Showing posts with label Nature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nature. Show all posts

Friday, March 21, 2014

A Peace Psychologist’s Response to the Gay Debate in Uganda




By
Jacob W. Buganga – Associated Projects Research (APR)

In brief:
Signing into law the anti-gay bill in Uganda appeals highly to Africans and Ugandans in particular: it is great stride in his role of championing Pan-Africanism and African culture that understood for centuries that the behavior was anti-social, a taboo like very many other socially-undesirable ones, which also was Divine, they way of life, religious exception! To naturalists, good for ecology and sustainability as it allows humanity to continue to regenerate rather than degenerate and thrive. He, m7 becomes a leader, straight away by providing leadership necessary to safe the human face, wherever elsewhere guys have failed! They now want other nations to fail by keeping them disunited and weak to help themselves. Every effort for Africa and other nations to unite and help themselves has been met by a terror hand of CIA. By doing so they are able to force anything down the throat of other nations, people -however horrific! Which justifies reactions from the people offended, who rely on weak-man's approach to save humanity face and Divine order! Such reactions amount to terrorism as much as CIA's and the West tendencies towards the developing world! So they create worse problems for themselves like terrorism and waste military resources to fight it, forgetting where they come from... Contempt for other countries norms, values and rich history will always be returned by a bad blow for them. Russia is already showing its fatigue for that... Then, react by cutting 'aid' whose impact has never been known. Despite it being given as the situations in hospitals, Agriculture sector are still the same. It only keeps Africans more poor and depend. ‘Cutting’ aid it will enhance creativity and stronger alliances in Africa, Russia and South America to continue to thrive. Aren't those bigger markets? President Museveni thus becomes a global hero and potentially rejuvenates his career as leader/politician! His action was also democratic as it expressed the wishes of the people of Uganda. I am told Americans believe in democracy. The universal human rights did not cater for the interests of Africans for them to ride by them. They were extreme views of victors in world war two, still angry. Ideas generated in anger are always very fundamentalist, terrorist! Respect for indigenous peoples' rights is consistent with the signed law, which is okay. Until do they start respecting other stakeholder in the world, will we find peace? Of course the law will define and redefine behavior. I have seen changed people (former gay). Good they are only a small number whose behavioral problems can be managed and helped for their better functioning.

I Begin with a True Story:
I am largely vegetarian for health reasons, not much in practice through... Great! Always knowledge comes first by understanding, when one understands makes rightful responses towards another person he or she has understood. You simply never go wrong in such a relationship... I travelled in taxi over the weekend when a woman stopped it to board. As soon as she did, she began preaching to us on board... guys began complaining to her, saying: we too have our religions. You are making noise... you did not ask whether we are first interested in your stuff...' do you know? She persisted! Everyone got disgusted! And to save the situation, the driver stopped and asked her to step out. As soon as she did, there was peace! That is what Ugandans are now experiencing at the moment... Conservative!? Essentially, every being has what it tolerates and what it does not –both physical and non-physical ones so that they can continue to regenerate and thrive in their natural states. Some natural states are only perceived so after years of getting convinced and practicing the same behavior with positive reinforcement for it to thrive and mean ‘natural.’ I prefer being described by others not myself... I can only guess: I am neither: I like living around the point of equilibrium... extremes can be irrational and dangerous... one an easily lose oneself... yet I am someone who struggles to be in control of my mind and behavior no matter my attempts to be either conservative or not... sexual? I am someone who likes to be in control and struggle to... to be able to manage my sexual needs, desires, interests, thoughts, feelings, and decisions I may make... religion? I like to think above religion: religions is organized from of worship to the superior being... I prefer to organize myself instead on how I relate with my God... because those organizations have people, are lead by people who are also prone to mistakes... if am a follower, I can easily make mistakes... nonetheless, I pick interesting stuff from all religions! Of course, by the time I came into being there were already religions! I was bound to be raised under one, and live among others! I have enjoyed them and came up with reservations, though for them all... I am happy for the good morals they greatly instill in followers and saddened by some aspects of conduct that are misleading, which instead of bringing prosperity, joy and happiness, they focus on taking it away!

Triggers to the Signing of the Gay Law:
because some foreign forces had started a campaign here among young people to make it an issue; intensively recruiting them into taking on the habit... so that after video-casing their work, including their women victims, they send back to their funders for more money... I mean, it had become a fortune for some people, who leaned their trade from overseas... and now wish others they left back home should experience as well... now imagine the case of one who married a dog? Would you now go around campaigning for the vice to develop in SA being is it the guy's human right... that is what Professor Mamdani the other day called 'human rights fundamentalism.' this in my terms becomes psychopathological situation/condition!

Implications of the Gay Law and Justifications:
If other countries neglect and avoid taking the moral leadership, Uganda will and be a role model to Africa as for the rest of the World. Of course a single country cannot provide leadership for everything; Uganda will provide it in this respect. The signing of the anti-gay bill will simply mean that whoever visits Uganda should respect the norms until he or she leaves. Even President Museveni can be in trouble to legalize it. He would be despised and thrown out easily even by his closest local allies. Signing it can only rejuvenate his rulership! People here believe in acting orderly ('mannerisms'), otherwise you never belong here. It is a yes or no response to the matter. this is what it is here: different; no question, no debate... that the way it is... if you were here, you could soon begin to agree to the notion here because you will never find anyone that will take you serious if fronted it as topic... guys will just walk away, not until you conform... conforming will only heal the behavior... otherwise any impulse has can easily be helped, even to kills, to have sex with a mosquito, sex with a blue fly... really... The west reacted by threatening to stop their aid to Africa, forgetting the by aiding Africa, they are adding to the menace of lack of creativity and dependency syndrome, a relationship that only empowers the west to force anything down the throats of the perceptually weak nations. Gay sympathizers have identified multifaceted personalities with felt and tested powers to model gay behavior by any means, anyhow. They have come up with individual scientists with their expert opinion on the subject –without a molecular background of African science. The gay missionaries raise memories that followed after the coming of church missionaries, leading to loss of independence. Africans who have always had their wise men based on experience are now said to be in need of lectures from another tradition that only tears it apart under their insensitive determination to universalize gay behavior, basing on the so-called universal norms, whose formation did not include Africans and Ugandans in particular but angry victors of the world war two –guided by far extreme ideas.
...definitely, the law will shape their behavior to be compatible with the national moral and ethical goals common to every tribe and culture here, exclusive of homosexuality... new law will help create order... some reactions may exist, but soon they end. We have seen behaviors change from the worst scenarios! Even dogs learn to do human work! I have seen reformist gays, now working against! Terribly so! Luckily, they are only a handful, which makes their case easy to manage. Phobia or negative force is essential to encourage behavior change. If you see a lion in its case, you cannot force your way to it just because you feel it is your right.  You will begin to avoid such a place.  ...globalization of opinion is dangerous as already seen in most African countries, whose wars hardly come to an end... national identity to the wellbeing of not only individuals but the nation... I cannot imagine a nation without values or just an individual... that nation of individual must be headed for nowhere: hell! these values vary; cannot necessarily be the same, otherwise we lose the true meaning of nature, rather than human concoctions... human curiosity is limitless, though...  it can try out anything! The more trials, the more realistic it begins to seem... and overtime, it is not only a trial but 'natural' as some people put it! ...man or woman has the power to concoct everything, anything; even to terminate personal life or of another... that's why he or she must work under certain common rules such that, if one is eating, he or she does not place the food in the nostrils, but rather in the mouth... that is a simple natural law, very recognizable...; that food must pass through the mouth! Otherwise, it is great to have working rules to achieve life goals... some people are now suggesting that, like poles attract... hm!? ...and suggesting that natural laws can be creatively reversed!?  Natural laws are also worship as Divine! So it is also as good as saying that the Divine can be challenged!? Nonetheless, man has all the powers to determine his destiny for the good (Divine) or for the worse (not Divine/artificial making/ from the human right of practicing the freedom of conscience). the ultimate goals/motive must be examined to safeguard life systems and support them (evolutionary nature) rather than destroy... and save humanity from other excesses that lead to self destruction and stalemates of the future generations under the guise of human rights fundamentalism... the west views are also draconian -true cases of human rights extremism that they wish to spread all over the world like some sort of religion -moreover by any means! Crazy! Will terrorism ever end? Indeed they created it! They do so by forcing what is understood to be dehumanizing down the resenting throats of other people, without any respect. The reaction from the offended becomes more terror than the offence as per the definition of terrorism today.  The extreme reading on the scale must be monitored to help support life patterns rather than dislodge... the complex nature of humanity has already caused problems around the world perpetuated by the same human rights fundamentalists that has placed African in endless violence... should they be listened to over matters of life or death of life systems? The law is thus important to moderate such fundamentalism... and help to achieve first, natural peace (or peace with Divine) and them human peace. We cannot see the world get wasted away yet we cannot some, through creation of order through respective laws. NO... if the so called world powers fail to lead the world through harmonious relationship with life systems, and only choose their destruction... someone who comes to save the situation is only JESUS CHRIST   to the entire world... Uganda can only take the leadership when it is not there... there is nothing that can make a Ugandans proud more than recognition of their culture, African culture, which is Divine in nature.

Comparison with the rest of other Countries that Okayed the Gay Behavior
...there is always a motive for everything we see or hear about: he certainly has his reasons, very strongly held by him as an outcome of his relationship with the gay world... everything evolves from somewhere: if is he is gay sympathizer today, tomorrow, who knows? To some people rationale or irrationality are the same. They have so many faces and heads to serve in different situations as means of survival and development. Already some countries with developed and nurtured gay tradition have made it a measure of development partnership with the countries that may need them. To some others, one is in the place of another, and others are specific to one for specific reasons best known after getting to learn well about the person, and others, because of the general standard set that has reigned for generations and that have to be preserved. So all these are people that we will come across... at the end of the day, however, rationality and irrationality, nonsense and sense, natural orderliness and natural disorderliness will always have a line drawn between themselves. Our people only need to make informed decisions so that they are not taken advantage of. This is therefore to help those who may be shocked to see any renowned social and media personality? That every one admired since the 90s and I have grown up doing so... what if he himself or herself is one? So what? What if not, so what? Life may be full of surprises. Anything is possible in life, more so from any person who feels he or she if got the power of anything, for anything and anybody... these may only serve to avoid any shocks of the kind from anyone, whether a big personality or small.
In Uganda, these events began their day last year... before then, they had never been an issue, not even microscopic one for discussion.... unfortunately, I am one of those that only have concern about it being an issue... it can be a subject matter for me even to research about, therefore. If you google gay issues in Uganda, it will bring you events how they have been unfolding... the industry has never been there! who registered it for it to take up the market... they were just agents (Ugandans who had picked up the vice and returned here), who were taking it up the campaign job based here to be able to raise money for themselves at any cost, despite the horrible nature it appears to anyone here... until videos of those agents leaked, and how they were recruiting young chaps, promising them to go live 'good' life in Sweden and wherever... Imagine those luring even women with the pretext of having normal sex, and instead pass the other way! All these can be found on line if you are interested... In SA, had the indigenous African been in control, given the strength of the cultures there as witnessed by me, even stronger than Ugandan's, I bet if homosexuality law would be passed there... Anyway, as I said this is never an issue that people here will want to even talk about... like anything you can imagine that only stresses you acutely... you can call it traumatic thing to talk about with a Ugandan... just like terrorism. that is how best you can understand the situation here... it became an issue to other countries other than Uganda last year, and probably, there were researchers who might have gone into it... try searching... probably someone might have travelled in to do research on it. And wonder if there is any CIVIL SOCEITY registered locally to promote gay rights here. These, if they were around, probably could have had the researched information and experience you may need. I doubt because those words, therefore are not the best to share here in Uganda. Not at all... It is a new issue as you now know... so you can take it up a research question: maybe you could be the first one of the kind to give a Uganda context results! I think I am also acting to the contrary by making it an issue to discuss here... LOOK: I have never voted this Museveni, but because of his position over the matter, I may vote him and forget the issues that never compelled me to... I think we better talk about some other things my friend, brother –not this one... inbox me!
It is not just about me or my it is not just my views, it is about the country's position, including the clergy, Muslims communities and all cultures all over this place... it is not just about me... That is what makes Uganda different at this time when the gay thing has become an issue... Even when you are here, you will not have break the countries laws just like I when I come to SA, or to anywhere in the world. In Thailand where I often go, if you caught ferrying or using drugs, that is death sentence... In Uganda it is ok... So many young people use them without police wasting their time... for some reason... I have never heard of a death sentence for anyone on those grounds... Never. As a result many Ugandans are serving death sentences elsewhere in Asia for the same reason. But our country has never complained to anyone about it! They only show respect for the laws governing those places... So it is about respect, really... I can only play a role of helping manage behavioral change... I can do my best on such researches: on how to help gays, rather than on how to promote... I think lets look at Uganda from the perspective of another context altogether, different from others... as differences are normal, be if in the worst form of best form: the issue remains contextual to consider... If I was doing research on the matter, my conclusion would be that gay tradition is not for Uganda, it could be only for some other country... Every place has its norms, traditions, standards, and so is Uganda... I cannot move around imposing my values to places I travel to... I may speak about them, but it is up to them to take it or leave it... But I only try to speak well about them full stop... Just like thieves, robbers... and all other characters exist; definitely, you will find some of them... Already as I said, there has been underground recruitment and inductions into the practice... that why authorities came up... otherwise, guys had the resources and foreign support to do their trade... As I said, the issue arose just recently... you can as well do a content analysis and come up with something... I like to deal with issues contextually... I usually do not mix... And that is also what research is all about. This can be considered a Uganda's case... All I am saying here mean much to what any Ugandan will tell you... even the least or uneducated one... Here we have Christians... powerful Christian leaders and practitioners... but they cannot receive this topic. Never... And they have serious Biblical considerations... to prove that... That same is the case to Muslims... and others...

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Lifestyle Influences Environment

Lifestyle is a way of life adopted by individuals after years of interaction with their immediate cultural environment, socioeconomic environment, socio-political, ethical as applied in all aspects of community life, and natural environments through parental or family influences.

In recent years, however, globalization in all those facets has taken its share of influence on ways individuals live. It is the nature of their consequences to individuals that, in turn, dictates decision making and specific lifestyles. As a natural interaction phenomenon, the natural environment too gives its feedback proportionately to what individuals have given to it in form of natural disasters.

Otherwise, It was important that the different ways –through which lifestyle is formed are identified, point out the nature of lifestyles adopted and their influence on individuals, the lifestyle influences on environment health, and the consequences of the responses of the natural environment on individuals, and possible solutions.

The districts of Kampala, Iganga, Mayuge, Jinja, and Nairobi were put into perspective by way of observations, focused group discussions with community members mindful of gender, stories and cases, and review of data from other individuals and organizations that have worked or lived there –in line with the questions that related to the above objectives.

Interestingly for Nairobi, rather than the modernization most used to mean tall buildings, long bridges and skyscrapers, it was modernization of the natural environment –where residency of individuals did not affect their environment: they co-existed with the natural environment –including wild animals in nearby national game packs.

And because of the unfair resources distributions violence in the Nairobi city has been on-going since independence as the gap between nationals who owned resources (like arable land) widened –and the means to eventual access to development opportunities (like jobs and benefit from public services) became more of a dream than a reality.

In the Uganda districts of Jinja, Mayuge, Iganga and Kampala, it was only modernization, (or development) that mattered –and as only understood in terms of tarmac roads, high administrative and commercial building; and not all, in terms of development of the natural environment of which humanity was part.

In Jinja and Kampala, despite such a perception of development, (or modernization), appropriate waste management technologies were not applied. Garbage problem remained the talk of the town and city –respectively. In Mayuge district, a place once a habitant for hippopotamuses and with a thriving natural forest has much of them replaced of populations of immigrants from Teso and Kenya –in addition to the rapidly rising local population of people. Their settlement was secured aggressively after bloody confrontations with security in search for arable land and fish for commerce and food.

As a result of garbage-related pollution Kampala faced (and continues to do so) an annual threat of cholera and other waterborne diseases affecting mainly children. The Kampala suburbs of Bwaise, Kawempe, Zana, Ndeeba, Kalerwe, Kireka, Katwe, Ndeeba and Kanyanya most hit hardest as much of the settlements are located in the wetland zones.

On Entebbe Road, areas like Lufuka, Najjanankumbi, Namasuba and Zana were submerged. Within the city centre, Clock Tower and Kisenyi were most affected. The case of heavy rains hitting Kampala in February and May 2010 are the most recent –in which houses were flooded, along with broken sewerage systems that went on to contaminate food and other human environments, denying affected population access to main roads, and without electricity. Schools and shops were closed for most of the day in the affected areas.

That, though, was most significant during the El NiƱo rains of 2003-2003 –which carried human waste in the waters and foods to cause contamination in return. 200 suspect cholera cases were reported. Besides, noise pollution in the name of religion or faith and parties continued to build stressful conditions for people living in the suburbs despite the Noise Standards and Control Regulations (2003) which advises that there are licenses available for property owners –whose establishments were likely to emit noise in excess of the permissible levels.

In Mayuge and Iganga have had sleeping sickness epidemic –which was originally ecologically-controlled parasite, now only controlled through spraying and trapping of tsetse flies since 1901 through 1970s to date while violent clashes between forest officials and encroaches rage on. Malaria pandemic also posed highest threat as if replacing sleeping sickness.

The government of Uganda, on one hand, showed no environmental consciousness –when it encouraged encroachment on reserves by calling for an end to evictions of encroachers by the national forestry authority. In Nairobi, Kenya ownership of land as a natural resource was a source of conflict that was only triggered by the 2007 election rigging.

In 2002, Mungiki were implicated in the massacre of 23 people in Kariobangi, Nairobi, and some 1,500 people were killed and another 300,000 displaced in a matter of weeks after the December 2007 presidential polls in which President Mwai Kibaki was accused of having stolen the vote.

In Jinja, Uganda, sanitation-related problems were more evident in suburbs –as well than in town where the elite made “noise” to pressure politicians to have urban problems addressed while the less represented south continued to suffer the environmental choke.

In conclusion, rather than the selfish and egocentric yet destructive behaviors towards nature, and nature fighting back in terms of generating conditions for infectious diseases and “wild” rains, the people of Uganda districts of Kampala, Jinja, Mayuge, Iganga ought to borrow a leaf from their Nairobi counterparts by learning to and really co-exist with nature or the natural environment –as that would create certain climatic conditions (as low as 10 degrees Celsius as a case in Nairobi during the months of July and August) as defensive barrier against humid-shriving parasites and, by so doing, they will be able to solve water shortage through rainfall harvesting –made available by the enhanced water cycle –and helping to solve hygiene and sanitation problems associated to water shortage (or lack safe-to-drink water), to control the bleeding of parasites, to ensure a healthy national yet productive workforce –and to promote environment tourism while Nairobi needed to revisit the distribution of natural resources –whose ownership and benefits go to mainly major tribal group, the Kikuyu, who go on to dominate in all other aspects of Kenya’s economic life.

Fortunately, undesirable consequences have always pressured humanity to devise solutions. In doing so several researchers have already come up with interesting findings and recommendations for the better, though in Uganda politics has been the cause of all efforts towards positive change in favour of populism. In Kenya, the ratification of the new constitution on 27th August 2010 aimed at resolving local conflicts, secured a peaceful future for Kenya.

Whether in aspects of governance, cultural, religiosity, economic decision making, media influences or man’s ignorance the natural environment must not be undermined to meet man’s selfish interests just because it has no known language to complain, or its language (natural disasters) not simply understood. However, in self defense it will always make its own points through acts of uncontrollable rainfall, generating conditions for parasites, and contamination of food to cause ill health, or even sudden deaths.

Peace and Conflict Studies Program
Makerere University
P.O. Box 7062, Kampala-Uganda
jwaiswa@arts.mak.ac.ug

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