Giving Stories Blog

A song by renowned Luo singer and producer, Brayo gained an enormous amount of airplay in Northern Uganda. The song about coronavirus that features another lead singer in Northern Uganda, Jeron Keen, is written in Luo.

It starts by demystifying the myths around COVID-19 as the singers dismiss the notion that the virus is a laboratory project by the Chinese to conquer the world’s economy. They then advise the public to be vigilant and protect their lives and that of others so as not to contract the deadly virus. “Corona has no cure or vaccines as yet, stay home and keep safe,” they implore the masses in the song. More

For the past seventeen years, Maxensia Takirambule Nakibuuka has been championing philanthropy. Through Lungujja Community Health Caring Organisation, she has been offering treatment and support to individuals, families, and communities affected by and infected with HIV /AIDS in Lubaga Division, Kampala City. More

Opera News, one of the world’s leading browser providers for digital content, is partnering with the African Press Organisation Group (APO) to boost the prominence of truthful news articles related to the spread of COVID-19 across Africa. With this move, the APO Group Newsroom website will now be integrated into the Opera News platform used by 200 million users worldwide. More

Eunice Oting Okidi, a 16-year-old student at Seeta High School in Mukono District, donated UGX 100,000 to the Kitgum District COVID-19 Taskforce. The soft-spoken Okidi said the money came from her savings and she felt that this was the right cause to spend it on. “I hope this money helps with the district activities to fight coronavirus,” the teenager said while handing the money over. More

A video of two families in dire need of food made rounds on social media. The two single mothers and their children had been reduced to eating boiled banana peels after the lockdown rendered them jobless. “I just watched this video and cried. These women and their children eat banana peels for survival,” a one Ivan Wanyama first wrote on his Facebook wall. More

Recently, a cash donation to the tune of UGX 17.2Million was handed over to the Uganda Tour and Safari Guides Association by friends of tourism. While handing over the cash, Lydia Nandudu, the coordinator of the Tourism Private Sector Task Force, said that the money was meant to help the guides survive the lockdown. More

In a bid to celebrate the health workers fighting against coronavirus, artistes from 11 African countries came together and recorded a song. The song, carefully executed in three different languages, is a project by Dr. Rasha Kelej, the Chief Executive Officer of Merck Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the pharmaceutical giant, Merck. More

As the world withdrew into their homes due to the deadly coronavirus, people with special needs were forgotten. When it came to community sensitization, for example, people with hearing impairment were barely considered for the messaging approach. There was a gap that urgently needed bridging, one that could have easily been ruinous. Sunday Olyel, the founder of Persons with Special Abilities - Africa (PESA - Africa), saw this gap in Gulu District and did something about it. More

When The Independent magazine first run a story of a good Samaritan disinfecting Entebbe Hospital and police stations in Entebbe District, we took note. Semu Nsibirwa, an ICT Engineer and proprietor of Mobile Computers LTD, a software and hardware store on Kampala Road started this exercise when Uganda confirmed its first COVID-19 case in March. More

Kasese District in Western Uganda was recently hit by floods, which left many people displaced. Atop imploring the government to rescue her people, the Kasese Woman Member of Parliament, Winnie Kiiza, started a fundraising drive.

“In an effort to support and provide basic amenities to thousands of persons displaced by the Kasese floods, l have partnered with the Rwenzori Social Justice Initiative to launch a fundraising drive under the theme, Contribute and Restore Hope,” she said. More

Bunyoro’s Wispa, Burnic MC, and Servant PRO have a coronavirus song out to sensitise the Banyoro on the deadly virus. The hip-hop song titled coronavirus is laced with street language, a formal style that is known to sit well with the youth. They are deliberate about what they want to communicate; without mincing words, the three artistes start the song with strong caution: Coronavirus is here. Stay home. Wash your hands. More

Her passion for women’s rights is unequivocal. Her commitment to ensuring the female vendor's plight is heard, remains unmatched. Esther Namboka will be found almost everywhere issues of the female vendor are being discussed. It, therefore, didn’t come as a surprise that she would remind all and sundry of the female vendor’s plight during the lockdown. More

When the ban on public transport was introduced, a trained social worker, Ivan Okoth, foresaw the worst for diabetic patients in need of a daily dose of insulin. Until the lockdown, his time at the Sonia Nabeta Foundation working with Type 1 Diabetic (acronym, T1D) patients had seen him deliver the much-needed daily insulin with ease. More

Given the current health crisis, the Rugby Africa Executive Committee has approved the immediate release of EUR 170,000 (over UGX 700M) from a solidarity fund. They say that all member federations are eligible for this financial aid to support their rugby communities. More

When news of a COVID-19 patient in the district broke, Adjumani went into shock. Everyone panicked. Though being hundreds of kilometers away from the capital city, Adjumani was among the first districts to get a COVID-19 case. Immediately, the district leadership convened an emergency response meeting and made calls to health workers, but many initially shunned the call to duty. However, a nurse, Vicky Opia, immediately answered the call and started work that very day. More

At the beginning of the lockdown, Faridah Kwagala sent a text message out to her tenants in Namugongo, a suburb in Kiira Municipality. It read: “I understand what you are going through. Don’t pay me until one month after the President allows us to work.”

Two months later, one of her tenants, Marion Achipa can’t stop talking about her landlady’s generosity. “I am a temporary worker at an institution, there is no way I could have raised three hundred thousand to pay my landlady during this lockdown,” she says. More

For the two decades that I have been alive, I haven’t seen anything quite as scary. It has been a time of global panic, with thousands of people dying on a daily. I have seen many nations struggling to figure out how to help their people, while others have been left with nothing but hope for a better day. More

In the Disney movie Queen of Katwe, she plays wife to British-Nigerian actor, David Oyelewo. That is where many would have recognized the name Esteri Tebandeke. Outside of acting though, the actress takes on many other creative roles; a comic, a designer, a dancer and a chef. Yes, that and more, will define Esteri’s time. In the wake of the coronavirus, through one of her comic characters, Muna-U (urban slang to mean, a Ugandan), the loveable Esteri uses satire to echo messages. More

For about two years now, a young woman called Hamah Nsubuga has been open about her HIV status. “I am an HIV activist and I am also HIV positive,” that is how she introduces herself. Since opening up about her status, she has taken to encouraging those living with the virus to take their medication correctly. That was until the lock down; Hamah is now making sure those on medication have food at the very least. More