(The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday, March 3, 2016)
KAMPALA, UGANDA ✦ Hello? Hello? Can you hear me? Is this you? Democracy? It’s me, Africa, calling. Can we talk? About us? About our relationship? I mean, are you still interested?
Hello, democracy? This is Africa calling. Again. Read More »
(The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday, March 15, 2014)
KAMPALA, UGANDA ✦Fear is a strange thing, which is why it’s so hard to look into the eyes of another human being that you’re about to gas or bomb or, in the case of Uganda’s gays, throw to the lions.
This is also why President Yoweri Museveni recently refused to meet with Uganda’s gay community – there were repeated requests – before signing Uganda’s infamous anti-gay law.
The new law means even touching with the intent of a homosexual act – try to prove or disprove this one – will get you seven years. Short of jail, a life-sentence for a single homosexual act, there’s obviously also a new chill on the street here.
Uganda is Gay Ground Zero thanks to fear, politics and misguided religiosity Read More »
(Christian Week – March 12, 2014)
KAMPALA, UGANDA ✦ By now you’ve heard plenty about Uganda’s new toughened laws on homosexuality, the news that spread to the West with the fanfare of a dark sporting event.
Even short of jail—terms range from seven years to life—it’s a new day of survival in a horrible state-sanctioned chill.
Several weeks in, like so many things in developing nations, it’s hard to know all that’s happening. Was that murder really a robbery gone bad? And that street beating? Why did she really lose her job? Many things simply don’t make the news here in Uganda.
Love is our highest calling Read More »
The official charge is ignoring orders of a public official. But the real problem is words. Just words.
You know, words can be enough. Too much, even, when they say this and that; when they’re relevant and lacerating; when they’re passed to others and speak more than anyone even realizes; when they speak truth that isn’t just truth to be understood, but that deeper truth that causes a lump in your throat because you know someone has experienced it with some amount of pain.
Where words, mere words, mean trouble Read More »
Continents apart, generations and circumstance between them, hands always tell the stories.
Hands across the oceans Read More »
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.
Uganda, a nation of conflicts Read More »
Ugandans are happy with leaders who allow them to go to bed without getting shot or raped before morning.
Ugandans choose peace over honesty Read More »
Drought has caused huge cutbacks in Ugandan electricity generation. Businesses will close and thousands will be left jobless, causing an exodus from cities.
