Hamilton Spectator

KAMPALA, Uganda✦ So you think you feel good about what unfolded south of Canada’s border on Nov. 4? You should see the party in Africa. There has been dancing in the streets, public holidays and general high-fives from nationals to diplomats to expatriates, all convinced that, as one Ugandan paper put it, “America is reborn.”

We're in the middle of East Africa's savannah, about to be eaten by nearby lions.

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)

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.

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.

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

One of the unexpected things I've caught since coming to Africa for the long haul is a certain disturbing feeling in the pit of my stomach. It's grown there quietly, feeding, I suspect, on the various foreign sights and sounds around here, especially those of the children.

Beautiful women and mobile phones might not be the first pictures that come to mind when you think of Africa. But one of the more interesting things about life on the so-called dark continent is that, even here, image sells.

It's not the Glacier Express climbing through the Swiss Alps. It's not Vietnam's Reunification Express winding into the more exotic jungles of the world. And it's certainly not the Orient Express, that legendary locomotive of opulence and intrigue immortalized by Agatha Christie.

Ugandans are happy with leaders who allow them to go to bed without getting shot or raped before morning.

Drought has caused huge cutbacks in Ugandan electricity generation. Businesses will close and thousands will be left jobless, causing an exodus from cities.

Ugandan President Museveni celebrated 20 years in power this year — and he wants another seven . Critics want change.

Here's a thought for today: BANG! You've been shot. Shot through the heart. Can you imagine it?