SNAKE IN A POT

I have decided to revisit the subject of giving but this time in form of a question “What motivates giving?” There were two events last year that nudged me into asking the big question. Towards the end of the year, we had the ‘Friend of the Year Gift Exchange’ in our Rotary Club, as has been the routine every Christmas season for the previous 8 or 9 years. The exercise did not pass without excitement as usual. Some of us who received gifts expressed our sentiments about the gifts while those who did not receive anything expressed their disappointment on missing out. I was privy to some of the sentiments expressed and that’s why I stopped to contemplate over the question - Why does one give? My position on this is very well known but I will admit that I am probably swimming against the tide. Studies have been conducted that suggest that it is actually true that giving is motivated by recognition. The Philanthropy News Digest of 9 May 2000, quoted a research published by the Salt L...

There have been events around the world lately (including my home country) that have got me thinking; does poverty always feed into evil? I had just been to London with my family for a holiday when the ‘Tottenham Riots’ broke out. Some if not most of the commentators about these riots have obliquely justified these riots blaming them on inequality, deprivation and unemployment. In the aftermath of both the Buganda Riots and Walk to Work demonstrations, there were some apologists for the thugs who hijacked these peaceful (and probably justified) demonstrations justifying their actions on the poverty and unemployment. Similarly, in the wake of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallah ‘s attempted airplane bombing on Christmas Day of 2009 there were statements made to suggest that as he came from a wealthy family he really should not have participated in such acts. The most famous opening description used by many reporters around the globe was “a young Nigerian man from a wealthy family”. The stor...

No amount of pre-marriage counseling at Lubaga Cathedral or from the famed and overrated Ssengas could prepare us for it. With hundreds of kilometers between us comes the constant motion chasing planes, uncomfortable bus rides and sometimes trains full of yobs. The arrangement also adds one more item to the list of the things that normal couples argue about – ‘being picked up late from the airport’. I don’t believe in the ‘Mars and Venus’ theory, but if there is one thing I am sure of – the word ‘care’ means two totally different things to both sexes. Since I am sure she reads this blog, I will not make the mistake of explaining why this is so. To this inventory of issues for a couple in a long distance relationship, you add the anxiety, longing, anger at delays and irritation caused by the slightest changes to meeting times or dates. The journeys themselves come full of so much disappointment, drama and frustration that the only reason that one remains sane is the hope to see y...

There is a tired quote attributed to a famous US president that goes ‘Ask what not your country has done for you but rather what you have done for your country’ (please forgive any errors and/or omissions, I am not very good at cramming). I agree with this quote that at least once in a lifetime, it is the duty of a citizen to make a contribution to his motherland. Apart from my humble contribution to the growth of Uganda’s population (I am directly responsible for the existence of 4 Ugandans, as far as I know, ☺), I don’t think I have done anything that can be compared even in the slightest terms to what teachers, service men, doctors do for this country. As the first step in this direction, I am posting this blog about my city, Kampala. I hope there will be someone who decides to visit Kampala after reading this post. This post is in the interest of Public Service. Call it a city in the sun; city alive or city that never sleeps, Kampala is likely to fit any of those depictions. ...