Nagenda should speak for the voiceless
Jun 30, 2009
EDITOR—This letter is addressed to the presidential adviser on media and public relations, Mr John Nagenda. On Saturday, Nagenda wrote a harrowing account of what happened to his son Frank Kisakye Nagenda.
EDITOR—This letter is addressed to the presidential adviser on media and public relations, Mr John Nagenda. On Saturday, Nagenda wrote a harrowing account of what happened to his son Frank Kisakye Nagenda.
The young man was refused a visa to the UK. Nagenda, I am not happy that this happened to Frank but the reality is that it happens to most of us. Maybe, happening to a presidential adviser’s family is something like “welcome to the world of the common manâ€.
We, the not so privileged ugandans or non-diplomats go through this everyday.
We pay our hard-earned money to these embassies both American and British to try and acquire visas for an honest trip to America or Britain. I am a daughter of a single mother and all my life I have worked hard to make life a little better for my family.
I was blessed to get a visa to America to receive an education, which I paid for just to make my mother proud since I was going to be the first child in my family to receive a degree. I graduated top of my dominantly American class and my dream was to see my mother’s reaction when I received that degree. I sent my mother some money to go to the embassy and apply for a visa to come for my graduation. Guess what?
the officer at the embassy did not even look at her documents or the letters I had received from my college letting the embassy know I was top of my class. My dream had been shattered!
my mother did not attend my graduation ceremony nor did she get the opportunity to visit America. She honestly had no intentions of staying. When they want to refuse one a visa, the fellows at the embassy always say, “she had no ties to her homelandâ€. my mother is a down-to-earth woman and has no business staying in America.
her life is so simple she would never fit there in anyway. Life in America would drive her crazy. This happens to hundreds of people trying to make an honest visit or like Nagenda’s son a holiday and return home. It hurts, it really does especially when the embassy takes that 100-something dollars for just talking to you for less than five minutes. Not even an average American makes $100 dollars an hour.
I understand Nagenda’s disappointment but maybe as a diplomat or adviser to the president, it could be a calling for you to serve your nation and its people and stop this crazy British and American rigid interview process.
Sometimes there is justification in the way we are treated. Many of us have travelled and chosen not to return home. it is not that we don’t want to come home.
Just like any other person, we are trying to make a living. I keep telling people if someone offered me a job and paid me $1m I would be on the next plane back home. America and Britain are places that really teach one how lonely the world can be.
So, to Nagenda’s son, it is not the end of the world but maybe there’s a good reason God did this. His dad, who God has given the blessing to be a voice for so many other people in his country can bring a change to the situation.
Gone are the days when Africans were treated like slaves. We are a people who should stand up for our rights in our own country. God Bless our beautiful country.
Stend Soso
stendsoso@hotmail.com
The young man was refused a visa to the UK. Nagenda, I am not happy that this happened to Frank but the reality is that it happens to most of us. Maybe, happening to a presidential adviser’s family is something like “welcome to the world of the common manâ€.
We, the not so privileged ugandans or non-diplomats go through this everyday.
We pay our hard-earned money to these embassies both American and British to try and acquire visas for an honest trip to America or Britain. I am a daughter of a single mother and all my life I have worked hard to make life a little better for my family.
I was blessed to get a visa to America to receive an education, which I paid for just to make my mother proud since I was going to be the first child in my family to receive a degree. I graduated top of my dominantly American class and my dream was to see my mother’s reaction when I received that degree. I sent my mother some money to go to the embassy and apply for a visa to come for my graduation. Guess what?
the officer at the embassy did not even look at her documents or the letters I had received from my college letting the embassy know I was top of my class. My dream had been shattered!
my mother did not attend my graduation ceremony nor did she get the opportunity to visit America. She honestly had no intentions of staying. When they want to refuse one a visa, the fellows at the embassy always say, “she had no ties to her homelandâ€. my mother is a down-to-earth woman and has no business staying in America.
her life is so simple she would never fit there in anyway. Life in America would drive her crazy. This happens to hundreds of people trying to make an honest visit or like Nagenda’s son a holiday and return home. It hurts, it really does especially when the embassy takes that 100-something dollars for just talking to you for less than five minutes. Not even an average American makes $100 dollars an hour.
I understand Nagenda’s disappointment but maybe as a diplomat or adviser to the president, it could be a calling for you to serve your nation and its people and stop this crazy British and American rigid interview process.
Sometimes there is justification in the way we are treated. Many of us have travelled and chosen not to return home. it is not that we don’t want to come home.
Just like any other person, we are trying to make a living. I keep telling people if someone offered me a job and paid me $1m I would be on the next plane back home. America and Britain are places that really teach one how lonely the world can be.
So, to Nagenda’s son, it is not the end of the world but maybe there’s a good reason God did this. His dad, who God has given the blessing to be a voice for so many other people in his country can bring a change to the situation.
Gone are the days when Africans were treated like slaves. We are a people who should stand up for our rights in our own country. God Bless our beautiful country.
Stend Soso
stendsoso@hotmail.com