Making a difference in my world

From childhood, I always dreamed of making a difference in the lives of the people around me. Last year around July, after a rigorous selection process, I was selected by my school (Mengo Senior School) among the five students to be part of a great cause of making a difference in my world. Together with a team of other 22 students from differnt schools and institutions in Uganda, we began the road marking the dream that I really desired coming true. Mengo representative on the host comittee of YEA 2012 in Kampala, Uganda

The Observer Editorial: Schools’ computer initiative a good step

The ministry of Education and Sports and the Uganda Communications Commission’s Rural Communications Development Fund have embarked on a programme that will lead to some 850 government-aided secondary schools teaching computer skills." Mengo teacher Ayub Kalema Golooba says he feels privileged to be closely associated with this programme.The Observer Editorial today:

Hundreds of schools have already got information and communication technology laboratories under the scheme. This week, the first group of teachers, from various parts of the country, is in Kampala for a seminar to train them to teach computer studies. This is a highly commendable initiative. African countries like Uganda have some of the poorest access to information and communication technologies in the world.

Today, many children in Uganda still join secondary school without ever touching – let alone seeing – a computer, or understanding what it does. This problem is especially acute in the countryside, where many children do not know what the internet is. This means that as the world, and many youngsters in Kampala and other urban centres march forward in the ICT age, a significant portion of Uganda’s children and youth are being left behind simply because of where, or to whom, they were born.
Some of these children would be exceptionally gifted individuals capable of historic achievements, but because they found themselves at the wrong end of the chain of distribution of services and opportunities, humanity misses their gifts. That does not have to be the case, and this programme could go a long way towards improving access to these technologies.

Ayub Kalema Golooba together with students from Mengo and Rjukan

It is also commendable that a component of internet connectivity has been included in the project. Besides the excitement of having access to the huge stream of information, it means that youngsters in Acholi Bur secondary school in Pader district and Mackay College in Kampala can benefit from the latest advancements in learning and research as do their agemates in the developed countries. We urge the ministry of Education not to stop at overseeing the establishment of these important facilities, but to carefully consider putting in place structures to ensure that the information and communication technology laboratories remain functional.

The Observer: 20-year-old brings twist to local fashion

A former fine art student at Mengo Senior School, Musiimenta Linda now hopes to study fashion at university and take it on as a full-time career. She says her childhood dream to become a fashion designer was reinspired in 2010 when as an S.5 student, she got the opportunity to travel to Norway on an exchange programme.

“I was fascinated with the way those people support their industry; they use their materials and there is a lot of help to the budding talents. I swore to myself that I would come back and develop my sketches into clothes,” Musiimenta says. Dette skriver The Observer Uganda om Elimu-deltaker, Linda Musiimenta.

Linda's Trendy fashion

Elimu-participant  Keryn Gift  Birungi at the catwalk in Serena Hotel, Kampala

Leaving Uganda, again!

Last night in The Boma 

Meeting with Head Teacher Iga David at noon today 

Visiting the YEA-committee in Lweza, Kampala

Hyggelig møte med hardt arbeidende komitemedlemmer 

Ayub fra Mengo, Maggie fra St. Joseph og Tom fra Rjukan

Fashion with compassion - Serena

Elimu-deltaker og Mengo-elev Linda Musiimenta har drømt om moter lenge. Etter at hun var med på Elimu-utveksling fikk hun tro på seg selv og valgte å gå for noe stort: Hun har etter "graduation" fra S6 i desember 2011  jobbet for å sette opp moteshowet "Fashion with compassion" med kjente designere. Showet ble satt opp på Serena Hotel Kampala fredag 13.04 med fire hundre gjester, kjente designere og modeller. Blant designere var Raphael og loondonbaserte Brenda Maraka. Linda viste også egen design fra sitt firma "Trendy".

Brenda Marakas design 

Lilian, House of Zerian 

Mengo-girls greeting their head teacher 

Linda Musiimenta, organiser and the one who took the initiative

Kabaka celebrates 57th birthday in Kisubi

Kollegene på St.Joseph må delta på feiringen av Kabaka Muwenda Mutebis 57 årsdag i dag. The celebrations are going to take place at St. Mary’s, Kisubi today. Kabakaen har valgt å legge feiringen til søster- og naboskolen St. Mary. Vi har derfor lagt inn en fridag og håper at det er mulig å passere Kisubi-området for å komme seg til Kampala. Akkurat nå er det også tordenvær i Kampala. Det betyr enda mer trafikkaos.

Mirembe Martina skriver i Uganda Pick:
The preparations for the celebrations of Kabaka Muwenda Mutebi’s 57th birthday are underway with several villages celebrating ahead of the arrival of the Kabaka today at 10:00am.
The celebrations are going to take place at St. Mary’s, Kisubi today. Prayers are going to be held by Cardinal Wamala nd Ciprian Kizito followed by performances from local performing groups, among others. The Kabaka’s birthday has been celebrated in previous years with splendor and beauty as the Baganda honor their king with love and admiration.
Neighboring towns and villages prepared ahead of the celebrations with several performing groups along the road sides and decorations put up. Among the decorations are banana leaves erected on stumps built by the residents.
Residents are clearly happy and awaiting impatiently for the Kabaka to visit Kisubi. JB. Walusimbi, the palace’s prime minister in a press conference yesterday said steps are being taken to rebuild the Kasubi tombs which were burned to the ground leaving many priceless artifacts lost forever.
“We are not ignoring the rebuilding of the tombs. The issue involves many people including UNESCO and the government. We are not waiting for UNESCO to rebuild it for us,” he said.
The Kabaka is expected to arrive at Kisubi at 10:00am today for the celebrations.

Working day in Kisubi

Torsdag ble en lang arbeidsdag for Kalema Golooba, Daniel, Rebecca og Linn. De organiserte fokusgrupper blant elever og lærere i forbindelse med evalueringen. Her avsluttes dagen med en oppsummering via Linns kamera.

A short passing rain shower in Kenneth Dale Drive

We went to visit the Afriart Gallery (off Kira Road).

Coming out again after a five minute passing rain shower! 

Kateregga Ismael The Market place 

Edison Mugalis new exhibition "Dances of Uganda"

Bringing people together - Easter Sunday

I Uganda er Easter Sunday kirkedag og familiedag. Vi feiret dagen sammen med tidligere Fk-ere, familie og venner

Jane Nansubuga med sønnen David og søster Zyna Nnabudde 

alle ville spise guava, men de må plukkes først 

Farvel til familien Kironde

Påskeferie?

Vi tilbrakte første del av påsken på Kings College Budo. Der skulle det også være en form for påskeferie, det vil si elevene er på skolen og deltar i aktiviteter. "Good Friday" måtte gudstjenesten for S4-S6 utsettes i 50 minutt for at elevene skulle fullføre sine tentamener.

Matematikklærer Kisembe Judith veileder elever på personalrommet langfredag 

Lørdag måtte S1-elev Jason Kasamba stå over idrettsaktiviteter på grunn av engelsktentamen

Gudstjeneste for S4 - S6 

Rektor Patrick Bakka Male sjekker framdriften på byggeplassen. Her skal skolens nye administrasjonsblokk bygges. En gammel "Budonian" tilbydde sine maskiner og arbeidskraft påskedagene.

Easter vacation - fire dagers påskeferie

Det tok litt tid å  samle alle de ni barna som skulle fra Namirembe Parents Primary School til fire dagers påskeferie hjemme på Budo. Her har Edison kontroll på hele gjengen.

Starting up the evaluation of the Industrial Training Programme

A footballmatch in St.Joseph Technical Institute

Visit to Mengo during Easter vacation

The Easter vacation starts on Good Friday. Yesterday was busy in Mengo: Teachers correcting first term exams together with working students

ELIMU-reunion: Rodney and Tom