Uganda Perspective

Invisible Children: Shame on You for Kony 2012

Okay, this is my last post on the subject of Kony 2012.  It’s probably time because the movement seems to have lost steam.  I think this but then I learn of teens still staging fundraisers for the movement.  I see kids with T-shirts.  I hear they are still ordering the Action Packages.  Please stop. 

Here’s why.

At the website for Invisible Children, you can find the organization’s filings with the  I.R.S. from past years.   The most important is Form 990, a document that is required of all non-profit organizations to state before God and the Revenuers that funds received are truly being used for humanitarian purposes.  The site’s forms only go back to 2006 which is significant as this deals with revenue received AFTER Kony was chased out of Uganda, making the film Invisible Children irrelevant.

 

 

So, AFTER the entire basis for the story of Invisible Children was gone, the organization took in, year date, $31.9 million.  Of that money, some 43% was spent on “program services.”  You can go look for yourself to see where the rest went.  Sources in Uganda tell me that even the program services money that reached Uganda has not been spent wisely.  Altogether, it appears only some 14% of donations are actually turning into humanitarian projects.

The stated purpose of Invisible Children is to provide resources for “education, protection, rehabilitation and livelihood development” in the places Kony has operated.  These are good and noble goals.  And those who have received benefit are truly grateful.

But here’s the deal:  If you paid for a dozen eggs and you only got two, wouldn’t you wonder what happened to the other 10?  That’s the question here.  All the good-hearted teens who sent their allowance to I.C., all the schools that ran events that raised millions for I.C., for all the Paypal transactions and for all the organizations that bought into this story … including the very savvy Oprah Winfrey Foundation, you’re all suckers taken to the cleaners by some very clever hucksters.

I am passionate about this subject because I know the needs in Uganda.  They are great.  I also know a dollar goes a long way to solving much of the human misery.  If spent well, the money raised by I.C. could have virtually eliminated poverty in northern Uganda.  But dollars are hard to find for such purposes.  And for I.C. CEO Ben Keesey to openly solicit funds from good-hearted people long after the need he is over– and then launch a sequel appeal in Kony 2012 - and THEN only spend less than half the funds collected on humanitarian need is truly the work of a Madoff-level, world-class con artist. 

Can we please tell our teens the truth and get them off the Kony 2012 band wagon?  There. I feel better now.

KONY 2012 – Ugandans Say "Thanks for Nothing"

It is one thing to hear about Kony 2012 from people in the West – virtually all of whom are void of even the basic facts of the situation involving Uganda, Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army.  It is quite another to hear from people in Uganda who have lived with this idiot in their midst and are thriving in the aftermath of his idiocy.  

In a column in the Ugandan New Vision newspaper today, the film was decried as a scam.  You can read the full column HERE, but here is an excerpt:

“In fact, let me be blunt by saying that even if Invisible Children had dedicated less than one-tenth of the funds raised from around the world with their first film, it would have significantly improved the lot of thousands of children in northern Uganda.  They did not do that. Despite what Invisible Children has claimed in the media about the good work it is doing in northern Uganda, the San Diego-based organisation is merely in it for itself, and not for children in northern Uganda.” - Opio.oloya@sympatico.ca

Here are words from Stephen Oola, a Kampala-based lawyer with Refugee Law Project and originally from Gulu, reporting from Voice of America:

"The people of northern Uganda are not looking for the kind of international military action Invisible Children is trying to rally, a fact that the video’s makers blithely ignore. Couldn’t they consult? Couldn’t they include some local voices? People on the ground do not buy the messages, and they don’t want that help," he said. "Even if Invisible Children thought they were helping, that is not the help people want.”

Kony 2012 is, for those who haven’t followed the phenomenon, is a film by the same people  who produced Invisible Children.  It has now gained more than 100 million views worldwide and perhaps as many tweets and has raised some $9 million.  As stated in my previous blog, it is a brilliant promotion of a film based on a non-issue imploring people to do something that will most likely not make any difference – except raising money for the producers.

Only time can anything stop this phenomenon.  We can only pray the growing positive reputation of Uganda has not been soiled because of this stupid stunt.    

Palestine To Open Embassy in Kampala

See this news story from Uganda's New Vision on 1/8/12

I find this interesting for two reasons.  First,  Museveni seems tohave no problem welcoming a terrorist organization onto Embassy Row even though the al shabbab terrorists killed 80 of his citizens during the last World Cup Finals. Perhaps the Somalis are next.   And second, this is clearly another failure of the Obama foreign policy.  If we had a strong president, he would pressure our allies to shun Palestine as an aggressor nation to Israel just as we have – but then, I guess apparently he doesn’t have the clout or perhaps he doesn’t care or perhaps he doesn’t understand the strategic relationship the U.S. holds with Uganda.

In his defense, Museveni is good at “following the money.”  Mahmoud Abbas looks like a money player, doesn't he?  His Excellency welcomed the Aga Khan when he wanted to build a new hotel in Kampala.  He welcomed Moammar Gadaffi when he wanted to build a $2 billion mosque/university on Old Kampala Hill.  And now he’s welcoming Hamas.  Let’s just see how further abetting the Muslim agenda in Uganda will play out.

One Man's Safari into Brightest Africa - Read All About It

After more than seven years hard labor (well, three years hard labor and four years wondering how to put it together) I’ve just received copies of my new book on Uganda called They Call Me Mzee: One Man’s Safari into Brightest Africa.

Called “a remarkable story of discovery,” the book charts the cultural and spiritual ife of present-day Uganda.  Part memoir, part travelogue and part investigative report, the reader will learn about how the AIDS epidemic started in Uganda and spread throughout Africa.  And, how Uganda is still the only nation in Africa to have arrested the disease.  The report talks about the huge faith life of Ugandans, where it came from and what it means.  There is much discussion from a personal perspective about the plight of orphans and how ministries, the government and the church are dealing with the ever-growing problem.

Most importantly, it is my personal story of discovering a place where faith underlies all.  The people I meet, the visitors I take to Uganda and the lessons we have for each other are insightful, surprising.

Anyone who has been to Uganda, who is planning to go to Uganda or who supports the work in Uganda should read this book.  You will laugh, you will cry and you will learn something of Africa you have never seen anywhere.

Click here to order the book in paperback.  The Kindle version is due out in about 10 days.  $1.00 of ever sale goes to support the work of Juna Amagara Ministries in Uganda.

After you’ve read it, let me know what you think.  I answer all emails.  Enjoy.

Rush Limbaugh Blew It: LRA Not Christian, Needs Extermination

On October 14, Rush Limbaugh, reacting a news bit by Jack Tapper of ABC News, felt the need to comment on Barack Obama’s decision to send 100 troops to Uganda in an advisory capacity to help rid the country of the Lord’s Revolutionary Army.   The directive came in the form of a letter to House Speaker John Boehner.

Calling the nation oo-ganda, not you-ganda, Limbaugh first took umbrage that the U.S. would send troops to “fight Christians.”  “What, are we gonna then send troops to Egypt to fight Christians there as well?” he offered.  Then he wondered out loud exactly how in the world this action could be in the national security interests of the United States.

Let me just say this about that.  There is nothing Christian about the Lord’s Revolutionary Army.  Built on a wacky cult created by a woman called Nightmare Alice, elements of Christianity and Voodoo and other imagined stuff come together to create a violent, sacrifice-based belief.  Leveraging his aunt’s wackiness, Joseph Kony built the LRA.  Kony was part of the army that overthrew the last dictator in 1986 and he fully planned to run the nation afterward.  But another general, Yoweri Museveni, became the leader and Kony spent the next 20 years being a pain in the butt.  He terrorized the north, abducting boys into his army and girls to be “wives” for his generals.  He lopped off limbs.  He made children kill their parents.  No wonder Kony and his generals were labeled as war criminals by the International Criminal Court in The Hague. 

After much negotiation, the LRA was disbanded in Uganda in 2006 with many of the key players going on trial.  Yet Kony continued operations from bases in Congo and the Central African Republic.  He received much logistical support from Sudan until South Sudan became its own nation.  In 2008, a force of Ugandans and Congo soldiers attacked Kony camps in Congo.  They got Kony’s guitar and some of his men but Kony eluded capture.

Uganda has always been a friend of the U.S.  And Ugandans were thrilled when Obama was elected President.  This is the first indication that pleas for various types of support have been acknowledged by Obama.  If he can send 100 troops on an “advisory” mission… let’s assume they are special forces and will be directed to find and kill Kony, we will have done Uganda a big favor.  It is in our national interest to keep good relations.  Diplomatic work for the entire region is based in Uganda.  The nation is a force of stability in the region.  It’s where refugees come when their countries get dangerous.

So, Rush, get your stuff straight before you spout. And, please, no more oo-ganda.

Shilling Rate Hits 2800 to the Dollar; Invest in Uganda Now

Even as we hear the US dollar (USD) is weakening against major world currencies, it continues to get stronger against the Uganda shilling (UGX).  In 2011 alone the exchange rate has changed from 2200 to the dollar to today’s posted rate of 2800.  It wasn’t that long ago, just three years, when the shilling was getting stronger against the dollar every month, stabilizing at a rate of about 1600. 

Much of this difference can be explained by runaway inflation.  In speaking with Prof. Emmanuel Mutebile, the Governor of the Bank of Uganda in July, I learned the rate of inflation then was 14%, actually 7% without food and fuel.  Today, 90 days later, that rate is 21%, a 17-year high.  As he said, food and fuel are the real culprits behind the high inflation and worsening exchange rate.  Both are in high demand and supplies are increasingly limited.

What does this mean to people on the street?  First, let’s look at fuel.  Petrol (gasoline) is now selling for 3,800 shillings per liter.  At today’s rate that translates to about $6.00 per gallon which is the same dollar cost of fuel as in the last five years.  However, for Ugandans who were struggling to pay 1170 UGX per liter a few years ago, the cost has now tripled which, under the exchange rate of five years ago would translate to $18.00 per gallon.  The last time fuel was this high was during the Kenyan tribal riots of 2007 when the flow of fuel from Mombasa port was disrupted for a month.   Uganda, like any country depends on its trucks and taxis to move goods and people.  When those fuel costs are passed on to consumers, inflation launches into the stratosphere.

High prices are causing much suffering in country.  But there is a bright side.  Anyone bringing dollars to Uganda can now expect to receive triple the value they would have seen five years ago.  Now is the time to fund building projects, buy vehicles, start capital-intensive enterprises or… simply travel to Uganda.  Because an armload of emineche bananas bought by the side of the road still costs 2000 shillings but in dollars, they’ve gone from a buck to fifty cents.  Now is the time to build your textile mills, expand your agribusiness, set up your call center, donate funds to build schools, build the railway or build the soy processing co-op.  Because when the administration changes in the U.S. in 2012, the world’s economy will rapidly swing back to prosperity.  The investment you make now will then pay off big for decades to come.  Now is the time.

Why is Food in Uganda So Bloody Expensive?

Uganda is an agriculturally blessed nation with millions of farmers.  Why then is the skyrocketing price of food one of the major factors in the country’s current 21% inflation?  The answer, in one word, is: supply.

There are currently serious famines in Somalia and Northern Kenya due to drought.  Millions of people are starving and the world’s aid agencies are responding as fast as they can.  But it is simply not possible to ship in enough food to sustain these people through the drought.  The shortfall in staples – rice, beans, bananas, potatoes – is purchased from Uganda.  Less supply for the Ugandans results in higher prices.

To the north, the new nation of South Sudan which has enough arable land to feed itself but no infrastructure to do so is flush with cash from the world’s aid agencies.  They are buying everything they can get their hands on from Uganda, their  neighbor to the south.  These are boom times for Ugandans in the north.  The price of a goat has tripled in the last two years.  Potatoes, bananas, rice, beans, tea and building materials – lumber, poles, cement and animal stock – beef and chickens – are all going for premium prices.  This is good news for the economy of Uganda but it also cuts down the supply of these things to Ugandans.   

Throw in the high cost of fuel which has tripled over the last five years and it is easy to realize that simply bringing food products to market must contribute to high prices.

Yet demand in country remains high.  More and more people are moving to urban centers which means they are not feeding themselves from the family plots and they must buy food.

There is opportunity here.  If the millions of subsistence farmers could set aside just ten percent of their harvest for sale and then work together through co-ops to sell those foodstuffs on the open market, the food shortage could be less and the farmers could share in the boom times of high prices.  Because farmers time their planting so there is always something ready for harvest, the cash flow could be constant year round.  This is money that could be used to send more kids to school.

So here’s the challenge: with every crisis there is opportunity.  Where are the people or the indigenous organizations that are willing and able put together a regional co-op plan?  Where are the visionaries that can be the food saviors of the nation?  I know you are there.  We need you now.    

Uganda Yearns to Maintain Ties with Libya

Even as the regime of Moammar Gadaffi in Libya grinds to an end, the government of Uganda is striving to maintain a strong link to the country. 

For the past several decades, Libya has been a large customer for Ugandan goods and an investor in Uganda itself.  We’ve talked before about how Gadaffi recently spent in excess of $2 billion on a mosque/shopping center/ university atop the hill known as Old Kampala.  The Libyan Uganda portfolio also includes the National Housing Corporation, Soluble Coffee Plant, Tropical Bank, House of Dawda, Uganda Pharmaceuticals, Uganda Telecom, Lake Victoria Hotel Entebbe and Tamoil. The government tried mightily to expedite a peaceful end to the Libyan rebellion, but failed.  Today, it states:

The Government further observed that it was unfortunate that the Africa Union (AU) roadmap to a peaceful end to the conflict was ignored by both the rebels and NATO.  Uganda was a member of the AU High-Level ad hoc Committee on Libya whose mandate was to push for a political solution to the conflict in Libya.

President Yoweri Museveni, a close ally to Gadaffi, attended some of the committee meetings.  Oryem explained that the AU committee tried to bring the rebels, who had a strong-hold on Benghazi then, and the Gadaffi regime to the negotiating table, but in vain.   He said Gadaffi welcomed dialogue, but the rebels and NATO demanded that the Libyan leader first steps down.

“We tried to market the AU roadmap to NATO and they insisted that it would work when Gadaffi steps down. We wanted a ceasefire, dialogue and debate on a new constitution. It is unfortunate that the roadmap was not followed,” Oryem said. The minister said much as Gadaffi had been a great friend, Uganda could not directly meddle in the affairs of Libya or interfere with the aspirations of the Libyan people.  “That’s why we worked through AU,” he commented.

Oryem said the Ugandan mission will stay in Tripoli just like the Libyan embassy remains in Kampala.  “Our staff are safe. They contact us and give us updates on the situation in Tripoli,” Oryem clarified.      

 

The Answer to Overpopulation? Education!!!!

The various countries in Africa may have brain-numbing poverty and thin economies but that doesn’t stop the people from producing children.  In Uganda, children are everywhere.  Even in the most remote bit of countryside, stop a moment and a child will appear, then ten.  The primary schools are full of them – overfull actually often with 70 kids to a class.  Walk down any road and you’ll see children peering at you from behind a tree.  Bring out a digital camera and stand back, here come the kids.

The average family in Uganda has seven kids.  That means for every couple that has no children or one or two, there is a corresponding family that has nine or twelve or more.  And, even though by the standards of other African countries, the population per the square mile in Uganda is still low, the growth rate is alarming.  Officials wonder: how will we feed them all?  How will they support themselves?  The answer is, if things don’t change, they won’t.

So how can Uganda or any other third world country stop its overpopulation?  The answer is: education.  In working with Juna Amagara Ministries orphans, we have seen kids in schools build big dreams for their lives.  They want to be doctors, engineers, lawyers, ministers and professors.  And here, once  young people get that goal firmly in place, as long as they can stay in school, nothing will get in the 
way.  Thus, while most young people are busy becoming sexually active at age 16 or 17, the students on fire for their goals most likely won’t worry about sex and marriage until the mid-20s.  When those young people who are gainfully employed do get married, they will limit the family size to two or three.  “We love our children but we have other things to do with our lives,” one of them said to me recently. 

A recent Sunday at All Saints Cathedral in Kampala saw four services full of people.  Here was a sample of the growing middle class, educated moms and dads working hard every day, glad to have a family, but limited to maybe three kids.

Just having schools does not mean kids are getting an education.  If there are 70 kids in a  primary school classroom, those kids are not being taught to dream.  So it takes NGOs and others to tutor kids after school, set up private schools and generally pay attention to these bright, fertile minds to… give them a life vision beyond parenthood.  It can happen, but the fear is that the rate of child production will overtake the rate of child education.  This is the challenge of this century.  Are we up to it?  

The Next Generation of Ugandan Women

Meet Charity, a young lady in the faraway village of Kishanje who, in my opinion, represents growing hope in a generation of despair.  When I first met Charity she was 18 years old, and the head of her family of siblings – four in all.  Mom and dad died of AIDS and left the kids behind, on their own, with no resources except a small house. 

Life for child-headed families – and there are tens of thousands of them in Uganda alone – is one of hard labor, daily survival and if they take time to think about it, a bleak hopeless future.  The days are spent hauling water, gathering food, doing menial labor like breaking rocks or as house help.  Everyone get used to one meal a day.  School is out of the question.  Charity, with a welcoming personality and brilliant smile, was fortunate because she was not assaulted by sexual predators.  Nor had she taken the easy route of getting married to a man just so her family could eat. 

In 2006, Juna Amagara Ministries began construction of buildings that would become a school, a conference center, vocational training center and medical clinic.   Local people began to make bricks.  They quarried gravel and hauled sand.  Hundreds became brick haulers, earth movers, water haulers.  One day, Charity asked the head of the ministry if she could learn to become a bricklayer, normally a job performed by only by men.  He immediately said yes, of course, and assigned the head mason the job of teaching this young woman a trade.  On his next trip to Kabale town, he bought Charity her own set of bricklayer’s tools.

In this village culture, it is customary for women to wear skirts and dresses.  The apprentice bricklayer wore skirts at first, but climbing on scaffold became cumbersome and somewhat embarrassing.  Soon, she wore jeans under the skirt.  Within weeks, the skirt was set aside.  But because she was learning a new skill and plowing new ground for women in the trades, the other women did not resent the change in tradition. 

Charity became one of only two women bricklayers in Uganda.  The other is a friend in Kishanje.  The money she made bought food for two meals a day for her family and all the kids went through school.

  After work stopped at Kishanje, Charity started a small construction group that did masonry work for the road project being built nearby.  There, she met a man and got married.  She gave birth to a daughter.  And then the husband died of complications from HIV.  Today, Charity is living in Kishanje with baby Elizabeth.  The masonry tools are ready.  When the building begins again, she will be there.