Update: Winnie the Radio Star

Winnie is doing her technical training at a radio station in Masindi, a good-sized town in Western Uganda next to Murchison Fall National Park.  How well has she done?  Her tryout was the best the manager had ever seen and, when she took a couple days off, the station got lots of calls ‘Where’s Winnie?’

This lady is going places, even from a seated position.

Interview with Mohammad

Winnie did this lengthy interview in 2007; her talent justs grows (she is now doing ‘field work’ at a radio station; I’m confident she’ll be a dominating media figure in a few years.)

Mohammed is one of the workers at MADE Uganda; a group of disabled people who eke out a living building customized wheechairs.  A mechanic blinded in war decades ago, Mohammed is amazingly insightful for a man of minimal formal education.  He is a testament to the wisdom that a Ph.D from the School of Hard Knocks can garner:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Update; Winnie the College Student

Dad has been doing a very poor job in keeping this site up to date.  Winnie is currently attending Ndejja University and is studying Mass Communication.  It is a small college, with a Mass Comm department of about 20 students and, naturally, Winnie is running things by now.  She is emphasizing radio and TV; I already know that she’s a natural there.  My first trip in, I had her interview some of the kids and she was amazingly natural; l really need to get those interviews on You Tube.  She interviewed people at MADE as well; give her a camera and a microphone and she’ll rule the country.  I truly believe old Dad will have to plan on working as a campaign worker/bodyguard someday; she’ll likely run for office and will need protection, as she has very strong opinions about corruption.

I’ll update this entry later; it’s 10pm Sunday night and I’ve still got code to write.

UPDATE (10/21/08): Winnie had an article published in a magazine there! A ‘published auther’ now.   I told her she’d have to get at least three extra copies of the magazine; Dad wants 2 and she needed to take at least one to her farmer mom (her real mother, who did a fantastic job raising her through great adversity.)

Her school (Ndejja University) has now been accredited internationally, so the should get in some visiting profs from Kenya and the like that will benefit the overall program (which already was pretty good).

A Word from Winnie’s Dad

Describing my daughter Winnie would take too long to make for a readable posting; I’ll just stay with the bare facts for a start.Nazziwa Winnifred was born November 28, 1986 to a farmer mother and a fishmonger father. She developed polio early in life, resulting in the loss of her ability to walk. Her father also passed on when she was young and her family (one sister, three brothers) lived in extreme poverty. Such conditions break the spirit and the will of all but a few; for those few, it tempers them into nearly unbreakable steel. My Winnie is one of those few.

I was introduced to Winnie in 2003 by Gordon Nicol, who had a brief interview he had videotaped with her on his trip in December ’02. She had ‘fallen through the cracks’ as it were and was unsupported for school. One brief viewing of this young outspoken girl in her chair and I was hooked. I am honored that she thinks of me as Dad; I tell her a fishmonger watching from above made sure I got sent in as a ‘sub’. I will say that it is of more benefit to me than I could ever be to Winnie. I cannot be more proud of her will, accomplishments, leadership, practicality, strength, and kindness than if they were my own.