A Dam Relief begins in May 2012 – Uganda’s Truth will follow

By admin / 10 April 2012 / 5 comments

It is quite interesting and rather DEPRESSING every time I learn that people in the so called developed countries know so little about Uganda and other developing countries at large. I watched the above video just a few minutes ago and all I see is a huge imbalance in knowledge.

When I travel outside my country people ask me “where did you learn to speak English? Its quite interesting to hear that you can speak so well!” And I always have to explain how English is my official language extra. Apart from speaking English so well, I also know a lot about North America, parts of Europe, Asia and of course lots about Africa – the cultures, economic activities or geography of these regions. This is because Uganda’s education system makes it mandatory for me to learn about the world at different levels through my education. Now at some point this felt really confusing and useless to me.

Today, I appreciate that my education system opens boarders and teaches me about the parts of the world which as a child or student I never even imagined I would visit in my life. As I speak, I have been blessed to see different countries across Africa, parts of North America, Asia and spent a couple of hours in Middle East.

However, I am very much concerned and disappointed when I learn that the rest of the world learns almost nothing about my country, culture extra.

Back to the above video:

In May 2012 A Dam Relief will begin; for the next year, Ugandans will show you the truth about their beautiful country.

As well as many entertaining videos, we will be uploading interviews with Ugandans from many walks of life, including those who lived in areas effected by Joseph Kony’s army BEFORE HE LEFT Uganda in 2006.

We have been interviewing Ugandans on the best way for progress, the stability of their country, and social issues such as gay rights. (Yes – in Uganda one is allowed to speak his or her mind).

Find us on Facebook.

www.aDamRelief.com

Brought to you by Rattle Uganda / Rattle Media

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This video (and those forthcoming) will be more important for Uganda than ‘KONY 2012: Part II – Beyond Famous’. It won’t help to STOP KONY but it will help Uganda.

Tags: Uganda, UgandaSpeaks

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Pingback: The big shift in the flow of knowledge – From Developing Countries to the “Developed Countries” « The African Timer
http://www.aDamRelief.com Max Bilbow

Hi,

This video was removed for complex reasons. The video can now be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MISSA-CyxgE

Thanks!
http://www.guide2uganda.com/news/236/Uganda-Number-One-Country-of-2012 Guide2Uganda

Looking forward to that.

The world must know Uganda as a beautiful place to live, work or stay and enjoy it just like its local people.
From those cool beaches on/in Lake Victoria, to abundant birdlife & wildlife, the snow capped mountains of Rwenzori and much more are some of whats awaits you on your next vacation.

Make Uganda your destination this summer.

Did you know? bit.ly/tqGuc7 #Uganda is best country to visit in the world in 2012, according to @lonelyplanet
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003405830242 Geoconda

I really apetrciape Rex’s comment and Mark, your response. I also want to say that I found your original Kony 2012 post last night, Mark, by linking through from Andrew Sullivan’s blog, and, in reading through much of the comment section, have found you to be a very kind, open, and measured voice in the midst of conversations that can be fraught with faction and a lack of charity. Thank you for providing this space. I’ve subscribed in my feed so as to continue learning from you and your colleagues about subjects I need and want to learn more about, written from a perspective of peace and thoughtfulness. Now, to my response to the Kony 2012 conversation. I’m one who jumped on the they’re not policy makers, they’re communicators to a young generation bandwagon in response to IC’s video and the backlash it unleashed. However, I see now that they seek to be more than just communicators about an issue. They are posing a solution to stop Joseph Kony. To them, the solution is to keep the 100 troops on the ground and to collaborate with the Ugandan army in order to stop him. I see now that this is a militaristic solution and that they feel it is the best solution because peace talks have failed in the past. I am someone seeking to discover how peaceful solutions to violence can be offered and successful in the world, and for this reason I apetrciape your perspective that although peace talks have failed in the past, it does not mean they will necessarily fail in the future in this situation. We can learn from what went wrong before and seek a more equitable approach this time. I think at this point, I would prefer Invisible Children be simply communicators of an issue without posing a solution. I’m with Rex, though, that the huge awareness boost to the issue and the global response to it does not necessarily mean that the solution IC proposes will be the one the international community of policymakers and responders will adopt. It is my hope they will take the response of the global community to this issue the very clear message that we want this issue to receive attention and seek out the best way forward.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003405854261 Theresa

I appreciate your orainigl critique and follow up. While I was very moved by the well produced video about Kony, I was asking the same questions you addressed. I wanted to know how they expect to stop’ Kony, and then what they expect to happen after that. It just raises so many questions, and seems obvious to me that if you stop’ Kony, there will just be another person or several persons who will step up and take his place. It has to be a systemic problem that allows the LRA to be in existence for so long, not just some crazy and evil individual that causes all of this on his own. Any time there is a conflict involving so many civilians, regions, countries, etc. it is never as simple as just stopping’ one person and then peace and harmony reign throughout the land. In all honesty, while I had heard of the LRA years back and had a vague awareness of child soldiers from a few movies, I had never heard of Kony before the campaign video. BUT, as you asked, to what end? It seemed much too simplified in it’s presentation for something that has been going on for so long. In all fairness, though, I do believe there was a brief mention in the video that the LRA is no longer active in Uganda, but that for some reason it is still the best place for the US to send more advisers.

admin

Javie Ssozi is a freelance digital media consultant. Formally the Technical Officer at Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET). He holds a BSc in Computer Science from Makerere University. He is a blogger and trainer of citizen journalists in Uganda. He runs a personal blog – “The African Timer” where he writes about the link between Technology, Education and ‘Development’. The name of his personal blog (The African Timer) is derived from the belief/ saying that “Africans” don’t keep time and as such often Africa lags behind while other continents continue to lead.

Javie is a Winner of World Bank Institute’s Social Innovator Award – Class of 2010.