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Wondering why I do not post often?

Well, life is surprisingly overwhelming in both good and bad ways if that’s even a word.

From winning a Sanlam Marathon trip to Cape Town, to falling sick after returning, my family battling court issues back at home, down to Rwanda for a mindful inner peace meditation experience (blog coming soon BTW). From premature baby issues with one of my family members,…

From dumpsites to a circular economy: how do we get there? Solutions by Dorothy.

Have you been wondering what you can do, or you want to know about what I have done in the recycling industry? Well, look no further. I got innovative solutions and best practices for your garbage management problems.

Hearing the word dumpsites and economy doesn’t really match well in a typical local man’s life. Therefore, to simplify it for people in Namasuba Uganda community, I had to localize…

Finally, the long awaited climate action in my community is here.

People had failed to embrace the fact that recycling was not only saving the environment but also a way for them to save on their income. Turns out people just wanted to hear the money bit and that way be able to take action.

I love that women and children have all joined hands in recycling waste to make briquettes for fuel. It feel good walking around and seeing briquettes being sun dried. That’s a great step, these small actions when combined could help transform the whole community, reduce on the carbon footprint and thus protect mother nature.

Kudos, I’m so proud. Thanks to Climate Change Fighters for contributing a portion to this fight.

Mental health reminders this IWD19

You do not need a man’s validation to make it in life.

To many people, domestic violence comes off as being beaten by a man or fighting with your spouse etc. But to me it goes way beyond that. Being emotionally hurt by a man, emotionally tortured and psychological pain if caused by a man, then that is a form of violence as well. People have focused so much on seeing the physical damage done that…

Why community needs to be sensitized on climate change realities.

Uganda just like most parts of the world need this sensitization just as much. It is saddening, it is disheartening to know that people will give up any acts of good to protect the environment because of their laziness. They are lazy, lazy and lazy. oh! and did I say LAZY.!!! I mean how do you dump garbage allover the street, into the drainage system without any guilt of conscious.

WHAT I AM…

I guess by the look of the picture above, you would assume, those kids were celebrating one of their friends birthday. Well, this was my way of celebrating my own birthday-9th January.

For the first time in my life, I did not make this day to be just about me. It was an amazing feeling when this idea came to me to send money to my maternal village for children to celebrate my day in my absence.

Usually, I would rushing to the supermarket to order a big cake, or ask friends to custom make me one just for my benefit. But this time, this felt real to share the cake with children and family-Oh by the way, I did not eat any cake on my big day.

The selflessness and happiness in my heart when I received many videos showing me what was happening in Mbarara city was one of the best feelings as we start this year. Every year I get friends who volunteer to sing for me a birthday song and for this year, minus the kids who had to, I do appreciate Mechi for my birthday song.

I would also like to thank friends who sent me birthday wishes from allover the world. You made my lonely day feel so beautiful. It is on this day that I realized how people have pictures of us that they never share but bring out on your birthday. 🙂

2019 is off to a good start for everyone and I believe you are among them. Lets all learn giving than expecting to receive.

“Kindness and caring is what makes life beautiful”

Thank you.

    Happy new year, let’s do good, let’s do MORE.

Anti-bullying month, week, day? Not recognized yet in Uganda. But…

Short post Alert!

Maybe it hasn’t been recognized yet, but having been a victim, I pledge to continuously advocate for anti-bullying because I believe that kindness can solve all our problems.

Imagine if we were kind to one another,. we would be helping each other out.  If we were kind to the environment, we would definitely not need activists, we would be doing it out of humanity.

That’s why, as…

Where to begin,

First, imagine the look on my face when I received a phone text (yes, you read that right – my acceptance came in form of a phone text and email for official purposes). I was head over heels, I was surprised, I was happy, I was excited, I was humbled and grateful. I literally was having all emotions in one place. I give God the glory.

The journey begins – Egypt VISA processing in Uganda.

Having gotten my air ticket ready, I thought I was set to go and get the visa but on sept 29 the 2018, I got to learn the reality about visa processing. Getting this VISA permit is not easy but thanks to God that after 4 days in two weeks of struggling, I finally got a call from the Egyptian embassy letting me know that my visa had been catered for. There’s also a good in everything depending on how you see it, I got to meet other World Youth Forum participants from Uganda, we met the ambassador and consul of Egypt. It was an amazing experience as well.

Life in Egypt.

Before I arrived in Sharm El Sheikh, people had told me of how Egyptians are only mean and angry and cruel people so I was a bit worried going there. However, I ‘m always up for a challenge and was ready for anything that would come out of this trip.  However, I quote one of the famous authors.

To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries. – Aldous Huxley –

Everyone was wrong.

Egyptians are kind, compassionate, fun, friendly and intelligent people. They warmly welcomed us, they complimented us, and I repeat, they were very KIND. In every place I went to, I met kind Egyptians and I kept telling them of the stereotypes against them and how they completely demystified those words. I am forever grateful to some special Egyptian friends I met like Maretchia, Gahd and Mohammad (Cleaner at Sharm Grand Plaza) who were so kind to me at the time I needed such Kindness. Sharm El Sheikh is a city built on peace and this was purely exhibited throughout the days I lived there.

Living in Sharm Grand Plaza.

If traveling in a Limo to our hotel was not enough, I do thank the WYF 2018 organizers for the incredible hospitality they showed us. Here I was in my own room in a 5-star resort hotel. It was overwhelming, this resort is big, clean, the food is amazingly delicious, and the people are so nice and kind. From the resort workers to WYF participants to the random people on their vacations at the same resort, everyone was beautiful and kind. I remember running to the red sea beach just to have a my first sunset experience. It is so calm out there, I just love it.

Day one: Opening ceremony of the World Youth Forum.

This day started so well, we were excited about attending it and having to meet many people out of the 5000 and more youth that were in attendance.

The ceremony was held in the auspices of the president of Egypt, His excellency Adbel Fattal El Sisi and his wife. There were many delegates from all over the world.

One of the important words I picked out from this session was, we do not have to do everything individually to change the world, but we can change #oneworld at a time. We don’t need to do everything, we just need to do one thing. It made me think of those little bits of goodness done by people which create ripples and when combined, they become so huge and change the world.

Take home: Find a passion, we hope it is one positive enough to change the world, work on it effortlessly and see how it changes #oneworld at a time.

We learned about the 7 pillars of the Egyptian character (I took this test in the FREEDOM.E corner and passed at 70% as an Egyptian lol!)… It was just a game at the FREEDOM corner, doesn’t mean I am Egyptian.

For the official opening ceremony and all proceeds, kindly check out the Facebook page for #worldyouthforum for the full video of this day.

wait! There was more….

We had many parallel sessions on two consecutive days including

The role of world leaders in building and sustaining peace

Agenda 2063: The Africa we want

Water security in the wake of climate change.

The digital world as a parallel society; how it controls on our real world.

The role of entrepreneurs and startups in global economic growth.

Empowering persons with disabilities: Towards a more integrated world (which reminds me of how inclusive this conference was because I met man disabled people, regardless of their type of disability.)

etc etc

Other sessions included the opening of the world youth theater, the marathon (biking marathon: meaning unless you knew how to bike, you couldn’t participate- this happened after the running marathon was cancelled due to the temperatures out there.) and finally the closing ceremony on 6th November 2018.

The Forum was publicized so well, there was a short film, a peace song (on you tube), branded items, streets, planes, buses etc etc. You couldn’t get lost being in Sharm. The publicity is something every other conference in the world needs to borrow a leaf from.

I can not forget to thank whoever contributed to the gift hampers we received, there was so much. I can not explain the looks on everyone’s face when they received the gifts.

Fun activities while in Sharm El Sheikh.

Sharm El Sheikh has beautiful places like the old market and Nama bay and its even more magical to visit them at night because the whole city is lightened up. It was surprising when I found out the shops close at 4:00 AM. Thanks to my beautiful friend from India for the fun night tour. We had fun touring the old market, the Tourist Information Centre (with free info/ flyers about Egypt). We could dress up as Muslims and tour inside the mosque (by the way, the dresses were a compliment from the mosque and Tourist Information Centre). The night continued with us trying out Egyptian food, shopped and window shopped. I would recommend all these fun places and fun things to do. They are perfectly safe, unless you don’t follow the rules given, which you should you know. Sharm is all about peace.

Some fun activities at the resort- Sharm Grand Plaza including, sunset and sunrise watching by the sea, Zumba dancing, water yoga (or as I called it Aqua Yoga), normal Yoga and sunbathing among others.

There were so many activities to do like quad biking in the desert outside Sharm, something I did with my beautiful friend from South Africa. Other attendees preferred snorkeling, glass boat cruising, a visit to St. Catherine and scuba diving, but I couldn’t even attempt this, it seemed scary to me. However, I will surely try them out the next time I get an opportunity to visit Egypt.

Saying goodbye.

I can’t even say goodbye to Sharm nor to Egypt because I met incredible people with the same goal as mine. It was a space to network and connect with friends from all over the world. The whole idea of networking shouldn’t be how many people I was able to meet, but how many was I able to connect with even after this week. Thank you to the beautiful family of Sharm Grand Plaza and to the amazing friends from so many countries that I connected with. Thanks for making my experience a beautiful one. I love you all and would do this again 1000 times. Special thanks still go to world youth forum organizers for the amazing opportunities you gave us and for the security and comfort of a lifetime. We look forward to using the experiences and knowledge learned to make the world a better place through our initiatives.

Take home for everyone: Be Kind wherever possible, it is always possible – D LAIMA FIND REAL QUOTE PLUS AUTHUR.

Because through kindness you never know who you meet, what you can learn and how far it can take you.

Love, Dorothy

How I am healing my Mental Health. You too can.

Speak!

I guess I am still healing, but speaking out has helped me solve not only my problem but so many peoples. After gaining my self confidence back from all the depression I suffered since age of 12, I realized I had to SPEAK OUT.

Well, something had to be done, I had to speak out and not just sit on my self as I was being bullied. I realized the people who bully and the victim both had…

STOP! Rewind, Rethink, Refocus your life.

This is not one of my usual posts. It wont be long. I just wanted to let you know of what I thought every person needs in life.

Its something I needed, something I think everyone needs. Refocusing is such a huge part for any millennial’s or young professionals life.

Far away from the city I went, trying to run away from Kampala Traffic jam, the noise in the environment and just be in a quiet…

What you should know before attending as a participant for your Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) cohort.

Do you want to know what I messed up, or are you wondering how I got those four certificates and an award as a YALI participant? Well, look no further, I am here to share my story with you. “My happy ending”

To keep my new readers on board and anyone who doesn’t know what YALI is or what I’m about to talk about, don’t worry I got you covered. Visit https://www.yalieastafrica.org/ and https://yali…

25 years old and living in my Mom’s house.

Chapter one

How can you say you motivate others while still in your mom’s house?

How can you be a good example yet you still live in your parents’ house? Do all motivators and story tellers have to must had a hard life  before for them to start inspiring others??????????????

Well, this and more is what I keep thinking about, this is what keeps me awake.

I do not know. I don’t have the answer my…

When I finally learnt swimming without an instructor.

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Stream Water in Namasuba City

Have you ever lived near a stream, river, lake or an ocean? Well lucky you. Here in Uganda; we don’t have any oceans and I certainly don’t live near a lake but this stream water is good for our environment.

My neighbors do not know the benefits this stream has, they call it a ditch actually, they don’t see its importance. I now know that is the reason they keep throwing and dumping all sorts of…

Not an International Day of Happiness here.

Just days ago my family and I were so happy our pet had given birth to not one but two beautiful kids. Of course like any other family, we were excitedly happy. It was so overwhelming because it has been the first time we ever got two out of one birth.

Today morning I read on twitter that today is the #internationaldayofhappiness so I tried as much as I can to keep positive but I guess this death…

Okay guys this is so annoying, waste managment is really so personal for me. it is something that hits me so badly that my family gets affected. My neighbors need more awareness on waste management, they will dump anywhere anyhow and block our drainage systems.

What happens when it rains? (more…)