Nankwanga Eunice Kasirye

By Nankwanga Eunice Kasirye Breaking the Blade:  Spotlight on Beatrice Chelan g at A SEED PLANTED IN THE HILLS   In 1976, deep in the mist-veiled hills of the Sabiny region in Eastern Uganda — where the mountains huddle together like ancient, brooding elders — a young girl named Beatrice Chelangat first heard whispers of female circumcision. It was a Sunday morning, and the air smelled of damp earth and wood smoke. Millet fields bowed gently to the wind, and children’s laughter floated faintly between the ridges. Inside the small Anglican Church — a modest building of sunbaked bricks and timber, worn smooth by the hands of generations — the villagers had gathered, their bare feet dusting the earthen floor. The archdeacon, a towering man in a heavy black robe, stood before the congregation. His voice, usually firm and commanding, trembled with something raw that morning — a wound too fresh to hide. Tears clung stubbornly to the corners of his eyes as he confessed: his own ...

T he Unseen Struggles Of Uganda’s Female Journalists During The COVID-19 Lockdown By Nankwanga Eunice Kasirye Being a journalist in Uganda is already complex,for female journalists, especially freelancers, the challenges multiply. When the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a nationwide lockdown in 2020, the cracks in Uganda’s media industry widened—revealing the harsh realities of gender inequality, economic uncertainty and policy-driven exclusion. As the world turned to media for timely updates, facts, and survival information, Uganda’s female journalists found themselves at the margins of both the newsroom and society. This piece, part of the Defending the Defenders series, documents the lived experiences of five Ugandan women journalists. Their voices expose how a global health emergency deepened existing inequalities in the media industry. The movement permit Crisis: Who Gets to Tell the Story? Uganda’s COVID-19 lockdown included a total suspension of public transport and non-es...

  By Nankwanga Eunice Kasirye A Mother Caught in Endless Conflict ZA mZam Mohammed Khater is not just a journalist; she is a relentless warrior against the shadows of war that have plagued Darfur for over two decades. At 38, she is a single mother of two—a 14-year-old son and an 18-year-old daughter—trapped in a land where fear dictates every sunrise and sorrow lingers in the air like an unshakable curse. Zamzam inspects one of the homes burnt down in 2019  She has seen the unspeakable. Massacres that leave villages lifeless, women brutalized beyond recognition, children reduced to silent witnesses of carnage. She has fled through the darkness, gripping her children’s hands as gunfire echoed behind them, the night air thick with terror. And yet, through it all, she dares to dream. " I dream of a Sudan where my children wake up to the sound of birds, not bombs. Where a mother can send her daughter to school without fearing she may never return." — ZamZam, her voice trem...

By Nankwanga Eunice Kasirye  Yvonne Moka never imagined that reporting on femicide and violence against women and girls (VAWG) would mean reliving her own nightmares. Each story she tells is not just a battle for justice but also a fight for her own sanity. In a chilling interview, she reveals the haunting weight of being both a journalist and a survivor. Yvonne Moka’s Fight for Justice Begins with a Tear-Stained Story Yvonne Moka, a passionate social justice journalist from Botswana, never anticipated that her first major social justice story would be the one that shattered her heart. "My home girl, we grew up together. We shared everything church, music, village life. She was like my sister. When I left for university, she stayed behind. Over time, she began dating a gangster from the village, and I was not pleased," Moka recalls. "But she made her choices. Then, one fateful day, I received a call from her neighbor: ‘She’s dead. The boyfriend has killed her.’"...

By Nankwanga Eunice Kasirye  Female journalists covering violence against women and girls are not just exposing injustice—they are risking their own safety. The very violence they report on is the same violence that threatens them. According to the United Nations, 85,000 women and girls were intentionally killed in 2023, with 51,100 murdered by an intimate partner or family member. This translates to 140 women and girls killed daily—one every ten minutes. Additionally, 736 million women worldwide have experienced physical or sexual violence at least once in their lives, with 30% of women aged 15 and older reporting such experiences. Beyond physical violence, female journalists frequently face sexual harassment, cyber threats, and targeted attacks. A 2022 UNESCO report revealed that 73% of women journalists globally have experienced online violence, with 20% facing real-world attacks linked to their work. These threats not only compromise their safety but also have severe psycho...

13-YEAR-OLD LINNET WORKS THE QUARRY FOR SURVIVAL LINNET CRACKING STONES AT THE QUARRY In the heart of Kabale Municipality, a vibrant town in western Uganda, life pulses with the energy of countless tourists drawn to its allure. Yet, hidden beneath this bustling facade lies the quiet suffering of children like 13-year-old Ampire Maria Linnet, whose dreams are overshadowed by the crushing weight of poverty that has stolen her childhood.   A narrow, dusty road winds through the hills, carving a path for four-wheel-drive vans and cars heading to the serene shores of Lake Bunyonyi, the deepest lake in Africa. While visitors seek solace in its tranquil beauty, the communities along this tourist route are ensnared in relentless toil in nearby quarries, labouring to extract mud and break stones merely to survive. It is in this unforgiving landscape that Linnet, along with countless other children, grapples with the harsh demands of her reality.  Linnet, petite and fragile, seems small...