A lush green soursop tree and a gooseberry plant as seen from my window
Day: 11 Something/ Things I miss in the Lockdown
I know myself too well to know that I thrive best when I am surrounded by people especially loved ones.
I believe that we are given to each other to be there for each other. We give to one another and enrich each other’s life. I am of the conservative type who still believe that physical interaction with people requires me to move where the people are or they move to where I am. In this lockdown I cannot do what I want when I want it. It has robbed me of some control over my own life.
I understand very well that the lockdown is for my own health and safety as well as the health and safety of others. It is also temporary but as a human being, at times I find myself thinking that this lockdown at home-cum-cage is now running my life. Yes, I can easily communicate with my loved ones and friends by calling them or talk to them on WhatsApp or Skype but these have their limitations too.
The psychologists tell us that Communication is the bedrock of all human relationships. Effective, open communication is about 30- 40% verbal and 60-70% non-verbal. I can easily get to know what is going on with any of my children by just a simple handshake- of course now thrown out by the COVID-19 pandemic safety regulations, by hands being rubbed over the chin or hands raised in the air in resignation and a simple shrug of the shoulders. Eyes can widen in fear or joy or be closed in confusion, a genuine smile with the eyes and a spring in the gait conveys their confidence to me.
The “Hullo. I’m fine,” that I hear on the phone, reveals very little about the speaker.
I spent the fourteen years of my formal education in one boarding school near Kampala. I never felt that I was caged in because the school is built on a large area that includes a big library, a farm, several sports fields, tennis courts, a chapel, a tuck shop, a sick bay and an amphitheatre. We were encouraged to know each other well , forge friendships and to engage fully in the school activities which even included a Visiting club to help out the elderly in the surrounding village. There was never a dull moment from the time I woke up at 6 am to the time I slept at 10 pm. I knew exactly when the new term would end before it even started.
This unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic lockdown just happened; at the rate the virus was spreading and killing people all over the world , no country had time to prepare for the lockdown. Most people just stayed where they were. I am lucky that I am not alone at home; at least I have my mother and young helper with me. We try to turn each day into a game by entertaining ourselves and keeping ourselves busy. We exercise, spend some time in our small garden, cook meals together, listen to the Ministry of Health Safety Guidelines and updates and the President’s speeches. We pray together and listen to great music on the radio, TV and Internet.
However, the uncertainty still hangs over us because neither the Scientists and doctors nor the government know when the lockdown will end.
Life still goes on. Sometimes, wearing a mask, I walk down to the supermarkets to buy a few groceries but a number of items may not be in stock. This is when I miss doing what I want when I want plus the freedom of movement. I would just get into a car and buy them elsewhere. I have lost some relatives and friends during this lockdown and I feel sorry that I cannot be physically with the bereaved families to support them.
The COVID-19 pandemic lockdown has shrunk my world and limited the physical interactions with loved ones but it has helped me to build a stronger relationship with my mother having missed her for the twenty two years I was in economic exile, and my new helper. Using the fresh harvest of sweet bananas from our garden , the young lady has taught me how to make pancakes- kabalagala. I am becoming better at it each time we prepare some. My regular supplier in Wandegeya will not like to hear this at all.
I am grateful that I am not alone in the house, that I have a small garden where I can spend time connecting with nature and the best part: I can escape from it all by immersing myself in Creative writing and reading with less distractions and interruptions.
I never forget to thank God Almighty for the outcome so far. As of the 28/04/2020,Uganda had tested a total of 20329 suspects of which 79 were confirmed , 52 of these are Recoveries and no deaths among them or the attending health care workers. I thank, cheer and commend our health care workers for their dedication and hard work at the front line while at the same time carrying their own fears and worries about the hidden enemy.
I remain hopeful that the highly infectious COVID-19 will not spread into the community to overwhelm our fragile health care system and warrant the extension of the Lockdown beyond 5th May 2020.
These two quotes should uplift and encourage us to keep walking and learning as we go.
“Sometimes the smallest step in the right direction ends up being the biggest step of your life. Tip toe if you must, but take the step.”– Unknown
“When obstacles arise, you change your direction to reach your goal; you do not change your decision to get there.” – Zig Zigla
QUESTIONS :
In this unprecedented lockdown, which big obstacle have you been able to turn into an advantage or game? What motivated you to do it ?
I have been around for a while so I have experiences of my own,I have observed others and I know. All in all, experience is the best teacher but still the wisest among us learn from others’ mistakes. Life is essentially about relationships and the choices we make which themselves have consequences. You have a relationship with your God, yourself, your spouse, your family, your friends and other people around you.
Man is a social animal, naturally seeking companionship of others as part of his well being. He goes about life looking for acceptance, affirmation, approval and acknowledgement. It gives us a sense of belonging.
It takes two to tango but no two relationships are the same because each individual brings something to the relationship and contributes to its joy or misery. It takes a lifetime to grow a rewarding, satisfying and lasting relationship. There is a very old song : Take Time to Know Her – it’s not an overnight thing. It takes a lot of work , commitment , dedication and sometimes some sacrifice.
What I am writing here is the best advice that I would give to my son and daughter- in –law or my daughter and son-in-law or any of my friends ‘children and their spouses. I would give it gladly with the intention of helping them create healthy relationship that will grow every day to enrich the two people in it.
From my own experiences, my observations of others and from what I have come to know for sure, these are the four main ingredients of a healthy,loving relationship:
LOVE– True love is the foundation of any robust relationship.
With love everything is possible because love covers everything. This love starts from each individual loving, accepting and respecting herself /himself for who he/she is- strengths and weakness, the good, the bad and ugly. Filled with such love then you can go out confidently and love your partner for who he /she is not for what you want her/him to be.
I wasted a lot of time trying to change my husband only to find out later that the only person I could change was myself. You love unconditionally and polish it up every day with small acts of kindness otherwise it withers and dies.
There is one book that I wish I had read many times over early on in my life, I would have been a better companion but the book came out in 1992. It is called The Five Love Languages by an American Relationship counselor, Gary Chapman. Ironically, his marriage was almost falling apart when he came up with the ideas in that book and it saved his marriage. Chapman believes that there are 5 primary languages in which love can be expressed and be experienced in a romantic relationship. Each individual has a dominant and special way he/she wants love expressed to her/him. Failing to receive love in that form, he/she will feel unloved, uncared for.
The 5 primary Love languages are :
Words of Affirmation
Quality Time
Receiving Gifts
Acts of Service
Physical Touch
People give love mostly in their primary love language and expect it back in that form.
You can easily discover your spouse’s primary Love language by observing how he/she expresses love to you and what he/ she complains about in the relationship most of the time.
I speak the ‘ Quality Time’ language.
When you speak to the spouse in the language he/ she knows , you speak to her/his mind but when you speak to her/him in her/his own language you speak to her/his heart.
When you discover your partner’s primary Love language and speak it to her loud and clear 24/7, she will feel loved and cared for. This great feeling will fire her/him to give love back to you in your own primary Love language.
When you predominantly give me words of affirmation and yet I am for Quality Time, you could be speaking Greek to me as far as loving me is concerned.
This book is a gem and I would recommend it to anyone, young and old who is in a relationship. Reading it together, as often as possible, will take your relationship to greater heights day by day. Remember it saved Chapman’s marriage.
Feeling loved and cared for is an incredible feeling. Such love trickles through everything you do. You become creative and most times you create miracles of life- children, out of that love in your heart. The Taj Mahal, a palace in India was built by a Shah in 1632 to house the tomb of his favourite wife. Most master pieces of Art are created out of great love in the artist’s heart.
2. RESPECT– Like love, trust and loyalty , respecting your spouse starts with you respecting yourself.
Respect yourself for what you are as a human being; your strengths and flaws then you can confidently respect and love your partner for who he/she is and consider her/his wishes and feelings before making decisions. You respect your partner as an equal ; trust her/him and have faith in her/his judgment. You may not agree about things all the time but choose to disagree amicably.
Over time, as you get to know each other better, the respect tends to grow and you become each other’s best friend.
Oddly enough, you can love someone without respecting him/her but then that won’t be a healthy relationship and is hard to sustain.
3. TRUST- This is the faith you have in your partner that he/she will always love you and be loyal enough to stand by you. Each partner has to work to deserve to be trusted by the other. You have to mean what you say and do what you say. As actions speak louder than words, by your actions and behavior, you prove that you are dependable and reliable. It takes time and hard work for you to build enough trust in your spouse to feel secure and confide in you. Trusting one another brings out the best in each other thus contributing to the growth of your love for each other.The most absurd thing is that it takes long to build trust but it can be broken by one betrayal. Once trust is lost, it may take years to rebuild it.
4. Open and Honest Communication– I would say that this is what strings things together in a relationship. Social animals communicate with one another mainly for survival. We all fear what we do not know or do not understand so talking to one another, talking things through makes us secure. When you understand you forgive and then you love and when you love you never hurt but instead you protect your loved one. We communicate to be understood. Communication is about 40% verbal and about 60% non-verbal so observe the facial expressions, movements and gestures. Social interaction is essential for our emotional and mental well being.
Effective communication has to be open and honest;talk about everything and anything in your lives- no secrets. What you do not talk about has the power to enslave you. You express your needs , wants, desires to your partner to help her/him understand what you want from her/him. Both of you have to learn to be good listeners- listening with a third ear to go beyond understanding what is being said but at the same time pick unstated needs and fears. Listening to one another is a sign of respect. Without effective communication unwanted problems arise and small ones grow bigger.
I used to play Tennis in my youth, it taught me a lot of things about life itself.
A healthy relationship with two people in love with each other especially when united as one in marriage can be compared to a good Tennis game. A good player connects with the ball, anticipates and prepares and then hits the ball. The more you learn how to raise your partner’s game, the more you enjoy the game. In any exciting game, you are as good as a your opponent. You respond in such a way as to help your partner make it through the struggles. A good game always demands mental strength and total focus without distractions.
They say that to love is to be alive; engaging fully with life and your surroundings.
The COVID-19 pandemic rages on , affecting all aspects of society- health, financial, movement and getting down to our relationships and choices. All of us are longing for the world we know and yet we know that it will definitely be a new Normal.
The majority of people in the world are under some form of lockdown to control the spread of the virus in communities and to ensure that that health care systems do not get overwhelmed by the number of patients. It happened in Italy, Spain, UK, New York right before our eyes. No government would want to see it happen in its country.
In Uganda, as of last night, we were in day 8 of the lockdown and a curfew from 7pm to 7am. The total number of confirmed cases was 61 of which 51 had been treated and discharged. Thankfully, we had not suffered any deaths among the cases or the health workers. The strict lockdown is set to continue until the 5th May 2020. We all hope and pray that the numbers of cases will not surge to warrant an extension of the lockdown and curfew. The government has done a commendable job in adhering to the advice of WHO and health professionals in the Ministry of Health and Uganda Virus Research Institute as well as supplying food to the most needy around the city. Digital technology has made it easy to collect information and data which is then analysed to determine the next course of action and to keep the public well informed and part of the control plans.
I have come to trust the face and words of Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, the Minister of Health and to appreciate the dedication and heavy burden on the health workers who are at the frontline of this battle. They have energetically tapped into their experiences of managing the Ebola epidemics of the recent past.
Citizens and professional all alike, our priority now is to protect ourselves from this invisible enemy, survive the lockup and move into the New Normal.
We are confined to our homes knowing very well that the environment always sets the rules and we have to live by those rules. In these confined spaces, we are forced to learn to be alone ( in some cases)or be congested , to be quieter and to entertain ourselves.
These are difficult but temporary times so we live one day at a time under a cloud of uncertainty. Under such environment, each one of us has on purpose to tap into the child in her/him to be able to make a game out of this lockdown . It is the only way to keep mentally, physically and emotional in top shape.
I remember some years back, one of my sons misbehaved and I punished him by locking him up in an empty room. He went in screaming but within a few minutes he was strikingly quiet. Like a monkey, he had climbed over the burglar proofing of the second door and was looking at the people passing by in the road. He was enjoying it! He had turned a punishment into a game!
Children approach any situation with spontaneity and openness. We cannot allow ourselves to stagnate during this lockdown; time once lost, it cannot be recovered.
With childlike enthusiasm, we have to explore and create some laughter, fun, adventure and colour in our confined spaces. The child in each one of us never goes away though as we grow up, we tend to be too focused on the past or the future to be fully open and spontaneous. Lockdown time should give us an opportunity to regain what is natural to each of us as children. We would all be alive if we responded creatively and anew to each new experience.
It is time to talk, laugh, play music, write, read, cook , paint, to do gardening or a DIY around the house or anything daring or outrageous to break the routine. Do it with childlike abandon with no sense of guilt. Take one day at a time. Do it on purpose; it will help you adjust to this temporary and difficult time. The complaining and whining will only make an already difficult time worse.
While researching for material for this post I came across some encouraging quotes that can uplift us.
“ God put rainbows in the clouds so that each of us – in dreariest and most dreaded moments- can see a possibility of hope.” Maya Angelou
“ Acting from a negative attitude attracts more negativity in your life. It’s your life; live it well.”- Judge Judy Sheindlin
“You may chain my hands, you may shackle my feet, you may even throw me into a dark prison; but you shall never enslave my thinking, because it is free.’’ – Kahlil Gibran.
“In life you either choose to sing a rainbow, or you don’t. Keep singing.” – Catherine Lory
“There comes a point in life when you realize that your darkest times are your best times, too- you will see the rainbow of your life.” Roy Bennet
“My parents survived the Great Depression and brought me up to live within my means, save for tomorrow, share and don’t be greedy, work hard for the necessities in life. Knowing that money does not make you better or more important than anyone else. So, extravagance has been bred out of my DNA.”- David Suzuki
The greatest generation was formed first by the Great Depression. They shared everything- meals, joy, clothing. – Tom Brokaces
“ It took capitalism half a century to come back from the Great Depression.” – Ben Shapiro
“Courage is the power to let go of the familiar.” – Raymond Lindquist
“Change the way you look at things and the things you look at will change.”– Wayne. W. Dyer
11.“Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. ” – George Bernard Shaw
12. “The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts thesails.” William Arthur Ward.
13. “ True life is lived when tiny changes occur.” Leo Tolstoy
14.“ All things are difficult before they are easy.” – Thomas Fuller
15. “ Delays are valuable challenges. Stop complaining and whining instead exploit them to create a rainbow. The rainbow will show up.” –Anonymous.
As we wonder when the COVID-19 pandemic will end, how it will end and how it will change us and our world, we have to understand that the COVID-19, Corona virus Disease, will not just disappear, instead it will become part of our lives. We just keep hoping that the drugs to treat it and the vaccine to control it will be discovered sooner than later, to help us go on with our lives.
In 1978, I took six months of internship in the paediatric department of the New Mulago Teaching hospital . To my shock and horror, I recognised that a minimum of ten children under five years of age were dying of the viral infection , Measles, and its complications. Each time I was on duty in the Acute Care Unit, I would leave the place shaken and crushed in spirit. That was one reason why I could not specialize in the care of infants, children and adolescents- Paediatrics.
WHO archives show that in 1980, before the widespread vaccination of Measles , the disease caused an estimated 2.6 million deaths each year in the world. Amazingly , by 2015, due to the widespread use of the safe and effective vaccine, the highly infectious viral infection caused an estimated 134, 200 deaths worldwide , most of them in the under five children. The vaccine had reduced the deaths caused by measles by 79%! The Global Vaccination Action Plan targets a 90 % immunization coverage. The current Immunisation coverage of measles in the under five years in Uganda is about 82 % while Botswana has an Immunisation coverage of all childhood diseases of 97 %. In the two decades I worked in the Primary Health Care department of Botswana, I only saw two cases of Measles and they were mild. I picked them quickly due to my haunting experience in the Paediatric department in Mulago.
Companies in USA, UK, Israel , China and other countries are working round the clock to develop a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine. It is encouraging to hear that trials in human beings have started in USA and UK. Normally it takes years to develop any safe, effective vaccine but thanks to the new technology like genetic sequencing, the vaccine to this new vaccine may take 6 to 18 months!
Before we know it, we could be walking around with a mild infection of CODIV-19.
Meanwhile , let us keep ourselves safe and others safe. We all stand to gain from this strict lockdown.
The innocent smile of a child.
QUESTION:
What is the biggest challenge that you face every day during this COVID-19 Lockdown? How have you tried to solve it ?
The lockdown intended to slow down the spread of the COVID-19 virus and to help in saving lives, is likely to continue in most of our countries. In my country, Uganda , we have 55 confirmed cases so far of whom 5 have been discharged, Thankfully, we have no associated deaths among the cases and the health care providers. The Lockdown was extended for another 21 days as of 15/04/20. We expected the extension which even includes a curfew from 7pm to 7am the question was : for how long?
We brace ourselves for another 21 days; confined in our homes for our own safety and for the safety of others.
In today’s world, we want to control things to the point of predicting the outcome in a given situation but then this new virus has rendered us all: rich and poor, black and white ,powerless . No one knows when it will end or the overall social and economic effect it will have on our lives. Consequently, we are stressed , anxious and confused . Looking back at Wuhun, China, the first epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, it took 76 days of tight lockdown and testing to relax the restrictions gradually.
What can help us to go through this lockdown with relative ease, is for us not to lose hope and to remain positive. Nothing lasts forever, it will end and each day brings us closer to that eventuality. To remain hopeful and positive , each one of us has the responsibility to be kind and to spread joy other than panic and fear. Having said that, I would advise that you also pay attention to what you experience every day so that you pick the lessons you need to learn to inform the resetting of your life now and in the future. In life, no experience is ever wasted.
“ Do not throw a grenade, it is already messy,” I have had someone advise.
We should all be striving to brighten up our lives and other people’s lives too.
In my own simple way, I am trying to bring colour and energy into our lives by sharing some colourful photos from my collection.
I hope they will colour your life too and keep you hopeful and enthusiastic about life.
A plate of fresh tropical fruits
Colourful and inviting to the eyes and to the palate. The yellow colour evokes warmth and comfort while red evokes love and excitement.
Lush green shrubs and trees- the leaves glistening in the sunlight, remind me that to live is to be really alive: aware of who you are and your surroundings and engaging fully with life. Connecting with Nature helps me find my place in the universe and reminds me of my important duty of protecting and preserving it for future generations.
The calm blue ocean
It calms and relaxes my soul. It always reminds me that I have to be calm and peaceful to think rationally.
The iconic, rugged Table Mountains , Cape Town , South Africa.
When it rains long enough, even the desert blooms
The tall coconut tree- able to survive hurricanes! It belongs to a family of old trees which have evolved over million of years to withstand their harsh environment. They have spongy tissues and root ball systems that spread over a big surface area to tap nourishment and water.
I agree with the behavioural psychologists that our true perception of colours is deeply rooted in our experiences and culture.
At the moment, the majority of us are living in confined spaces but each one can make some effort to go out and simply create the life he/she wants under these difficult and unprecedented times. Like the professional artist, little by little , day by day, each one of us can create beauty and significance in her/his life using her/his gifts, talents and imagination. Being technology- savvy keeps you kilometers ahead.
Even in this COVID-19 – induced lockdown, the clock has not stopped and life is still an adventure . I am required to apply some passion, perseverance, patience, a sense of adventure and discipline, to create the life I want for myself. I have all the colours of the rainbow to choose from as I paint the canvas of my life. Using bold, bright colours will help me to keep my enthusiasm for life. Every day, I have to motivate myself by believing that I have to go through this experience to rise to another level of mastery. Challenges and struggles make our lives interesting and overcoming them gives us more confidence and power.
Like the coconut trees which evolved to become flexible and adaptable to withstand hurricanes, during this pandemic , we are truly growing, hardening and evolving. Many of us will still be standing when the COVID-19 pandemic is over and we shall be stronger, wiser and more adventurous .
One famous quote by Robert H. Schuller has come to my mind: Tough times never last, but tough people do.”
QUESTION:
What kind of routine have you developed to help you find optimal well being physically, emotionally and mentally during this Lockdown period?
I read my Bible regularly and that Book of the Philosopher known as Ecclesiastes, verse 15 of the third chapter confirms what we all know: Whatever happens or can happen has already happened before. God makes the same things happen again and again.
While I was reading about pandemics under Medical history and Ethics , I found out that influenza pandemics had occurred regularly every 30-40 years since the 16th century and the question that was always on people’s minds was: When is the next one?
The most deadly Influenza Pandemic of modern times was the Spanish one of 1918-1920. It did not originate in Spain but the 1st World War was raging in Europe from July 28th 1914 to November 11th 1918. The influenza pandemic was spreading quickly in war- ravaged Europe and regulations did not allow journalists to talk about the pandemic but Spain was a neutral country in that war so its journalists could report freely about the pandemic and its economic effect on Spain. This is why it was called the Spanish Influenza. Investigative research later suggested that it could have originated in Kansas, USA in the spring of 1918. It spread quickly to Europe, North Africa, India and Australia.
The movement of people and the military during the war, the poor food supplies, and the malnourished state of the people, facilitated the spread of the virus. The Spanish Influenza Pandemic is believed to have caused 500 million infections and killed 50 million of them. It killed people mainly between 18 and 45 years of age. The death rate of 2% caused great economic disruption and decline. It was declared a global public health problem and guidelines were put in place to contain it.
The main focus was on Prevention and Control of the spread of the pandemic by :
Identifying the classic symptoms and alerting the public
Obligatory confinement of suspected cases followed by tracing their contacts and quarantining them.
Symptomatic treatment of cases – many of the patients died of pneumonia caused by a bacteria in lungs already weakened by the virus infection.
Closure of all public places and stopping all public gatherings and congregations.
Minimising travel and quarantining travelers from areas where there were outbreaks of the infection.
The people were given the right information and empowered to take on their individual responsibilities of keeping themselves and others safe.
After this unprecedented pandemic, many lessons were learned from the mistakes and what was done right. Public health was strengthened and Essential guidelines were developed which are still being used today to fight pandemics
Coronavirus disease – COVID-19
These are different times ; we are living in a well-connected world ,connected through quick modes of transportation like aeroplanes, trains, marine, vehicles on connected roadways. We are living in the science and technology –driven 21st century. The Internet allows the generation, analysis of data and transfer of it over networks. People can easily influence each other.
Since the Spanish flue pandemic, there have been many medical advances in the diagnosis , management and control of common diseases and new ones like SARS and Ebola.
By April 1948, the United Nations had established the World Health Organization(WHO) as the co-coordinating and authority on International Public health and one of its main functions is to fight diseases and to stop them from spreading.
WHO declared COVID- 19 as a public health Emergency on the 30 th January 2020. The Corona virus is a new virus, it is a respiratory virus, has no treatment or vaccine and no one has immunity to it. The first cases were reported by 27th December 2019 as mysterious pneumonia cases in the city of Wuhan, China. Available records of last week from Wuhun showed 81,470 confirmed cases, 75,770 recovered and 3,304 deaths. Wuhan Province has been in total shut down for eight weeks in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus to mainland China and other countries of the world.
UGANDA
The first case was confirmed on 21 st March 2020 and immediately, some restrictions to movement and to public gathering and congregation were put in place for at least 32 days.
The Ministry of Health has done a commendable job in educating us about the new disease, how to protect ourselves and others and what to do if you suspect you have the main symptoms and how to boost your immunity to infections.
Daily updates on the progress of the pandemic at home and worldwide keep us on the right path and empower us to do the right things during this period of uncertainty. I only hope that we are being told the truth about the spread of this invisible killer.
As of today 30th March, 33 cases have been confirmed at the Uganda Virus Research Institute, Entebbe. They are all imported cases- people who travelled and returned home from countries like United Arab Emirates. Thankfully, the virus has not yet spread into the Community. This must have dictatated the total lockdown declared by the president last night and being effective from 10pm. Uganda is a developing country, has limited resources, if the virus spread into our community fast, the numbers of patients would definitely overwhelm our fragile health care system. The fact that 78% of our population is under the age of 30, could be an advantage to us and so are the lessons learned from having lived through and controlled the Gulu Ebola epidemic of 2000, of the west in 2007 and the Luwero outbreaks of 2011 and 2012. They say that what does not kill you makes you stronger and wiser.
We are following the WHO guidelines to the letter: early detection by quick testing and quick isolation followed by contact tracing to limit the spread of the virus together with the provision of Protective personal equipment to the health workers on the frontline.
The most vulnerable among us like the elderly, those in self –isolation, those on HIV /AIDS treatment will need to be supported by the government through this pandemic. No doubt, the lockdown will shrink the economy and family incomes but staying healthy takes the priority for now.
Being in the high risk age group, I have not left home since the declaration of the first restrictions on 21st March. I cannot thank God enough for giving me this opportunity to be with my octogenarian mother during this unprecedented situation. It has allayed our anxiety and fears. But as a typical Ugandan family, our close relatives are scattered as far as Australia, Canada, UK, Sweden, Italy, USA, Kenya, and Cape Town, South Africa. We are closely connected on Social Media and mobile phones. We are asking two questions: When will it end? and Will life ever be the same again?
As a health worker, I find it extremely disheartening to see what is happening in hospitals in Italy. I pray that it does not happen elsewhere.
South Korea is a notable example of a country which slowed down the spread of the virus without applying the strict lockdown strategies taken elsewhere. In January, the country quickly confirmed that they had some COVID-19 cases and immediately restricted movement while testing widely and aggressively. They isolated the cases and quarantined suspects. They used digital technology like mobile phones, ATM cards to trace contacts. It reduced the spread of the virus without lockdown .
The reopening of Wuhun, a Chinese city of 11 million people after eight weeks of total lockdown gives us some hope.
This global pandemic is reminding us of how interconnected we are to each other and that we can only defeat the virus if we engaged and worked collectively. Each one of us has a small role to play that fits in the big picture.The reality is that drugs have to be developed, tested and approved for use in human beings. A vaccine is likely to take 6-18 months to be developed but life has somehow to go on.
I for one have been reminded of not taking life and loved ones for granted and that I can only live a bigger life if I am connected to others. And that my health is my greatest wealth!
Life never ceases to surprise; on the 29th March 2020, BBC World service featured Bob Weighton of UK as the oldest man in the world. He was celebrating 112 years on that day. What was most interesting about him is that he had lived through the great Spanish Influenza pandemic of 1919 and was now locked down in his home due to the current CODIV-19 Pandemic!
As they say, it always gets worse before it gets better, we all need to prepare ourselves for the worst and to do everything possible to support each other through the pandemic.
“ May you see sunshine where others see shadows and opportunities where others see obstacles.- Unknown
QUESTION:
Are you playing your role seriously in protecting yourself and others from this infectious virus?
In many countries of the world, women are poorer and are marginalized compared to the men. The earliest Women’s Day was observed in New York in February 1909. On March 8th 1917, a demonstration of the women working in the textile factories in the then Russian Empire, over food shortages and a weak economy sparked off the Russian Revolution. A week later, Tsar Nicholas 11 of Russia abdicated and the women won their rights to vote.
At the first UN women’s conference held in Mexico in 1975, the United Nations declared 1975-1985 as the Women’s decade. It was to draw attention to the plight of women and to focus on policies and issues that would improve their status in the world. It also adopted 8th March as the International Women’s Day.
The day serves to recognise the women and girls contribution towards the development and progress of society. It also serves to acknowledge the achievements made and how far women still have to go in the battle of equal rights. In Uganda, the day was first officially celebrated in 1984, a year before the end of the UN Decade for women. The conference to mark the end of the UN Women’s Decade and to chart the way forward was held in Nairobi, Kenya July 1985. Women delegations from 160 countries in the world converged in Nairobi. Surprisingly, I was included in the Uganda delegation as a medical doctor at the eleventh hour. Women have been graduating as medical doctors in Uganda, since 1959!
I was the youngest member of our delegation. A military coup occurred in Uganda during the three weeks we were away. The Obote 11 government was overthrown by a faction of the army headed by Brig Bazilio Okello and six months later, the National Resistance Army commanded by Yoweri Museveni toppled Okello’s government.
When the dust settled, a few of us lobbied the new National Resistance Movement government for a Ministry of Women in Development to drive the agenda of empowering women to actively participate in the development of Uganda and to fight for their rights. Since women’s health and development feed each other, I organized a group of Women doctors around Kampala to establish the Association of Uganda Women Doctors .Our main objective was to promote and protect the health of women and children and the general population. We strongly believed that women had to be healthy to participate fully in development.
I celebrated the International Women’s Day, 8th March 2020 , a day early with the young medical students at Makerere University Teaching Hospital, Mulago. The students organized some activities to mark the day under the theme: The Woman Within. The activities included aerobics and Salsa and a panel discussion about the Women Doctors’ Association, etiquette, entrepreneurship and relationships.
Then on Sunday , I chose to attend the Old girls-led worship service at my old school, Gayaza High school. The singing, the praise and thanksgiving was comforting to all of us after last Friday’s fire that gutted Corby house . The Lord of the storm was in our midst.
At home, my octogenarian mother celebrated the day watching the official government celebrations in Mbale, about 225 kilometres northeast of Kampala. The activities organized under the theme: Celebrating 25 years of the 1995 Constitution, were to celebrate the women and their contribution to the development of our country. The 1995 constitution made women and men equal before and under the law and entitled to all the rights and freedoms in it. All in all, some achievements have been made but still there is a huge gap between policy and practice.
My mother watched in fascination, pausing only to pick water or fresh fruits from the refrigerator or use the bathroom. The degenerative arthritis has slowed down her movements but she still has the will to struggle against it. Currently, among the things she looks out for on the television are: the consecration of a Catholic bishop, the church services celebrating the Kabaka’s coronation anniversary and birthday and the Women’s Day Celebration. She is one woman who struggled to find her sense of autonomy by committing to her children, work and belief system but still remained feminine.
At 12 noon, I found her glued to the television watching the march -past parade led by the women in the Army and Police. A number of speeches followed while I went in and out of the sitting room doing my usual chores. It did not end until twenty minutes to 4pm! She called me out loud to watch the grand finale of the celebrations: the presentation of medals to honour 82 women for their distinguished service to our nation.
“ Do you know any of these women being recognised today?”she asked.
I laughed, “Mama, I’ve been away for more than two decades, I ‘d not know any of the young officers who have come up through ranks.’’
I listened more carefully. At least I knew Angelina Wapakhabulo, Lydia Wanyoto, Tsekooko and Beatrice Namukabya.
A Message alert signal led me to check my phone. It was from Faith, a classmate in Gayaza High School. She is an engineer married in Kenya. She was informing me that her mother was among those being honoured .
I sat tight and waited . Mrs. Miriam Lumonya ‘s name was read out , unfortunately I did not see her join the group. As the Coronavirus has taken over our lives, there were no handshakes with the President or among the women themselves.
“ Does anyone ever remember to honour in some way the women in the villages? They ‘re the architects of our communities. They give until they can give no more.”
“ I ‘ve no idea but I ‘d think that each district would honour its own heroines.”
I understood my mother’s concern for the women deep in the rural areas of Uganda. 70% of Ugandan women live in the rural areas, starting their day at 5am and ending it 11pm!
Our patriarchal society has preordained them to being the primary caregivers- they take care of their husbands, children, the elderly and the sick. They are so consumed by this role that they forget to take care of themselves. They have little power, authority and they undervalue themselves. They tend to sacrifice their autonomy to relationships.
In this state , they can never find their unique rhythm, their wisdom or their sense of what is uniquely theirs to give. They cannot factor their own needs into the network of caring relationships. They badly need help to find the balance between responsibility for others and responsibility to oneself.
To me, these are the unsung heroines of the Women’s Day and the best one known to me is my mother!
My mother lost her father at a very tender age , she had one big sister and a younger brother. They grew up with their mother who refused to remarry into the husband’s family as the culture dictated. She instead committed to her children. The elder sister walked about three kilometres to the nearest Catholic school of the area. Recognizing that my mother was too small to walk that journey, my grandmother pleaded with the headmaster of the nearby Protestant school to take on her daughter. It was done but it was unheard of at that time!
A Catholic priest from the Lugazi Diocese was on his routine tour of the parish when he was told of a Catholic girl attending a Protestant school. Father Bohn talked to my grandmother( through an interpreter) and persuaded her to allow her daughter to join the Catholic boarding primary school of Mt. Saint Mary’s Namagunga. The Irish missionary nun , Mother Mary Kevin Kearney ( 1875- 1957)had in February 1942, opened the school to promote the education of girls. She wanted to increase the opportunities and help them lead better lives in our patriarchal society. She also believed that if these educated girls grew up and married educated Catholic men , they would bring up Catholic children.
My mother spent six years in Mother Kevin’s school then joined Nsambya Catholic Nursing and Midwifery school for three years. The school had also been started by Mother Mary Kevin since she believed that Uganda needed its own teachers and nurses. The midwives would reduce the maternal and infant deaths.
My mother completed midwifery and was planning to take up Nursing after two years but then my father appeared on the scene. Recognizing that my father was much older than my mother, my grandmother was reluctant to give away her daughter.
” My daughter needs a cushion to fall back on. No one knows what the future holds.”
My mother worked for three years then out of my father’s persistence, grandmother blessed their union. They had six of us and we were what I would call a happy family.
Then thirteen years later, without any warning, my mother left home and went back to work as a midwife.That is what she wanted for her life. Probably she found her identity in work. My father never understood why she had traded-off her easy life for a working one!
For thirty years she worked in several maternity centres in the central region. She worked with passion, took opportunities to train and grow. She rose through the ranks. She worked for more than ten years at her last station, Nakifuma, 26 kilometres northeast of Mukono.
At one time , she had delivered most of the children of the village. It earned her a new name :Omuzaalisa we Nakifuma ( the midwife of Nakifuma) and it earned her a lot of respect and free gifts. Her Maternity unit became a teaching centre for the Lugazi area.
Two weeks ago, I met Dr. Adam Kimala, one of her supervisors , he was full of praise for her.
My happiest moment was in 1982 when I was a first year Postgraduate student in Obstetrics & Gynaecology at the University Teaching hospital, Mulago. A young woman was referred to us from Nakifuma maternity centre because she was bleeding in her late pregnancy. We quickly operated on her, delivered a normal baby and saved the mother. I recognised my mother’s handwriting on the referral form! By then things were operating relatively well, there was a functional referral system; one ambulance served four clinics in the district. My mother was extremely proud of being a member of a functional health care system.
I asked her about her concerns at the present time.
She lives near the Kawempe Referral Women’s hospital and her niece works there as a senior midwife. The niece has told her that the patients overwhelm the number of staff.
My mother wonders why many women are being delivered by Caesarian section and that a number of these mothers and the babies die. The fact that a number of women still deliver unassisted by health workers and that every day, 16 women die in Uganda from pregnancy and childbirth –related causes , nags her conscience.
The teenage pregnancies also concern her. She begs the adults to allow these girls to become adults before they become mothers.
The last time she visited Nakifuma maternity centre, it was a rundown place. She is not likely to go back.
She has a great sense of radical thankfulness and celebration of her life; she mothered seven children, committed to midwifery, saving women’s lives over thirty years and was able to be both true to herself and to commit to the things and people she loves. She has remained a staunch Catholic and feels that she has in her own way played a role in raising the status of women in society like her teacher:Mother Mary Kevin.
She remains my unsung heroine.
“ A woman becomes better at multitasking when she becomes a mother.”– Anonymous
QUESTION:
Has this post helped you to see how in your own way you can assist the woman in the rural area balance her responsibility to others with her responsibility to herself?
A few days ago, I was given an opportunity through the Pamela Kadama Senkatuka Foundation to visit my old school to introduce the Career Guidance Programme to the Form 1 students. The foundation was set up in June 2015 to carry forward the legacy of a young ,enthusiastic electrical and telecommunication engineer who in her short life played the role of a change agent wherever she was stationed. She was an alumnus of Gayaza High School.
Because of the examples set by my father and the young, vibrant church Missionary teachers at my school, giving back to the community I live in is as natural to me as breathing.
As a Christian I am very much aware of what is required of me: To whom much is given , much will be required. ( Luke 12:48)
We are blessed not to contain but to bless others through giving and sharing.
Maya Angelou said: “When you learn , teach and when you get, give.”
My fourteen years at Gayaza High School endowed me with many remarkable gifts and abilities like Christian values and principles, the Never Give Up spirit and lifetime friendships. They shaped me into whom I am today. What I learned years ago on the school farm, during the housework period, in the school plays and on the sports teams still has meaning today. My way of giving back to this great school is to uphold its values and principles and become a role model and create young role models by the way I live my life.
Among the most thrilling words that one can be told are: “ When I grow up , I want to be like you- helping people and enjoying it.”
I have met many young girls who want to grow up and be like Dr. Specioza Wandira Kazibwe, a surgeon, wife, mother, and the first woman Vice President of Uganda or Julia Sebutinde, a Ugandan judge on the International Court of Justice.
These ordinary women struggled against all odds to become extraordinary in our patriarchal society! They ,changed the mindset and possibilities of young women much more and faster than the policies and laws on paper.
Many times, I have been thrilled to meet young doctors who became doctors out of the desire to be like me and women who became lawyers after seeing Mrs. Sarah Bagalaaliwo’s voluntary efforts to help women at FIDA- the Uganda chapter of International Federation of Women Lawyers.
On a warm , sunny day , a group of us including grandmothers, mothers and young women of different professions, spent almost two hours with the 280 newly admitted Form 1 students in that majestic school chapel. They were seated on the same pews that I had sat on decades ago! For some minutes , I was confused whether the school uniform had been changed since they were all wearing white blouses and black skirts. These girls aged between 12-14 years were the cream of the a thousand or so students who applied for admission to this 115 years old Church-founded school.This admission in itself confers upon them some form of privilege and burdens them with huge expectations from the school, family and society.
I hoped that it was not lost on them that privileges are always tagged with responsibilities, more opportunities come with challenges and that all choices have consequences.The students of the Class 2020, looked so young, so vibrant that they reminded me of my teenage years donkey’s years ago. They are today’s young ones, full of trust and optimism. In this digital era, they are the igeneration –defined by their technology and media use, their love for electronical consumerism and their need to multitask.
During my time- the Baby Boomer generation, the school was the epitome of social progress; admitting students from all the districts of Uganda. Miss Joan Cox(RIP),the headmistress of the time, would take off time to visit all the 35 or so districts, looking for bright, all – round students and encourage them to join the school. For the less fortunate students, bursaries would be arranged from their district education offices. I have to admit and with pride that the Gayaza High School of my time was the most integrated community in Uganda. This diversity of tribes would later pay high dividends to the students as they progressed through universities and their working lives.
Career guidance during my time took the form of old students of the school who had become teachers, doctors, physiotherapists, agricultural scientists, lecturers and some professional parents like the late Dr. F.G Sembeguya, being invited to talk to us about their careers and lives. The talks would be arranged during some selected Sunday morning chapel services. These exposures helped us to find our passions, gifts and desires. In between , the teachers would endeavour to advance our career prospects. As expected, gifted students who excelled at both Arts and Science subjects and were not sure of what exactly they wanted to do in life, would find it difficult to make the choices. Parents and teachers’ pressures prevailed upon them. Later in life, a few confessed that they had joined medicine just because they were good at the required entry subjects of Physics, Chemistry, Biology and others took up law because they were good at English, History and Literature in English and Geography. I know of a few who took up professions just because their fathers wanted them to. Of these, a few changed later to professions or vocations of their choice
That seemed enough at that time but we are now in the 21st century; times have changed and many things have changed. In this science and technology-driven era, students need career guidance much more than any other time in the past.
Why Career Guidance is so important today :
The world is constantly changing and changing fast too. Change is now the new normal. Tomorrow is likely to be too different from today.
Digital technology has radically changed the workplace for ever. Some jobs are disappearing while new ones keep coming up. Automation and the use of Robots have eliminated some jobs while at the same time creating some new ones. The office space has changed too- some people can work on laptops or iphones from home.
There are no permanent jobs for life and there are no permanent skills in such a fluid work environment
Since the English scientist Tim Berners -Lee invented the World Wide Web and released it to the public in August 1991, the world was reduced to a Global Village.
This technology –driven era is a Solution –orientated: those who innovate and create solutions to the biggest challenges facing their communities like deforestation, plastics recycling and clean energy will build viable businesses and make a lot of money.
Career Guidance offered at the earliest time possible in the life of a student is extremely essential.
It directs the individual on the right path, helps her/him determine the direction of her/his life and to adjust maximally to the environment.
Through career guidance, students can make mature and informed decisions about their lives and the future.
At the beginning of my conversation with the students, I asked those who knew what they wanted to do in life to raise their hands, more than half did. I asked those who were not sure of what they wanted to do in life, many hands went up and then I asked those who did not know what they wanted to do, five brave girls raised their hands. I reassured them that at their age it was too early to be sure and it was normal not to know. Getting to choose a career or occupation is a long process that starts on the day you get to know who you are deep down but could change at any level in one’s life. What will matter later is for the students to acquire the skills they will need to survive and flourish in times of change; making them useful to themselves and useful and relevant to society.
Most of us know and the psychologists confirm that each individual is unique; having strength and weaknesses, likes and dislikes. Each one has unique gifts and talents if well applied, help each one to be integrated into society and to make a social contribution to the development of the country and the world at large. The moment one recognizes the great story that informs her/his life , he/she is liberated to explore ways of creating a life which facilitates the expression of that self. This long process starts at home and later follows through to schools , through university and through working life. Living your own story makes you feel deeply satisfied, feel that there is meaning in your life- it just feels right to be useful and helpful to others.
No life no matter how successful and exciting it might be, will make you happy if it is not your life. And no life will make you miserable if it is genuinely your own. You live your story day-to-day.
The happiest people in the world are those doing what they love and are being paid well for it. “ I ‘m doing this job because it is something I needed to do and because I wanted to give something of myself to others and I wanted to learn.”
As career Guidance is a process, and the global working environment continues to be dynamic, I have no doubt that I shall be visiting my school many times in the future to follow through our team work.
They say that,“ The hunt isn’t over until both your heart and your belly are full.”
The school still looks safe and peaceful so I would like to thank most sincerely all those teachers, students, parents , old girls and friends who have supported and maintained the school. To the teachers, thank you for helping the students to develop habits, skills and mindsets that build their social, emotional and academic capabilities. The school still promotes a sense of community and through sports, artwork, housework, student –designed projects and student-led conferences develops the “whole” student.
They say that, “ The future comes to us, one second at a time.”
QUESTIONS: Was it easy for you to determine which career you wanted to follow in life?
Do you think that offering Career guidance in schools helps the students to make their own decisions about their future?
Man is a social animal; goes about making relationships. In doing so , he looks for acceptance, appreciation, affirmation and acknowledgement. The journey through life traditionally starts in the family follows through the community , nation and in this Digital era, it extends to the global village.
The psychologists tell us that each one of us needs four basic attributes to go through life:
Basic optimism
The capacity to band together for support
The courage to fight for yourself and others
Compassion and care for yourself and others.
These four together provide us with the basic skills for living in society. At the same time, each one of us needs to develop four abilities: to strive, to let go , to love and to create if we are to express our unique gifts and talents and make a difference in the communities we live in.
Since we are interconnected, what I do has a ripple effect on those around me and what they do affects me as well. Among the inner guides within our unconscious is the Caregiver and when it is activated in our lives and is dominating the other inner guides like the Innocent, the Warrior, the Ruler, the Fool, the Sage, we see people in need of our care. While our thinking and acting is dominated by the Caregiver, we reach out to help and make a difference through love and sacrifice.
Over time, we learn that we cannot be everything or be everything to all. We are then forced to develop a safety mechanism to protect ourselves against the demands of this world.We can only do this by choosing to say “no” or “yes” and accepting the responsibility for that choice.
Failing to say “no” can result in exhaustion; burn out, depression and being physically sick . Each one of us has to learn to make a conscious choice to say “no” to what does not fit in her/his agenda or does not contribute to her/his personal understanding and growth.
And when you say “yes” you have to willingly give fully and completely within your limits and priorities. Look people in the eye and say “No”, do not get caught in the middle of yes and no; it leaves people hanging. When you say it,mean it otherwise you will not be taken seriously.
“ NO is a complete sentence. It does not require an explanation to follow. You can truly answer someone’s request with a simple No.” – Sharon . E. Rainey.
Life is essentially about relationships and the choices we make. Choices have consequences. When faced with options, we end up making a series of YES and NO and gradually build up the big picture of our lives. As I said earlier, we are social animals living interdependently. We all start by conforming to please family, friends and peers and continue to ensure success and status doing the same thing. The majority of us will struggle to do what we really want without losing our family and friends. Juggling both family and work, one can find herself taking on too many commitments and too fast. This has resulted in burnout- exhausted and overwhelmed. It is our responsibility to empower the young to avoid and to handle such situations. It goes back to teaching them and supporting them in creating emotional and spiritual balance by simply learning to balance YES and NO.
“Until you learn how to confidently say No to so many things , you will still always say Yes to many things.’’ Enest Agyemang Yeboah
This is where the 80/20 Rule of Time Management comes in handy. At any one stage in your life, you have to define what is most important to you and focus your time, energy, efforts and resources on that. What you focus on always grows.
You have to prioritize the 20% most important things to you and devote 80% of your time on them. Anything else is regarded as a distraction and should not be allowed to steal your time. We all have 24 hours in a day but the most successful among us are those who have mastered the art of using their time wisely.
Developing this 80/20 mindset will help you to use your time effectively. The “urgent” will stop drowning out the most important activities that advance your overall purpose in life. You will stay focused on the key stuff in your life. You will be able to beat the stressful lifestyle that puts you under extreme pressure.
As we grow and take on more responsibilities only to retire later, the 20% most important things in life also change. You have to continue setting your priorities, it will lead you into making good choices about what you want to be and do. You will stop wasting time on things that do not matter to you.
I have learned to apply this 80/20 Rule on a daily basis and it has worked wonders. I have been able to do much more in a day and generally I have been able to move the most important things in my life forward. I have been able to do amazing things by reducing the distractions. It continues to help me find more meaning and purpose in my life.
Each day throws you many options all day long and saying YES or NO to these options points you into a different direction. Over time, your personal growth comes in a series of small, incremental changes resulting from the choices you made and your commitment to follow things through. Later in life, the strong urge to please, to fit in, to satisfy the demands of family and peer groups wears off and you want to live a life of more significance and depth. You consider what adds value to your life: what makes your heart resonate with your soul and what makes you feel good about yourself and brings fun in your life.
As learning is for life, I am still learning and trying to master the art of balancing YES and NO. As they say: Practice makes perfect.
One last quote: “When you say no to the wrong people, it opens up the space for the right people to come in.’’ Joe Calloway.
QUESTION: Are you one of those people who find it hard to say NO?
Has this post helped you to see the need to take courage and to develop the discipline to say NO?
A motorcycle shelter made from plastic bottles by Susan Suubi of Uganda
You graduated two weeks ago; you celebrated your accomplishment with family and friends. You look to a future full of possibilities and fulfillment. I think by now the euphoria has worn off and reality has set in. You have to work within these sobering and haunting facts: Uganda has the highest youth population in the world. The youth make up 78% of the total population of 42 million. Youth unemployment in Uganda ranges from 60-80 %, the highest rate in youths in Sub-Saharan Africa. The rate is highest in degree holders in the urban areas. A total of 400,000 students graduate from all the universities in Uganda to compete for the 90,000-100,000 jobs available in the formal sector. Automation in the banks and offices continues to reduce the available jobs further.
The agricultural sector still remains the back bone of Uganda’s economy, 70% of the population depend on it for their livelihood and employment. But the majority is practicing the subsistence type of farming in this day and age.
Most of what is happening around you is beyond your control because these are challenges of your generation. As times change, things change. Over time you will learn as we all did at one time, what is in your control: your thoughts and attitude towards what happens to you. Focus on that to help you survive and thrive.
For the lucky few who have already found employment, make the most of it by :
Fitting in- you have to adapt to fit in. You have to make a positive impact on your employers. Take the initiative to know your place of work well, the company itself and it culture. Know the dress code and social program.
Be friendly- Smile, ask questions about what you do not know, be interested.
Be agreeable- Learn your environment, the people and place before you start complaining or making suggestions.
Respect- Respect everyone. What you give out will be returned to you. Everyone wants to be appreciated, respected and recognized.
Give 110%- my late father always advised me so. Work harder than anyone else to prove that you want to be in that place. Keep time, be responsible and reliable.
Work hard at getting integrated- Look for the company’s Standard Operation Procedures and learn it and live it. Offer to help at anything; this will help you to become part of the team. As a team player, do your part perfectly to fit in the company’s big picture. You will gradually learn to become an aggressive player.
The English say that: ” A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.”
I cannot emphasize enough the need to keep learning every day. The 21st century is a science and technology – driven era, constantly changing and fast too. It is highly competitive and there are no permanent skills anymore. Skills have to be continually upgraded and enhanced to enable the worker to have the right skills at the right time for the right purpose.
Seize all the opportunities for training that become available for you. I would advise you to consider taking up Online courses or evening courses between 5pm and bedtime and weekends. This is an investment into yourself and for the future. Be guided by your vision to get focus and clarity. But never compromise on your value system; it always catches up with you in the future.
For the self-employed- I take off my hat to you for taking the courage to leap into the unknown. Choosing to become your own boss at your age in your environment is taking a real leap of faith! It is tough -going but will become easier especially if you are turning your hobby or passion into a business.
In this Solution-oriented century, if your business is trying to solve one of our country’s biggest problems like supplying clean energy, recycling the heaps of plastics then money will come chasing you.
You need to participate in available entrepreneurship training programmes to acquire the business skills you need to start, run and sustain an enterprise successfully. Visit other people providing competing products or services. Embrace the Digital technology, it will help you to advertise yourself, form networks and collaborate with fellow entrepreneurs. Start small and move up but work smart.
It is hard work that requires a lot of patience, resilience and support but when you succeed, you will be proud of yourself and you will be a free person.
“It always seems impossible until it is done.”– Nelson Mandela
Believe in yourself and your capabilities and your brain will find a way of making it work.
For the unemployed – You feel energetic, vibrant and want to channel this energy into something useful to you and others. The high rate of unemployment and the fact that many of the graduates do not have the skills that employers want may be playing a big role in your current state. You definitely need to add some skills to your Academic knowledge to make yourself more employable.
Right now, I have just remembered the final sermon that the late Pastor Myles Munroe of Bahamas Faith Ministries International, gave to a congregation many of whom had just lost their jobs due to the recession of 2014
Sadly, on the 9th November 2014, he died in a plane crash along with his wife, son and six others. I remember very clearly the life- saving advice he gave to those men and women in total despair.
I am just giving you what I picked out as the most important inspiring ideas from his sermon on The Power of Self-government. I think it will help you move forward.
He reminded the members of the congregation that each one of them was created to solve a problem on earth. God equips you with talent and gifts to help you find the problem you were born to solve. Education helps to refine your gifts and talents by giving you knowledge and sometimes the skills. He defined the job as what you are paid to do but work as what you were born to do. So your job is your skill while your work is your gift. When you find yourself, you find your gift( the seed inside you) Unlike the job, the gift cannot be learned or taken away. It can only be refined. You should use your God-given gift to solve a community problem. Any problem around us can be turned into a business as people are paid for the problems they solve.
He reminded them that success was 90% brain and 10% hands.
One example he gave of turning a problem into a business was Bill Gates, a computer programmer, and his childhood friend, Paul Allen who innovated with microchip technology and developed new software products which are used in all computers. They solved the problem of data collection, data analysis, storage and sharing. They built Microsoft, the multinational company which has made Bill Gates one of the richest men in the world.
As for you, you only have to identify the biggest problems in your community like deforestation, frequent droughts, youth unemployment, poor garbage disposal especially the plastics and you come up with a locally appropriate and affordable solution.
Once you find the solution to a common problem you will have found your wealth.
I would also advise you to add skills to your academic knowledge by undergoing vocational training. It will equip you with practical experience and technical skills in a specific field. Employers look for people who bring something to the company-necessary skills and practical experience. You will meet the demands of a working environment, deliver quality performance and good results.
I would also like to remind you that we are living in a science-technology-driven century. Technology touches and continues to permeate all areas of our lives. You need to invest in Information, Communication Technology. There are some ICT and Software jobs from some leading companies in Uganda and worldwide.
After preparing yourself, you could try Online Freelance jobs in Typing, Writing and Designing. Believe in yourself and others will begin to believe in you. Whatever you choose to do or be, do not forget to be human and to look for inspiration.
Mark Zuckerberg, the main co- founder of Facebook: the Social media and technology company started off small. In 2004, in his Harvard dormitory room, he and a few of his Harvard roommates started this company. Gradually it expanded to include students from other universities. Currently, Facebook is the most downloaded mobile app of the decade(2010-2019)
All in all there are few jobs out there and you have to position yourself to get one of them. It is a long way to go; start from the beginning, perform and become a team player while being guided by your vision and value system. When you do what you love and enjoy it and you are paid reasonably for it, it ceases to be work. It becomes fun.
“The world needs problem solvers.” – Anonymous.
The future belongs to the Risk takers not to the Comfort seekers. Prepare yourself for this role.
QUESTION: Has this post helped you to identify a big problem in your community to solve and get paid for your services?
Three of the eight young women who graduated as medical doctors at Makerere University in March 1977.My second son(L) graduated as a civil engineer from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, 30 years after my graduation.
Makerere University, Kampala, was established by the then British Colonial government, in 1922 as a vocational training school; carpentry, building and motor mechanics. Since then it has grown to become the oldest and one of the most prestigious Universities in Africa.
Forty three years ago, I graduated from the faculty of medicine of the only public university of the time!
Currently there are 11 public universities and 38 registered private universities in Uganda with 12 medical schools between them!
On the 14th January 1945, Makerere College admitted the first batch of Ugandan women students, they were six of them. From 14th to 17 th January 2020, a total of 13,509 students will be graduating from Makerere Univesrsity, Kampala, in the 70th graduation ceremony. Of these, 50.5 percent are females. We have come a long way considering that in my Graduate Class of 1977, of the 120 graduands only 8 were women, including one from Malawi. By then, the total population of Uganda was 11.3 millions: 5.6 males and 5.7 females.
Indeed, Makerere University has lived up to its motto: We Build for The future.
Nelson Mandela( 1918-2013) , the most iconic leader of the 20th Century highly valued education and expressed it in these two quotes:
“ Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
“ A good heart and a good mind are always a formidable combination.”
Undoubtedly, we believe that Education is a gift for a lifetime.
To the parents of the graduands, I thank you for the nurturance, guidance and the sacrifices.
To the teachers, mentors and sponsors, I thank you for your willingness to share your skills, knowledge and expertise to empower the young generation.
To the graduands, I congratulate you on this great achievement. I admire and respect you for your determination, your perseverance and tenacity. This is the first key you needed to unlock your success in life. You have climbed to the top of the mountain only to discover like the icon Nelson Mandela did: “After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.’’
This graduation marks the beginning of the rest of your life.
You will wake up tomorrow to the sobering and haunting reality on theground:
Uganda has a population of 42 million people and the youths under the age of 30 make up 78% of this population. Uganda has the highest youth population in the world.
Youth unemployment in Uganda ranges from 60-80%, the highest rate in youths in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Uganda, the rate is highest among degree holders in the urban area.
Each year, 400,000 students graduate from all these universities to compete for only the 90,000-100,000 jobs in the formal sector.
The agricultural sector still remains the backbone of Uganda’s economy, 70% of the population depend on it for their livelihood and employment.
The 21st century is the Information Revolution and most innovative age of our time. It is Science and technologically – driven. It is constantly changing and fast too. It demands that each graduate keeps learning, improving, growing to become better at what he/she chooses to do. It is mandatory that you keep improving your personal best. Digital technology has shrunk the world to a global Village and made it highly competitive. There are no permanent skills in this 21st century; skills have to be continually upgraded and enhanced to enable the worker to have the right skills at the right time for the right purpose.
Alvin Toffler ( 1928- 2016) an American writer and business man, spelt this out years back in this quote: “ The illiterates of the 21st Century will not be those who cannot read and write , but those who cannot learn , unlearn and relearn.”
The education you received should have helped to shine your unique gifts, talents and skills and led you into the vision of your life. Your vision – the big picture of your life should inspire and inform your plan for each subsequent year for the rest of your life.
There are no permanent jobs anymore in this digital technology- driven era!
Working on desks in the office is being replaced by working online from your home.
Human beings are being replaced by automated machines and systems.
In countries like Japan many jobs in the industries are being taken over by industrial robots.
To survive in such a changing environment, one has to become flexible and adaptable to remain useful and relevant to yourself and others.
You have to learn to think for yourself, look for skills you need to create your own job. Job seekers may have to walk the streets for a long time.
The world is now Solution –orientated so the best way to create a job for yourself and others is to critically look at the most burning problems of your community and find a locally appropriate solution to any one of them. The solution should become your business –making you money while at the same time serving others.
Uganda’s biggest challenges are: Climate Change and its effects on food security, deforestation, a high population growth rate of 3.2% , Land ownership and Youth Unemployment.
At this moment in time you may not know the following:
You are among the privileged few to reach this education level- it gives you the burden to lift up others in your community.
You can only turn your qualification into real power if you apply it to improve your life and the lives of others.
You have some hobbies which you can exploit to your benefit. Choose one of them and use it to find a solution to anyone of the biggest challenges of our country. When you do, it could turn you into a successful business man/woman. As long as you believe in yourself, you can be anything and do everything.
The network of friends you have built so far will over time become part of your family. Together you have formed a community that protects each other and makes each other resilient to the rapid changes around you. Stay connected.
You have been handed a blank writing book to write your own story for a lifetime. Keep striving to know who you are deep down so that when you write the story of your life every day, it is expressing your authenticity. Remember to embrace honesty and compassion. You also have to develop the discipline to balance competitiveness with co-operation in the current highly competitive world.
At my age, I have learned that life is not a sprint race but a marathon. As an endurance race, it demands that you start off with the end in mind then plan meticulously how to get there at your own pace and rhythm. You have always to be aware that you are surrounded by other runners, you can use them to your advantage to achieve your personal best.
To become the best, you must have the best role models to stretch your mind, imaginations and abilities.
To stay or not to stay– No one has the answer to this question because it is an individual decision based on many factors. I had chosen to stay on and work in my country until it came to the point where I could not be paid a decent salary as a medical doctor and the tools that I needed to perform my work proved to be inadequate. I could not achieve what I wanted in life in such a limiting environment. I had to look for opportunities elsewhere to realize my full potential. I willed myself to start afresh and I left for greener pastures. I am now back in Uganda and carving a new path in a radically changed environment. I learn something new every day, unlearn what is no longer true or relevant and relearn what is still true and relevant. Little by little, I am finding a new comfort zone.
You will be in the game for a long time. My advice would be for you to believe in yourself, stay in the game and show up every day. At times you will be stuck in a rut but summon all your courage and energy , ask for help and keep moving forward. Gradually you will learn to take risks, be aggressive and smart. You are allowed to break a few rules as long as you cling to your integrity and compassion. This is good for you since you can never get the extraordinary if you do not do something extraordinary. Keep skilling yourself for the jobs of the future.
It is your life, make the most of it.
Congratulations on your graduation and best wishes for the future.
