2007

KAMPALA, UGANDA ✦A pregnant woman here in Uganda’s capital was recently beheaded by her husband. Maurine Ampire, 38, was a mother getting close to delivering number six. It’s one picture of life here, and a comparable image to the lack of voice that pregnant women have worldwide. No voice. No choice. Just death, and often violently.

A visitor in Uganda sees the light, through the tattered lives of those around him.

Re: ‘Taking the middle ground on evolution’ (letters, June 28)

Adultery is something I've never really thought about much. But the papers here in Uganda are full of it: adultery is no longer a crime.

If a tree falls deep in the heart of Africa, will anyone hear? That's the question for the outside world, as the debate that often pits the environment against the economy has taken a chilling twist here in Uganda, with riots, murder and parliamentarians jailed.

Evil is never easy to look in the eye. So it's no surprise that The Last King of Scotland is getting mixed reactions in this corner of the world, where the story, both its real and Hollywood version, unfolds.

Gwyne Dyer's commentary in the New Vision of March 27, page 10, arguing that religion promotes bad behaviour, while secularism promotes good, has more holes in it than a house of Swiss cheese.

Good grief. Just when you thought you knew the rules around here, where it's a given that cultural change is painfully slow, along comes a curve ball that really makes your head spin.

Now that The Last King of Scotland has piled up its international awards, and come full circle to show here, Ugandans can take a bow.

Piling up its international awards, The Last King of Scotland has come full circle, finally released in Uganda as a rare film experience, if not an unusual life-experience, where story and reality meld so much that it's hard to know where one begins and the other ends.

Following up on some recent commentaries fearing abortion is going to be legalised in Uganda, maybe the only thing left to say is that it's not happening.

So, the Rwanda government is pushing the concept of a three-child limit for families. It's something for Ugandans to keep an eye on, because population growth rates of the two neighbouring countries, among the highest in the world, are virtually identical.

Besides 'I am sorry,' the hardest words in any language have to be 'I forgive you.' And never has the world needed them more.

Okay, here's a question. There are two new theology professors at UCU. Soon after one starts teaching, it's discovered that he spends significant time mingling with Kampala's crowd of drinkers and prostitutes. The other new professor, who is the cousin of the first, then comes to UCU's classes wearing dreadlocks, torn jeans, several earrings and a rather large tattoo.

Somalia wants to move forward, but it has a horrifying past to deal with.