Categories
Uncategorized

MUKONO SKILL TRAINING.

Last week we went to Mukono district to train women and children knitting skills, how to be able to make baskets, decoration raffia ornaments and others out of weaving material so as to be able to sustain them selves and families. According to research , financial independence in women is most likely to reduce gender based violence. We managed to train over 200 women and children. We hope this in the long run improves on their lives and promotes financial independence among women.

Categories
Uncategorized

WOMEN EMANCIPATION?

ARE WE PACKAGING THE ‘WOMEN EMANCIPATION’ GOSPEL WELL?

As we look forward to celebrating women’s day on 8th of March 2022, Gender equality and empowering women and girls is the 5th Sustainable Development Goal in Uganda, and we must give credit to the government and the non-state actors for elevating the status of women in every capacity. From providing women and girls with education, health care, access and ownership rights over property and technology, and equal participation in political and economic decision-making processes which has led to social, economic and environmental sustainability across the globe. It’s not news that the position of women globally hasn’t been desirable due to mainly cultural limitations and stereotypes. From no education to now rights of property ownership. As we talk, over 19% of women own individual land in Uganda as compared to 43% of men according to Gender Land and Asset survey. This is a huge milestone!

 We must recognize that recognize that empowering women creates more resilient communities because when women are supported, health among families increases, as does incomes and the amount of children that attend school. Among many other advantages, educated mothers provide better nutrition and make better choices about their children’s future. They are also more likely to invest in and emphasize the importance of their children’s education when compared to mothers who did not receive an education. Failure to empower women/ young girls comes at a cost much more than what is required to empower them. According to the 2016 Uganda Sustainable Development Goals report, 1 in 3 women aged 18-24 were married off by the age of 18 years and over 50% of women married before 18 are in the poorest 40% of the households. So there in no doubt that the more women are not empowered, the more poverty levels. Although the enrolment of girls that attend schools in Uganda is 60 percent (compared to 40 percent among boys), many girls still drop out to work at home due to issues regarding poverty. In other cases, girls drop out to enter into early marriages. These are some of the challenges still faced.

However, is the gospel of women empowerment well understood by the public? When you go to the grass root with the intention of empowering women, most men shun the efforts due to misunderstanding of what exactly women empowerment is.  Some lament of how women are almost torching them from their houses. One of the LC chairpersons in Wakiso district made an alarm, citing that gender based violence against men has gotten out of hand. He mentioned of how most men sleep in bars as well as work places for fear of going back to be tortured by women. And due to such reasons, most men shun the gospel of ‘woman emancipation’. They perceive it like it’s a battle against their egos and position as superiors. This calls more need to sensitize the masses what exactly it is to empower women. It is simply to free women from old social limitations and customs as well as eradicate gender discrimination. Women also need to know that empowering them doesn’t mean they should disrespect and belittle their male counterparts. Otherwise we shall be hitting a dead end in creating a harmonized community. The media is awash with reports of women/ girls abusing men. Is this what we wish for our communities? If it’s the gospel of empowering women, let it be packaged well not to encourage a rebellious community but rather development and peace. A gospel that calls for equal growth and development to complement each other rather than overpowering the other.

CAROL NYANGOMA MUKISA

Social Analyst & CEO

WARM HEARTS FOUNDATION

Categories
Uncategorized

LET US TALK MENTAL HEALTH.

MENTAL HEALTH NEEDS ATTENTION MORE THAN EVER!

Sited in a taxi heading home, the taxi driver almost knocked a mentally ill looking middle aged man; ‘look at this hopeless drug abuser!’, the conductor asserted! Mental health being one’s condition with regard to their psychological and emotional well-being, one’s state of mental health is very imperative since it is the vital part of one’s life that affects one’s thoughts, behavior and emotions. On 10th September, it was World suicide prevention day, and according to recent statistics, close to 20% (about 9 million) out of about 45 million people in Uganda have some degree of mental illness, ranging from anxiety, depression and severe madness. Unfortunately, discussion and talks on mental health remain a major taboo for most Ugandans.

Unfortunate to note, the society has worsened the situation by stigmatizing these victims of mental illness just like the conductor who instead of sympathizing with such a vulnerable person, he instead abused him the more! According to World Health Organization, close to 800,000 people die due to suicide every year, which is one person every 40 seconds! This is very alarming! When we talk of mental health in relation to suicide, someone would think we are being ambiguous but actually, the earlier we accept that mental health needs more attention than we are giving it, the better.A survey conducted by British and Ugandan psychiatrists established that the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder in Northern Uganda is higher than that ever recorded anywhere in the world. It is the leading region with the highest mental illness cases, and blame it on the Lord Resistance Army insurgency. This implies that whenever there is any calamity or instability, peoples social, economic and psychological state changes and so there must be a system in place to address the effect of the ongoing challenges and the post effects.

The country is currently undergoing a calamitous period given an attack of the lethal covid-19 and it is very evident that it is still cutting deep in the already existing wounds of issues like unemployment, financial constraints and social distress. I must appreciate there have been visibly some opportunities like business related. The obvious one is the making of face masks and other protective gears from the pandemic. However, it has been notably more harmful than good. The government just announced the reopening of the schools. Much as its so far a good move and a ray of hope for the school going children, my thoughts are with a single mother somewhere who lost a job and yet supposed to part with very likely to be hiked fees. Perhaps the same person is already chocking on some loans and debts! Such a person is likely to think of suicide. And how about her child might even resume school immediately after a long miserable stay at home! The same child equally needs social psycho support.

 Mental health impacts one’s effectiveness, performance and productivity in activities like school performance, work, and caregiving, it goes further and plays a health of one’s relationships and one’s capability to adapting to changes and diversity. As a nation, we need to embrace this challenge by devising more means of addressing it. We need more social support systems such as offering free counseling and guidance services. These can be stationed in public work places for easy reach and be made free and affordable. Most people found relief from churches and now that they are closed, worse will be expected. The young people most especially need to be kept busy, could be through local organized sports activities, we need to care more for our family members, since when did you last check on your lost cousin or colleagues, that call could make a difference. We need start being more kind to people by not just judging them baselessly, the affected people need to also come out and seek help before the situation gets out of hand because much as drug abuse is commonly to be known as the leading cause of mental illness, there are other underlying causes that need to be looked into and be addressed.

CAROL NYANGOMA MUKISA

Social Analyst and

CEO Warm Hearts Foundation

Categories
Uncategorized

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND THE PANDEMIC.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE KILLS MORE THAN ANY PANDEMIC.

During the lock down and quarantine period as a result of COVID19, the levels of domestic violence really went so high, almost 5 cases would be reported daily.  It’s even worse with the environment in which this violence was taking place since all the children were at home witnessing all this happen. The poor children are innocent and didn’t have options of where to run to since they can’t change their homes any way! God knows the effect this has on the children especially when they grow up. Surprisingly, this violence saw many people meet their maker even before the corona the whole world was worried about.

We are living in an era where nations focus on ‘trending problems’ only leaving the ‘old fashioned’ ones to whom it may concern. Unfortunately, the old fashioned ones still remain more dangerous because of their persistence because they have stood the taste of time. Pandemics like ebola come and go but evils like domestic violence have always taken people to their graves silently due to the sensitivity of the cases.

The worst news about domestic violence is that its effects are intergenerational. Its effects are likely to shift from, generation to generation. A child who grew up in a violent home is likely to be violent in future because it’s what he/ she grew up seeing. It’s such violence cases that have resulted into an increase in the number of street children. Most children flee their homes out of fear because they can’t stand being in abuse families.

According to United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Uganda spends about 50billion annually on Gender Based Violence incidents. What if even half of this money was even spent on the fight against such violence cases, don’t you think the impact would be much better and significant. Isn’t prevention better than cure! Some of this money could be used to construct rescue homes to protect those in very deadly situation! On 6th March during the lock down, one of the local TV’s showed a scenario where a man was chasing away his wife and children with a pang! In a situation where no public means was allowed unless or otherwise! If a woman cannot feel safe in her own home, then she can’t feel safe anywhere!

Family councilors should be availed at every local council level and toll free numbers from the police family unit must be provide, reachable and effective in every home so that if any case arise, one can get help. We can’t sit watch our mothers, sisters and children, worse more fathers lose their lives, watch dreams sail in oblivion, people getting amputated and toothless, just because of a simple misunderstanding! And this isn’t a pro women campaign, because every time a woman is liberated, man is liberated, dreams are liberated and finally, the whole nation is liberated.

CAROL MUKISA NYANGOMA

C.E.O

 WARM HEARTS FOUNDATION

Categories
Uncategorized

A must read to every young woman out there..

LETTER TO ALL YOUNG WOMEN OUT THERE.

I write this owing to what has turned out to be a big trap for most young women. A couple of weeks back, a number of ladies came out accusing Brian White for using and dumping them as one confessed to have been subjected to many abortions due to unwanted pregnancies. Then later alone, another lady came out accusing a renowned music producer Daddy Andre for sexually assaulting her. And the last nail on the coffin was when a one Brown Sugar appeared on various social media platforms accusing a one Sipapa for exploiting, abusing and destroying her future. These are just a snip burg of the so many cases some of which go unreported. Looking at these women, most of them are youths, a portion of the approximately 75% of the many that are battling with unemployment in Uganda. But taking a deeper look into these women’s lives, most of them were lured into these relationships thinking it will be bed of roses considering the fact that most of the accused whose hands these girls normally fall seem rich and wealthy.

Now here is the naked truth to all the young women out there, like my former lecturer at Makerere University always told us, ‘THERE IS NOTHING FOR FREE,’ There is no one on this planet earth that will allow you to just come  and play a parasitic role in their lives unless you to are adding something to them. Your physical looks or your charm might ease your entry into a relationship or marriage but it will not get you sustainable there. Whether you have a rich or very hard working spouse, you too need to work. This tendency of only sitting and you watch your partner grow and develop himself and you just sit back and wait for whatever falls on your palms should stop! Your parent or guardians did not put you through school or any grooming to be someone’s parasite! Womanhood should not be defined and associated with beggary. What a man can do, a woman can do even better. That posh car, that house you are coveting and trading your destiny, dignity and life for can be attained by yourself and with your own hands if you work wise and hard. No one came out of her mother’s womb with any materialistic things. It’s all through hard sweat because nothing good comes on a liver plate.

 Proverbs 31 clearly gives a bench mark or guidelines which one can follow to avoid excuses for their laziness.  Verse 13 ‘she selects wool and flax, and works with eager hands’, this much tells how a woman of respect is not above littering her hands and has no illusions about what she does for a living. She knows that productivity and wealth begins with her hands not with her mouth. We should be women willing to work cheerfully with content. A virtuous woman is initiative and works on her own, she sees a need and rolls up her sleeves and attacks the project. She doesn’t only hope her husband will do it for her.  Verse 15; ‘she gets up while it is still dark, she provides food for her family and portions for her servant girls’, any woman who desires to be on top must be a go getter, an early riser, ambitious, diligent, she has less love for her bed. Verse 16; ‘She considers a field and buys it, out of her earnings, she plants a vine yard’,A virtuous woman uses the fruit of her hands to make an investment, out of the wise and care of the home and other financial matters.   

‘A woman is the full circle, within her is the power to create, nurture and transform’, Diane Mariechild said. It baffles me seeing such power and potential be reduced to pauperism! Despite some loop holes in gender balance and access to equal opportunities, the ground is still so fertile for women to grow limitlessly. ‘I learned to always take on things I had never done before. Growth and comfort do not coexist’, Virginia Rometty. You cannot sit and expect things to be done magically. If you are a woman out there looking forward to a good and lavish life, then you must prepare your brain and be ready to litter your hands, acquire a technical skill, read a book or do any other activity that can add value to you. Much are the law is in existent to protect the women, it starts with self-responsibility.

‘What a Man can do, a woman can do even better!’

Carol Cartnel

CAROL NYANGOMA MUKISA

Subscribe to our newsletter!

[newsletter_form type=”minimal” lists=”undefined” button_color=”undefined”]

Social Analyst and C.E.O

WARM HEARTS FOUNDATION

Categories
Uncategorized

SHARE YOUR STORY!

We don’t share the knowlwdge because we are more intelligent, we share the little knowledge with the

world because we believe our stories are unique to each indivial and its that uniqueness that makes

each beautiful! and who knows your story could change someones life foe better! life is best lived when

it creates a positive impact in other peoples lives. They don not have to be the people you know.

#sharing is caring

So do not be ashamed of your story, there is beauty that lies beneath it.

Subscribe to our newsletter!

[newsletter_form type=”minimal” lists=”undefined” button_color=”undefined”]
Categories
Uncategorized

Teenage Pregnancy should be treated with the contempt it deserves.

According to a mini survey findings from just 10 districts (Ngora, Kyegegwa, Kitgum, Rakai, Kayunga, Ntungamo, Kayunga and Kasese), 2,300 school girls conceived and 128 married off during the lockdown. Much as most leaders are blaming this rising teenage pregnancies on primitive cultural practices, we must admit that the reluctance of the community and the leaders intensified the vice.  Imagine, 20 cases of child marriage and teenage pregnancies have been recorded in Kamira Sub-county alone. These are the statistics obtained from district health and education departments, and the probation and social welfare departments. Think of the unreported cases, that means the number could be double or more!   

The official legal age of consent into marriage in Uganda is 18 years of age and above. The parents/ care takers whose hands in whose gluttonous hands these children have been married off must be held responsible.  Let the government caution and punish the parents for forcing these children into labor because it’s through these means that the perpetrators get a chance to their prey.  Any person having custody of a child must protect that child from discrimination, violence, abuse and neglect. Sexual child abuse degrades and exploits children causing serious damage to cognitive, social and development of a child and might not only end up destroying her dreams but life to.

Through ought my entire life, I have never seen or heard of anyone getting rich out of receiving dowry from the parents of the lady getting married off. It’s such a huge shame watching parents trade off their children’s lives for mere peanuts more less food! Do the same parents realize that if they kept the same children in school, the benefits would quadruple and be more! This tendency of viewing children as a sourcing of income should stop. Are we so impatient and greedy in that we can’t we can’t let these our teenage girls thrive and fulfil their dreams and aspirations! Let us not give up due to COVID-19, there is life after this pandemic, will these children resume school after they have been defiled! 

Almost all the attention and resources have been directed to elections apparently and all we have been availed with are the statistics. The incumbent, the aspirants and the voters care less, not knowing it’s the same defiled community they will be leading and dealing with! You can’t expect to have a successful term in office when the people you are leading are bleeding and drowning in illiteracy and mediocrity. Even when different non state actors have tried hard to get the situation at ease, little positive impact has been realized. Are our leaders seeing and aware of what is happening? Or they are part of the cause for the increasing evils! So sad! What is being done to curb these rates?

No sooner had we thought that homes are safer, than these statistics shocked us. The same children we are saving from getting sick from COVID19, are still getting sick anyway! Sick psychologically, the trauma of being forced into marriage under age is enough pandemic. You can’t be defiled and remain healthy! When will schools be open? And if they get opened, think about how school enrollment rates will be! Everyone is totally responsible for this, the parents, how will you always hold schools responsible for your children’s safety if ourselves have failed at keeping them safe ?The government, do statements like ‘omwana wa gwanga’ still hold any water? To the responsible ministries, aren’t you so embarrassed watching yourselves totally fail at your responsibilities yet funds are always allocated to you to fight the same every year! And to you the political leaders and the incoming ones, what is in your manifesto if the same population you look forward to leading is sinking in oblivion! To the police, is ‘serving and protecting the citizens’ still your motto? And to the rest of the community, every child matters, if the future of our nation is damaged, then we have nothing we are doing and there is no sense to it.

CAROL MUKISA NYANGOMA

Social Analyst

C.E.O WARM HEARTS FOUNDATION              

Subscribe to our newsletter!

[newsletter_form type=”minimal” lists=”undefined” button_color=”undefined”]

“we rob ourselves of our future if we don’t guard its inheritance jelously”

Categories
Uncategorized

ENOUGH OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE!

No can comprehend the emptiness and melancholy I am battling with after learning about the sudden news of the untimely passing of Violet Kakai an Auxiliary nurse who worked at International Hospital Kampala for over 10 years. The condition Violet died in is not only horrific but brutal and devilish in nature. Only a wild beast would tear down a human being like she was axed. Unfortunately, this cruel act was done by a fellow human being who happens to have been her husband and father of children. It’s been revealed that Violet had been going through almost the same torture for the last almost 10 years and the whole neighborhood, workplace and close acquaintances were aware about the beasty behaviors of the murderer. In fact, the local council and police were aware but well, since domestic violence is now like an accepted citizen, the issue was not given the strong urgent attention it deserved.

According to UBOS 2007, about 68% of ever married women aged 15-49 years had experienced some form of violence inflicted by their own spouse/ intimate partner. No single theory can sufficiently explain in its account. We live in a patriarchal society where women are inferior to men and so the man feels he has a right to control, punish and discipline the woman.As someone who has encountered so many domestic and gender based violence cases from the kind of work I do, domestic violence is kind of adductive especially in the African setting due to the cultural norms. Some people even take it as a signal of love, disgusting right! On many occasions, someone will call you needing urgent intervention about them being battered, and before you know it, the two ‘lovebirds’ are back in a bliss and the cycle goes on. It’s not bad to reconcile but that won’t change the fact that your life is in danger. Domestic violence starts slowly and soft, from abuses, to slaps, to punches, and before you know it, someone is gone. So the victim keeps on hoping that the batterer will change, this is total deceit and only God can manage such a situation!  You cannot solve illegal acts outside the legal framework. Society norms have worsened everything for fear of ‘banandaba batya’, ‘how will they see me if I leave’! How will my children survive, but well, you finally leave the children as orphans! We must change and break free from all these cultural anti women norms. The most provoking part is, the society is still blaming this on the woman (the deceased), that maybe she was a shameless cheat, maybe she was greedy or disrespectful! And so what! Is this a justification for murdering a mother in cold blood amidst the children!

Most times, tolerance calls for more abuses, yet being safe is basic right! There is no doubt that marriage is beautiful and prestigious especially in our African setting and actually the best environment for children to grow up from but it’s not all life has to offer! And we have seen people cross to better relationships after failed ones! Women should stop reducing themselves to a mere marriage ring or relationships! We must all know when enough is enough! And where are the parents/relatives of the victim in all this! It’s been revealed that the deceased was an orphan and this gave momentum to the perpetrator to always act with impunity, after all, who will question him when he already bribed most people in authority! Parents and guardians need to stop feeling relieved of their parental roles once their children are married off! In fact in some cultures, when the girl is married off, her bed is burnt or destroyed. So how do you expect such a person to run to the same place for refugee well knowing her bed was destroyed with all the implication this comes with!

Which kind of men and sons are we raising! Men that believe hitting a woman is a sign of real manhood! The men that don’t believe in reconciliation and forgiveness, the men who think marrying someone means owning them and have all the rights to do anything! I see many ‘sengas’ and musicians preaching to women to withstand and be patient in marriage irrespective, some of them use stale statements like ‘obufumbo kiyungu, omukka nebwegujja oguma’. Literally meaning, marriage is like a kitchen, when the smoke comes, you remain and withstand it. It’s funny how most women believe in such, so how many men can withstand the smoke in this regard? And sad enough, most musicians who sing and preach such messages, are actually not married. We should stop preaching what we cannot practice! One of the main reasons why domestic and gender based violence is intensifying is because it’s passed on from generation to generation. Violet was axed amidst the children, think of how these children will grow, they have been traumatized already and the last nail in the coffin was watching their mother be sliced like minced meat. Not even cows are slaughtered in such a manner. Where is the government in all this? What is the church saying! Perpetrators need to be persecuted before the world, reconciliation needs to be done in the courts of law not in the house. We are talking about someone’s life not wife! Most domestic violence cases are as a result of underlying causes which need to be dealt with before the situation gets out of hand.

CAROL NYANGOMA MUKISA

Social Analyst & Executive Director Warm Hearts Foundation     

Subscribe to our newsletter!

[newsletter_form type=”minimal” lists=”undefined” button_color=”undefined”]
Categories
Uncategorized

Lack of Jobs Failed Minimum Wage

The fact that the president issued warnings to the striking medical officers has exhibited a clear picture that a Ugandan worker still has a long way to go to find a befitting wage. It’s not news that the working conditions in Uganda remain in a sorry state. In some companies, getting pregnant could cost you a job, workers do not have appointment letters and generally, job insecurity is high and employers are comforted by the fact that there are many employees who are desperately looking for something to do.

The president, while addressing supporters at Karambi sub-country in Burahya county, Kabarole district, warned that he would fire all striking doctors. I o not think the government is too poor not to afford a salary increment for the medical officers, but my concern is more with the rhetoric being used. How shall the small-time investors take our labour force seriously, if the president is at public functions issuing threats that go against the protection of the labour force?

We can hire all the junior doctors with no experience or guidance and supervision of a senior doctor as we possibly can, but please note that sooner than later, this doctor will also demand a pay rise. Then we shall be back to square one in an un-endless rat race. It derails the would-be doctors and other specialists hence fleeing to other countries for greener pastures. Perhaps it would be the same doctors treating these MPs and other VIPs who take the money to Nairobi and India.

Subscribe to our newsletter!

[newsletter_form type=”minimal” lists=”undefined” button_color=”undefined”]

 

Warm Hearts Foundation

Phone: +256704237170
Email: info@warmheartsug.org

P.O BOX 1645 | Metropole House | Entebbe Road

Categories
Uncategorized

CHEATING IN EXAMS IS PARTLY THE CAUSE OF THE LIMPING PROFESSIONALISM

Have we wondered why someone goes to the ‘professional’ Doctor but you hear they have been given wrong medical prescription! We see many roads especially in Africa well supervised by the ‘professional engineers and surveyors, accompanied with enough materials during construction. But all you hear