09/30
2008
2008
Eid observed at the field near Clock Tower.
A family prepares food for Eid.
The gran couldn’t make it to the mosque so she listened to prayers on her radio.
Looking at photos of Eids past.
More images on Demotix.
I’m Glenna Gordon, an American photographer and journalist, presently commuting between West Africa and Brooklyn. Previously, I lived in Liberia. And before that, I lived in Uganda. I’ve traveled and worked in over a dozen countries in Africa.
I found the scarlett lion on the roof of a friend’s house in Kampala back in 2006 when I went through a crate of discarded items he and a few other artists had gathered. On that day, I was looking for something and I found the lion: a discarded kid’s toy made in China on the cheap, that somehow found it’s way to East Africa. Something about the hollowed out, paint chipped figurine appealed to my understanding of this place: I’d never seen a real lion, after all.
Eid observed at the field near Clock Tower.
A family prepares food for Eid.
The gran couldn’t make it to the mosque so she listened to prayers on her radio.
Looking at photos of Eids past.
More images on Demotix.
Scarlett Johansson was in Rwanda last week to visit AIDS clinics and support Bono’s Red Campaign. Which was all know is a very effective way to save Africa.
George Bush, the Ghanain president, and the cast of the Lion King. Hat tip Africa is a Country.
Photo from the BBC
New York Times reports on Jews and Muslims sharing a holy day in Jerusalem. Ehm. Yes.
Photo from NYT
Ethan Zuckerman writes articulately about a lot of stuff and posts a photo of himself from the mid-1990s.
Photo from Ethan Zuckerman.
Americans in Uganda register to vote in the November Presidential Elections.
Photo from One Degree North
A totally random photo that I really like.
Photo by Amy Toensing
Transparency International said recently that Uganda is becoming more corrupt, not less corrupt.
I could draw some big fancy conclusions here about corruption trickling down into every interaction, blah blah blah. But I won’t. This isn’t a news analysis – it’s just me venting.
I will say, however, that there are no repercussion or consequences for anyone on this list for their less than stellar conduct. The only consequences here are those felt by me and my pocketbook.
For more than two decades the town of Gulu in Northern Uganda has held its breath while rebels kidnapped, mutilated, and terrified residents and villagers. But, as two years without an attack have passed, things seem to be settling down. A huge influx of aid workers have arrived in Gulu as a base for operations to rebuild Northern Uganda. This has led to jobs and cash in the otherwise strapped economy. While no peace treaty has been signed between the rebels and the government of Uganda, many are hopeful that the current lull in activity will continue. Recent news that rebels had been active in Democratic Republic of Congo left many residents exasperated, but still with hope that things will get better and not worse. More photos on Demotix.
For more than two decades, most of the population in Northern Uganda has lived in Internally Displaced Persons camps (IDPs), with up to 1.8 million people staying in these cramped environs at the height of the conflict between the government of Uganda and the rebel group the Lord’s Resistance Army. A ceasefire agreement was signed two years ago, and though there has been no final peace treaty, Northern Uganda is now much more secure than it once was. Aid agencies and the government are encouraging people to leave so-called “Mother Camps” and move to new “resettlement camps.” The new camps are closer to people’s original land, allowing people to begin farming and lessen dependency on food hand outs. However, the resettlement camps are remarkably similar to the IDP camps, with only slightly more space between each home. More photos on Demotix
Okay, so the “bar” is really the “UN General Assembly” and “walk” is really “sit down and pose in front of photographers.”
AFP has a decent shot of the meeting here, but I thought I would post the two photos sent via the Media Center to all the journalists in Uganda. The email with the photos didn’t specify, but I can only assume these are the Presidential Press Unit (PPU) photos.
And in other, only slightly tangential news….
MPs Pay Conmen for Cabinet Jobs
Members of Parliament are dishing out money to city conmen posing as President Yoweri Museveni’s aides in return for fixing them on the short-list for ministerial appointments ahead of an expected Cabinet reshuffle.
Daily Monitor has learnt that a number of MPs, especially from the NRM, who are interested in ministerial jobs have fallen prey to the conmen.
One MP from western Uganda reportedly paid more than Shs500 million, in the hope of becoming a minister for works to replace Mr John Nasasira, who in the last two years has been under pressure over the deteriorating state of roads.
Daily Monitor cannot name the MP for legal reasons but information from other sources indicated that other MPs are paying between Shs500,000 and Shs2 million – for inclusion on a shortlist in a scam that has now forced Dr Beatrice Wabudeya, the Minister for the Presidency, to issue a warning to the MPs.
And in other, only slightly tangential news….
Uganda is getting more corrupt, not less, says Transparency International.
Last week while I was waiting around in a rural area in Northern Uganda, I was speaking to a friend on the phone and sitting nearby family of ducks in front of someone’s hut—eleven little ducks and a mom. My friend told me to take a photo. They are sweet, here together as a family, but they are dirty, not very photogenic, I said. Ragged and brown where they should have been yellow and fluffy. And they were drinking from a small container of murky and opaque water, more brown than clear. My friend asked if it made me sad. Not really, I said. This was my umpteenth trip North. I was hardened, and I’d seen worse, after all. And ducks weren’t people, after all. People need clean water more urgently, I thought. MORE…
Another post on the Walrus
GULU, UGANDA—A man in nicely pressed yet worn shirt and slacks stands in the cramped bus aisle, jostling for space among ladies selling candy, young boys with loaves of bread, hankies, knickknacks, bottles of juice—anything a passenger might want to buy before setting off from Kampala to Gulu, a town in Uganda’s northern region.
The man in slacks is selling one booklet with illustrations of anatomy and another, an English-Swahili phrase book. He reads the phrase book aloud, though it’s unclear if this is an explanatory or sales tactic, or both. My seatmate, a man with distinct Northern features, inquires about the anatomy book. Five k, or about $3, such a high price because the book was printed on South African paper, the man in the slacks says.
Unlikely, I think.
I did some photos for the Czech editon of Marie Claire a few months ago. Read the full text in English here.
I’m off to Northern Uganda again tomorrow morning (Monday) so this blog will be quiet next week.
UPDATE: Monday, 6:40 PM: Internet in Gulu much better than the last time I was here. The link is now fixed for the English verison of this story.
More photos on Demotix.
Uganda’s Muslim community – about 12 percent of the general population, observe Ramadan this month. Idi Amin, Uganda’s infamous dictator, was Muslim and his legacy has tainted the image of the community throughout the country. As his memory fades, and many exiled Asians return to Uganda, the Muslim community has grown in vibrancy.
