Hope Mafaranga

By Hope Mafaranga The king of Toro, Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV,   has instructed his ministry of agriculture to ensure the development and promotion of fish farming among his subjects. King Oyo, who was recently   touring the Aquaculture Research and Development Centre (ARDC) in Kajjansi, Wakiso district, said Toro has many water bodies which should be used for fish production. ARDC is a government owned facility, a branch of the Fisheries Resource Research Institute, in Jinja. But, unlike the facility in Jinja, the one in Kajjansi focuses only on aquaculture. It is also a branch of the National Fisheries Resources Institute (NAFIRRI), which is a Public Agriculture Research Institute, under the National Agriculture Research Organisation (NARO), responsible for fisheries research. The centre undertakes studies in fish feeds, fish health, genetics, hatchery and market. Oyo also toured fish ponds, greenhouses, breeding and nursery areas, as well as a fe

Technology to eliminate HIV double testing, improve reporting time and general health care By Hope Mafaranga It is amazing on how I can just come here and spend as little time as one hour.   It looks like a miracle to some of us who have lived with HIV / AIDS for more than 20 years.    Two years ago I required a full day to come for treatment because of the tedious system the health workers had to go through to retrieve our files, but now it is just a click on the bottom with my finger print all will be there and I get services immediately. Olivia Kajumba 37, a resident of Nyakigumba village, Kisomoro sub-county in Kabarole district who has been getting HIV treatment and care at Kibiito health IV could not find the right words to explain how   gratitude she is about   the new technology of tracking people ‘s health by finger print.   The technology being implemented by the Makerere University School of Public Health through its project of Monitoring and Evaluation Techn

Girl’s struggle to attain education in northern Karamoja By Hope Mafaranga You have no idea what we girls go through in this region to attain education.   Someone needs to understand the Karamoja dynamics and the things parents and guardians pay attention to and regard as their priorities. Among our parents priorities, shockingly but true,   education is not one of them, says Esther Lokote a primary seven pupil of Nakoreto primary school in Kotido district. Lokote prints a picture of sadness on lack of commitment of parents to educate a girl child. “All what my parents see in me are cows and grandchildren. Nothing else they want. They do not want to see me progress from primary to high level of my education,” she said. Struggle for support Lokote   who pays her school fees of sh21,000 per term   which she earns   during holidays after working for people as a house maid, say she has repeated primary seven for four times because she cannot afford school fees in seco