M7 - President Museveni, comes from Mzee (pronounced "mzeh") and means "an old person, advanced in years" in Swahili
M$ - Microsoft, comes from a Uganda LUG thread today about buying Skype for $8.5 billion
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Monday, May 9, 2011
I don't want to raise my kids...
I don't want to raise my kids in a place with too much aid, or too little development.
(But I do want them to experience it)
(But I do want them to experience it)
I don't want to raise my kids...
I don't want to raise my kids in a place that doesn't have Halloween and more importantly, trick-or-treating.
(Well, I at least want them to experience it, like, once or twice)
(Well, I at least want them to experience it, like, once or twice)
a guide to the international development blogosphere
I was at first pretty overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information flowing out of this community, and intimidated by the fierce sophistication of both the data and ideas being discussed (picture that scene in Clueless where Amber remarks that her plastic surgeon "doesn't want me doing any activity where balls fly at my nose"). And at first I thought I'd need to go into battle with some pretty tough skin to combat the snark and cynicism, but I've found the community to simply be a really honest bunch, extremely candid about (often personal) stories of success and failure, willing to own (to a suspiciously enjoyable degree) any and all of the contradictions that come with working in the field of international development, whether its a post calling bullshit on some article, or a comment completely blasting some post.
I've pared down this list of international development blogs (which is apparently kind of a big deal) to the ones that have really sustained my interest and focus. I stumbled across the list when I first started my Global Health Corps fellowship with the Infectious Diseases Institute, and its been a great way for me to dive into the world of international aid, development, ICT4D, public health, relief, sustainability, etc, and after the initial shock, although being American, you'd think lots of choice wouldn't induce all that much shock, I've got what I feel is a balanced diet of thoughts, words, and ideas:
ict4d:
ICTWorks
Google Africa
SciDev.Net
TechCocktail
aid and development:
Aid Watch
Find What Works
Good Intentions Are Not Enough
How Matters
Roving Bandit
Tales From the Hood
wronging rights
I read other blogs, too, and those also fall into two categories: friends, and other miscellaneous stuff (cooking, poetry, software development, etc).
I've pared down this list of international development blogs (which is apparently kind of a big deal) to the ones that have really sustained my interest and focus. I stumbled across the list when I first started my Global Health Corps fellowship with the Infectious Diseases Institute, and its been a great way for me to dive into the world of international aid, development, ICT4D, public health, relief, sustainability, etc, and after the initial shock, although being American, you'd think lots of choice wouldn't induce all that much shock, I've got what I feel is a balanced diet of thoughts, words, and ideas:
ict4d:
ICTWorks
Google Africa
SciDev.Net
TechCocktail
aid and development:
Aid Watch
Find What Works
Good Intentions Are Not Enough
How Matters
Roving Bandit
Tales From the Hood
wronging rights
I read other blogs, too, and those also fall into two categories: friends, and other miscellaneous stuff (cooking, poetry, software development, etc).
Friday, May 6, 2011
Sue, are you OK over there?
I've been getting this question a lot, and so in answer to this, and in so many words, I'm very OK over here. :)
I think there are two worlds that I live in, one of those world's being comprised of Kampala, and Uganda, and all of the ideas that get funneled into what people think of when they think of a person living in Sub-Saharan Africa, especially given the protests happening in Kampala and other parts of Uganda, and also especially given the media coverage of the protests happening in Kampala and other parts of Uganda.
But the other world is comprised of my daily life, and living in Kamwokya, and working at the IDI Learning Hub, and shopping at the market for fresh fruit and veggies, and on Fridays when the Kamwokya market becomes overflowing with clothes, shoes, jewelry, toys, electric kettles, ceramic stoves, plastic cups, bowls, and plates, and becomes this miniature neighborhood version of Owino Market, and playing frisbee twice a week at the Lugogo cricket fields and on weekends at the Makerere University Business School (MUBS) fields, and nerding it up at monthly MoMoKla events and Uganda Linux User Group (LUG) events and Kampala Google Tech User Group (GTUG) events, and meeting Francis on Wednesdays and Saturdays for Luganda lessons at Makerere University's Guild Canteen cafe, and watching the MTN Heathens beat every team they play at Kyadondo Rugby Club or Lugogo Rugby Ground over beers and pork, and spending public holidays at Aero beach all day and eating fresh, whole Tilapia with chips for dinner overlooking Lake Victoria at night, and stopping for Rolex in Wandegeya after a night at Iguana's or Steak Out, and watching bootleg movies for 2000/= (< USD $1) and listening to 100+ popular Ugandan songs on burned CDs for 5000/= (< USD $2.50), and spending Sunday mornings at the Baha'i Temple, and spending Sunday afternoons learning how to cook Ugandan food...
Actually, Nicholas was telling me Makerere University is notorious for its student riots, that there's riots almost as often as graduation. Once or twice over the past month I've actually had my Luganda tutor Francis cancel our lesson as a precaution against getting caught in any political activity on campus incited by the protests, but so far, there's only been a day or two of student rioting, and a 1-man hunger strike. In general, there's only been a day or two of rioting in Kampala (the same two days) where it became necessary to avoid downtown, but because I live and work slightly north of downtown, and because you really have to be within a certain range of the protesting (and I don't participate in the protests), I've luckily been outside of that range, and I've been relatively safe and out of harm's way.
Makerere University LC5 councillor Bernard Luyiga camping with his mosquito net outside the Main gate on hunger strike:
Unfortunately, Luyiga was hospitalized on day 2 of striking after he collapsed outside the Main gate and was rushed to the Makerere University hospital.
But inspired by Luyiga (I swear I had nothing to do with this :), students are proposing to streak in protest!!!
"We’re ready to move about naked and protest against this government’s brutality," said Joseph Kakooza, the IPC chairman at Makerere. -The Observer
I think there are two worlds that I live in, one of those world's being comprised of Kampala, and Uganda, and all of the ideas that get funneled into what people think of when they think of a person living in Sub-Saharan Africa, especially given the protests happening in Kampala and other parts of Uganda, and also especially given the media coverage of the protests happening in Kampala and other parts of Uganda.
But the other world is comprised of my daily life, and living in Kamwokya, and working at the IDI Learning Hub, and shopping at the market for fresh fruit and veggies, and on Fridays when the Kamwokya market becomes overflowing with clothes, shoes, jewelry, toys, electric kettles, ceramic stoves, plastic cups, bowls, and plates, and becomes this miniature neighborhood version of Owino Market, and playing frisbee twice a week at the Lugogo cricket fields and on weekends at the Makerere University Business School (MUBS) fields, and nerding it up at monthly MoMoKla events and Uganda Linux User Group (LUG) events and Kampala Google Tech User Group (GTUG) events, and meeting Francis on Wednesdays and Saturdays for Luganda lessons at Makerere University's Guild Canteen cafe, and watching the MTN Heathens beat every team they play at Kyadondo Rugby Club or Lugogo Rugby Ground over beers and pork, and spending public holidays at Aero beach all day and eating fresh, whole Tilapia with chips for dinner overlooking Lake Victoria at night, and stopping for Rolex in Wandegeya after a night at Iguana's or Steak Out, and watching bootleg movies for 2000/= (< USD $1) and listening to 100+ popular Ugandan songs on burned CDs for 5000/= (< USD $2.50), and spending Sunday mornings at the Baha'i Temple, and spending Sunday afternoons learning how to cook Ugandan food...
Actually, Nicholas was telling me Makerere University is notorious for its student riots, that there's riots almost as often as graduation. Once or twice over the past month I've actually had my Luganda tutor Francis cancel our lesson as a precaution against getting caught in any political activity on campus incited by the protests, but so far, there's only been a day or two of student rioting, and a 1-man hunger strike. In general, there's only been a day or two of rioting in Kampala (the same two days) where it became necessary to avoid downtown, but because I live and work slightly north of downtown, and because you really have to be within a certain range of the protesting (and I don't participate in the protests), I've luckily been outside of that range, and I've been relatively safe and out of harm's way.
Makerere University LC5 councillor Bernard Luyiga camping with his mosquito net outside the Main gate on hunger strike:
Unfortunately, Luyiga was hospitalized on day 2 of striking after he collapsed outside the Main gate and was rushed to the Makerere University hospital.
But inspired by Luyiga (I swear I had nothing to do with this :), students are proposing to streak in protest!!!
"We’re ready to move about naked and protest against this government’s brutality," said Joseph Kakooza, the IPC chairman at Makerere. -The Observer
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