comm-UNITY!

We continue to delve into the topic of genoristy within community with special guest Nalongo Alinda Ikanzi, Head of Subject at LDC (Law Development Centre) and a Partner at Amber Solicitors & Advocates.

Her own experiences of generosity have inspired and guided her acts of giving. She shares with us about leading the LDC COVID-19 taskforce, that catered to the needs of a group of students, while consciously respecting  their dignity.

She highlights that as a mother of four girls she is inspired to leave a better world for them as women. This includes leading a life in which giving is more than just cents and shillings, but is also about truly present and connecting with those she’s giving to.

In this episode we are joined by Mr. Ruganzu Bruno, an artist, teacher and community organizer. On the podcast, our discussion has largely been around the effects that the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown have had on our communities. 

We now move into chronicling and celebrating the ways we’ve been community to each other through these changes.

Mr. Ruganzu takes us back in time to show how the philosophy of ubuntu is ingrained in our history and indigenous knowledge. He shows how Ubuntu is a necessary ingredient to how we practice community, now and in the future. He shares some of the ways that he and those in his neighborhood community have manifested Ubuntu to each other.

We are back for season 2! Ms. Allen Asiimwe, Chief Technical Officer at Trademark East Africa, joins us in episode 1, chronicling the ways in which the trade community has been affected by and adapted to lockdown restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

She shares stories from the ground on how the pandemic has put food security and livelihoods at risk, pushed for the integration of trade and health, and forced the East African community to act collectively in an innovative manner.

The new normal is constantly requiring that we adapt.

Fitness instructor and Founder of Kona Dance Workout, Mr. Felix Wamala joins us for the final conversation of the season. He shares his experience of working and staying connected to clients in a period of time where gyms are closed. And in a period of time where individuals have a lot more time on their hands and are looking for ways to remain active and healthy at home.

Our discussion mostly revolves around adapting to change and the power of using what you have, where you are. For Felix this has meant utilizing social media more and hosting free live workouts online.

Dr. Olive Kobusingye, Consultant Trauma Surgeon and Senior Research Fellow, MUSPH, joins us in this episode as we look at Uganda’s healthcare workforce and how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected them.

One of the most important points that she highlights is that this workforce is a broad community (beyond the doctors and nurses that are our most common point of contact). And this broad community of individuals, who engage in a plethora of tasks and duties, are at a high risk of exposure to the COVID-19 virus.

In a healthcare system where we are already struggling with the basics, protecting health workers during this pandemic is one of many issues regarding their working conditions, that needs to be addressed. Beyond COVID-19, the new normal should include investment in bettering our healthcare system.

This week we are joined by Dr. John Mark Bwanika, Founding Partner and Director of The Medical Concierge Group Limited. We explore the various forms and the value of digital healthcare and telemedical services within the medical community.

COVID-19 has forced us in many ways to rethink and reinvent the ways we do things. In this case it has shone light on technological forms of healthcare services and prompted the medical community to see value in adopting these methods. Technology which is usually seen as unavailable to most in Uganda, is becoming more commonly accesible as developments in the sector are made. The medical world can and should grow with it beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Pamela Enyonu, is a mixed media artist and one of the recipients of a grant under the Kuonyesha Art Fund (a program of CivSource Africa). Pamela's work mostly revolves around themes of gender, awareness, empowerment and experiences of working African women. In this episode she shares, through personal experience and one of her own art pieces, what the lockdown has revealed within the artist community.

Her observations include the way the quietness of the lockdown has allowed artists to rediscover themselves and create in the process. She also talks about the cracks the lockdown has exposed in the art ecosystem (as the cord with international funders and donors has been severed), when it comes to sustaining and building our art community. Perhaps this is the time to look inwards and galvanise our strengths as a means of reclaiming power in our art community.

Mr. Brian Kagoro, Pan Africanist, Founder and Executive Director of UHAI Africa Group, joins us in episode 11 as we unpack the ways in which the pandemic has both divided and united us because of collective fear and uncertainty.

He describes COVID-19 as a testing of the glue that holds us together. On the one hand, it has revealed how little we know of each other, highlighting and adding to pre-existing prejudices, discrimination and stigma within the African community. On the other hand, it has brought to light values of solidarity, care and resilience that are embedded in our community. And has created space for inclusive leadership to emerge. We are noticing our strengths and we are noticing the things we need to fix.

This week we are joined by freelance photojournalist Sumy Sarduni, whose work is heavily centred around gender rights and women. Through her lens we walk through some of the experiences of the women that make up Kampala's sex work community. This conversation brings to surface the way we see each other, and the way we pick and choose who deserves to be protected within the lines of community.

The COVID-19 Crisis has further exacerbated the living and working conditions of these women, who have been cut off from food distribution by local leaders within their living communities. Sumy walks us through glimpses of her time with the sex work community, whom she has formed a relationship with through Lady Mermaid's Bureau (a sex workers organisation dedicated to reducing stigma, discrimination and violation against sex workers). It is important that we take care of our community as a whole

Legendary Hip Hop Pioneer and Bavubuka Foundation Founder, Babaluku, joins us in this episode as we reflect on the relationship between dignity, growing our communities around indigenous African ideologies, and the lockdown measures that have been taken

He shares from his observations and experiences how institutionalised thinking and western individualism during and beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic, can harm the communities that need to be safeguarded and supported. Are there methods in combating this pandemic that could have been employed, which dignify and honour our communal way of life?