Bullion ebullient

In this edition: the gender gap is bridged – as is the Atlantic ocean. Find out what books Ugandans like to read most, how the country’s doctors are helping diagnose fevers on the other side of the world, and about the Ugandan film with Oscar-winning potential – read on…

Uganda News in brief: Mbabazi-M7 row: spy tapes show extent of Mbabazi support (Observer) ++++ Vicious storms strike East Uganda (One India) ++++ No payrise for US$6.1k-a-month Ugandan MPs (New Vision) ++++ US-funded Makerere University HIV research centre raided for LGBT work (Washington Post)

09/04/2014

READING: what do Ugandans reach for on the shelves when asked to Drop Everything and Read? The director of a public library in Kabale Town says that during the national DEAR day, when people are encouraged to stop whatever they’re doing and read for 20 minutes, the most read volumes in his library were works on politics and romantic novels. The Monitor continues the story.

TELEMEDICINE: medical students at Mbarara University of Science and Technology have been collaborating with the USA University of Virginia for years. Now, however, they are doing it by video-link. The exchange offers learning experiences on both sides of the Atlantic, says Assistant Professor Chris Moore (UVA) on Newsplex. “If we have an unusual tropical medicine case here, or if they have a hematology case, or some other case where we have expertise we can apply that expertise digitally.”

TRAINING: Uganda is getting help from long-term partner South Korea to boost the level of vocational training. The government of the Republic of Korea is set to build a $4.5m state-of-the-art centre in Kampala to boost hands-on training in plumbing, welding, sewing and automotive repair.

EXAMINATION: in this year’s landmark set of A-level results, girls have performed better than boys for the first time. The subjects female students excelled in included Mathematics, English Literature, History and Economics – while male entrants were better overall in sciences, according to the Monitor. The Independent, however, identifies a number of challenges ahead.

and in other news…

FILM: Ugandan cinephiles looked forward to this Saturday with great anticipation. It saw the release of the Ugandan movie Bullion, a story of robbery and revenge with an all-star cast, which the director claimed, a few months ago, would bring East Africa its first Oscar… that was, before Kenyan Lupita Nyong’o received her award for Twelve Years a Slave. Kenyan actor and second male lead in Bullion Ainea Ojambo has high hopes for the film – and added his voice to the rivalry, as the Observer reports.

He enjoyed working with a Ugandan production team and would like to do it again, he said. “Ugandans have deep stories that we don’t have in Kenya.”