Just before I left Uganda in October, I was able to organize a two-day workshop with children in the Namungona neighborhood in Kampala, and another workshop at the Infectious Diseases Institute at Mulago hospital. Here's a video of the Namungona workshop.

I just got back home from 8 weeks in Uganda and a week in Pakistan. In Uganda, I stayed at Kisa school and did some volunteer work there. (see recent Photos in the gallery)

Art Workshops
I also spent time on Uganda Art Consortium business...organizing art workshops at a primary school in Namungona and at the Infectious Diseases Institute at Mulago Hospital in Kampala. Over 125 kids and 200 patients at Mulago attended the workshops. Another workshop was planned for the childrens' wards at Mulago this week, but I haven't heard yet how it went.In my luggage I brought back about 50 oil paintings and other artworks for the show in Washington D.C. at Howard University in February 2010. I'm cautiously hopeful that two of the artists, Matias Tusime and Hassan Mukiibi will be coming to Washington for the show.

The Radio Project...to build a community radio station in Kyotera in Rakai District where the AIDS virus first appeared in Uganda...is on hold because of the riots in September. Let me explain. The week I arrived in Uganda, street demonstrations in Kampala and several other central Uganda towns were broken up by the police. Over 20 people were killed, 600 arrested, 5 radio stations shut down and more than 20 journalists arrested on sedition charges. The protests were about a dispute between the federal government and the Kabaka (king) of Uganda...a traditional kingdom that is part of Uganda. The government wanted to curtail the Kabaka's right to travel within Uganda. The protestors objected. Anyway in the wake of the riots, the govt. decided not to issue any more new radio licenses. We had applied last January for a license for Rakai Radio, and felt we were on the verge of getting it. I had hoped to spend part of my visit there doing some initial organizing work on the station. But now its not clear when a license might be issued. Govt. is clamping down hard on all media, and the ruling party is going to be on edge until after the elections in 2011. I'm afraid we might have a long wait before we get our license.
Radio Stories
While in Uganda I reported several stories which were broadcast on WPFW in Washington DC, KBCS in Seattle and KSER in Everett WA. I reported on the riots, then a separate piece on press freedom. I also produced stories on the work of a group of AIDS volunteers, and on the contentious issue of the tradition of bride price in Uganda. A group of men and women are suing in court to stop some of the worst abuses of bride price which has led to women being sold like commodities the highest bidding suitor.
Here are links to the stories:

Kampala Riots


AIDS Volunteers in Uganda


Press Freedom in Uganda

Bride Price Vs. Womens Rights in Uganda

Food Price Inflation

Tororo Wedding Music
I also produced a video of a visit I made to Tororo, about 200 miles north of Kampala of a performance of traditional wedding music and dancing by a group that was arranged for me in Magoro village near Tororo about 200 Km north of Kampala.
You can see the video here.

Pakistan
I departed Kampala Oct. 28 and flew to Islamabad, Pakistan to spend a few days with my friend Tarik Zia and his family. Tarik is a TV reporter in Islamabad, and his wife Masooma is a teacher. They have a precocious 4-year old, Daniel. They live with Masooma's parents, Said and Saeeda Ul-Haq in a suburb of the city. Tarik took me to his newsroom and introduced me to his colleagues. I interviewed one of the reporters who had just returned from being embedded with the Pakistani army in South Waziristan conducting operations against the Taliban and Al-queda. I'll be producing a radio story on that interview later this week. Pakistan was hit by two more major bombings while I was there...one in Peshawar in a crowded market that killed 150 people and another in at a bank in Rawalpindi, a suburb of Islamabad, the day before I left which killed 35. As a result of the continued terror attacks, everybody's pretty tense. Special security measures have been taken at all schools including guards, blast walls and barbed wire. Daniel's school has been closed for two weeks because they haven't completed their security upgrades yet. There are military checkpoints on all major roads, and retail trade is down substantially.

Lahore
We took a trip about 400 Km north to Lahore, the ancient capital of the Moghul Empire, and today a bustling thriving industrial and commercial city. It's full of culture including restored palaces and mosques, Punjab University and excellent food.
One of this country's most colorful features is that almost all big trucks and many busses and other commercial vehicles are elaborately painted and decorated in elaborate traditional designs...I mean every inch of the truck inside and out is decorated, with bells hanging from the mudflaps, and elaborate prow-like structures jutting out over the cabs. So Tarik took me to visit a big outdoor workshop in Rawalpindi where the fancy trucks are built and rebuilt and painted and decorated. Here are some pictures of the painting and other work being done on the trucks. I think I'll make a video or a radio story about it when I get home.

Judging from the two urban areas I visited Pakistan seems modern and thriving and very energetic once you are outside the capital. But there are vast areas of rural poverty that suffer from lack of schools, infrastructure and social services. That's where fundamentalist revolutionaries are making their biggest strides, taking over local government...providing schools chasing down criminals, and murdering local government officials they deem corrupt or insufficiently religious. That's where the country's future will be decided. The Pakistani government has a long way to go just to win the hearts and minds of most of its own people.

Uganda: Problems and Prospects
Uganda has been hard hit by food price inflation...over 50% in 2009 alone for many staples... and many are getting less to eat and paying more for it. Wages haven't increased at all. Unemployment has increased too, though it's hard to measure because the newly jobless usually try to scrape together a little capital and peddle used clothing or vegetables or housewares on the road or at a small roadside stand. Most people have some relatives back in their home village, where they can go if things get too bad. Some of the rural areas though have been hit by drought and floods. And in the North, agriculture has never gotten back to normal after the devastation on LRA wars that ended a couple of years ago. Government is just now getting serious about forcing people in the IDP camps to go back to their home villages and plant crops. Overall, I'd say Uganda is in a little worse shape than my last visit in 2007. Most people I met are angry at the government for incompetence and corruption...anger that fueled the September riots. But I don't think the current government is in any danger of overthrow or defeat at the polls. The army was built on the guerrilla forces led by Yoweri Museveni who is now the president, and most of the generals are Banyankole like him. Museveni, of course, also appoints the electoral commission that will set the rules and certify the results of the 2011 elections.


Union Organizing Drive
One more thing...In the last few days before I left, I tried to set an union organizing drive in motion. A Ugandan friend is a field rep for a local micro lending agency. When she told me about her deplorable working conditions I got her together with organizers from COFTU one of the two national labor federations. COFTU sent six staff people including the Organizing Director and a General Secretary to the meeting with my friend. A meeting with a larger group of workers is scheduled for this week. Turns out that Ugandan labor law is pretty strong...in many ways better than our NLRB. Recognition is automatic even if only a minority of workers sign up, and there are stiff penalties for employers who trample workers rights. The wage earning labor force (industrial, teachers and civil service) is small, but 15% now belong to unions. The vast majority of workers are in the informal sector ...small retail, day labor and contract workers like security guards and taxi drivers. But COFTU is opening a major effort this year to organize these workers.

http:/ / www.bcc.ctc.edu/ kbcs/ downloads/ One_World_Report/ OWR_20090917/ OWR_20090914_Uganda-protests- TH_Edit2.mp3

Last week made another trip to Tororo where some wonderful people put on a lovely performance of traditional Japadola wedding music. Check out the You Tube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POQBUG4Vd1M

The Ugandan Government has been cracking down on radio stations and journalists in the wake of violent clashes between police and protesters in early September.

Uganda has a diverse, vibrant media scene with over 50 radio stations, three TV networks and a mix of daily and weekly print publications. Press freedom expanded greatly in 1986 when the current government took power and guerrilla leader Museveni became president musette.

But government is blaming the media for instigating and stoking the protests which swept through central Uganda early in September. Five stations had their licenses yanked in a broad warning to media throughout the country to watch their mouth when it comes to politics. At least 20 journalists, photographers working the street protests were arrested during the violence

A popular talk show host was jailed and charged with sedition, and new bill has been introduced in Parliament to license journalists with the ability to pull the licenses if the government objects to their reporting.

Despite periodic government efforts to muzzle the media, the nation has a strong tradition of independent journalism.

Peter Mwesige's column in the monitor was canceled several years ago under government pressure when he criticized the ruling party. The former columnist and journalism professor is now a media consultant. He told me government attacks on the press will continue and become fiercer as we get closer to the 2011 elections. There's widespread dissatisfaction because of economic issues, and Museveni's re-election strategy will feature rigging votes and silencing dissenters, Mwesige said.

Andrew Mwenda is founder and editor of the Independent Magazine which has been a persistent critic of President Museveni and the ruling NRM party since it was founded in 2007. I was able to interview him just a couple days before he was scheduled to appear in court on sedition charges. He cheerfully quoted to me the motto on the back cover of every issue: “You Buy the Truth, We Pay the Price.”

Mwenda says he expected government would try to silence him when he founded the magazine in 2007. So it didn't come as a surprise when he was himself charged with sedition after he wrote unflattering comments about President Museveni in an editorial.

The government attack on the media is "A sign of weakness...the last kicks of a dying horse," he told me. He says Museveni's winning margin has steadily declined in the last three elections, and that its virtually impossible for him to win without a run-off. The 18-30 age voters are a majority, and won't vote for Musevini, Mwenda says.

Mwenda was charged with sedition weeks before the September riots. He responded to the charges by filing a lawsuit in constitutional court claiming his right of freedom of speech was threatened. The sedition case can't be heard until his constitutional claim is ruled on.

I also interviewed a top government official...the Minister of State for Ethics and Integrity who told me this whole idea that journalists should be allowed to write or say anything they want is "Very Strange." The Minister, James Nsaba Butoro says western ideas of media freedom are not appropriate for Uganda. He likened the Kampala protests to the Rwandan genocide, and said the government had to act quickly to avoid disaster. He told me the government should train, license and supervise all journalists.

Its hard to believe the government is serious about the licensing law, but its clear that threatening and intimidating the media is part of their election strategy. So far they haven't intimidated Andrew Mwenda who told me the Sedition Law, under which he is charged for defaming Pres. Musevini is unconstitutional. "I broke the law yesterday," he said, "I break it today and I will break it again tomorrow."

Aids is on the increase again in Uganda, despite years of effort, and strong signs that the infection rate was declining. In 2008, 7.5% of the population was infected, up a full percentage point from just 3 years ago.

The A to Zed Childrens Charity In Wakiso District works with over 400 children including orphans, children born with aids, and families struggling to escape poverty.

Aids once infected nearly 15% of the population. Hard work in the last 20 years brought that figure down dramatically to 6.5 % in 2006. Now it is on the rise again...to 7.5 % of the population in 2008.

Over half the population in this area is under 18, and nearly one in five of those children have lost one or both parents....many of them to HIV. HIV appears to be spreading most among married couples, with the result that thousands of children each year are born with HIV, and then their parents die.

Wakiso is a semi-rural area within easy commuting distance of Kampala. The population has doubled here just in the last 10 years. Several local grass roots organizations supported by international donors and NGOs have organized to help deal with the aids crisis. The groups work together to provide services and education to children and their parents dealing with HIV-Aids in their families.

A-Zed pays school fees for over 200 children whose parents cannot afford them. 200 more children are part of another A to Zed program which provides family counseling on HIV and other health problems, and financial management training and business loans for parents. One of the biggest problems for families needing health care for HIV is the simple matter of transportation to the hospital.
Volunteers work with the families to help them cope with the challenge of living with HIV Aids. Teddy Nansekka is one of those volunteers:

Teddy is one of the most successful volunteers in the program. She develops great rapport with her client families when she tells them that she too is living with aids. Teddy contracted AIDS when she was raped by a soldier during a period of intense fighting in her village in 1990. She was stunned when she learned she was HIV Positive.

Gradually, with the help of her family, her pastor, and sensitive counselors, she learned how to live with her diagnosis, and thrive and lead a fulfilling life. She's raising her own two children as well as her niece and nephew who were orphaned when Teddy's sister died of AIDS a few years ago. She supports herself selling vegetables from a roadside stand, and from hand crafted jewelry she makes in her HIV AIDS survivors group.

But she also felt a need to help others in the same situation.

Betty Muhangi is a volunteer with TAAPA another organization working to help AIDS families in Wakiso.


Muhangi thinks aids is on the increase because the government and community groups relaxed when the first declines in new infections were posted.

Muhangi says the Ugandan Government needs to increase its efforts in public education and to provide more support for groups like TAAPA and A to Zed.

Another local NGO working against AIDS in Wakiso is KIFAD. KIFAD, trains AIDS victims in new job skills so they can support themselves and their families. Many survivors of the HIV AIDS epidemic are single mothers with few job skills. Kifad just celebrated the first graduates of its tailoring class. 20 women from families hit by AIDS were trained in a year long program to be skilled tailors. A new class with 18 students started the following week
Kifad, Taapa, A to Zed and other grass roots organizations here in Uganda share the goal of empowering HIV Aids victims to take control of their disease and their lives. With funds from international donors and energy from local volunteers they are struggling to stem the growing tide of HIV Aids.

Listen to the full story on KBCS: http://www.bcc.ctc.edu/kbcs/downloads/One_World_Report/OWR_20090924/OWR_20090922_Uganda_AIDS_TH.mp3

In the Photo, Teddy Nansekka and her niece Elizabeth.

Nansana, Uganda Sept. 19
Yesterday I set out to find Josephine Namuwawu, the young woman that Sally Donart, Gretchen's mom and I have been helping with money to pay her school fees. Josephine, 18, is one of three siblings. Their Mom died last year, and the kids kept the house, but have little income except what the 17 year old brother can bring home from casual construction jobs. Josephine and her younger sister Justine have been in school at St. Elizabeth's, but Josephine had to stop going because she had no money for fees. Justine would soon have to drop out because she can't pay this years fees. The fees are about $80 for each three month term plus a little extra for shoes, uniforms etc. I went out to the school, St. Elizabeth's. It's a highly regarded secondary school in Wakiso and most of the graduates go on to university. I asked the head master to help me find Josephine. After interviewing a few of her friends, we found her sister Justine in class. She has a different last name, so the school didn't realize they were sisters. Justine was called out of class me and told us that Josephine was at hoe and didn't have a job. Fortunately the girls live near the school. Justine led me through some dusty back lanes about 1 km away and we found Josephine at home in their neat little two-room brick house. She was actually studying her lessons against the time when she might get back in school. We all trooped back to the school together, and I got Josephine signed up to start class again on Monday. I also learned that Justine hadn't paid fees for this term, and Josephine owed for last term as well. I paid all the outstanding fees, so both girls are back in good standing. There was enough money in Sally's gift to buy the girls some new shoes, to pay for Josephine's last term final exams, and to leave them with a little spending money. I now have good contact with the headmaster, so I'll be able to make sure the girls stay in school.

Kampala, September 13, 2009

The streets of Kampala, Uganda's Capital were filled with smoke and violence Thursday and Friday last week, as thousands of demonstrators protested the federal government's efforts to restrict the movements of the Kabaka, or king of Buganda.
Uganda has for years been considered one of the most stable and peaceful African Countries, but the capital Kampala and a wide surrounding area exploded Thursday in violent clashes as police and army units fought demonstrators protesting government efforts to restrict travel by the Kabaka, head of the traditional kingdom of Buganda.

At least 20 people have been killed and hundreds injured and arrested. The government ordered 5 radio stations closed for inciting violence including three stations owned by the Kingdom of Buganda. A popular radio talk show host was arrested and the Uganda Journalists Association said the police have been targeting and assaulting reporters covering the violence.

I witnessed some of the violence In downtown Kampala Thursday morning as demonstrations were broken up by police and soldiers. In response, demonstrators, known as Nkobazambogo, or Buganda youth vigilantes, set fires and barricades in the streets and pelted police with rocks and and bottles. Police charged and chased demonstrators down the narrow downtown streets around the taxi parks, firing teargas, and beating and clubbing demonstrators and bystanders alike. By mid-day, protests had spread widely throughout the city and the surrounding suburbs. Virtually all major roads were barricaded and traffic including busses and taxis came to a stand-still for the rest of the day. Thousands of weary workers trudged for hours in the dark to reach their homes.

The origins of the current dispute this week date back over 100 years when Buganda and three other traditional monarchies were stitched together by British colonialists to create the modern state of Uganda. The kingdoms, Buganda, Bunyoro, Toro, Busoga were allowed to keep the trappings of royalty and a shadow of statehood but with limited legal authority when the current Uganda government was formed in 1992.

The protests were sparked when President Yoweri Musevini said the government would not allow a proposed visit by the Kabaka on Saturday to the town of Kayunga. Kayunga is in an area that was taken away from Bunyoro Kingdom in the 19th century by the British, and annexed to Buganda as a reward for cooperating with the colonial rulers. Both Bunyoro and Buganda claim the area today.

I made my way home in the early evening on the back of a boda-boda, a small passenger motorcycle, a cheap, fast and often thrilling form of public transportation in Uganda. The Boda could go where cars were blocked and my driver nimbly steered us between rocks and concrete chunks stacked in the road, piles of burning trash and tires and abandoned vehicles. At several points along the way we were stopped by demonstrators and urged to offer cash contributions to the Kabaka before we could continue on our way. Vehicles that tried to pass through the barricades without stopping were pelted with rocks. As I alighted from the boda-boda, gunfire exploded less than 100 yards away, as army units crashed through a street barricade, firing their guns in the air. About two dozen demonstrators and spectators scattered and ducked for cover.

The protests brought substantial hardship to many families, even those not touched by the violence. Virtually all Shops, factories and offices closed out of fear of the spreading violence.

Jimmy Kibuuka the director of Kisa Primary School where I am a volunteer is a leader in the Democratic Party, one of three minority parties opposing the ruling NRM headed by President Museveni. He says the government is using the disturbances to harass Democratic Party leaders. Several of his DP colleagues in Nansana have been arrested in the last 2 days.

Late friday night the Kabaka insisted he was going to Kayunga the next day, and President Museveni vowed he would not. But Saturday morning the Kabaka blinked, and announced he will postpone his trip.
This defused the protests, and there was only scattered violence Saturday. Most roads were cleared and it was possible to travel in and out of the capital. But the police announced they will continue to arrest those they call leaders of the protests in the next few days. As the smoke clears in Kampala and a shaky peace returns, all the underlying tensions and conflicts remain virtually untouched, and the prospect of further confrontations remains very strong. More photos here.

I was very happy about the results of the Ugandan art show. We sold 25 artworks and dozens of jewelry items and raised a small pot of money to send to the artists in Uganda to continue their work with orphans and hospital patients. I stayed in Seattle for several weeks after the rest of my household (Gretchen and most of my stuff)had been transported to our new home in Washington DC. As soon as the art show was over, I packed up all the artwork and the rest of my stuff and drove to DC in my little red truck. So far I've got my DC drivers License and Library card, and have 80% of the boxes unpacked. Now looking for a place to hold a Ugandan art show here in DC.

A major exhibit of new works by eight contemporary Ugandan artists will be held May 8, 9 and 10 at the Ballard Bookcase Gallery, 4611 11th Avenue NW in Seattle.

Proceeds from sales will support art classes and workshops in Uganda for AIDS patients and AIDS orphans, street children, and children and adult hospital patients.

Children are also trained in making beaded bracelets, necklaces and other jewelry they sell on the street to raise money for school fees, and buy food for their families.

Over 100 oil paintings, watercolors, wood block prints and other works will be displayed and available for purchase. Prices range from $45 for some 8x10 watercolors, to $250 for large oil paintings.

The exhibit will be the largest show by Ugandan artists ever held in the U.S.

Several artists in the show including Matias Tusime, Hassan Mukiibi and Kizito Fred Kakinda are well known to galleries and art collectors in Africa and Europe. But this will be the first exposure outside Uganda for others in the group including James Nsamba, Kennedy Baguma and Hadson Mbabazi..

The Uganda Art Consortium and its website were established in 2008 by Seattle area residents Tom Herriman and Rees Clark to support the charitable work of the Ugandan artists, and provide a way for them to market their artwork.

A reception will be held to open the show, 5-7 PM on May 8. Hours for the rest of the weekend are
Noon-9PM on Saturday May 9 and Noon-5PM on Sunday May 10.

The Uganda Art Consortium show is part of Ballard Second Saturday Art Walk.

It's not just the big banks...my little (50 branches in WA and OR) Northwest bank, Frontier, has just been slapped down hard by the FDIC for risky loan practices, inadequate reserves and sloppy management. Read the FDIC Report here.

George Donart, (gretchen's brother) and Michelle Champion got married and invited me to sing three songs at their ceremony in the backyard of Michelle's parents near L.A. March 14. That's Gretchen to my left, Sara,(Gretchen's sister) Peter (Michelle's brother who performed the ceremony,) and the bride and groom.

Here's a great song about the closing of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer by the wonderful singer/songwriter Heidi Muller. In many of her songs, Heidi links vivid images of the real world like coho flashing in the Bay, or the watching the stars in the night sky, with deep emotional meaning. In this song she talks about the PI like it was an old friend, or a familiar house that's just been torn down. She gets the Wauwona in there too. Heidi wrote the song last Tuesday (March 17) and sent it out to the media the next day. I heard it on John Sincock's Lunch with Folks show on Friday on KBCS. Heidi lives somewhere in the green rolling hills of West Virgina now, but judging by this song, has never really left the Northwest. (Photo: Heidi Muller and Bob Webb.)

A great Ballard restaurant, A Caprice Kitchen at 1418 NW 70th is hosting a small exhibition of works from Uganda Art Consortium. I was able to fit about 12 paintings onto the walls of the tiny 10 table place. The food there is terrific...all natural ingredients, inventive menu, under the direction of the intensely charming owner/chef Anne Catherine Kruger. I hung the exhibit today. But don't forget the big Ugandan art exhibit in May at Ballard Bookcase.

A Caprice Kitchen

We just got the inspector's report on the house we're buying in Washington DC. It is a basically solid house built in 1939, about the same age as me, with similar defects in plumbing, roofing, settling in places etc. Its the first house I ever bought without a front porch, though it has many other fine attributes including being right across the street from a park (with 6 shuffle board courts,) and being 3 blocks from the DC Metro.

Arrived back in Seattle April 2 after 6 months in Uganda. I feel like Uganda is in my blood now, and I am making plans to go back in 2009. There are many projects I left unfinished. 1. The radio station. It's virtually impossible to get a broadcast license withing 50 km of Kampala. But I formed an alliance with some radio minded people there, and they are investigating other possible locations for a station. So the radio station is still alive, and that's the first thing I want to work on when I go back. 2. The art consortium, ugandart.com is up and running, and I think it will continue with only minimal involvement from me. 3. Kisa school is thriving in every way except financially. I'm hoping I can find some ways to help improve the physical facilities and stabilize their finances. Which leads me to 4. Gretchen and I are creating a small investment fund to help some select Uganda businesses get started. Our return on the investment would be channeled to Kisa school, or other education and child welfare activities. We see this is one step up from micro lending. Most micro lenders are financing small retail shops or farming and gardening. We'd like to help kick-start enterprises that provide jobs and and returns to investors. We have 3 or 4 prospective enterprises in mind. More on this later. 5. Two other areas of interest for me are the labor movement and press freedom in Uganda. The labor movement in Uganda is weak and tiny suffers from corruption like all other parts of the economy. But workers rights are clearly and forcefully laid out in the Constitution and labor laws, and there are substantial opportunities for organizing if the resources could be found for staff and start up costs. This bears more looking in to. So far there is no presence by U.S. Unions in Uganda. Press Freedom: The Uganda govt. been making half hearted efforts at media intimidation. They call editors in for conferences with presidential assistants; last year several editors and reporters at Daily Monitor were arrested and charged with libel for a story about the Attorney General's wages; in Western Uganda, two radio stations were shut down, then re-opened by the courts. Its a consistent campaign to keep editors looking over their shoulders and worrying about whether their next story will land them in hot water. I'd like to do some reporting on the issue when I go back. Its something I just didn't get around to while I was there.
Its really good to be home. But big chunks of my heart and mind remain in Uganda and I think I'll be returning there mentally, physically, emotionally and electronically many times in the next several years.