June 2009

One day in the midst of my phase of teenage rebellion, I got into an argument with my uncle. I told him that despite his statement to the fact, I did not think he understood how I felt because he had never known how it feels to lose a mother. Angered beyond reason he calmly told me"Raymond let me tell you something, I owe you nothing, the world owes you nothing. I only do this because your mother was my sister and I loved her."I have gone through life with those words seared in my memory. One of my uncle's long lasting lessons is that I should expect no kindness because I am not owed it. For a long time those words taught me that I should do all in my power to expect any sort of kindness. I should start the process by being kind and I guess that is what they will always mean to me. My uncle was not the kind of person to say something that mean. We parted ways at some point after that. I saw him many years later at my grandmother's funeral.

I went to attend some church thing recently. Now bro starts talking to me about God and how I view my life. Now to those of you who don't know the Spartakuss very well, I don't do church. Haven't been in a long time. I had made this trip to check out a certain beauty who had floored my wingman.I walk in, do the tour and then they say 'one-on-one' time.I look at this guy and say"So……….." he smiles perches himself on a stool and peers at me through a rimless set of glasses. Looks mindless too."What do you want to do with your life?" he asks, seemingly amused. I tell him. I am working on a good master plan, to be the best Spartakuss can ever be and thus shatter the Spartakuss mould; which is based on the premise that i will live a valiant life and die an unrecognized death or be an unsung hero."I'll do whatever it is that will make me the best I can be," comes the clipped reply.Dude looks at me. Perplexed.

Yes, the technology already existed before humans discovered it. Search Engines- information retrieval systems designed to help find information stored on a computer system are alive in the life of a Christian!Check it..most people think that this verse "1Co 2:9 But as it is written, "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard," nor has it entered into the heart of man, "the things which God has prepared for those who love Him." means that it is impossible to know the expanse of the treasures available in God.

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ps; whats tweeter

Watched Slum Dog Millionaire (again) this weekend, and this time noticed an unusual scene.  At the very end, when Jamal kisses Latika's scar, suddenly there is a rewind-like camera shot of the scene in which she receives the knife cut to her face.  We go backwards from the struggle to a moment of expectation and happiness, when the two lovers look at each other unwounded, with joy.

The research I did in Uganda in January has just been published.

Mudamuli…Mudamuli! How shall I describe you? Your words are feathers that catch their target by surprise because…they sting!And you seem to know the quickest formulae to provocation.Otherwise, are you well? Do tell.You seem to have a special liking for Eggie these days but let me warn you. He hates surprises. If you want to be his friend, don’t keep making disappearing acts. As for Cucumber, he loves attention. The more you ignore him, the crazier he gets. As for me, I get bored easily and when I do, I move on to the next exciting thing or person. I don't kwelumya. I like to enjoy life to the fullest without any qualms. Especially when it comes to women. Like the gorgeous lady I met last week. She had the perfect manicure and pedicure. We had a good time but Pepper is still the one I want.By the way, who is this Tamzel? Is she your sister? I found her post about me very amusing. How did she know I loved baking? Hmmm.

Two children, ages one and one and a half, sit on our hero’s veranda with a brightly primary-coloured toy microphone that they will take turns speaking into in front of them. One wears large blue toy headphones. That’s Lizzie. The other wears pink ones with fluffy edges. That’s Evans.

They realize the problem and switch headphones, then they go back to their game. They are, of course, playing “Morning Radio Show”.

On July 15th, my teacher and mentor, Sr. Dr. Dipio Dominic, the head of the Makerere University Literature Department, will launch her first feature film titled “A meal to forget” at the National Theatre.Based on a true story of a man who killed his two children after failing to fend for them, the film explores issues of child welfare in the context of the challenging economic situation.For the amiable Dr Dipio, with whom I worked as a respondent in the shooting of the documentary “Etiquette in Makerere” in 2006, the launch of her first feature film should be a cause for joy and celebration. And indeed it will be, albeit briefly.For any movie-maker in Uganda, the nightmare of producing a work that you know will be pirated the next minute has never been any less. Ugandans have made it a habit to look for movies on the black market.

Blogging on this site is going to be much lighter in future with the launch of Uganda Talks, the new current affairs blog of The Independent magazine. It's been a while coming but we finally launched today and for the time being I will be editing the site. I hope that you have a look and I would really value any feedback you have. There are bound to be teething problems in the first few weeks but it is my hope that we will soon be established as the best place to find cutting edge opinion and analysis related to Uganda. We will also be running guest spots so if anyone has something to get off their chest please contact me either through the comments here or: joepowell at independent.co.ug

Tumbaavu
We used that word to ridicule boys who had angered us. Boys, not girls. Girls were a precious commodity so we used the much softer stupid, bogus or shit you (You didn’t want the P.7 class monitor reporting you for saying ‘fuck’. You could get expelled or worse, get looked at by the cross-eyed headmaster, Mr. Oluk).

Ella got to attend her first birthday party Stateside last week, in Laurel. It was at the coolest park - I'd never seen anything like it before! She thought she'd died and gone to heaven .Wow! A child's paradise...The birthday children and the party doingsAwesome slideDefinitely nothing in Uganda like this - especially for free!

Elle must have known something about me. I was waiting for her to whisper to me and as if on cue, she did and so here goes..

The instructions:
1. You take the story, and give it your own unique twist.
2. Link back to the blogger who whispered to you and or include their name in your post.
3. Whisper the new challenge into the ear of a blogger of your picking.
4. Let them know by leaving a comment at theirs.
Pass it on with the instructions!

Heidi, my hero, taught me to upload pictures to my blog (yes, all that you've seen up to this point was Scott).

Here in Montana one of the favorite activities of my four year old is cleaning sticky raccoon blood off of a live trap with a scrub brush and soap . It's cheap entertainment (totally free actually) and gets an otherwise nasty job, done (Mommy gets a little wild with that gun)! Sure can't beat the enthusiasm and energy of a four year old :)We've caught (and disposed of) raccoons two nights in a row. You know it's time to start clearing out the charming creatures when not only do they eat you out of house and home in the cat food department, but when they then poop all over EVERYTHING. THEN when they get just too confident and start chasing people who are walking through the barn at night to close in the chickens. Yup, time to go for sure.Let the hunt continue....

31 days of nothing but time on my hands. 31 days is all we have left. 31 days with no plans to make. 31 days to call my own. 31 days, the month of July.

When all the world is young, lad, And all the trees are green;And every goose a swan, lad, And every lass a queen,—Then hey for boot and horse, lad, And round the world away;Young blood must have its course, lad, And every dog his day.When all the world is old, lad, And all the trees are brown;And all the sport is stale, lad, And all the wheels run down,—Creep home, and take your place there, The spent and maimed among:God grant you find one face there You loved when all was young..............................Charles Kingsley

Hi all,Needed some time off. That is what happened, so I went kind of absent...But I am around. And, hopefully, back now.gug

My friend, Janice, who has become my guardian angel here, called last night while I was in the middle of watching a movie."Are you crying? Why are you crying? What are you watching?" she asked."The Bucket List," I responded."Yeah, I know that one...Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson doing everything they wished that they could do when they were living but are now doing when they are facing death...that one, right?" she confirmed.Yep, that one."So why are you crying? You, above the rest of us, have lived the 'Bucket List' while you're still alive so why the tears?" she insisted."Do you think I am selfish? I was watching all of the places the Freeman and Nicholson go in that movie and thinking, 'been there, been there, too.' Do you think that I travel so much makes me selfish? Do you think I am going to run out of places to see and end up wandering around Central Park in ten years feeling lost?" I asked, feeling incredibly stupid."Nah, that's what you do...you travel. That's your thing.

Old Friend,"True friends stab you in the front." (Oscar Wilde)waiting for you to tell me you are reading......ps: hello to you too.

Today I left Kampala city with mum and dad on our way to Mbale. The trip is not merely for a luxury trip, but rather to venture with Karibuni Safaris and make some amazing stories for the website and upcoming newsletter. My blog today will show pictures of Kampala and the road to Mbale. I  must say I enjoyed my trip there and especially loved pulling the sun-roof open and sticking my silly dreaded head through the roof to take pictures of tree plantations after failing to take lovely photographs of the famous Kiira Dam. Oh well, enough bubble.. now to the pictures! Enjoy… First top, Nakumatt! Had to grab some ice and "juice" for the road!   All we were praying for really, was for the cars to move and the man in green to stay far away from the car!   The picture is worth a thousand words. A hundred shillings to the person who can guess this location!   Namawojolo... We have arrived the chicken, gonja and water capital of Uganda.   Fresh matooke, still at Namawoojolo.

To appreciate Michael Jackson, you must try to put yourself in his shoes and see why he was the way he was. People saw Michael Jackson through different lenses. While to some he was nothing more than a paedophile and a man who was so ashamed of his black skin that he bleached it, others saw him as a legend but a man all the same with weaknesses like any other human being.So I start with the death of Michael Jackson. On January 25, 2009, he was reported dead. I could not believe that the King of Pop could be dead. I first heard the breaking news on Vision Voice from Earnest Wasake a few minutes after 1 a.m. I could not believe that I was the first to break the news to my Mom because she is always on the BBC. But by the time the news of his death came, Mom had already switched off her radio and was asleep. I woke her up and broke the news to her. At that time there were conflicting reports about MJ’s status.