‘Kyeyos’ should come back home
Sep 10, 2005
SIR — Many people are jubilating about the new development in the policy of exporting labour to developed countries.
SIR — Many people are jubilating about the new development in the policy of exporting labour to developed countries.
A lot has been written and flowery pictures drawn to whet the appetite of potential kyeyo candidates. Many sell their property in the name of migrating to these lands!
However, Hurricane Katrina which devastated New Orleans in the USA on August 29 followed by the outbreak of fires in Paris have exposed to the world the inhuman conditions many of the victims, majority of whom are of African origin, live in. Many more such scenarios are never heard of or are never read about due to information blackout.
Pictures of filth, poor sanitation, poor working conditions, stories of suffering, rape cases and deaths, and differences in social class in the developed nations have made the news on the Internet and in the media in the recent weeks. The media always depicts this as part of the less developed nations and paints the developed world as heavenly.
Many African cultures have time immemorial had a strong social bond where such social classes were minimal or even non-existent.
There was always something for everyone, where the hospitality is incomparable, the abundance, the sense of belonging to the community, the beauty of the land and the peoples have always been the envy of tourists.
Where has all this gone? Isn’t this is a lesson for all the potential kyeyo candidates? Do those working in foreign lands in inhuman conditions have to wait to be part of another Katrina?
Does the media have to only show a one-sided story of Africa and the less developed world in the name of high sales volumes?
Let those in the dispora who are not decently employed be encouraged to come back home and join hands in building our economies. Come, let us design our own destiny!
We need the experience you have gained through hard work and savings back to the land! Time is up!
Peter Mugagga
Kampala
A lot has been written and flowery pictures drawn to whet the appetite of potential kyeyo candidates. Many sell their property in the name of migrating to these lands!
However, Hurricane Katrina which devastated New Orleans in the USA on August 29 followed by the outbreak of fires in Paris have exposed to the world the inhuman conditions many of the victims, majority of whom are of African origin, live in. Many more such scenarios are never heard of or are never read about due to information blackout.
Pictures of filth, poor sanitation, poor working conditions, stories of suffering, rape cases and deaths, and differences in social class in the developed nations have made the news on the Internet and in the media in the recent weeks. The media always depicts this as part of the less developed nations and paints the developed world as heavenly.
Many African cultures have time immemorial had a strong social bond where such social classes were minimal or even non-existent.
There was always something for everyone, where the hospitality is incomparable, the abundance, the sense of belonging to the community, the beauty of the land and the peoples have always been the envy of tourists.
Where has all this gone? Isn’t this is a lesson for all the potential kyeyo candidates? Do those working in foreign lands in inhuman conditions have to wait to be part of another Katrina?
Does the media have to only show a one-sided story of Africa and the less developed world in the name of high sales volumes?
Let those in the dispora who are not decently employed be encouraged to come back home and join hands in building our economies. Come, let us design our own destiny!
We need the experience you have gained through hard work and savings back to the land! Time is up!
Peter Mugagga
Kampala