uys - vol 6 - june 2013 - final

7/28/2019 UYS - Vol 6 - June 2013 - Final

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Ugandas Young Stars :: Volume 6 :: June 2013

A newsleter for

Ugandas youh, by

Ugandas youh

How Has Ugandas YoUng stars impacted YoU, personallY?

UgandasYoung Stars

Godfrey Mukisa

I have joined senior one and Ihave agreed to complete mystudies. I want to get adistinction 1 in every subject.

To do this, I will make sure Iread my books and payattention in class when theteacher is teaching.

Ugandas Young Stars has im-

pacted me personally whereby I

know that everyone has his or her

thinking capacity towards any is-

sue brought on the ground. There

positive or negative.Through Ugandas Young Stars I

have managed to change peoples

thinking capacity. They now think

wisely and maturely.

To me, it helped me to be proud

and believe in whatever I do. For

example, discussing pregnancy

with young girls and teaching

them how to avoid pregnancy and

the eects o pregnancy.

It has helped me to teach youth

the negative eects o peer pre

sure and now they have manag

to stay away rom peer pressure

and drugs and now they are in

school.

In Uganda today people do notshare. Whatever they get they

keep to themselves saying, For

God and My Stomach, not For

God and My Country. This phra

is common in church, at work an

home. But I will work hard to st

it and teach people to share wit

others.

Kansiime Monica :: S1, St. Theresa Girls Secondary school Nsenyi :: Kasese District

do YoU Have anY new Years resolUtions for 2013?

Nakamanya Ulilah :: Age 20 :: Busuubizi Core Primary Teachers College :: Mityana District

The rst year o training tobecome a teacher is not very

easy since you may ace somany challenges, but the bestway o overcoming them is byworking hard.

I have already made my owndecision o passing well to be-come a teacher to share knowl-edge and ideas to the youth,

and this can make me a bet-ter as well as disciplined and

responsible teacher. I plan onkeeping these resolutions by: Maintaining the role model

given by God, sharing ideas,skills, attitudes and valueswith others so that I keepmy decisions.

Being sel respective andthe rest o people with in

and outside Uganda.

To help the needy o theworld.

Through the above-recom-mended views I can be brighand whole o the country consequently the world.


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Ugandas Young Stars :: Volume 4 :: Page 2Ugandas Young Stars :: Volume 6 :: Page 2

do YoU tHink tHat YoUre a sHooting star?

Sometimes when I look at mysel, I

think I am a shooting star because

I was once in a dilemma where

I was broken heartedly crying

inside my bedroom. I was thinking

o how he could do that to me. I

started singing slowly as a joke

about what had happened to me.

At the end o the situation I had

already got three songs which

include When you think, I you

nd, and Come together.

Right now I have got a th song

which is Am sorry and Should I.

Not only that, but I have another

thing that makes me eel I am a

star. Since my childhood, I loved

acting and I was inspired by a

Nigerian actress, Omotola Jelade

Ikeinde. And later I got inspired

more by the Hollywood star An-

gelina Jolie. I have since yearned

to be like her. I love acting, I eel it,

I move with it, and I know it runs

through my blood streams.

I once acted in a Music Dance and

Drama estival and was given a

certicate as the best actress. I

was happy because I had started

moving orward towards achiev-

ing my goal. I was happy because

at least hal o the population at

school got inspired by me. I have

since advised ellow youths like

the students in our club to write,

giving them an example o my

thrilling, interesting, six movies

wrote mysel.

I have inspired them to act with

all their hearts and at least I kno

most o them would also love to

join the movie industry. In othe

words, I would love to see my

dreams come true, but because

I dont have support rom home

nancial support and courage, i

becomes hard to make it come

true.

What I want to advise parents is

give their children support even

i it needs sacricing most o the

things because a talent is given

by God and not orced by any-

one. Parents think that by joinin

the Music Industry or the Movie

Industry, one is going to change

completely. They think i you act

loving someone, its true. But

Namuyomba Sharipha Shaphick :: Age 17 :: Bwebajja Entebbe Village ::Busuubizi Core Teachers Training College :: Mityana District

Shooting Star: A small piece o

rock in space that travels very ast

and burns with a bright light as it

enters the earths atmosphere.

Yes, I am a shooting star. I am a

speaker at my college (YMCA) and

I am trying to promote peace and

peoples reedom all around. Some

people (students) have complaints

about the way they are being

taught and even complaints about

time and unds. As or me, as a

counselor, I am able to speak out

about everything and all com-

plaints rom the students and be

their voice.

I am ghting or peace, unity, and

reedom in the college because it

is not air to live in a society where

there is no reedom. Students

come to college to have good

times and learn more. No one

should be a slave and everyone

has the right to be ree in my co

lege. My ght or peace, unity, a

reedom does not stop in my co

lege, but is also there in my com

munity and Uganda, as a whole.

Godfrey Mukisa

Shooting StarsUgandas Ugandas Shooting Stars dont just talk the talk, they walkthe walk. These youth are actively working to promote change

in their villages, schools, and country

continued on pg. 5


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Ugandas Young Stars :: Volume 6 :: Page 3

There is no imagination ever

since I got interest in this eld

that made me to sway hither and

thither. Being a star on my sidemakes me eel comort in

an environment because I

normally observe the weird

activities done by most

youth. Nevertheless, I make

other options incomplete

and stabilize on my goal

there isnt any chance that

I lose control but all being

ready to ace any challenge

that approaches my uture.All the youth can be stars but ew

choose to be. And also strength

separates them.

Briey, my action is dierent rom

the rest since I have halted to

those ideas o being humiliated

and disrespected. Through that

previous longing, I desire to be

the most known international

writer in Uganda. I am originally a

teenager who is only ocused on

the uture goals. There is no belie

that I cannot become the con-

sultant because when the tough

gets going, the going gets tough.

Little did the dwellers know, or it

is the plan I realized in uture. The

most interesting joke needed in

lie is your goal. This is the high

time I understood that I havepride to assure Uganda as

its representative in terms

o literature; basically, being

an author. This makes me to

serve as an example and be

the best role model in my

country.

Paradoxically, it is sharp and

sweet because dreams are

real perections. I can hur-riedly inspire the coming genera-

tion through building a library

and a building publisher or all

authors in Uganda to develop

their talents to improve the lie

economically.

Kirabo Doreen :: Age 18 :: Busuubizi Core PTC :: Busuubizi Village :: Mityana District

do YoU tHink tHat YoUre a sHooting star?

Hassan Mocheche :: 23 years :: Rakai Community School of Nursing ::Rakai District

A lion is an animal that enjoys thelions share o the animals king-

dom. Policemen are good people

trained to look or and arrest

criminals. A shooting star can

be someone brave enough

who has mastered up and

put into action his or her God

given abilities and has suc-

ceeded in attaining a positive

goal in lie, making him or her

success itsel.

Born 23 years ago in a small

town o Nyanza Province,

Kisii, Kenya, today I live to stand

a head taller than most people,

stable in physique and in mind.

My name is Hassan Mocheche

and I am a nursing student at

Rakai Community School o Nurs-ing. What I can say is that being a

nurse, or rather a medical person-

nel, means that one has been

chosen by God to serve humanity

in the orm o nursing care and

treatment to patients. It is or this

reason that I was compelled to

deputize or change, here is mystory.

I still remember the day; it was a

morning on the 26th o

July, 2012. This morning

was eventul. I was on

duty that day at Rakai

District Hospital, where I

had been placed or my

clinical experience. On

the ward where I was,

we had a male patientwho by then had been

hospitalized or our

days with a diagnosis

o acute diarrhea due to severe

typhoid ever and malaria. It is

not his sickness that puzzled me,

but the pitiul reality that he had

no one at all, no amily member


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or riend, to attend to him. To say

he was in a miserable state, hav-

ing nothing to eat, stinking as he

had diarrhea, and no clothes to

change. This was not the only case,

but just one o the many. I had a

brainstorm.

At the hospitals, one o the chal-lenges that has always presented

and never been attended by the

government is an issue to do with

unattended patients, those with-

out attendants. Given that hospi-

tals only provide curative services,

these patients always depend on

goodwill o other patients or atten-

dants or support, ood, and other

basic necessities, which in most

instances is not sufcient.So back in college I sat with a

group o nine students and pre-

sented them with this issue. Ater

a lengthy discussion we decided

to come up with a club to address

such issues, which gave rise to

PROFESSIONAL ENHANCEMENT

AND CREATIVITY EMPOWERMENT,

abbreviated as P.E.A.C.E. Club. Our

main objective being to address

social problems in the community,

as well as empower the youth to

take up roles in society and help

youth develop and discover theirtalents. So we began raising unds

within the college and to my

disbelie, the students responded

positively and gave us nancial aid

which we set up a bank account

or, or credibility. With the money,

we bought ood stus and basic

commodities which we donate

to patients whenever we visit the

hospital.

Other activities we perorm rangerom cleaning the hospital and its

environment, oering bed baths to

very ill patients, and cleaning Rakai

Town. The club has also ventured

into promoting talent through

hosting talent shows in the college

and article writing. Despite the

innite challenges we are acing

like nancial constraint, I can sa

we are perorming, with close to

100 acting members o the club

Dedicated the club is; we are on

track and we are delivering som

thing exceedingly signicant tothe community.

My advice to my ellow young st

out there is that we, as youth, ar

the voice to the community, we

are an example o a group that

can empower and be inuen-

tial in making ourselves and the

generation to come a brighter

uture which is promising. Just

look around you keenly; there

is something that you can do tobring change. You dont necessa

have to do things others can do

will do. I there are things other

cannot do or will not do, waste

time, do not hesitate, go or the

Winning essays on pg. 5

international womens daY 2013

For International Womens Day

2013, Peace Corps VolunteersChelsea Milko and Betty Lambert

coordinated an essay writing

competition with two Arua-area

schools. The aim o the project was

to help P6-S2 Ugandan youth de-

velop their personal philosophies

related to the challenges acing

women and girls in Uganda today

while at the same time building

their writing and oratory skills.

With the help o Guma Simon and

Atiku Alexander o Radio Pacis inArua, West Nile, Chelsea and Betty

visited Mvara Secondary and Jiako

Primary schools to kick o the proj-

ect, spark a healthy discussion, and

provide essay writing tips. Each

participating writer received a blue

book and pencil and were encour-

aged to keep writing well beyond

the end o the competition. Out o

112 submissions, 5 were selected

as winners and invited to read t

essays live on-air during RadioPacis Pacis Youth program on

March 9th. In the beleaguered

gion o West Nile, it was reresh

to see school-age youth expres

themselves in writing, challeng

long-standing gender norms, a

enlighten 4 million Radio Pacis

listeners in the process.


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Namuyomba Sharipha Shaphick, continued from pg. 2

Letaru Fortunate Patricia :: P7, Jiako Primary School :: Arua

I believe that violence in the home

is wrong because...

I remember when I was ve years

old. We lived with our parents on

Entebbe Road in Kampala. My par-

ents had a good relationship. They

mostly shared good ideas and

un. They used to go church every

Sunday. My parents would listen to

each other. So, lie was great.

Two years later, my mother told

my ather to take us to a good

boarding school. Then later myather decided to take us to

Kampala Parents Academy in day

section. So lie was interesting.

So seven years later my ather

changed his mood. He joined a

wrong group. Every night they

would go and break into peoples

shops. He would come back when

he was drunk. So my

parents couldnt keep his dignity.

He would come late in the eveningand start beating my mother or

no good reason. What my mother

did was to pack her belongings

and leave.

With above experiences, I

believe that violence in the home

is wrong. Thank you.

Oleru Gloria :: P6, Jiako Primary School :: AruaI believe that violence in the home

is wrong because....

It may cause death at home, lack

o love among the parents and

lack o respect. Due to violence,

children will be unable to read

at home daily. Violence can even

bring about disease at home e.g.

AIDS and syphilis. I there is no

respect between woman and man,

you will be unable to educate your

children which can result in not

getting employment. The home

will be noisy and disorderly. Due to

violence in the home, parents may

be unable to give some things like

books, pens, uniorms, sets and

school bags to their children.

With the above reasons, I believe

violence in the home is wrong.

Thank you.

please parents, we need your support, make our

dreams come true.

I wrote my movies according to the situations that

either happened to me or happened in the world. I

love reading novels and writing movies. My movies

include:

UNFORGIVABLE

QUEEN VAMPIRE

YOU AND ME,

DETECTIVE LIZ

BOTH OF US

AND

WILL TOO

I will conclude by encouraging youths to promote

their talent and i possible, I will go round the world

telling youths to promote their talents because a

talent can make you move round the world. I there-

ore think I am a shooting star.

***BASED ON A TRUE STORY***

international womens daY 2013 winning essaYs

Onziku Patrick :: S2, Mvara Secondary :: Arua

I believe both women and men

should have equal access to edu-

cation because...

Once upon a time, there was a girl

who was in a home where there

was no chance to go to school.

Hence, she remained illiterate. As

she was growing, she was growing

carelessly because o a lack o edu-

cation. And there were no people

to advise her. She didnt know

what was happening to her.

So, reaching the age o eighteen

to nineteen there, she deceived by

somebody that she was mature to

marry. So, because o ignorance,

she became aware o marriage.

Fortunately, as she was trying to

look or a boyriend, she got an

educated man who thought she

was also educated. Later, she was

married to that educated man.

continued on next page


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Shooting StarsUgandas

But later, this man came to realize

that the girl was ignorant. But he

reused to air it out up to where

the couple had two children. Later

on this man was a drunkard and

began to abuse this girl using vul-

gar language and other words that

brought heart pain to this girl.

When the girl came to

realize that the man was

mistreating her, she let

the man and went back

to her ather. Whereby,she asked her ather i

she could join Primary

One. Her ather accept-

ed and took her to an

institution where she

became a teacher. She

married a new husband

who was a doctor. As she got a job

and became sel-employed, she

became a key person in the home

where there used to be no chanceor education. Because o her hard

work, the girls home became

quite unique rom others because

they believed in education or all.

My belie is there is a need or

women to be educated and it is

right or them to learn. I believe

that can be supported with great

hope because we all experienced

the development done by women.

For example, women are involved

in politics. We should encourage

their emancipation.

The ollowing are the reasons that

explain my appreciation with great

hope or women and men to have

equal access to education.

To reduce the high rate

o illiteracy through promoting

womens education and encourag-

ing education or orphans.

To reduce the rate o hig

population because an educate

woman knows how to space

children and limit amily size. An

they can look ater their children

better.

For good community

development, women help by

building cooperation

and helping to ght

corruption, like wom

member o Parliamen

or Arua District, Chritine Abia.

Womens involv

ment in the politics

gives rise to better

support o girl child

education and helpin

the orphans. Women are good in

planning or developing and or

the uture.

There is no reedom or unedu-

cated people. To participate in t

world o today, emales must be

educated. Thank you.

Ajio Agnes :: S3, Mvara Secondary :: Arua

I believe that both men and

women should have equal access

to education because it promotesgender balance whereby both

men and women are able to share

their responsibilities, promote

development on both sides and

reduce primitivism through exer-

cising human rights.

However, there is a very high rate

o illiteracy. So, in our amilies and

communities there is unbalancedaccess to education as a result.

This emanates into neglect o am-

ily responsibilities by some people.

Never to hide the act, I eel daze

to mention that girls in our amily

are not given equal opportunities

to access education as the boys

am very privileged to say that o

o 9 children in my amily, I am tonly one who has been educate

up to secondary level. This is du

to the support rom my guardia

who picked me when I was you

Many times some parents igno-

rantly think that they cant lead

continued on next pag


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Danielford Asega :: S3, Mvara Secondary :: Arua

anyone urther in school than they

have gone themselves. They use

their ignorance to deend them-

selves without noticing that suc-

cess in lie depends on how you

handle your ailures.

When one woman is educated,the whole world is educated. This

is true and I believe my being the

only educated girl will educate my

entire amily, no matter the chal-

lenges that come my way. They are

a part o lie and God will be my

helper. I will overcome them.

I believe that the roots o educa-

tion are so bitter but the ruits are

so sweet. No matter how ar I amrom my house, I will keep going

until I get home. Going slowly

doesnt stop one rom arriving, as

long as he or she doesnt stop.

With courage, I believe I will

achieve success. Despise not a

snail or its slow and struggling

movement or it has a destination

and with time, it shall arrive. My

past will never dictate my uture.

Everybody has a right to education

and gender balance. But suddenly

the number o boys in school

exceeds the number o girls. This

is because girls are being harassed

and exploited and orced into

early marriage by their parents.

This is so they can get rich rom

the dowry but the riches do not

last orever.

I eel concerned and sad when I

see school age girls being sexu-

ally harassed. Personally, I wish to

challenge those things and show

people that girls and boys should

be treated equally. The way a cat

walks is not the way it catches a

rat. One only realizes the impor-

tance o a well when it is dried up.

With all these things, I believe in

the uture I will be a responsible

person and able to bring a posi-

tive change in my amily as ar as

access to education is concerned.

A hunter with one arrow doesnt

shoot with a careless aim. That is

my dream.

Thereore, equal access to educa-

tion leads to gender balance.Thank you.

I believe that both men and

women should have equal access

to education because....

Most women have been denied

their due respect they wouldotherwise command by virtue o

their position in the amily. They

tend to be suppressed and unable

to inuence any decision in the

home, even when it may concern

their own children.

Sometimes women are

unjustiably divorced rom their

intolerable husbands. She then

loses the companionship o her

children and suers public humili-

ation since there is no money.

The modern society which is

dominated by men has oten

considered women as mere beings

designed to satisy mens sexual

desires anywhere and anytime.

This blindolds men to the truth

that there are countless women

who can accomplish things other

than sex. Women only need to beproperly educated.

Many women silently battle the

unairness o being regularly

beaten by their husbands or even

their male relatives since they have

no power to live on their own.

Society has tended to leave it as a

mans right to beat or rape his wie

anytime he eels it is necessary as

a way o disciplining her. While au-

thorities have watched this go on,

many women have died because

o domestic violence.

I believe that without education,

the illiteracy and ignorance that

women eventually suer makes

them voiceless and unable to bet-

ter their lives. Women have oten

been discriminated against and

have limited employment

opportunities because o their lowor poor qualications. As such,

they are denied the chance to

aspire or better paying jobs. They

are taken as physically week and

unhealthy during pregnancy.

I also believe that women who

never went to school are normally

orced by their husbands to vote

or the husbands choice o politi-

cal candidate and not their own

choice.

This lack o education or woman

has a catastrophic eect on

Ugandan society.


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Es s a y s u b m i s s i o n G u i d E l i n E s

Essay questions are optional. Please try to keep submissions for each question

under 400 words. Entries submitted as personal testimony must be factual.

Write your name, age, school (if applicable), village and district on the paper.

Ugandas Young Stars :: June 2013

Volume 6

Page 8

Published by United States Peace Corps Volunteers

AboutugAndAs YoungstArs

Ugandas Young Stars was frst published

by American Peace Corps Volunteers in

February 2012. The newsletter is written

or youth, by youth and is designed

to be an open orum where Ugandan

kids can express their ideas, opinions,

and experiences regarding gender and

youth-related issues. Youth write and

submit essays which are compiled by

Peace Corps Volunteers, used as articles

in the publication, and then distributed in

nE x t i s s u E s th E m E :

s s, B ch

Did you celebrate World Malaria Day on April

25th? Describe what youdid to promote Malaria

prevention in your community.

How do you eel about gender equality? In what

ways do you promote gender equality in your school

or community?

Domestic violence is considered a huge problem

across Uganda. How has it afected you personally?

What do you think youth can do to help

stop domestic violence?

Do you think that youre a Shooting Star? Tell

us about who you areand how youre actively

working to promote change in your village, school,

community, or Uganda as a whole.

1.

2.

3.

4.

uys - vol 6 - june 2013 - final

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