By Olinka Rubadiri Yancey

My name is Olinka and I was 37years old when I found a lump in my left breast.  I could remember that moment like it was yesterday.  June 9th 2007 my husband Damon had taken me on a trip to San Diego to celebrate my birthday.  I was lying down on the bed as having a conversation with him when I touched my breast and felt a huge knot.  The size of the knot was extremely alarming compared to the size of my other breast.  Damon proceeded to ask me when I had last examined myself and how once we get back home we need to contact my health care physician and get this examined.  In fact I had been to see my physician in March for my yearly physical and she examined my entire body and found no signs of growth or changes in both my breasts.  Believe it or not, I felt no pain in that breast nor noticed the difference in size until I closely looked at them in the mirror.

June 11th I contacted my physician and advised her that I URGENTLY needed to come and see her to get my breasts examined.  She quickly scheduled me in that afternoon and was very shocked to feel how large the knot was.  She ordered an immediate mammogram examination which is a tool that helps to detect breast cancer.  I began to panic and contemplated sharing my findings with my family at that time however I did not want to alarm anyone due to the fact that we were still in the preliminary stages.  June 14th, Damon and I went to the Polak Breast Diagnostic Center at the Torrance Memorial Med. Center for the mammogram exam.  After the exam, the radiologist studied the x-ray films and immediately ordered that we return back after lunch for her to perform a biopsy of the breast and the lymph nodes. Damon and I left for lunch and sat in silence just trying to understand what all this meant.  We returned back to the hospital, and while she was performing the biopsy, something inside of me just couldn’t ignore the reality of what I was going through.  I closed my eyes and prayed to God to hold my hand and allow me to deal with what was to follow.  The radiologist advised us that we should return on Monday June 18th for the results.  Damon and I left the examination room in tears cause it was like reality was beginning to set in.  I called my Aunty Maria and my brother Lunga and shared with then what was going on and they immediately rushed to hold our hands through what we were about to encounter.

On Monday morning we met with an Oncologist who shared with us that I had Stage IIIA Breast Cancer which had spread to my lymph nodes and due to the size of my tumor we needed to begin treatment as soon as possible to avoid the disease to spread further. “Shock! Shock! Shock!” We sat, hugged each other and cried for a moment in disbelief as to what we had just heard but that was the reality for it all.  We were also advised to take all the x-rays/biopsy/mammogram results and get at least 3 more opinion from other certified Oncologists.  We left the Breast Center, had a good lunch at “El Toritos” and at that point I had made up mind that I was ready to fight for my life.  As Damon lay asleep that night I began to read the material the doctors gave me about my illness, which was the beginning stage of educating my self.  I thought about my family and friends and how they were going to take the news especially the fact that most of them were far away from me in Uganda and spread out all over this universe.  I learned that cancer had to be hard on those who loved me than it was on me.  I prayed to God that night and asked him to guide me through this and give me the strength to hold their hands as we started a new chapter in my life.  I drafted an email to them and gave them a run down of what I had been through…..Breast Cancer 101.   I shared my story with my church family at First AME in Los Angeles as well as the choir members which understandably were distort about the news however we all know that we serve a healing and merciful God who wouldn’t forsake us.  One of the members in my choir has a mother that went through the same ordeal and she totally understood what we were going to go through.  She introduced me to the Oncology doctor who treated her mother Dr. James Waisman from BreastLink medical group who I met with in the beginning of July and shared my story with him.  He was very comforting, the nurses at his office were extremely friendly and helpful and after meeting with him, I choose him to treat me and get me all better.  Before I began treatment I sat my 3 kids down and explained what Cancer meant and what kind of treatments I was going to receive and what they should expect as far side effects.  I bought them some books for children that tell stories about what Cancer is so that they also wouldn’t get afraid because as we all know we hear Cancer and immediately think that it’s a death sentence.

I began my chemo therapy the second week of July while my dear mother was preparing to come to the US and take care of me.  “What would we do without our mothers” man she was a life saver.  I was to receive 6 cycles (Once every 3weeks) doses of Carboplatin, Taxotere and Herceptin.  Lunga and my girlfriend Tanya took me to my first session which was very scary because I didn’t know what to expect.  I sat in the infusion room expecting to be taken out on a stretcher or even get admitted right away, just so many things were going through my mind however it wasn’t that bad but little did I know that in 2days that’s when the side effects kick in.  (That’s a story on its own for a later date).  Mummy finally came and along with Lunga, my cousin Susan and my sistah for life Trisha they all took great care of me.  They took me to my chemo sessions, doctor visits, blood transfusions, sat up at night with me during the painful nights, and cried with me coz the pain was unbearable the list could go on.  During the 6months of treatment friends from all corners of the world called to offer their support and prayers and sent cards and flowers encouraging and all praying for my healing.  I chose to work and lead a normal life because I knew that I would beat the disease.  I never missed a Sunday singing with my choir and as the days/months went by I knew God heard our cries for a miraculous healing.

The greatest news Dr. Waisman gave me during my chemo sessions is that the tumor had shrunk tremendously which was a sign that the medication was working.  In January 2008 I under went surgery to remove the tumor as well as the infected lymph nodes.  My surgeon Dr. Carey Cullinane performed the surgery and advised that after they biopsy the tissue she removed that she would call me in a couple of days with the results.  I had already claimed victory so I knew what she would tell me…. ! That’s how powerful God works…….keep the faith and know that he will do as you ask in his own time.  She called me and told me that the tissue was cancer free and that in about 2months I could begin radiation which was the final stage of treatment.  Dr. Simko treated me for 6 consecutive weeks while I still met with Dr. Waisman and Dr. Cullinane for regular check ups.  In July I had my first mammogram to finally find out if I am disease free and indeed I am in remission.

For those that read my testimony, please always remember to encourage anyone that you know with the disease.  For those that read my testimony and are going through the illness keep you spirits up, it’s not the end of the world.  This might sound cliché but we have a lot of power that God has given us to endure anything if only we trust in his word and his power to heal us from any and all battles we face.  I remind you that every single day is a gift God has given us live it like it was your last, love your family and friends and I thank you all that held my hand through this chapter in my life.

Aunty Phillipa, you are an amazing woman and together we shall spread the word and support our sisters around the world.

I dedicate this to my loving mother, Janet Shalita………………….you are my inspiration.

Find out more about Olinka’s charity work at http://breastcancerafrica.org/

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On April 25, 2009 we at Invisible Children will again publicly gather to ask for an end to this war. Thousands of people in a 100 cities across the world will join together on this day for a historic event called “The Rescue”. Continue Reading

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Andualem Sisay, AfricaNews reporter in Addia Ababa, Ethiopia
Sudan President Omar al-Bashir, is visiting Ethiopia to attend the Ethio-Sudan High-level joint commission meeting. The meeting will be presided over jointly by the leaders of the two countries. The ICC has issued an arrest warrant against al-Bashir but so far he has snubbed the order by the court.
This will be al-Bashir’s fourth international travel after ICC issued an arrest warrant for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the strife-torn Darfur region last month.

Despite being accused of crimes against humanity, al-Bashir was able to attend Arab Summit in Quatar at the end of March and has taken on the role of the thorn in the ICC’s side. His non-compliance with the ruling, travel to foreign countries and support from fellow leaders has delivered a humbling blow to the Court.

After the meeting is concluded, President Bashir is expected to visit various parts of Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Herald also indicated that the session is expected to deliberate on politics, trade, finance and social affairs, among others. The declaration to be adopted by the commission is expected to further enhance the mutual benefits of the two countries and contribute its share in ensuring peace in the sub-region, the paper added.

He is the first sitting Head of State to be indicted by the Court. He was indicted on two counts of war crimes and five counts of crimes against humanity. However, the Hague-based ICC’s pre-trial chamber found there was insufficient evidence to charge him with genocide, but stressed that if the prosecution presents additional evidence the warrant could be amended at a later date.

“He is suspected of being criminally responsible, as an indirect (co-)perpetrator, for intentionally directing attacks against an important part of the civilian population of Darfur, Sudan, murdering, exterminating, raping, torturing and forcibly transferring large numbers of civilians, and pillaging their property,” according to a press release issued by the Court.

An estimated 300,000 people have died in Darfur, either through direct combat or because of disease, malnutrition or reduced life expectancy, over the past five years in Darfur, where rebels have been fighting Government forces and allied Arab militiamen, known as the Janjaweed, since 2003.

Responding to a BBC Hard Talk interviewer, Zeinab Badawi, Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi indicated that his country will not turn al-Bashir to ICC. Explaining the reason he stated that both Sudan and Ethiopia are not signatories to the ICC and he believes that the decision of ICC is not the solution for Darfur crises.

It is recalled that ICC’s March 4, 2009 decision was opposed by the African Union and many African leaders.

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afrol News, 20 April – The African Development Bank (AfDB) forecasts that the East African bloc will post a better growth on the continent, despite expected poor postings globally because of the economic slow down.

Countries of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania are jointly expected to see improved growth results, according to the AfDB, further adding that in 2009 exports and trade will be the main drivers for economic performance.

Kenya, the AfDB said, is expected to post better than expected in performance.

The bank said while effects of the global financial crisis are mainly hurting growth in African economies that lacked a diverse base of economic activities, said Kenya and Uganda for instance, which exports finished goods to neighbouring countries and agricultural products to the rest of the world could hold up well.

The bank further observed that economies that will be most hit are those reliant on mining and other natural resources exports, citing closure of mines in some of the metal producing countries.

AfDB also believes that East Africa might end up with the highest growth rate in Africa in 2009, forecasting that Uganda will record 6 percent while Kenya will grow by between five and 5.5 percent.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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afrol News, 20 April – Uganda has marked 2009 “the year of the gorilla” with mass celebrations following the earnings of more than $220 million in 2008 from the endangered mountain gorillas tourism, the Uganda Wildlife Authority has said.

UWA’s Executive Director Moses Mapesa said although less than 10 percent of tourists in Uganda has a chance to view the gorillas, the Authority expects the revenue to increase as the country opens up more gorilla groups for viewing.

Local news reports said only last year, about 842,000 tourists visited Uganda and brought in about $590 million with them.

Mr Mapesa said endangered gorilla population has marketed Uganda as one of the major tourist destinations in Africa with the demand for gorilla tourism on the rise.

Late last week, the UN declared 2009 ‘Year of the Gorilla’ to protect endangered gorilla species in Central Africa. More than half of the endangered mountain gorillas with a population estimated at 700 are in Bwindi while the rest occupy Mgahinga national park.

Although animal rights activists had expressed concern on the rights of gorillas in the mountains, Mr Mapesa assured the Authority would ensure that the gorillas would not be exploited for financial gains.

The state minister for trade, Mr Gagawala Wambuzi, said the endangered gorilla species will be given a platform this year to raise awareness about their plight and threats to their habitat.

The minister said the lack of legal frame work and policy to protect the gorilla will reduce the number of tourists coming to Uganda as well as reducing the number of the remaining gorilla species.

“In fact our eco-tourism is based on wildlife resource especially primates and Mountain gorillas which are said to have put Uganda on the international map,” he said.

The gorilla tourism employs about 5,000 people in tours and travel while national tourism accounts for 17 percent of available job opportunities countrywide.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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Mugira, AfricaNews reporter in Kampala, Uganda
Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has warned Ugandans against the evil practice of human sacrifice as a means of acquiring wealth. He urged local people to embrace the government initiated programme of “Prosperity for All” to acquire wealth instead of resorting to child sacrifice.
The President’s remarks follow increased cases of child sacrifice in Uganda. Police statistics show that last year alone, 230 children disappeared in the country with nine confirmed to have been sacrificed.

In Uganda, witchcraft involving child sacrifice is usually practiced for bringing fortune and good health.

Recently Uganda’s state minister for internal affairs Matia Kasaija said that the fight against child sacrifice is being complicated by the increase in other types of crimes targeting children such as kidnapping, abduction and child stealing.

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Sam Banda Jnr, AfricaNews reporter in Blantyre, Malawi
Former SA’s president Nelson Mandela appeared at an African National Congress last rally on Sunday which was also part of his affirmative support for its leader Zuma. Reports say this is a big boost for the ANC which facing fierce competition from a newly formed party, COPE, ahead of the elections.
Democratic Alliance (DA) and Congress of the People (Cope) and ANC were having their last campaign meetings over the weekend as the elections come up on Wednesday.

However, the unexpected return of Mandela who commands respect world over for his humbleness and HIV/AIDS fight at the ANC rally was like instilling power to ANC.

The 90 year old Mandela’s appearance is said to be the biggest possible endorsement of Zuma, and that it conjures up memories his last active campaign in 1994, when South Africa held its first democratic elections.

The ANC goes to the polls with their presidential candidate Zuma facing a huge task from parties like DA and COPE.

According to a BBC report, Mandela was cheered by supporters whilst wearing an ANC T-shirt.

Mandela is reported to have urged the ANC to remember that its main task was to eradicate poverty and build a united, non-racial society.

“As we strive to secure a decisive victory for our organisation in the upcoming elections we must remember our primary task. It is to eradicate poverty and ensure a better life for all,” he said.

Mandela further said that ANC has the historical responsibility to lead South Africa and help build a united non-racial society.

The ANC leader whose corruption cases were dropped recently stressed the message of racial unity in his opening remarks to the rally.

“We reaffirm that South Africa belongs to all of us, black and white,” said Zuma adding that in working together they would develop the country.

This was the second appearance for Mandela as he also did the same a few months ago when the ANC held its rally.

A snap survey conducted recently tipped the ANC to win Wednesday’s elections. To read the full article go to http://www.africanews.com/site/SA_Mandela_endorses_Zuma/list_messages/24361

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Dennis Matanda
It has been almost two months since I last wrote on my Four Part Series on the next leader of the Pearl of Africa – our home country, Uganda. In the last part, Part II, I mentioned that although the current President, Yoweri Museveni, has not made an effort to groom a successor from the ruling National Resistance Movement, his wife Hon. Janet Museveni, MP who recently was appointed Minister of Karamoja affairs and his son, Lt. Col. Muhoozi Kainerugaba are front runners.

I also stated with confidence that they are not being considered for 2011 because Museveni is expected to run for his 4th and hopefully, last 5 year term. In my calculation, I felt that the 2011 regime would then go on to 2016 when the son – Muhoozi – will be 42 – and maybe, a full army general. I was, in essence, hinting that the next President of Uganda would be Muhoozi, the son of Museveni.

 
But between February and now, a few things have happened to me. First, I have finally managed to read Arnold Ludwig’s ‘King of the Mountain.’ This book, honestly, is not for the faint hearted or the uninitiated into the elements of political leadership. The worst part about it is the sense of helplessness and a certain doom for African leaders. I think it makes sense when Prof. Ludwig, a psychiatrist with years of research under his belt, says that leaders will always emerge in society – although they may not necessarily be the most qualified to rule. These same leaders get into the positions they are because society needs to have a leader – whatever kind – and essentially, in needing leaders, society deserves the leaders it gets. Ludwig did juxtaposition between humans and other primates – chimpanzees, gorillas and baboons – and found that there are practically no differences between the way we as humans exert ourselves on others and the way primates exert themselves on their troupes.

 
However, nothing shocked me into sense more than this book’s discussion on the insanity of leaders like Idi Amin, Adolf Hitler or even Saddam Hussein. The quotation on page 222 goes: ‘…Dictators tend to be vindictive, power-crazed paranoiacs … and there is good reason that so little is known about the actual rates of mental illness in rulers: rulers go to great lengths to conceal this kind of information.’
Now, I need to go back to the main thrust of the discussion: Uganda’s next President. To complete the analogy, Museveni is constantly being compared to Idi Amin; and in Uganda, amongst the intelligentsia; there are rumors galore about the insanity of the President. There is absolute shock about some of the decisions he makes [defending his Security Minister, Amama Mbabazi over scandalous land grabbing or in the same vein trying to give out part of Mabira Forest for development – an ecological haven that is responsible for rainfall in parts of Central Uganda]. I am just one of those that think that the President may not be mad. He is probably just paranoid, very vindictive and obsessed with power.

 
You see … I have met the President a few times. I did a quick interview with him for the Discovery Channel and took my cameraman into the room before he got there. Because I wanted the light to be perfect, I set about closing a few curtains, much to the chagrin of the Presidential Protection Unit guys. At the end of a very successful conversation where he smiled and reminisced about his children and the past, my President became nervous when I said thank you, stood up and went to open the curtain behind him. He was still seated; and because my action was pretty lithe – less than three seconds – I swear to you that the bodyguards did not know what to do. Then, AGAIN, I walked BEHIND the President to get out of the room! Just as I was about to get to the door – the cameraman had already beaten a hasty exit because he had just seen me commit a well known faux pas about the President’s paranoia on things behind him – Mr. Museveni called me back, asked me to sit down and wanted to know where I was from, who my people were … That kind of thing! But more on that later!

 
About three or so years later, I started attending governance lectures at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. I went because Professor Robert Rotberg, his reputation and his overall analysis of leadership enthralled me. Sitting in class the day we discussed Robert Mugabe, I was shocked when the Professor emphatically said that he did not think that the Zimbabwean President was mad.

In his opinion, the person who sits astride the country with the worst inflation in the history of modern life; and one who makes such inhumane decisions about enslaving an entire nation of over 12,000,000 people is actually still in control of his faculties! I was especially shocked since in 2002, the same professor had done the book review on King of the Mountain and seemed to think that there was merit in the insanity of leadership!
And that is why I talk about insanity now instead of succession in Uganda’s Presidential politics! How can leaders – including Hitler who gassed the Jews, Thabo Mbeki who denied basic aspects of the spread of HIV/AIDS, and the above mentioned Mugabe – not be termed as clinically insane and yet they took and continue to do things that baffle the rational minded!

Interestingly, CNN is currently running a series on addiction to drugs and alcohol. In one of their exposes of the brain, there is evidence that addiction affects decision making, stress levels and other elements of basic humanity. Interestingly, in my basic anatomy and neuroscience, it seems as though there is no difference between addiction to power and addiction to drugs because these are all elements of insanity!

 
I will, in this long article, move on to the second thing that made me think that, maybe, we should not even focus on who might be Uganda’s next President. It seems as though the current one is not making any plans to leave his seat of power. His fingerprint is everywhere! In his April 17, 2009 article in the New Vision titled: ‘Will Ugandans Let Him Go?’ John Nagenda says that because Ugandans are asking about the [mental??] health of Museveni because of a cut on his finger, they are ‘in truth … seeking a permanent rupture between him and his seat!’ He then goes on to ask: ‘But how many ordinary Ugandans in their heart of hearts would today feel the time was ripe to bid him farewell, and do so with no regret?’ I wondered about all those disenfranchised people that voted the Opposition in 2001 and the even higher number in 2006 and wondered what the heck this senior Presidential Advisor was talking about. Then the truth came out when Nagenda almost summarized his feelings in saying: ‘Go into the hinterland and the little people there will tell you, “Never again, after what we went through! Museveni is ours, and always. You city people can say all you want!”

 
I will say this now: I am a city person; and I guess as long as the ‘masses’ say they want Museveni, why should we even talk about Muhoozi, Kataha [Mrs. Museveni] or even, a possible Amama Mbabazi reign? I think it’s a waste of time – and we should, under the circumstances either make a decision to resort to desperate measures of regime change or wait it out. Either way, we do not matter! At least, that is how I feel.
Lastly, the thing that made me delay the correspondence on Part III of this article is something deeply personal. I have been thinking about the bad things Museveni has done as a leader and have, unfortunately, come to the conclusion that there are some things that are done in his name – like when people kill in Jesus’ name – that give Uganda’s President such a bad name. I am not saying that he is innocent of crimes committed or not guilty of being an incompetent manager of state resources. It’s just that because he is a leader, he is also the biggest target for people with wits and pens as sharp as those belonging to a few members of the Fourth Estate.

 
I landed in the United States this time around on Sunday September 17th 2007 with $ 10 in my wallet; and a prayer that my Visa card would work wherever I needed it to work. That Friday September 15, 2007 night, after weeks and weeks of threatening phone calls, text messages – and even an unsolicited visit from a policeman at my financial services work place in Kampala] all because of my radio talk show, someone attacked my compound, bloodied and damaged my car – left me a death threat – and disappeared into the night. My father could not stand to see the prospect of his eldest son die because of some miserable show – and promptly shipped me out of the country by 11 am the next day. And so, with my $ 10, I ended up as a refugee in these United States; leaving my fully furnished house, my job and even worse, my relationship.

 
But was the government after me? Did the President make a decision to threaten my life? Did the Parliament or Judiciary deem me a threat to the National Security? Aren’t these the elements that make up government? It is going to be two years since I landed on these shores now, like the Republicans, feel like government is overrated. Does it matter who is leading the country? Obviously; But it may not matter if you are the kind of person who can survive without government’s infrastructure or the connections to business. Maybe, in a bit to help Uganda succeed, we should all become Republicans who believe in freedom and little government intervention.

 
These things that we think about ever so deeply – including who might be Uganda’s next President – may, actually, turn out to be the things that do not matter. Of course the fact that Lt. Col. Kainerugaba Muhoozi commanded the high profile and seemingly unsuccessful Garamba operation to root out Joseph Kony and his cabal of murderers may be another nail towards cementing the throne for the son of the President. And that is why we shall discuss them in Part IV – the last part that touches the succession story to the core. And in the same vein, I have broken another promise to make sense of the President’s paranoia in my tale. But then you could wait for me to complete the tale in Part IV which is, interestingly, almost complete.  

dmatanda@gmail.com

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By Lucinda Ryan | “I’m passionate about helping people,” said Tigray Kahsai, a junior at Alameda Community Learning Center charter school. That passion has led to Kahsai’s latest venture — a benefit concert by two alternative rock bands to raise money for former child soldiers in Northern Uganda. Continue Reading

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In two weeks, Rennie Duncan of Palm Desert will travel to live in a country she’s never been to and care for children she’s never met. Duncan, 61, said Saturday she decided a year ago that she was leaving the United States to live in Uganda to care for children orphaned by HIV, poverty and war.

“I’ve always had a heart for Africa, but it was definitely a God calling,” Duncan said.

Champion Life Church of Palm Desert had a silent auction on Saturday to raise $8,000 for Duncan’s trip to Uganda. The auction, at Freedom Park in Palm Desert, featured prizes donated from local businesses including Legacy Furniture, BMW of Palm Springs and J. Russell Salon and Spa.

Duncan plans to live in Uganda for at least a year to serve at The Bethany House. The house is an orphanage for infants and children as old as 4.  “I’m willing to stay a lifetime if God wants me to,” Duncan said.

Although The Bethany House is still being built, babies and toddlers are already arriving at the site, said Bethany Windsor, 22, founder of the orphanage.  “Uganda is one of the most beautiful nations I’ve ever been to. They have abundant natural resources and the ability to produce food (for) all of Africa,” Windsor said.

Since the country has been ruled by dictatorships, the people’s access to those resources have been limited, Windsor said.  “They’re (the people of Uganda) doing the best they can with what they have,” Windsor said.

Duncan said when she gets there she hopes to bring in as many babies to the orphanage grounds as she can to give them immediate hope.   “I wake up every morning and wish I was already there,” Duncan said.

For more information or to donate to Duncan’s efforts or The Bethany House, call 835-3700 or visit www. the bethany house.com

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NAIROBI -(Dow Jones)- A dispute between Kenya and Uganda over the ownership of a tiny island in Lake Victoria could end up at the International Court of Justice if bilateral efforts fail, the Daily Nation reports Friday, citing Uganda’s foreign affairs minister.

In a joint press conference in Nairobi Friday, Isaac Musumba and Kenyan Assistant Foreign Affairs Minister Richard Onyonka said diplomatic efforts to resolve the dispute over Migingo Island had reached a high level and technical teams should be allowed to conclude their survey in two months’ time for the matter to be resolved.

“Maritime survey is different from land survey and only experts can determine the matter. We have bilateral means, regional forums and even the International Court of Justice to resolve the issue if all our efforts fail,” the Kenya Television Network reported Musumba as saying. He said going to war over the issue wasn’t an option.

Full story: www.nation.co.ke/News/-/1056/561104/-/u4a8dg/-/index.html

By George Mwangi, contributing to Dow Jones Newswires; mobile +245 735 781 853; gmwangi0@gmail.com

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MADISON – Impoverished schoolchildren in Masajja, Uganda, will receive some much-needed help this summer from students at Drew University in Madison. Raising the funds to extend that help will begin with a “family fun day” offered to the Madison community from 1 to 5 p.m. this Sunday, April 19, with dodge ball, kickball and three-legged races in the Simon Forum on the Drew campus at 36 Madison Ave. Admission is $10.

For the student organizers, Sunday’s fun will be a first step toward realizing their goal of easing the hardships of Ugandan schoolchildren.

After seeing the conditions of African schools firsthand, Drew juniors Arnold Kawuba and Mark Stratton and seniors Abby Calhoun and Gabriel Auteri banded together with 12 other students this year to create the Drew Uganda Initiative. The organization aims to send Drew students to schools in Uganda during summers to build classrooms for African children.

750 Pupils, Eight Rooms

In its inaugural summer, the Uganda Initiative hopes to help a school that serves about 750 students, most of them needy orphans, in just eight classrooms.

Students at the school attempt to learn without such basic necessities as textbooks, blackboards, or even enough seats.

The Uganda Initiative also hopes to cover the cost of the trip – about $2,600 per Drew student – through fund-raising.

Calhoun said the fund-raising will be creative. “We want to branch out from the typical asking people for change,” she noted.

The student group is planning fund-raising events that range from an Ethiopian-style dinner for Drew students catered by the Lalibela Ethiopian Restaurant of South Orange, to a haircutting day with Salvatore Minardi of the Salvatore Minardi Salon at 8 Park Ave. in Madison, in which all the money raised for one day will be donated to the Uganda Initiative.

The first fund-raising event will arrive from 1 to 5 p.m. this Sunday, April 19, when Drew’s Simon Forum will host a “family fun day” in conjunction with the Mayors Wellness Campaign on the campus at 36 Madison Ave. The fun will include dodge ball, kickball and three-legged races. The public is invited and admission will be $10.

“We want to create a project that’s sustainable,” Auteri said. “We can fund-raise at the same location every year.”

Kawuba added the Uganda Initiative’s focus on the Madison community also agrees with Drew’s renewed commitment to civic engagement.

“This project,” he said, “should be a community project.”

Article Source: http://www.recordernewspapers.com

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The Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health recently announced it will award $11.75M over five years in grants to institutions to strengthen the fight against HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis in Haiti, Uganda and China and establish a new program in Tanzania.

The five-year awards to train researchers from those countries are aimed at closing the gap between what is known about preventing and treating HIV/AIDS and TB among large populations in diverse settings and achieving results in countries where the two diseases often coexist.

Almost 3 million people are on antiretroviral therapy for HIV infection through international efforts supported by the World Health Organization, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the Global Fund for HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the Clinton Foundation and others. However, for every person on treatment, an estimated 2.5 new infections occur.

“Research has identified many effective ways to prevent HIV, but these have not been brought into routine practice,” said Fogarty Director Roger I. Glass, M.D., Ph.D. “Despite these discoveries, many more people are still being infected than we can put on treatment. If large investments in PEPFAR are to be effective, we will need to train a generation of researchers to learn how to best implement HIV prevention programs and understand how to make them cost effective and sustainable for the long run.”

The new award was granted to Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences in Tanzania, working with the Harvard School of Public Health, to build capacity in clinical, operational and health systems research that would advance the implementation of evidence-based best practices on HIV/AIDS and TB.

Award renewals were granted to:

The Chinese Center for Disease Control, working in conjunction with UCLA and Yale University.

The Haitian Study Group for the Study of Kaposi’s Sarcoma and Opportunistic Infections (GHESKIO), one of the world’s oldest country-wide AIDS organizations, in conjunction with Quisqueya University and Zanmi Lasante in Haiti and Weill Medical College of Cornell University and Dartmouth College in the United States.

The Joint Clinical Research Center in conjunction with Makerere University, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Kampala City Council, National TB and Leprosy Control Program and Gulu University in Uganda and the University of Georgia in conjunction with Case Western Reserve University in the United States.

The International Clinical, Operational, and Health Services Research and Training Awards for AIDS and Tuberculosis program, under which the awards are made, is the flagship for addressing the new field implementation science, which Fogarty has made one of its key goals.

The program, which also operates in Brazil, Peru, South Africa and Zimbabwe, strengthens a country’s research capacity so that large-scale prevention, care and treatment efforts are locally relevant and effective. The research training involves a wide range of health professionals including nurses, midwives, physicians, dentists, health care administrators and public health workers. Fogarty collaborates on these grants with the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute of Mental Health.

The Fogarty International Center, the international component of the NIH, addresses global health challenges through innovative and collaborative research and training programs and supports and advances the NIH mission through international partnerships. For more information, visit: www.fic.nih.gov.

About The National Institutes of Health

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) — The Nation’s Medical Research Agency — includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit: www.nih.gov.

SOURCE: The National Institutes of Health

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Last week I was having a telephone conversation with a long lost friend of mine. She lives in Uganda and we were both delighted to get in touch with each other after a long time. We marvelled at the swiftness of the passing of time. We have not seen each other since 1990. Even then, nineteen years later she still sounded the same.

She has never travelled in Europe and was of course very keen to hear about my life, what I have been doing in the intervening years, children, parents cousins, the usual questions. I was interested in her life as well and it struck me how similar our paths are in life although we do not live in the same country.

As the conversation continued, with me nervously thinking about my phone bill, she asked me how I managed to live in The UK, how I “managed” being married to a white lady and general differences that exist between living in Uganda and the UK. I assured her that although I lived far from my country of origin, I had to make the UK my home now. I asked her whether she ever thought of visiting The UK or Europe in general and this is when I got a shock.

“I would love to visit but……..its the way they look at us” she said. I kept quiet for a minute swallowed hard and asked who looked at whom how? “Those people” she answered with utmost calm. Still I thought that I probably miss heard what she said or I was getting the conversation out of context. I thought “the way they look at us?” Surely this should not be coming from someone I thought was educated. So I pressed again for her to be more exact. “Zungus” she answered. Now, for anyone unaware of that term, it means whites. But the context one uses it can be mistaken for slight racism or ignorance.

I quickly interjected and assured her that “the way they look at us” would not be any different than when a Zungu were to be seen walking about in Ntungamo on their own. They would attract stares and in my experience especially with my wife, kids following shouting Omuzuungu! Omuzuungu!

I assured her (my Ugandan friend) that if she were to go really far from the town centres she would attract the same kind of attention. Its nothing racist. Just curiosity. I doubt those kids my wife has met on our visits to Uganda are racist. At least the kind people of Port Quinn in Cornwall where I spend a week every year in the summer have not shouted “A black man! A black man! And believe me if you have not been to Port Quinn, its way off the beaten track.

When I first went in 1999 I felt like Sir Samuel Baker did when he discovered whatever the history books say he discovered first as if the locals were not seeing it. What did he discover by the way? Apparently Dr Livingstone discovered Lake Tanganyika. Where were the locals? Did they not realise there was a big lake just the other side of those bushes?

I thought that I was getting through to her with less intelligent reasoning. Just common sense and then she let rip! A lurid torrent of racist, ignorant and vile abuse. I held the phone an inch or so from the old lug hole. I let her have it off her chest. I wondered how she had come to such a low in her life. I quickly reminded her that my family in the UK is predominantly white and I could not recognise any of what she was saying. “Anti ggwe obabeelamu kati” she protested. And did that make it right? I was livid.

What made it worse was that through it all she was speaking a pseudo kind of American English as well, pronouncing “God” as “Gad”. What also infuriated me is that she attends Kampala Pentecostal Church the leader of which is probably the most famous Zungu in modern Uganda, Pastor Garry Skinner.

After that phone conversation which looking back to now I did not particularly enjoy, I found it disturbing how generally we Ugandans especially Baganda thought it acceptable being rude about other tribes or races. And when someone were to sling it back, we get bloody miffed!

Growing up in a boarding school, I remember being constantly met by tribal and racist slurs. Any bad behaviour at primary school our dormitory matrons would say “Awo okoze nga Omunyoro”. Banyoro are a respectable tribe. So it got ever so confusing when I made friends with other young kids and they told me they were Banyoro. I thought you filthy things!!! You have been naughty and you have the balls to admit it too? Behave well and you will stop being Banyoro. Any dubious parentage Banyoro!

Any other tribe was an offshoot of the Baganda tribe. The Banyankole/Nankole were a lazy form of Baganda, the Basogas had this irritating insistence on poor grammatical tense where it came to speaking Luganda. Incidentally I were to find out that that was actually Lusoga their local language.

As for any tribe the other side of the Nile other than the Basoga, they were all Lugbaras. We even had a song about the birds they ate that never washed their bottoms going “ Lugwaara alya nyonyi, nyonyi! Nyoni takwekweeya……..” As if the chickens we ate in Buganda washed their bottoms. Honestly I cringe writing this but I guess its a form of penance. Owning up to past misdemeanants.

But this sort of speech still goes on to this day and I must say we should all be ashamed. I am. I was told of a cousin who was getting married a while ago. I called home to seek out the gossip (as you do). First thing; “Owange ggano wagawulidde? Bba wa muno Musoga ate nga musilaamu!” Horror! He is a “Sogi” and Muslim as well. I thought, OK, What is he like? I was assured that he was Okay as he had not grown up in Busoga and he was pretty liberal. The point that they are actually good for each other was secondary to his religion and tribal background.

On the morning of their marriage, legend has it that when the youthful Miria Kalule was getting married to Apollo Milton Obote, she was starkly reminded by the presiding priest that she had not married the Prime Minister of Uganda. She had married Obote. Okay, strictly speaking that was true but what was the point in telling that to a love struck middle class girl from Kawempe? Thanks mate. And did he think that was tactful? However, the underlying message was that the Baganda were not happy about her choice of husband and they decided to voice it there and then. Regardless of what one thinks of Obote and his regime, they, as far as I am personally aware, had a successful marriage. She stayed with him “until death did them apart”. She now carries on the can of worms that is The Uganda People Congress party which was the embodiment of his political life.

This abuse has now even gone to the music industry. Anyone listening to the song Chandiru will not fail to recognise the tribal stereotypes in that song. Its nuts!! Apparently “Omwana w’Omulugwara yanzita…….” The artist goes on to describe Northern girls in general as looking like mean men! I can not believe that no one has complained about the lyrics in that song.

Nowadays, we have the land bill going through parliament in Uganda. Its going to be a long haul. Refer to the citizenship bill. That has been going a long time. But with the land bill, I have heard some pretty good arguments. I am yet to make my mind about where I stand. Maybe I will remain sat on the fence and in due course I could become part of the fence. But there is, and I must hasten to add, some tribal poison spewing from all sides. The other day on a chat show on an internet radio, this man spitting with rage accused Westerners of trying to steal the land. “Abanyarwanda baagala kuba taka lyaffe” he spat. And yet that comment was broadcast with qualification and no apology.

Anyone who is not aware of local Kiganda speech, referring to Westerners as “Abanyarwanda” is abusive. Refer to Rwandan people as Abanyarwanda but not people from Western Uganda. All this conjures up images in my mind of this land loaded on to TransAmi trucks proudly displaying “Transit Goods” on their sides heading to Nyabushozi being driven by Abasumaali (Somalis) stopping in Lyantonde for a quick fumble with an AIDS infected prostitute.

But are we good at taking the abuse as well? Julius a Langi school mate once teased me for my choice of staple food. As far as he is concerned Matooke is a tasteless yellow pat. When he said that I was livid. Tasteless pat? Bring on kalo (millet). I quickly reminded him that it tasted like road grit and worst still looked like “something else”. I can stand eating tasteless yellow pat than brown road grit. It could be road kill for all I know. Then he reminded me how we referred to any local livestock. Its disgraceful.

My grandfather was once struggling to make culinary sense of a deceased Rhode Island Red. This chicken was neither red nor had it been anywhere near Rhode Island. It had spent its life shifting about a ton of dirt every week looking for food. In the process, it was as rubbery as a golf ball. It was devoid of any flesh. In frustration after looking for his dentures for the fourth time fumed “kano akakoko kabade kaganda ddala!” So, this chicken was Ganda after all on account of its lousy texture? We do have ways of even insulting our own selves. So in effect any low yield live stock is Ganda. Are we low yield? That is a new low in self deprecation. If you saw a comely heifer being gazed upon by a randy bull “eyo ente Nzungu”.

Be ware! If one was to be described as a Muganda wawu that is not a compliment. Here in Europe an Italian will click his heels were he or she be described as having Mediterranean charm. A French Gaelic charm, Scandinavian Nordic charm? But a Muganda wawu looks like this; Slightly short black person with their huge noses squatting precariously on their faces. Thick set lips and quite thick set. Should you not look like this then they will say “Oyo mulaalo!” You can not win.

We the Baganda call other people names and are inherently rude about other peoples customs. But I can say that because I am aware of that. I would want to know what the other tribes in Uganda call other tribes in the country. I know that this is not right. But on the whole, I doubt that Baganda are morbidly racist or even have a high instance of tribalism. I stand to be corrected. Still what is said at times can not be defended. The next time I am in Uganda and I escape to Ange Noire and the DJ plays Chandiru, I bet you I will be the first person on that dance floor. Its just the way they look at us.

Arthur. Katabalwa Mwenkanya
Mwenky99@hotmail.com

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Solomon Tembang Mforgham, AfricaNews reporter in Limbe, Cameroon
The trial of former Congolese renegade army General Laurent Nkunda has begun on Friday in the Rwanda border town of Gisenyi near the DRC. However, political pundits have questioned the rationale behind Kigali’s decision to prosecute the former rebel leader whose insurgency was mainly within the DRC.
Nkunda was captured early this year after he crossed the border into Rwanda while trying to escape after a joint Rwanda-Congolese military storm the area of his operation.

The Rwandan government has so far refused DRC’s request to extradite Nkunda so that he may stand trial in the DRC.

The renegade General’s trial raises a lot of controversy and observers are worry as to why he should be tried in a country where he did not commit any crime.

Some Congolese say Rwanda detained Laurent Nkunda apparently as part of an agreement with Congo that opened the way for thousands of Rwandan soldiers to cross the border in a joint operation to hunt down Rwandan Hutu militia.

Congolese political Analysts say Rwanda was under intense international pressure to use its influence over the Tutsi rebellion to end the crisis. At the same time, Rwanda and an alleged clique of rebel commanders had grown disenchanted with Nkunda, who they increasingly regarded as a flippant, authoritarian megalomaniac who allegedly embezzled money from rebel coffers. To read the full article go to http://www.africanews.com/site/Nkunda_faces_trial_in_Rwanda/list_messages/24331

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Kenya has been picked to host the 2009 MTV Africa Music Awards (MAMA), MTV Networks Africa and telecommunications company Zain announced on Friday. The annual celebration of the African continent’s contemporary music and youth culture will take place on Saturday 10 October 2009 at the Indoor Arena, Moi International Sports Centre, Nairobi.
The statement said about one billion potential TV audience would get the chance to view the event. Leading mobile telecommunications operator, Zain, returns as the sole pan-African sponsor of the 2009 MTV Africa Music Awards following their multi-platform, multi-territory partnership with MTV in 2008.
 
“The MTV Africa Music Awards with Zain is a global platform that highlights the passion, impact and creativity of Africa’s best contemporary artists,” commented Alex Okosi, Senior Vice President & Managing Director, MTV Networks Africa. “As a vibrant and influential cultural hub, the city of Nairobi will form a brilliant backdrop to the MAMA Awards and ensure that the second edition of the Awards will be a truly unforgettable experience.”
 
More than 5,000 fans will watch the 2009 MTV Africa Music Awards with Zain live at the Indoor Arena, while millions more will watch the global TV broadcast of the show, the statement added.
 
“Nairobi is proud to be hosting this year’s MTV Africa Music Awards with Zain,” commented The Honourable Najib Balala, MP, Minister of Tourism, “MTV’s choice of Nairobi is a huge boost for the city, and we are looking forward to welcoming the continent’s biggest stars here in October for this milestone event.”
 
Speaking about the Awards, Mwambu Wanendeya, Zain Group Communications Director for Africa said, “The 2009 MTV Africa Music Awards with Zain promises to be the highest profile music event in the history of the East African region.  Zain is proud to play our part in bringing this inspirational salute to African music excellence to music fans in Africa and around the world.”
 
The MTV Africa Music Awards with Zain is Africa’s most prestigious live music event. Inaugurated in Abuja, Nigeria in November 2008, the first MAMA broadcast to music fans around the world via MTV’s global TV network and featured electrifying performances by artists including Kelly Rowland, Flo Rida, The Game, Jua Cali, P Square, 9ice, D’Banj, Asa, Cassette and Jozi.  Among the artists taking home the distinctive ‘golden microphone’ trophy were Wahu (Best Female), D’Banj (Best Male), Jozi (Best Live) and P Square (Best Group).
 
The MTV Africa Music Awards with Zain will air across Africa on the 17 October 2009 on satellite on DStv (Channel 322) and Daarsat, and on terrestrial channels WBS (Uganda), TBC (Tanzania), TV3 (Ghana), STV (Nigeria),  AIT (Nigeria).

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 Kenya government will resume the construction of the second port at Lamu in February next year, Transport Minister Chirau Ali Mwakere has said. The project will be part of the US$22 billion development plan that includes railway lines, a pipeline, roads and airports to open up the northern part of the country and link the East Africa’s biggest economy with Sudan and Ethiopia.

Minister Mwakere said the port of Lamu which will be bigger than Mombasa, will be partly financed by $45 million, the funding collected from the controversial sale of the Grand Regency, a luxury Nairobi hotel.

“Everything is under control, we should have the first ships calling at the Port of Lamu in Manda Bay by the end of 2011, when we shall have two or three berths ready to pick up or deliver cargo,” he said.

Minister Mwakwere also said there will be a highway and rail link joining Lamu with Lokichoggio, close to the border with Sudan in the northwest, and another to link it with Moyale in the north, close to the Ethiopian border.

Local newspaper, Daily Nation quoted minister saying :”Ethiopia has already constructed their railway line to Moyale and ours is under construction,” he said.

There will also be major airports in Lamu, Isiolo, Lokichoggio and Moyale, the minister said, and an oil pipeline linking Sudan to the port.

Southern Sudan, which is due to vote in a referendum in 2011 on whether it wants to separate from the north, hopes to export some of its oil, while Kenya on the other side wants to import the oil.

Earlier this month, the World Bank approved an additional financing of US$253 million for the Kenyan government to complete the remaining contracts on the Northern Corridor project which will link Kenya’s capital with neighbouring Uganda and much of central African countries.

The approval adds up to $460 million of the Bank’s support for the Northern Corridor Transport Improvement Project (NCTIP).

By staff writer

© afrol News

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A Kenyan man, Ben Nyaumbe, bit a python which wrapped him in its coils and dragged him up a tree during a fierce three-hour struggle. The serpent seized farm worker in the Malindi area of Kenya’s Indian Ocean coast at the weekend.
He bit the snake on the tip of the tail during the exhausting battle in the village of Sabaki. Police rescued Nyaumbe and captured the 13ft (4m) reptile, before taking it to a sanctuary, but it later escaped, according to the BBC.

The victim told police he managed to reach his mobile phone from his pocket to raise the alarm when the python momentarily eased its grip after hauling him up a tree on Saturday evening.

Nyaumbe used his shirt to smother the snake’s head and prevent it from swallowing him. His employer arrived with police and villagers, who tied the python with a rope and pulled them both down from the tree with a thud.

Peter Katam, superintendent of police in Malindi district, said: “Two officers on patrol were called and they found this man was struggling with a snake on a tree.”

“The snake had coiled his hands and was trying to swallow him but he struggled very hard. The officers and villagers managed to rescue him and he was freed. “He himself was injured on the lower lip of the mouth – it was bleeding a little bit – as the tip of the snake’s tail was sharp when he said he bit it,” he added.

MNyaumbe told the Daily Nation newspaper how he resorted to desperate measures after the python, which had apparently been hunting livestock, encircled his upper body in its coils.

“I stepped on a spongy thing on the ground and suddenly my leg was entangled with the body of a huge python. I had to bite it,” he said.

‘Very mysterious’

Supt Katam said the officers had wanted to shoot the snake but could not do so for fearing of injuring Nyaumbe.

“If it wasn’t for the villagers and officers who helped him, he would have been swallowed by the snake over the Easter holiday,” said Supt Katam.

He added: “It’s very mysterious, this ability to lift the man onto the tree. I’ve never heard of this before.”

The police officer said they took the snake to a sanctuary in Malindi town but it escaped overnight, probably from a gap under the door in the room where it was kept.

“We are still seriously looking for the snake,” said Supt Katam. “We want to arrest the snake because any one of us could fall a victim.”
Source www.africanews.com

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Sam Banda Jnr, AfricaNews reporter in Blantyre, Malawi
Mozambique has won the bid to host one of the biggest sports events, the All-Africa Games. The event will take place at its capital city Maputo. The country takes over the event after Zambia pulled out due to what it termed the global financial crisis. Zambia said it was not ready to host the event.
A Supreme Council sitting in Cameroon is said to have given the bid to Mozambique to host the event saying it was one of the fast developing nations.

However some analysts have raised an alarm saying the country has got no enough infrastructures to host the tournament which brings together 24 sporting disciplines including football.

But the southern African country’s deputy sports minister, Carlos Jose Castro de Souza was quoted by the BBC’s African sports programme Fast Track as saying they were ready for the event.

He said one of its sports complexes has already been finalized adding that a stadium was also being build to be finished in 2 years time.

“We have a sports complex in place, and in November next year the new National Stadium will be ready, for football and athletics,” he said.

The deputy minister further said that Maputo has nice lodging places to accommodate athletes and footballers hence they have no problem hosting the biggest tournament.

According to a BBC report, the current holders Cameroon are the most successful team in the men’s football event at the All-Africa Games, having won gold four times.

The report further said that women’s football was introduced at the 2003 edition, with Nigeria winning gold then, and again in 2007.

Mozambique lost most of its infrastructure during a civil war which lasted for years but the country has made a tremendous growth of late.

Recently the country also took another plan when it said that it would invest millions of money to improve its tourism sector in order to attract more tourists ahead of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Source; www.Africanews.com

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