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I consider poverty and ignorance as the leading setbacks to development in Uganda. The duo has immensely contributed to the birth and or acceleration of millions of other problems like illiteracy, reckless prostitution, political unrest, maternal problems, environmental dangers like deforestation, child mortality, hunger, unpredictable trade conditions, unplanned births, among many other stumbling blocks to development.
For example, due to poverty, many parents especially in villages lack even the slightest capacity of taking their children to school. Despite the fact that there is free elementary education in Uganda, many parents in villages still fail to send their offspring to school because they cannot afford money for books and other school needs and in some instances, schools are far away from their residences.
Yet due to ignorance, a “rich” Ugandan who does not appreciate the value of education also bothers not sending his/her children to school. Another illustration, which clearly exhibits how ignorance and poverty has demolished the lives of many Ugandans, is that because of lack of education and or employment, most girls, especially in cities like Kampala, have resorted to selling their bodies in order to earn some money. And yet those who seek employment are normally subjected to “carpet” interviews. This has also accelerated the spread of the AIDS pandemic.
The Millennium Development Goals seek to address the conditions that make people live a lifeless life before the year 2015 to enable every person to enjoy happiness and prosperity.
Therefore, working towards achieving them (the Millennium Development Goals) will be the only “Jesus Christ” to save Uganda in particular and the world at large from the extremities of the hither to mentioned pains. Hence, when a golden question like, “What I or the youth in my country can do to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals” is directed to me, a forest of ideas linger in my mind. Below is some simple magic that I or the youth in Uganda have to apply to make full achievement of the Millennium Development Goals a reality.
Ugandan youths, we should learn that each one of us has a God given talent. Whether you are white, black, blue, yellow or green, you have it. Whether you are educated or not, you have it. Seek to develop it and good life will become mere common sense. Sit on it and you will embrace the love and sweetness of poverty for the rest of your life. Yet if we want to make achievement of the Millennium Development Goals a reality, we should work towards developing our talents so that we can enjoy the very best out of them. Remember, this is the initial capital God invested in us and many people both locally and abroad have used their talents to improve their lives and the lives of many other people. We should work, therefore, towards using our talents to earn a living, to pay fees for our children and also afford many other good things. This means that our talents can help us bury poverty, eradicate illiteracy, enjoy good health and respect among many other things.
More so, talent and skill development must be made a major ingredient in the Ugandan education system. This majority calls for vocationalisation of the school curriculum from the elementary level to the highest levels of education. This will enable even the school dropouts to leave school with the ability to do something for a living. For example, a child who is introduced to tailoring in primary four may reach primary seven with at least the ability to mend shirts, blouses, among many other things. This therefore implies that even if such a child fails to join the higher levels of education, he or she will have learnt a skill which can enable him or her make a living and not becoming a burden to the nation.
Another fact is that one can discover that he or she has a special talent in music or sports right from the elementary level. Even if such a person fails to complete his or her education, he or she may be able to sharpen his or her God given capital to greater heights. For the government to adopt such an idea, we the youth should campaign for it through radio and television programs and also through writing articles in newspapers, constantly advocating for vocationalisation of the school curriculum. The media in Uganda can easily spark immediate action, and is far more effective than giving our views to the money hungry political leaders.
To realize the Millennium Development Goals, youth in my country have to work towards developing a culture of sharing skills. People who have special skills should develop a heart of sharing their skills with others. Selfishness is senseless. If one has a skill in carpentry, basketry, computers, brick making among other areas, he or she must share it with others so that we can together help develop our nation. Lets organize workshops, seminars among other ways in which we can share skills with others. This will culminate into reduced unemployment, reduced dependency, reduced illiteracy, and reduced starving, among many other benefits. I personally have artistic skills which I endeavor to pass on to others through workshops with local people and through teaching in schools.
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Ssendagire Paul
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some editing needed! Ssendagire Paul | Jun 2nd, 2005
Iam the author of the article and i realise the fact that this article needed some simple editing to correct some paragraph and some words like>the word FORWARD was misspelled.This also applys to words like BURY.I cannot claim expertise in Article writing but i try my level best to acquire this fundamental skill and i strongly believe that throyugh participation in TIG contests,i will become a super star in writing.GODBLESS!!
Big up! Gwebalibatya Noeline | Oct 20th, 2005
Its agood article and keep it up.
Ibrahim Kizito
Uganda Scouts Ass.
Cell +257-77447499
Kids Can Make A Difference (KIDS) neil jay wollman | Sep 6th, 2009
Kids Can Make A Difference (KIDS) is an innovative educational program for middle school and high school students. It helps them understand the root causes of hunger and poverty and how they as individuals can take action.
KIDS has three major components:
►Teachers’ Guide: Finding Solutions To Hunger: Kids Can Make A Difference has provided over 5,000 classrooms, religious schools, after school programs and homeschoolers with tools to help young people to understand the causes of poverty and become informed and effective citizens, realizing their own capacity to change the world. Students learn about the pain of hunger; the importance of food; the inequality of its distribution; and the links between poverty, hunger, joblessness, and homelessness. They are then given the skills to take what they have learned into their communities.
►Website: The KIDS web site is rated one of the top 20 websites for educators by Educational World. The site provides news, a hunger quiz, hunger facts, suggested books, back issues of the newsletter, the table of contents, sample lessons, program notes from the teacher guide; and
►Newsletter: The three yearly issues highlight current hunger issues, showcase student initiatives, and feature teachers' experiences teaching the KIDS program and students' experiences making a difference in their community and world.
Contact KIDS at:
Larry Levine, Co-Founder
KIDS, 1 Borodell Avenue
Mystic, CT 06355
(860) 245-3620; (860) 245-3651 FAX
kids@kidscanmakeadifference.org; www.kidscanmakeadifference.org
KIDS is a project of WHY (World Hunger Year),
a leading advocate for community based
solutions to hunger and poverty.
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