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SCIENCE JAF: What really causes Breast Cancer??? _by Tony Abet: It was a heart-throbbing scene witnessing this great friend, a mother of two, Jackline at 32 years of age, helplessly give her last brea...

Uganda: is culture daunting fight on climate change?

Uganda: is culture daunting fight on climate change?

Written by Abet Tonny

Endowed with over 56 tribes untamed and celebrating their different cultures and tongues, Uganda is discernibly a hard to influence the country. 

That community with shared values and beliefs generate their own views to interpret unfolding of life is an obvious fact. But these views produced are determinants of how these communities respond to emerging threats and risks. Also, these locally generated views command far-reaching influence on the uptake of (scientific) evidence being communicated with the focus of causing the change of action among members of these communities. 

No wonder, Uganda has had a long history fighting negative cultural beliefs that hindered several development moves. This among other factors has slowed down economic development in the country. A clear example is the early 19s event when people associated with AIDS with witchcraft. Culture ushered in this belief. Several thousands of lives perished untimely owing to the ill belief as people refused to seek clinical treatment. Intensified campaigns collectively supported by government, development partners and community stakeholders since gained fairly good influence. More people are testing for HIV and pregnant mothers cooperating to end mother-child transmission of the virus. This is putting HIV/AIDS under appreciable control. 

Climate change has since trickled into our country tormenting rural and urban areas with such invariance. Extreme scarcity and unpredictability of rainfall, extra-high temperatures are doing nothing else but causing enormous crop failure and lowering general farm productivity. And when it decides to rain, it's often nothing but a monstrous flood causing landslides, destroying farmlands and disfiguring human settlements in rural and urban areas. In March 2019, severe drought culminated into death of several hundreds of cattle in Nakasongola, Uganda. Also, a terrible flood killed and displaced several people in Uganda's Kampala city this May 2019. 

Wetland reclamation is one of the causes of climate change being experienced in the country and globe. Unraveling how wetland reclamation causes climate change, a wetland ecologist Prof. Jos Verhoeven of Netherlands' Utrecht University explains in simple terms.

"Agriculture has been carried out in several types of (former) wetlands for millennia, with crop fields on river floodplain soils and rice fields as major examples." He continues that the intensive agricultural use of drained/reclaimed peatlands (soils with a high deposit of organic matter left by passing water) has been shown to lead to major problems because of the oxidation and subsidence of the peat soil. The ecologist concluded by revealing that this does not only lead to severe carbon dioxide emissions."

Severe carbon dioxide emissions cause an increase in global temperature which in turn leads to the general changes in the climatic condition we are experiencing in our country.

It is clear that climate change is real and is a big threat to our country but our response will determine how much negative impact it throws onto our state of food security, public health, and urban development. The response will, however, be greatly influenced by our cultural and religious alignment.


Gulu incidence

Recently Uganda Radio network reported locals in Gulu, Uganda threatening to gun down environmentalists if they continue hindering them from reclaiming wetland. Wetland encroachment is not unique to Gulu. According to NEMA, though debatable, Uganda loses 2% (751 square kilometers) of wetland annually.

An earlier field visit to Gulu left me soul-searching hearing about spirited threats on environmentalists by locals. Intended at discovering cultural resources available to avert climate change, the study visit was supported by The Cross-Cultural Foundation of Uganda to Pawel clan of Acholi tribe in Gulu.  

In Acholi cultural belief system, just like in Lango and other tribes in Uganda, climate change is largely attributed to the annoyance of God (gods). Acholi tradition imputes changing the climate to "the annoyance of gods of the land especially Baka, Kijur and Kilak" to inequities of the people. A large number of people -common men align with this concept. This means environmentalists sell conflicting information as they deliver a scientific concept to this community.

A little deeper about our conversation, the elders further revealed that these inequities are acts like killing of innocent people; killing and burying of dogs and killing of tortoises are things that annoy gods enough to withhold rain; cutting papyrus during rainy season; sharpening of grinding stone during day time is also annoying gods to alter the weather and that the world has rotated to drier side of the atmosphere.

It was only the element of the god's annoyance with people who cut papyrus before it's dry season and destroying mountain bamboos that aligned a bit with the concept of environmental safeguard. The gods are perceived to react to the destruction of specific tree and animal species in the land. 

Acholi people are some of the few tribes in Uganda who pay very strong allegiance to their culture. Bringing them to appreciate a new concept like the scientific concept of climate change is cracking another hard nut.

To meet our goal of discovering cultural resources available in Acholi culture to mitigate climate change, bamboo and papyrus conservation precipitated. But the next question was, is this really sufficient to respond promptly to heightened threat of climate change in our nation and planet?

And finally to answer whether culture is playing a daunting effect on climate change mitigation fight, please pass your verdict.

About the Author: Abet Tonny is a science communication strategist and writer. 

Reference:


1. ScienceDirect: Climate Change, Values, and the cultural cognition thesis
2. Annals of Botany: Agricultural use of wetlands: opportunities and limitations
3. Uganda Radio Network: Gulu residents threaten to gun down environmentalists
4. NTV Uganda: Cattle perish in Nakasongola due to drought

Climate Change: Six (6) stunning stuffs Acholi People think about it

Climate Change: Six (6) stunning stuff Acholi People think about it

Article by Abet Tonny

Putting aside from the learned class of people, the scientific concept of “Climate Change” is still very foreign to the largest portion of Ugandans who predominantly live in rural areas. It does not, however, mean Ugandans have not been experiencing its harsh bite. But most locals view climate change as complex and somewhat unavoidable natural occurrences dictated by gods of the land. The current tragic experience of the unending scarcity of rainfall is interpreted as the gods are so annoyed with the evil being committed by people of the land. And that they (gods) have taken a little too long before reconsidering the dire need to reverse their decisions as man and creation wail in despair.

Also among most rural people in Uganda, the relationship between human activities and climate change is not well understood. This is because, in most cultures including Acholi culture, climate change is more strongly linked with supernatural interventions of gods than to human activities. 

The supernatural interventions of the gods can either be direct as a punishment for destroying nature. For instance, cutting mountain bamboo causes great annoyance to "Kijur" -the god of trees to withhold rain thus changing the climate. However, neglecting cultural values such as respect for elders as common practice among young people will also elicit the same magnitude of annoyance to the gods to hold back the rain. Additionally, the god-like Kijur does not concern himself with all tree species but only specific ones. Climate change is also viewed among these people as isolated responses of the gods and not global in perspective as the scientific concept puts.

Just like in many cultures of the world, there are gods that determine the manifestations we experience in our daily life as humans. Acholi people have a handful of these gods –three of them are responsible for nature and climate. I was excited to discover these gods: Kijur, Baka and Kilak.

With the above reality, this “new” scientific concept of climate change that links climate change directly to human activities without giving space for supernatural connection becomes one of the hardest to communicate in a way that moves people. This hardship is re-enforced by strong allegiance paid to cultural beliefs in some of these communities.

For over five (5) years now, the government of Uganda along with like-minded national and international agencies have intensified on climate change mitigation and adaptation moves. Better resource allocations have been made to climate change -an area of great global concern.

In the support of The Cross-Cultural Foundation of Uganda, I made a study visit to a group of people (consisting of women, men, and young people) of Pawel Clan.  Pawel is one of the major clans of the Acholi tribe in Uganda. Acholi is a tribe with a very rich culture and has produced very important leaders in Uganda and the globe.

The visit left me with much to ponder upon as far as the future of climate change mitigation is concerned. The visit was intended for discovering the cultural resources available in the Acholi tribe to aid climate change fight. The discussions were long and very interesting but I’m going to share with you this essential portion. Acholi people are majorly farmers who rely on rain-fed agriculture for food and income. Scarcity in rainfall must have been pinching hard here. Let’s read on together…

Question: What do you think is causing this enormous change of pattern in rainfall and temperatures in your area? And how are you managing to thrive in the midst of all this?

Answers

1. The intervention of gods of rain. Baka –a god of rain is annoyed and has decided to hold back rain; the gods of trees like Kilak and Kijur are also very annoyed.  According to the respondents, rejection of cultural norms and values by young people and their chronic disrespect for elders are among the key causatives for the annoyance of Baka. “Cutting of trees like mountain bamboos, shea amongst other trees is causing the annoyance of the gods of trees,” revealed Akelllo, an old lady of Pawel clan.

2.  Killing of innocent people; killing and burying of dogs and killing of tortoises are other three things that annoy gods enough to withhold rain. If you kill a dog in the Acholi area, it must not be buried less you send the community into a dry spell.

3. Cutting papyrus during the rainy season –according to them, the gods want papyrus to be cut only during the dry season.

4. Sharpening of grinding stone during day time is also annoying gods to alter the weather. Grinding stone, according to Acholi tradition should be sharpened before daybreak and before sunset –something like 6a.m in the morning and 6pm in the evening. Anything less makes the Acholi gods react harshly.

5. The world has rotated to the drier side of the atmosphere. Once it rotates to the right rain-soaked side, the rain will drip normally and quench the anxiety of plants, animals, and man for it.

6. The prayers of religious leaders are not being heard by the gods.

The brutality of weather especially the scarcity of rain on in Acholi community has seen the locals adapt in a number of ways: Firstly, Acholi traditionalists have ostensibly embarked on rituals they believe will buy back the mercies of gods of the land to re-stabilize climate. Acts like “Tedo got” translated as cooking for the mountain to appease gods of the mountain forests. The huge number of trees has been demolished by Acholi people. “Tedo kot” translated as cooking for the rain to appease Baka –the god of rain. Other rituals like “Agwela “is also practiced in relation to appeasing gods that guard nature and climate.

The another strategy that Acholi traditional leaders still observe is sensitization of young people about the importance of preserving biodiversity as well as the need to observe other cultural values especially respect for elders.

Wetland reclamation for crop production was also mentioned as a common adaptation strategy. Other prominent adaptation strategies included: planting drought resistant crops like sorghum, eating wild fruits and leaves, opening side businesses, hiring out portions of unused land to earn money for survival.

Why a "Self-centered" world may never mitigate Climate Change

Article by Abet Tonny

Dance for climate: Acholi culture

Climate and Culture have never been static but unfortunately, they are now changing at very distressing rate. As global warming hits the world, floods will devastate still more human settlements (see current event in Nepal) and farmlands. Poverty and famine will hurt humanity furthermore. Drought will become more rampant leading to even higher loss of traditional dishes we cherish. This is as conditions become unbearable for growth of such crops or their wild species. With these, culture will continue to be greatly impacted. Acholi culture -one of the richest cultures in Uganda has equally experienced enormous shifts in value systems as climate change disrupt a number of elements that once held the people together. Youths now have to abandon their village homes and fend for living in distant towns like Gulu or city of Kampala. This being caused by unreliable weather rendering farming -a major element that once held the young and  the old together, is no longer working for the young stars. These youths grow up with very little experience and appreciation for Acholi culture but most importantly, the conflict on which values to uphold always keep them in constant fight with their elderly people.

A number of studies have been conducted to unveil the eroding effect of climate change on culture and people. Jouni Jaakkola and colleagues studied this in Arctic region among the Saami people. And in their summary, this was written: "The lifestyle, diet, and morbidity of the Saami are changing to resemble the majority populations posing threats for the health of the Saami and making them more vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change."

Saami people

"Climate Change is still seen as the top global threat," this is according to a report of 26-nation survey conducted in 2018 by Pew Research Center -a U.S based information initiative of Times Mirror Center founded since 1990. According to Pew, the millions of respondents revealed the climate change threat to be bigger than that of terrorism.

Climate change effects on culture and socio-economic wellbeing of humanity are very clear.

It is very strange to note that whilst humanity did forecast and are already experiencing this gigantic threat, its commitment to alter the threat is a complete mismatch! The traditional leaders are feeling it, religious and government leaders alike. Pope Francis was talking about it. These individuals have used their powers for generations to cause great changes -both peaceful and painful...the question is, why do they become very uninfluential and feeble when it comes to the subject of climate change???

Reversing a global trend like climate change requires huge amount of resources with the most expensive bit being the human resource factor. Climate change can only be effectively mitigated with globe-wide collective action. But moving the globe into a collective action can be harder than goats knee. The commitments from most governments of the world remain very low.  US -a notable emitter of these gases causing the climate change, under Trump administration, sidelined itself from Paris agreement . Paris agreement brings together countries of the world to collectively fight global warming. The agreement among others required the developed countries -greatest emitters of greenhouse gases, to meet a collective goal of mobilising US$100 billion yearly in climate financing for developing countries.


The individual country's budget allocations to counter climate change is also very low among governments of developing countries. See records of Ghana, Ethiopia and Uganda. The need for unwavering monetary sustenance from world governments to propel climate change mitigation campaigns can not be overstated. But in many countries, regime survival in power is more important than the wellbeing of the citizens. So a huge portion of the national revenue will always be directed to meeting political urges at the expense of important needs like fighting climate change.

In memory of Lango College: A story of Beckie and Felix

In memory of Lango College: A story of Beckie and Felix

Lango College is an all boys O and A level boarding secondary school that has produced some of the most dynamic men serving in different fields of work across the globe. The academic performance went down over the past years but Lango College Old Students Association -LACOSA is determined to take the college back to its former glory.

"When you're drowning you don't think, 'I would be incredibly pleased if someone would notice I'm drowning and come and rescue me.' You just scream." John Lennon.

LACOSA held its last meeting on 20th April 2019 at the college premise. The association needs more old students joining hands like a family to revive the reign of our school. 

Written by Abet Tonny

Jim Butcher is an American legend who once had this to say, "When everything goes to hell, the people who stand by you without flinching -they are your family."

A man had a very beautiful wife who bore him three gorgeous daughters -Jane, Anne and Rebecca alias Beckie. He gets the daughters well educated and all of them got employed. Two of the daughters went to work abroad in England yet one named Beckie chose to remain and work home in Uganda. Beckie loved her father deeply. She wanted to be near him always, for their father battled with high blood pressure and Beckie always wanted to be around to help. Jane and Anne had decided to study accounting and law respectively but Beckie had decided to study medicine so she could best take care of their father. Beckie's father loved Beckie so much. To Beckie's father, Beckie was the only button functional on his iphone, more so when Cathie his wife lost it to heart attack a few months ago. Beckie was the single reason her father could afford a hearty smile, feel true sense of love and care.

Beckie's father had no son. To Jane and Anne, Beckie had locked herself with some old man who already enjoyed life enough and ripe to die. They also wondered whether Beckie had normal brain cells of humans. But to Beckie, life was about something else. To her, life was about how much care we give to those who love and stand with us. To Beckie, her father had stood by her side when she decided to do sciences, a line that all her sisters had discouraged. Her sisters had seen sciences as grazing ground for men, not for women with upright sense. Beckie thus saw her father as one hero who deserved special appreciation, care and love.

Beckie studied in St. Katherine S.S in Lira. Since childhood she had loved one handsome boy, Felix from Lango College. Beckie had seen this Lango College boy in a debate competition held in Dr. Obote College. She had loved everything about this boy -Felix. In two minutes of Felix outstanding submission on the debate floor, Beckie had wished she lived with Felix forever and after. Felix was this HD boy, I mean honest and determined young man.

Soon, as Beckie grew up to become a prominent Doctor, Felix had finally grown to be a very influential businessman and young politician. It was during that warm Easter season of 1982, Beckie's father was overjoyed.  Beckie was introducing home the man of her dream -Felix. The marriage feast was mega. Beckie's father, Felix was a very lucky man and on the other side of his pair glasses, Beckie had landed such a great catch, a very nice husband named Felix.
Beckie and Felix got married and Beckie still supported her father closely. Beckie and Felix grew richer and richer. They helped so many orphans and needy and people celebrated them widely. Beckie and Felix travelled the world and lived happy forever and after.

Previously during a strike 

One day, Felix was sipping life around Aaro beach in Entebbe. The man was revisiting his past. Among many things he remembered was the usual one, how Beckie had stood by his side. How Beckie always cared for her father and how she actively engaged in the affairs of the old girls association of St. Katherine. Some of them were rodiculous to him but Felix picked one thing. Felix decided to pay a visit to Lango College and behold there were only 300 students in the entire school according to record from the headmaster. Brown House, his former dometory had one side already collapsed, as if this was not enough, every student looked wild like vipers and the teachers stamped the impression with their fear-imposing metal-like rudeness. "Damn this!" Felix yelled moving around Cohen house. Everything was disorganised with broken glasses everwhere.His school had dropped so low in all areas including academic performance. He knew he could be part of the solution. Lango College had raised Felix and the satisfying memory of old days studying in this prestigious college was moving him to act. Felix decided to rekindle the love for his former school, he joined the old students association and together they are bringing in a lot of change.

Well, we all have different stories, but just like Felix, we can bring back our best school, Lango College to its heroic position. Let's join hands!

Bedbug 2019: All you need to know to stay safe

BEDBUG 2019

Everything you need to know about Control and Prevention

Written by Abet Tonny

With insatiable appetite for human blood, bedbugs are some of the most gluttonous and burdening insects to human settlements in the 21st century. A number of high profile research studies have demonstrated that bedbugs do not just bite and suck blood, bedbugs actually have capability of transmitting disease causing micro-organisms and viruses to man. Over 40 disease causing micro-organisms have been detected in bedbugs so far. These fresh discoveries continue to impose a lot of fear to families as bedbug explosion sweeps across the globe. Bedbugs have developed 15% thicker skin explaining why their resistance to insecticide sprays have more than trippled in the last 100 years. Most of the insecticides like synthetic pyrethroid and organophosphates in the consumer market have become very ineffective in killing bedbugs.

Fortunately, scientists have been fighting tooth and nail to hack the bedbug game and bring these bugs under control.

The State Univetsity of New York alias Stony Brook University has a solution. The experts developed microfibre trap, a nanotechnology that will see bedbugs controlled with no damage to our health and the environment unlike the current control methods using toxic pesticides.

Another groundbreaking innovation is from Penn State University, Aprehend is the way to go. A fungus that has been used for long in agriculture has proven very effective in bedbug control. McCandless is the CEO of Conidio Tec, a firm disseminating this Aprehend technology. "The product is sprayed in a band along box-springs, baseboards, headboards and other places where bedbugs walk. As bedbugs cross the band, the spores stick to them — “like grains of sand on wet feet” — and are carried back to the insects' hiding places, known as harborages.The spores kill bedbugs within four to 10 days following contact with a treated surface," says McCandless.

Bedbug remains one of the most irritating bugs humans ever faced, ravaging cities and rural commuities alike. Bedbug infestation has been mentioned in all continents of the world except Antarctica.Bedbug neither respects your tidiness nor salary scale. Man has endured chronic bedbug bites for centuries. Bedbugs have been robbing humans of their psycho-social well being since our great grandfathers were living in caves. People having bedbugs in their homes present with wide shades of psychological disorders. Bedbug infestation also pose a lot of financial drain to victims in control fights.

This is an expertise post. It covers all possible questions one can ask about bedbug. For the last 5 years, I have been studying dynamics of bedbug control and offering pest control services to wide range of people.

Below is the collection. 

1. How do I know I have bedbug in my room?

2. How do I tell it's bedbug bite?

3. Where do bedbugs love to hide most?

4. Do bedbugs transmit some diseases?

5. Where do bedbugs come from?

6. Are there bedbugs in other countries of the world?

7. Why is it so hard to get rid of bedbug?

8. How did people in the past control bedbugs?

9.Best methods to control bedbugs 2019?

10. What are some of the common but wrong ways people use to control bedbugs?

11. Best practices to get rid of and prevent bedbug in school dometories and hostel

12.  Besf Home Practices to get rid of and prevent bedbug

13. How do I get the best pest management service provider?

14. How do I move and leave bedbug behind for good?

15. How do I avoid picking up bedbug from infested place?

Bedbug control can be time consuming, annoying and costly but the right information to prevent the attack will save you a lot of money. You can share this post with your friends on facebook and twitter using the 'Share' button below.