are a regular reader of my blog you would know by now for instance that most of us believe the surest way for folk to get out of poverty in Africa is through trade and aid. We also know that so long as the story of Africa remains one of bad news, wars, disease then inward investment will be slow to come in if at all.

We know that the story is one sided, we are not going to sit back and allow it to remain thus, and for that reason last year we got off our backsides to bring you the real African story and what folk are doing to develop their communities in VILLAGES IN ACTION CONFERENCE

Watch this space for new developments!

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