Uganda Africa’s Pearl

Inspiration behind the poem ‘For Us and Unto US- Uganda, Africa’s Pearl’

‘Is that the country of Idi Amin?’ one lady asked when I introduced myself that I come from Uganda.  My heart sunk! Is this what the world knows about my country almost twenty years since Idi Amin was ousted?  Something is wrong, I told myself. Who is not telling the world the truth? Then they talked about Kony and I felt like ‘they are talking about a different Uganda’.  The Uganda I know has had its share of challenges but it cannot be defined by people’s failures and shortcomings.

Do they actually know that Uganda was named the PEARL OF AFRICA by Sir Winston Churchill when he reached this land whose beauty is not only indescribable but unfading?  Are they oblivious of the fact that some have even thought that the Garden of Eden could have been here?  Wherever Eden turns out to have been but this Motherland Uganda has a beauty unmatched and wholesome. I have challenged many to come to this land and judge for themselves because I know what I market.  On reaching here and traversing the country, I have heard all declare in the affirmative ‘Uganda is beautiful’. 

Thus in 2012 as we celebrated the Golden Jubilee as the Republic of Uganda, I could not only talk about the fight by our forefathers who laid down their lives for our Independence.  Rather I chose to present to the world a land that is worth fighting for – Uganda Africa’s Pearl. This Pearl has not only mothered her own children but a mother of many she has become with her progressive refugee policy.  This very Uganda is the source of the Nile with its rich history.

I have been to countries, but one thing that I have always concluded is that Uganda is beautiful. The beauty manifests itself in various forms: the hospitality, culture and the rich foods, natural resources, the life around the equator, just to mention but a few.  Unfortunately some of the beauty is not spoken about because of the challenges people face.  When one speaks of Karamoja sub region, what comes to mind apart from Kidepo National Park is cattle rustling, the immense poverty and the backwardness of the region.  But you reach Karamoja and you will come face to face with wealth unspeakable and beauty undiscovered. Hence the choice of Karamoja as one of the areas to shoot this video from was deliberate.  I bet many know the beauty the rolling hills and rocks of Abim presents.

I am proudly Ugandan, a land of undisputed beauty.  I resolved that wherever I go and get an opportunity to talk, I will not fail to sing the praise of the ‘woman’ who has generously mothered me.  God saw it fitting and gave us this beauty hence the poem ‘For Us and Unto Us- Uganda, Africa’s Pearl’