Why Women Count Apr. 13
Why Women Count Video Clip Collection: Africa, Middle East, South Asia. Films Media Group, 2008. Films on Demand. Web. 03 April 2012.I watched sections of this documentary that gave many examples of specific women in different countries all over the world and the work they are doing to improve their situation as women. The clip about women in Uganda was about how teaching women how to be entrepreneurs has been a form of empowerment there. The organization I will be working with gives women a way to earn income for their families. The video showed entrepreneurship as a solely positive thing in the lives of the Ugandan women. When in Uganda, I will study to see all aspects of working for African Promise Foundation and not just the positive.
Zimbabwe Women Writers Apr. 13
Alpizar, Lydia, Anahi Duran, and Anahi Russo Garrido. Building Feminist Movements: Global Perspectives. London: Zed, Limited, 2007. 131+. Print.I read a chapter in this book about an organization that was formed in Zimbabwe called Zimbabwe Women Writers. It's an organization that gives women an opportunity to tell their stories, whether they be true and personal or fiction, and then include them in books that are then published. They hold writing conferences and provide an environment for women to express themselves through writing and also learn how to improve their reading and writing. This relates to my project because I will be working with an organization that empowers women and Zimbabwe Women Writers is another organization that empowers women, but in a different way.
Women in Parliament in Uganda Apr. 13th
Bauer, Gretchen, and Hannah Evelyn. Britton. "Uganda: Agents of Change for Women's Advancement?" Women in African Parliaments. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2006.
This book talked about how when Museveni assumed office as President for Uganda, he began placing women in positions of office. At first it seemed like having women in office would be a great way to increase the status of women and Museveni seemed like a proponent for women's rights. But it soon became clear that he only put women in office in order to gain more support, but in reality, the women were ignored and had no voice when in office. I will be in Uganda working with women for my project, so this information was helpful in knowing more about the view and status of women in Uganda.
Study on IHLPs in Uganda Mar. 28th
This is an article about a study that the authors conducted in Uganda. They studied the transition HIV/AIDS patients made from just being treated by getting food supplements, which was discovered to unsustainable, to integrated HIV and livelihood programs (IHLPs). They identified different challenges that came from making the transition and then some of the benefits of the new programs. They found that the new IHLP programs are more effective in providing sustainable support to HIV/AIDS victims. I thought this article was relevant to my project because I will be evaluating the effectiveness of an organization in a way, by seeing the changes that have come about in the women's lives who make beads for APF. This study was about evaluating the effectiveness of new programs.
Acholi Music Mar. 26th
Niles, Don. Reports: National Committee Report: Uganda Bulletin of the International Council for Traditional Music. April 2005. pg 60.
This is an article talking about the music festivals in Uganda and the recent increase in participation. Referring to the Acholi people from northern Uganda, it says that the Ngini Ngini Coka Fesitval will give them the "opportunity to recapture joy, their identity, self-esteem and relate with life again." I really like that is says that the arts are way to recapture their identity because traditional music and dancing are such a huge part of what makes up the Acholi culture and during the war, they experienced so many traumatic events where they were treated like inhuman. The arts can be way of reminding you who you are. For my project, I will be doing all I can to learn about the lives of the women who make beads for APF and learning about the arts and the ways they personally express themselves will be a way to learn more about their lives.
NGOs and Africa Mar. 23rd
This book is about how difficult it has been and still is for Africa to try and improve their unstable, weak economy. The book focuses on the role that NGOs today have in trying a new way to solve the problem. This book relates to my project because I will be working for an NGO over in Uganda, so this book helped me understand a little more about what impact NGOs are having and can have on Africa.
Art Forms in Acholi Culture Mar. 21st
"Acholi- Religion and Expressive Culture." Countries and Their Cultures. Web. 21 Mar. 2012. <http://www.everyculture.com/Africa-Middle-East/Acholi-Religion-and-Expressive-Culture.html>.
This article talked about how the major art forms in the Acholi culture are drumming, dancing and singing. These are forms are used in all kinds of ceremonies relating to many different aspects of their culture. For example, when someone dies, about a week or so later, their family holds a big dance and feast for relatives and others to attend. The size and nature of the dance and feast depend on the status and age of the deceased person. Knowing this is applicable to my field study because I will be living among the Acholi people and so I need to and want to learn as much as possible about their culture and customs. Art is such an important way to start to understand a culture.Half the Sky Feb. 24th
This book goes through women issues around the world chapter by chapter and then gives a specific example of the life a woman affected by the issue being discussed. The book gives examples of women who have made a difference in the problems women face and shows some of the ways we can go about making positive changes towards women empowerment. Each story, every chapter makes one realize more and more how incredibly oppressed women are all over the world and so many things that go on that we don't hear about, but it also gives hope that we can work towards making changes. There are a bunch of NGO's listed in the back that work towards women empowerment. Reading this book was helpful for my project because I will be working with women who are trying to get on their feet and help support themselves and their families under really tough circumstances, so African Promise Foundation is working towards women empowerment.
Trial Jusitce Feb. 21st
This book talks about the International Criminal Court (ICC) and it assesses the developments made due to the recent creation of the ICC. The book relates this to the rise of Joseph Kony and the LRA, where the worst of crimes were committed. He also discusses IDP camps and some of what happened within those camps. He ends the book by talking about how the ICC and justice relate to healing and peace. This book is helpful for my project because I will be building relationships with people who were affected so much by the LRA, so any information I can get about that time in Ugandan history, will better prepare me for living there.
The Role of NGOs Feb. 17th
Hedayat Allah Nikkhah, Ma'rof Bin Redzuan. "The Role of NGOs in Promoting Empowerment for Sustainable Community Development." J Hum Ecol 2010 30(2):85-92.
This article talks about how NGOs role in "promoting sustainable community development" is to do microfinancing, capacity building, and building self-reliance. Microfinancing empowers women to have their own income, which they are more likely to use for the well-being of their whole family than males, and increases jobs, bringing people out of poverty. Capacity building is achieved through NGOs providing and promoting education, skill training and organizational support so that the people have the resources they need to expand and grow. NGOs are to assist communities in realizing their potential and get the people to awaken the feeling of potential withing them that will cause them to act and move towards self-reliance. I can use this information to help measure what African Promise Foundation is doing that is related to these different functions of NGOs discussed in the article.
Abduction during the LRA Feb. 15th
Phuong N. Pham, Patrick Vinck, Eric Stover. "The Lord's Resistance Army and Forced Conscription in Northern Uganda." Human Rights Quarterly 2008 30(2): 404-411.
This article is about data received from eight out of the nine reception centers still existing in northern Uganda in 2006. These reception centers were set up during the terror of the LRA as a recovery place for mostly children and youth that were either captured and brought back or escaped the LRA after being abducted. The centers provided counseling services and then activities like song and dance for the children to participate in as they transitioned from coming back from being with the LRA. Information gathered from these reception centers records, which were not really kept up to par, the Concerned Parents Asssociation (CPA), and UNICEF, estimated that from 1986-2006, the LRA abducted 54,000-75,000 people. The studies also showed that women from ages 19-30 were captured for the longest amount of time, on average.
Health Seeking Behavior in Uganda Feb. 10th
Moses, Lubaale. "Health Seeking Behavior in Uganda: are orphans more disadvantaged?." Department of Population Studies, Institute of Statistics and Applied Economics, Makerere University. June 2011.
This research article is about when Ugandans seek health care and then also if there's a difference between the vulnerability of orphans to illnesses versus children that aren't orphans. The results were that orphanhood didn't make children more vulnerable to illness and disease than children that aren't orphans. They also found that the top reasons why people don't seek medical consultation when their children are ill, are: 1. they believe the illness is not too severe and think it's mild 2. They can't afford it 3. A facility is too far away.
Influence of Traditional Religions on Orphans Feb. 8th
Foster, Geoff. "Religion and Responses to Orphans." A Generation at Risk: the global impact of HIV/AIDS on orphans and vulnerable children. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005: 159-180. Print.
The first half of this article is about how traditional religious values and beliefs in Africa, influence the way in which orphans are treated and taken care of. There is a very strong traditional belief that if you do not accept the responsibility to take care of orphans within your extended family or in your community, than you will face the wrath of the ancestors. So even if you do not have enough money or the resources to care for another child, you still take in the orphan. The traditional social security system is one's extended family. The unity and sense of community within a village is so strong, that when someone sins or does something dishonorable, it is believed to damage the well-being of the whole village. This shows how important it is to them that everyone is looked after because they all feel connected. The information I learned from this article helps me to understand the background behind why so many orphans are taken care of by their extended family, rather than placed in orphanages.
Matsiko Feb. 6th
Since I am interested in orphans in Uganda and what happens to them and how they are taken care of, I found this article about a choir called Matsiko, which means hope. This choir is made up of "orphaned and at-risk children from bush villages". It's one of the most popular children's choirs in Uganda and they have also performed in the US a couple times. Each child in the choir is sponsored by ICN, which means they get to go to school and receive an education. What I like about this choir, is that it is run by Ugandans and not by Americans or a NGO because I believe that real changes will occur best in Uganda when we offer support to Ugandans helping each other. This is definitely an awesome program for helping the 25 children in the choir, but we need to find more similar ways to include more children.
Watoto Child Care Ministries
Eggertson, Laura. "Caring for HIV/AIDS orphans in Uganda." Canadian Medical Association Journal 182.15 (2010): E707-8. Print.
This was a news article about a church-based organization called Watoto Child Care Ministries that runs three villages with about 260 mothers in each one that were hired to take care of about 8 orphans each. They also have three baby homes, including one in Gulu, which is where I'll be going. Each village has school, medical clinic and homes. The article was about what the organization does to provide care for these HIV orphans in terms of providing both medical care and families for them. Babies are first taken care of in the baby homes until they are well enough to go to a family in the villages, usually between 15-18 months. The orphans never "graduate" from the program, which means they are part of their family forever. At the end of the article, they mentioned that many families in Uganda won't let their daughters come home with a baby, even if they were raped, so many young women leave the babies in order to return to their families. This article relates to my project because I am planning on working with orphans and since this organization has a baby home in Gulu, I might be able to visit their facility and see how they run their organization. It would also be so interesting to explore this supposedly cultural practice mentioned in the article about families abandoning daughters with babies.
Social and Emotional Behavior in Orphans
Ashley Nielsen, Priscilla K. Coleman, Matthew Guinn, Clifford Robb. "Length of Institutionalization, Contact with Relatives and Previous Hospitalizations as Predictors of Social and Emotional Behavior in Young Ugandan Orphans". Sage Journals Feb. 2004 11:1 94-116.
Social and Emotional Behavior in Orphans
Ashley Nielsen, Priscilla K. Coleman, Matthew Guinn, Clifford Robb. "Length of Institutionalization, Contact with Relatives and Previous Hospitalizations as Predictors of Social and Emotional Behavior in Young Ugandan Orphans". Sage Journals Feb. 2004 11:1 94-116.
This article is about a study conducted where 30 orphans in four different orphanages in Uganda were observed by researchers and also asked about to their caregivers. They rated variables such as aggressiveness, amount of alone time, physical contact with adult caretaker, crying...etc. The authors conclude that their study shows an overall positive look at how well the orphans are at adapting to their circumstances, interacting with other children and adults, and find some quality in life. They recognize that the information from the caregivers is biased, but they also drew information from the observations of the children as well, coming to the same conclusions.
Excessive Alcohol Consumption
Mugabo, Rogers. "Excessive alcohol consumption: A key driver of chronic poverty". New Vision: Uganda's Leading Newspaper 31 Oct. 2011. Web.Excessive Alcohol Consumption
This article is about how alcohol consumption is such a huge problem in Uganda that really needs to be addressed, but has been neglected by the government because it's thought of as a "personal problem". The author makes the connection between alcohol consumption and poverty because he believes that people spend so much of their wages on alcohol, that they aren't able to bring themselves out of poverty.
Social Interaction and Alcohol Consumption
Nazarius Tumwesigye, Rogers Kasirye, Elizabeth Nansubuga. "Is Social Interaction Associated with Alcohol Consumption in Uganda?". Drug and Alcohol Dependence 103.1-2 (2009): 9-15. Web. 10 Jan. 2012.
Social Interaction and Alcohol Consumption
Nazarius Tumwesigye, Rogers Kasirye, Elizabeth Nansubuga. "Is Social Interaction Associated with Alcohol Consumption in Uganda?". Drug and Alcohol Dependence 103.1-2 (2009): 9-15. Web. 10 Jan. 2012.
This article is about research that was conducted related to the relationship between alcohol consumption and social interaction. The author's argue that social interaction is indirectly associated with drinking alcohol at all and frequent alcohol consumption, but not related to heavy drinking. They also argue that overall women have less social interaction than men, due to cultural reasons, and therefore consume less alcohol, overall, than men.
Post-Conflict Rehabilitation
Joanna Macrae, Anthony Zwi, Lucy Gilson. "A Triple Burden For Health Sector Reform: 'Post-Conflict' Rehabilitation in Uganda". Social Science Medicine 1.42 (1996): 1097-1106. Web. 18. Jan. 2012.
Post-Conflict Rehabilitation
Joanna Macrae, Anthony Zwi, Lucy Gilson. "A Triple Burden For Health Sector Reform: 'Post-Conflict' Rehabilitation in Uganda". Social Science Medicine 1.42 (1996): 1097-1106. Web. 18. Jan. 2012.
The author's argument in this article is that the way in which the UN and other programs helped Uganda's public health post-conflict, actually had more negative effects than positive. They believe that in order to build a more sustainable health care system, we need to find out more accurate information concerning the health crisis and then look for opportunities to help people within Uganda make political, financial, institutional changes concerning their public health.
