African affairs — Ethnic Supplies

The women who survived #Kony’s war

March 8, 2012 By idahorner 8 Comments

It is International Women’s Day today and as usual I am in a reflective mood, precisely that what does this all mean for women in Africa. In my first post on IWD over at Africa on the Blog I ask the question

What can we do to ensure that the world of the African woman who has no property rights, access to education, independent income etc, converges with the rest of the world?

Whilst I was still pondering this an almighty row broke out in cyber space regarding an American based NGO called Invisible Children (IC). The NGO posted a video in which they tell the story of the war of Northern Uganda, specifically the abduction of children who were then forced to serve as child soldiers in Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). You can watch the video here

The video went viral so much has been said elsewhere, so it is not my intention to rehash what has been said already. The video has caused so much anguish, shock and disgust from many quarters for one reason or another. The war in Northern Uganda went on for 26 years and injured women and children both physically and emotionally and for this I have questioned the motivation of IC to issue a video that deals with a terrible time in Uganda’s history.

I have seen the pain of those that suffered at the hands of Kony and his Lords Resistance Army and I am privileged to work with some of those women who survived that war. We call them the Women Of Kireka and you can hear one of my conversations with them in this video

These are proud women who have against the odds worked to put the past behind them and forge a new life for themselves in Kireka a suburb or Kampala the capital of Uganda. This is not to say that they have forgotten what they went through, how can they? Some lost entire clans, husbands, children and neighbours etc

Although I have been through a war when our village was under siege for 4 months in the war that brought in Museveni, I can’t begin to imagine what these women went through or how it is that they are not outwardly angry at the whole world for allowing this to happen to them and I will never know what that was like for them.

That an International NGO that should know better has chosen to make people like the Women of Kireka relieve this pain has left me and most Ugandan’s seething with anger. In doing this IC is preventing us from moving on and appears keen on holding Northern Uganda back even though the people of Northern Uganda are working hard to rebuild their lives. I ask again WHAT IS IC’S MOTIVATION?

I also have to ask what we as Ugandans/ Africans going to do about this?

I strongly believe that IC and such like must be stopped from misrepresenting our continent in this way.

I am keen to hear your thoughts on this matter

As suggested by Joanne you can help these women by making a donation. The money will be put towards sewing machines which is something the women are desperate to acquire so that they can expand their business. If you do make donation please use WOK as your reference so we can allocate the money appropriately

Filed Under: African women, Latest Tagged With: Africa, INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S FAY, Invisible Children, Kony, KONY2012, LRA, Uganda, women of Kireka

African women’s reproductive health

March 11, 2011 By idahorner 1 Comment

January and February were emotionally hard months. I left Uganda and headed back to UK.

The day I arrived I got a phone call from home telling me that my cousin Doreen was seriously ill in a Ugandan hospital and the prognosis was not good and the next call I got was to tell me that Doreen was dead.

Doreen

Doreen (R.I.P) had miscarried her baby and having been discharged from hospital she became very ill and had to return for a check up. She had an infection that had not been picked up and by the time they did it was too late. There was very little they could do for her.

A few weeks later just as I was getting used to that news I got a call from a friend here in the UK, she had had her baby prematurely by C section as the Doctors had realized that if she carried the baby full term it would be detrimental to her health, her baby was OK. The baby a girl suffered some complications and died 12 days later.

2 weeks into February and I get a phone call from my sister in London, my niece had been taken into hospital. She was about to miscarry her babies and 48 hours later she did. she was expecting twins. The last one had to be taken out because not doing so would compromise her health as she had lost a lot of blood and perhaps cause complications for her in future.

As you can see these were difficult months to get through and you are probably wondering WHY I am sharing these rather personal experiences with you-

It is all about the disparity in services when it comes to AFRICAN WOMEN’S REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH

All of the women mentioned here are Ugandan two live in the UK but Doreen lived in Uganda. I have since asked myself the question what would have happened if the other two women lived in Uganda too?

On Tuesday 8 March 2011 we celebrated 100 years of International Women’s Day I used the opportunity to both celebrate the lives of women that are behind lovely products here at Ethnic Supplies but also to reflect on the how things have changed for women in Uganda/Africa and I concluded that there is still a lot of work to do and I think that the personal story I started this post with demonstrates that in as far getting reproductive health for African women right is concerned.

Goal Number 5 of the the Millennium Development Goals is all about Reproductive health/maternal health. As I look back on the past two months I have to wonder how many more Doreens will lose their lives before things improve for women in Africa so that they can have access to the care and expertise that the other other two women living in the UK had. Yes I understand that it took Britain 100 years or so to get Maternal health right for women here but the disparity in care for women in Africa lives me with a sense of hopelessness.

With nurses and mid-wives leaving the continent for a better life/working conditions elsewhere what hope is there for real development of services to improve reproductive health for African women?

Filed Under: African women, HEALTH Tagged With: Africa, INTERANTIONAL WOMENS DAY, International Women's Day, MATERNAL HEALTH, MDGs, MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS, REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH, Uganda

Villages in Action – I would like to hear more of these conversations

January 2, 2011 By idahorner Leave a Comment

Happy New Year folk.

How are you getting on with your New year’s resolutions so far?

I know this is an odd question but what exactly are New year’s resolutions? Are the goals or aspirations?

I recently stumbled across an an article by Linda Raftree with her wishes for the year 2012 specifically on issues of Inclusion, openness and authenticity.

Linda reflects on the events that have shaped the world in 2011 and her wish for 2012 is for the voices of the excluded to be included in development conversations amongst other things. I share Linda’s wish for more Inclusion and authentic stories especially on Africa in 2012.

I attend several events on development in Africa throughout the year, where I hear from development experts, academics, NGOs and big corporations and I always feel something is missing from these conversations- the voices of the recipients of development programmes. As I recently learned if we don’t listen- WE GET IT WRONG and send out the wrong message about those that are on the receiving end of development programmes

An ordinary man on the streets of any given western capital tends to learn about Africa from a television set. This median does not always pull together those authentic stories about life in Africa and anyone with no knowledge of Africa would be forgiven for thinking that Africa is a lost cause on which resources should not be wasted.

In his BBC Radio 4 interview Mo Ibrahim has (quite rightly) recently complained about the popular media failing to present a comprehensive image of Africa.

But the question is who has the right to tell the authentic story of Africa ?

How do we add their voice to the development conversation and why is it important that we hear these voices?

If we learned anything in 2011 I would like to think that it was the citizens own the right to tell their story and that social media has made that possible and as a result the world has changed in ways we could never have imagined.

Villages in Action

Is a little unknown conference that came about in response to the UN summit of 2010. The Villages in Action platform gives us we get a rare opportunity to hear from residents of a Ugandan village- we learn how they live, what they generate income, the impact of their lifestyle on their environment and why development initiatives do not work.

In 2012 the first development event I will attend will be in Masindi NW Uganda on 14 January 2012. This will be the second Villages in Action conference and I am really looking forward to it. If you can’t join us you will not miss out, the organisers will bring the event live to you in your living room.

What ever the new year holds in stock- like Linda my wish for 2012 is to hear more from those at the receiving end of development!

Happy New year and please do share your New Year’s wishes

Filed Under: African affairs, Latest, Poverty in Africa Tagged With: Africa, BBC Radio 4, MASINDI, Mo Ibrahim, Uganda, VILLAGES IN ACTION