Blaak markets Uganda in Europe

You have to do something Miss Blaak, they are on our trail, it is only a matter of time before they get us,” a tall smooth skinned Ugandan lady pleaded to Mirjam Blaak in 1982.
In less than five years, in 1986, Janet Museveni, the lady Blaak helped get asylum in Sweden, became Uganda’s First Lady.
“Those were hard times for Ugandan exiles in Kenya,” recalls Blaak “Milton Obote’s National Security Agency were on the prowl in Nairobi, hunting for Ugandan dissidents. A number of high profile disappearances had already happened. One of them, of the late Balaki Kirya who woke from an injection to find himself in Kampala.”
As a protection officer in the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in Nairobi in the 1980s, Blaak helped many exiles from Uganda. Among them were ministers Ruhakana Rugunda (Internal Affairs) and Amama Mbabazi (Defence). Soon after that Blaak became a Ugandan when she married Dr Ronald Batta (RIP).
“I was born in Netherlands in 1956. I have two sisters and one brother and I had a very happy childhood. My father Joe Blaak worked for a shipping company and travelled quite a lot. He would tell us stories of his experiences in Japan, Australia and Indonesia, so I developed a liking for other countries quite early, ” says Blaak.
I got a chance to start travelling when I worked as a part-time stewardess with the Royal Dutch Airlines KLMI while I studied law at Utrecht University.
“After completing a masters degree in international law, I took up a job at the UNHCR in Nairobi 1982,” she adds.
After Milton Obote’s overthrow, Blaak came to Uganda. “The country was in a shambles. I have a lot of respect for President Yoweri Museveni because of the way he has turned the country’s fortune round,” she says.
Blaak met Dr Ronald Batta, one the ministers in the first NRM government, in 1986.
One thing led to another and before long, they became husband and wife. Together they ran a tour company. Blaak became a Ugandan citizen and the couple had two children.
“He (Batta) was not only a good surgeon, he is probably the most intelligent man I have met, he was incorruptible. It is sad he died at only 53,” says Blaak.
Blaak had to close their tour business in 1999 when the tourist industry in Uganda nose-dived after suspected Interahamwe killed American tourists in Bwindi.
In 2001, President Museveni appointed her Uganda’s deputy ambassador in Brussels. Her brief was to handle commercial diplomacy.
“It is a tough job,” says Blaak. “I have to make a lot of sacrifices to meet set goals. Most business people shun embassies, so I have to go out to them. I drive over 3000km in a month on a borrowed vehicle. I am constantly on the road trying to woo businesses to Uganda and find markets for our products. There is no need to sit in an office.”
“I have learnt that I have to behave like a businessperson. My background in business has really helped me in my job, and we are making good progress,” she adds.

Blaak commends the work done in the country by NGOs such as ACODE, DENIVA, SEATINI and CDI to improve its trade negotiations ability and product competitiveness. She urges Ugandans to pay more attention to value addition in products, saying it will make her job easier since she would confidently get markets and sustain them.
“A lot still has to be done in the Ugandan tourism sector to create international confidence. The Lord’s Resistance Army rebels, Ebola outbreak, Kanungu cult massacre and the killing of tourists at Bwindi has cast Uganda in very bad light. This is why a concerted effort is needed to promote tourism,” she says, adding “Uganda’s tourist industry was the best in the region in the 1960s, people used to fly from Kenya to come and have lunch at the Murchison, while Congolese bands entertained them.”
She says the friendliness and hospitality of Ugandans as well as the natural beauty of the country are the biggest export elements in terms of tourism.
“You can’t appreciate the hospitality of Ugandans until you travel to other countries and you are asked rude questions at the immigration like why you have gone there. I shall be glad to return to Uganda and do other activities when I complete my assignment.”
Blaak says she tremendously enjoys her job for which she received the gold award for the ambassador who excelled most in marketing Uganda exports on January 21. It was awarded by the Uganda Export Promotion Board at Speke Resort Munyonyo.
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