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Anti-Gay Police Raid in Uganda

Posted by Mark D. Jordahl on June 19, 2012
Posted in: Articles, Human Rights, Society. Tagged: , , , , , . 1 comment

Even if the “Kill the Gays” bill never gets passed in Uganda, prejudice, homophobia and a lack of respect for human rights will live on.

As reported on the LGBTQ Nation blog yesterday, Ugandan police raided a gay rights meeting and apprehended over a dozen people, claiming they were “propogating gay issues in Uganda.”

In a comment on the article, a man named Ruben Luyombo says “please stay in your western world, africa does not intertain you pervert and money seeking wannabe’s.” This is even after President Museveni himself publicly admitted that homosexuality is not a western import (I’m sure it was after reading my post: Homosexuality In Uganda Isn’t a European Import – Christianity Is).

Where does “money seeking wannabes” come from? Hmmm…I think I’d like to become rich. Why don’t I convert to homosexuality and, just to make it more exciting, I’ll do it in a country where I can be killed for it.

I have argued in the past that gay rights are civil rights, and when the slow tide of history turns, the anti-gay Ugandan majority will realize that they are on the wrong side of this issue.

-Mark D. Jordahl

Read More:

Homosexuality in Uganda Isn’t a European Import – Christianity Is

Gay Porn in Church

Gay Rights in Uganda

Anti Gay Police Raid in Uganda

What Would Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Think of The Expat Life?

Posted by Mark D. Jordahl on April 4, 2012
Posted in: Human Rights, Musings, Personal Observations. Tagged: , , , , , . 3 comments
300px Martin Luther King 1964 leaning on a lectern1 What Would Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Think of The Expat Life?

Martin Luther King leaning on a lectern. Deutsch: 1964: Martin Luther King Português: Martin Luther King (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

On this day 44 years ago, April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot and killed.

It is interesting reflecting on this sitting here in Uganda where sometimes it is hard to tell he ever lived.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the unfairness of the ex-pat life. There are times it feels like the old south – you go to an expat party and the only black faces you see are those of the servants. We live in nice houses and drive our own cars, spending as much to fill the tank once as we pay our maids for a month of work. We are able to come and go freely between Uganda and our home countries, whereas a Ugandan can spend a lifetime trying to get a visa to enter the United States.

Organizations here even have “local” and “expat” pay rates. I heard from one American woman that she flew back to the US to sign her contract because she would get paid more. A Ugandan wouldn’t have that option. And the benefits packages are often staggering – shipping containers to bring all your possessions from home, flights home for visits for the whole family, private school education for your kids (I must admit, as someone who hasn’t ever had a paying job here in Uganda I am sometimes a little jealous of some of these perks! But then I think about all of the benefits I do have.).

We are given extra – and undeserved – status based on the color of our skin (see my post The Expat/Ugandan Dynamic), and can walk into nearly any venue without being questioned. I have often thought it would be interesting to be a white con-artist here just to see what you could get away with.

I believe all of this undermines the goals of international development, an important one of which is local empowerment. One thing Uganda needs is jobs and business development. Bright, young people with an entrepreneurial spirit that will drive the economy forward. Instead, what they see is that the way to get rich is to work at an international NGO. In the United States, college kids who want to make money go into business. Here, they go into any field that will get them a job at USAID. This leads to thousands of “briefcase NGOs” whose only goal is to come up with a good mission statement and get money without ever delivering any services.

What would Dr. King think if he spent time in the expat world of Kampala (or the capital city of any other nation in the world that has a large foreign-aid industrial complex)? I hope that he would feel there is some good, important work being done with good intentions, but what I see when I imagine the encounter is a look of bewilderment and a tear of discouragement running down his cheek.

Mark D. Jordahl – Kampala

What Would Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Think of The Expat Life?

Was Uganda Better Off Under British Rule?

Posted by Mark D. Jordahl on August 5, 2011
Posted in: Articles, Politics. Tagged: , , , . 2 comments

British Flag 150x150 Was Uganda Better Off Under British Rule?This question was asked by Larry Kanyike in the Daily Monitor in his article Does Uganda Have a Future. His opening statement, and the rest of the article, should stir up some interesting debate:

“It is over 40 years since the colonialists left us to manage our own affairs. When one looks at the situation our country is in, one can’t help but curse the day the Union Jack was lowered and the Uganda flag lifted up.”

uganda flag Was Uganda Better Off Under British Rule?It reminds me of a story that Henry, one of the rangers at Murchison Falls National Park, told me on one of my visits there. He said when he was growing up, there was an old man who had lived under colonial rule, through independence, and through the difficult regimes of the 70s and 80s.

One day this old man said to him “Henry – have you heard of this independence thing? When do you think it will end?”

I hope Kanyike’s commentary does create a national dialogue. I firmly believe that the people of each country should be free to govern themselves through a system that works for them, whether that is democracy, monarchy, theocracy or whatever.

However, I also believe that the current leadership in many African countries are every bit as cruel or unconcerned towards the needs of their people as the past colonial leaders were – sometimes moreso.

The question isn’t really “should we go back to colonial rule.” I doubt anybody actually wants that. But, the article brings up more important questions that Ugandans should definitely be asking. Why isn’t the government particularly interested in providing healthcare, good schools, and infrastructure to its people, and what can be done to change the entrenched systems of corruption that allow the government to continue on without real change?

Mark D. Jordahl

President Museveni – Remember When YOU Were a Rebel?

Posted by Mark D. Jordahl on March 28, 2011
Posted in: Politics, Society. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment
Yoweri Museveni3 President Museveni Remember When YOU Were a Rebel?

Image via Wikipedia

It is more than a little hypocritical when President Museveni criticizes the West for getting involved in the Libya crisis. If countries really should be left to work out their own issues, even when “the people” are vastly out-gunned, how does he justify having received help from Gadaffi himself, an outsider, during the bush war against Obote?

Is the issue Africa vs. Non-Africa? Are African nations the only entities that have the right to intervene in the case of severe human rights violations in Africa? Hmmm…given that Gadaffi funds most of the African Union budget, it seems that that organization’s ability to respond in this situation might be a bit compromised.

Museveni has gone from being an idealistic freedom-fighter, struggling against a system of corrupt leaders and a corrupt electoral process, to being a life-King of Uganda, draining the national coffers to ensure his own victory in this year’s elections.

Uganda Needs Fresh Leadership

Through the fog of my advanced years, I can look back to the me of my youth. I remember seeing the things that “old” people – the people who were the age I am now – did, and saying with conviction that I would never be like that. And now I find myself preferring a comfortable bed rather than a dirt floor to sleep on when I am traveling. I spend hard-earned money on health insurance rather than beer because I realize I am mortal. And yes, I find myself smirking at those 20-year-olds who know everything.

Maturity is not all bad. I do believe that I have knowledge and wisdom to offer to the world as a result of my experiences that I didn’t have at my disposal 20 years ago. But I also realize that some of the energy that came through my idealism at the time has been lost, and I miss it. We need the energy, ideas and ideals of young people who haven’t yet been overtaken by all of the reasons that we can’t change the world.

This is one of the reasons that leaders shouldn’t be in power for 30 years. No matter how passionate and idealistic they are when they start out, they can’t help becoming comfortable over time. I do believe that Museveni still sees himself as that rebel in the bush that he once was. He has built up an image of himself that can’t be shaken by reality. Unfortunately, he has become many of the things he fought against 25 years ago.

It is important for a country to get fresh leadership and fresh ideas occasionally. That is why term limits exist, and why they should be inviolable. In a perfect world, you will get a regular infusion of young, inspirational leaders each election cycle, and their lack of experience will be balanced by the presence of the older members of the government. But you need the youth to push and keep the older folks from getting too comfortable. When the whole system grows old together, it starts to break down just like a human body becomes frail over the years.

Mr. Museveni, how will you feel when it is your subjects taking to the bush to get their country back?

Mark D. Jordahl – Kampala

Related articles
President Museveni Remember When YOU Were a Rebel?

Good Riddance, Buturo

Posted by Mark D. Jordahl on March 17, 2011
Posted in: Human Rights, Politics, Society. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . 1 comment

James Buturo, the erstwhile Ethics and Integrity State Minister, is now just your average closed-minded gay-bashing guy. He is one of several MPs who were forced to resign their posts after running for office as Independent candidates without first resigning from their parties.

On his way out, he actually came up with what might be his best policy recommendation ever. He may have found a solution to the impending population crisis here in Uganda:

“Homosexuality in Uganda and Africa as a whole is a taboo. How can a man sleep with a fellow man or a woman with a fellow woman. How can they produce children?”

Excellent point, Mr. Buturo. Maybe everyone should become gay, at least for a few years, until the rampaging population growth gets under control (Uganda has the second highest population growth rate in the world, and nobody is talking about it).

And, of course, he had to make one more jab at western nations for “exporting” homosexuality to Uganda:

“if it is good and revered in their countries, they should not impose it on Ugandans or Africans in general.”

Uh, yeah…we in the west have so much to gain from turning Africans gay that it has become a primary State Department strategy. I have written about my views on this claim in my post Homosexuality in Uganda is Not a European Import – Christianity Is.

Mr. Buturo, I hope your replacement possesses some ethics and some integrity.

Related Articles:

Ethics Minister Nsaba Buturo Resigns (Independent)

Gay Rights in Uganda (Wild Thoughts from Uganda)

Mark D. Jordahl – Kampala

Good Riddance, Buturo

JGI-Uganda Ecotourism Project Nominated for Conservation Award

Posted by Mark D. Jordahl on March 11, 2011
Posted in: Cool Organizations, Environment, Tourism, Wildlife Conservation. Tagged: , , , , , . 1 comment

image 10 JGI Uganda Ecotourism Project Nominated for Conservation Award

I love seeing good news on the conservation and tourism front in Uganda. It’s even better when it is about The Jane Goodall Instutute, which is my favorite conservation group in Uganda.

The following information is from the JGI Website:

The Jane Goodall Institute’s (JGI) ecotourism site in Uganda has been selected as one of 12 finalists for the 2011 Tourism for Tomorrow Awards by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC).

About the Awards

JGI-Uganda was nominated in the category that recognizes organizations and destinations that have made a significant contribution toward the protection of wildlife and expansion and restoration of natural habitat. The awards, which are divided into four categories, are drawn from 186 entries from more than 60 countries. JGI-Uganda’s Budgongo Ecotourism Development Project (BEDP) has been nominated for the conservation category.

Building on its experience working in Uganda since 1996, JGI, in partnership with the Ugandan National Forest Authority (NFA), launched the Budongo ecotourism project in 2006 with funding from the American people through the United States Agency for International Development. The ecotourism site is located within Uganda’s Budongo Forest Reserve, which is home to critical populations of chimpanzees and other endangered species.

At the onset of the project, JGI built a new environmentally friendly visitors center and lodge and renovated existing accommodations. JGI also improved, expanded and continued to maintain forest trails used for chimpanzee trekking and other ecotourism activities such as birding. Since the project began, JGI has trained, equipped, and employed local community members, providing them with an alternative source of income to cutting down natural forest to use as fuel or to sell.

JGI’s work at the Budongo ecotourism site has also resulted in:

* Placement of 203,800+ acres (82,500 hectares) of forest under improved management;

* Visits by more than 2,100+ local elementary school students to the Budongo environmental education center, which helps raise awareness about the forest and its species among the next generation of local community members;

* Environmental education trainings for 30 nearby elementary school teachers;

* Employment for 24 local community members;

* Training for 230 nearby community members in construction of woodlots, which reduce reliance on natural forest;

* Training for 55+ local community members in forest-friendly businesses, such as craft making, beekeeping and farming;

* Training for 30 guides, chimpanzee habituators and community patrols; and

* An average of 5,000 guests at the lodge each year.

Stay Tuned
The winners and finalists will be recognized at WTTC’s annual Global Travel & Tourism Summit in Las Vegas between May 17 and 19. Keep your fingers crossed for JGI!

Related Post:Jane Goodall Visits Uganda (Wild Thoughts from Uganda)