Me distracted at the Kampala Writes LitFest Social media addiction has hijacked my reading and writing. This is my confession, as a first-year Humanities student studying Literature, English, and Journalism. It has been done so that I can barely focus on reading a single page. My daily routine has been to spend most of my free time on social media. One and a half hours on YouTube punctuated by quick checks of Instagram, X, and Facebook. The constant beeps from notifications keep me checking my phone or laptop every other second to read the information that someone has shared or find out what is trending. This constant need to check my phone or laptop has affected my academic performance. Social media has an impact on both reading and writing skills. This reduces literacy among young people. A recent study by Associate Professor Leonie Rutherford suggests that younger readers find it hard to get suitable books to read. This has led to a decline in reading. A survey ...

Our children don't have to be friends with our friend's children no matter how great the friendship because our children are not us. In fact, none of our children may be anything like us.

I remember this advert song that used to play on VOK. (Cavalier, do you remember it)?  Hii ni nyumba yako  Wewe na jamii yako  Usikaribishe wadudu kuishi na wewe  Wadudu ni hatari  Wadudu ni wachafu  Waue mara moja  Doom, doom, doom!  Dawa doom!  Then at lunch time it would be 'kuleni mayai, pia maharagwe. Hivi ndivyo vyakula bora vya kujenga mwili.'  As we prepared to go to school in the morning we had: '...jiepushe na uvivu tujenge taifa. Mwanangu, kumekucha amka wende shule. Elimu ndiyo msingi wa maendeleo.'

Our neighbour rears some pigs. There are 3 huge ones and 6 piglets. Often times, they set themselves loose and walk into our compound, much to our chagrin. My mom does not like pork. When she told me that sometimes pigs barked like dogs, at first I did not believe it until I heard one pig bark last week. “When I first heard these pigs bark that is when I said to myself ‘Surely! People are not supposed to eat pigs’,” she said. I mean, think about it. Eating something that can bark is like eating a dog. Then on Sunday, one of them clucked like a chicken. I have not heard them go ‘ee-I, ee-I, oh’ like the ones in Old MacDonald’s farm. I guess my neighbours pigs are of a Japanese-Polish breed. http://www.bamfield.eu/sounds.php mentions how pigs make different sounds in different countries: Pigs in Britain, Spain and Italy are thought to say 'oink, oink'. Portuguese pigs go 'roncar'. Japan, they go 'buu, buu'. French pigs go 'groin, groin'. German pigs, in c...

“Good morning, listeners,” Pepper said. “And with The King of Pop being laid to rest today. As a tribute to him, we have a question for you. What is your favourite Michael Jackson song? We’d like to hear from you. The number to call is 2345678 on all networks.” “My favourite of MJ’s song was Speechless. It sounds so heavenly,” said Charlie, her co-host. “Mine is Billy Jean because of the moonwalk,” Pepper broke in. In the background is ‘heal the world’. “Hello” said someone on the line. “People are dying in Soroti and you are here talking about MJ. Even you Pepper? Your uncle’s wife comes from Soroti but you can’t even think of talking about her people?” “Wait a minute. Listen to me young man and listen well. You have no right to tell me what is right and what is wrong. Before you ask me, what have you done for the people in Soroti? At least for me I haven’t only helped people from Soroti but I have helped people from other places as well,” Pepper retorted. “Besides, this is the only d...

Mudamuli…Mudamuli! How shall I describe you? Your words are feathers that catch their target by surprise because…they sting! And you seem to know the quickest formulae for provocation. Otherwise, are you well? Do tell. You seem to have a special liking for Eggie these days, but let me warn you. He hates surprises. If you want to be his friend, don’t keep making disappearing acts. As for Cucumber, he loves attention. The more you ignore him, the crazier he gets. As for me, I get bored easily, and when I do, I move on to the next exciting thing or person. I don't kwelumya . I like to enjoy life to the fullest without any qualms. Speaking of which, I had a lovely time with a gorgeous lady I met last week, who had the perfect manicure and pedicure. Still, Pepper's the one I want. By the way, who is this Tamzel? Is she your sister? I found her post about me very amusing. How did she know I loved baking? Hmmm. Maybe I should give her a call one of these days and see what happens. C...