Stories written by Evelyn Kiapi
Evelyn Matsamura Kiapi, a development communications specialist, has been practicing journalism for over 10 years, serving in different capacities from freelance journalist to reporter, sub editor, features editor and product editor. She is currently an independent journalist covering development issues for both local and international media. Locally, Evelyn has written for the Monitor (now Daily Monitor) and The Observer in Uganda and corresponds for IPS and the Institute for War and Peace Reporting.
Evelyn holds a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from Makerere University and a master’s degree in development studies from the University of Leeds, U.K. where she specialised in gender, reproductive health and rights. Through the years, Evelyn has written vastly on these issues, winning several international and local media awards.
Evelyn is also a practicing media consultant and has written gender- and reproductive health-related articles for the Population Reference Bureau and United Nations Millennium Development Goal Africa Campaign and worked as a communications and media consultant for UNFPA’s Uganda office.
Incidents of sexual abuse, particularly of children, appear to be on the rise in Uganda. However, this apparent increase has not been matched by a similar rise in prosecutions. Instead, many families are still choosing to settle the cases out of court – despite the effect this could have on abuse victims.
People with disabilities in Uganda say they have been marginalised for too long. They are now demanding that their basic rights be restored and recognised.
"A baby boy weighing two kilogrammes was abandoned in Mulago hospital labour suite last evening. The mother, Peace Busingye, 17, had delivered earlier that day."
Hail a taxi in New York City, and the odds are that your driver will be a wise-cracking male cabbie who's unafraid to share his philosophy about life with you.
Martin Oketch, 13, sat his Primary Leaving Examinations in Uganda late last year. His first choice for secondary education was St Mary's College Kisubi, one of the country's best boys' schools. "I want to become a doctor like Uncle Nathan," he says, pointing to his relative.
Courage, patience and determination will be the order of the day during the next eight months for seven rafters who are tackling Africa's fabled Nile River.
The pictures of flying bullets, burning houses, dead bodies and fleeing villagers, show just how Uganda's 17-year-old conflict has become part of the children in the north of the country.
Ugandan Magdalena Achero (not her real name) is a bitter woman. As a school teacher, in a country which has been hailed as a beacon of hope for people living with HIV/AIDS, she has experienced discrimination firsthand.
For 17 years, the government of President Yoweri Museveni has failed to crush the rebellion in northern Uganda, which has displaced up to a million people.
Dorcus Apecu is a schoolgirl who keeps her fingers crossed. She is praying that her mother does not take her out of school and get her married due to lack of school fees. At sixteen, Dorcus is already 'over age' in a society where girls are married off early in order to get bride price and reduce family burdens.
Dorcus Apecu is a primary seven schoolgirl who keeps her fingers crossed. She is praying that her mother does not take her out of school and get her married due to lack of school fees.
In a society where women are still valued as property, and do not have equal decision-making powers and status within the family, the existence of rape and brutal attacks on them by their spouses has become a stimulant for HIV/AIDS infections.
In a society where women are still valued as property, and do not have equal decision-making powers and status within the family, the existence of rape and brutal attacks on them by their spouses has become a stimulant for HIV/AIDS infections.
Uganda's celebrated playwright and director, Charles Mulekwa, owes his success to the women who have instilled in him values that have inspired his writings.
The turn-up to beauty pageants, which the majority of Ugandans used to frown on, now includes professionals, cabinet ministers and even religious leaders.
"Whenever I appear on the stage and confess that I have never had sex in my life, my goodness, people laugh and fall on their knees. Even someone, who initially appeared composed, just bursts out laughing," says 26-year-old Ugandan musician, Richard Kaweesa, who is urging youth to abstain from sex before marriage.