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THIS MAGAZINE IS PRODUCED BY ADVANCE AFRIKA WITH FUNDING FROM EUROPEAN UNION AND CARITAS SWITZERLAND VOL 01, ISSUE 09, JANUARY 2019 fromNote the Country Director Dear Reader EDITORIAL TEAM Michael Ojok As we begin the New Year, allow me to wish you all a happy Sharon Atukunda and prosperous 2019. This year, our biggest project, the Julius Ocwinyo Economic Empowerment and Social Reintegration of Youth CONTRIBUTORS Ex-prisoners in northern Uganda, will come to an end on 31 Sharon Atukunda Gerald Naloda March 2019. This is a project which saw us expand from 13 to Nancy Acen every prison unit (28) in the Lango and Acholi sub-regions, Emma Wachal impacting the lives of over 1,200 prison inmates and ex- Opio Ramadhan inmates. On another note, I would like to inform you that I Gaetan Bidaud Ocaya Stephen Michael will be stepping down from the position of Chief Executive Officer effective end of March, after Alleluia Nowamaani seven years of being in that position. I have no doubt that I am leaving Advance Afrika in capable PHOTOGRAPHY hands that will take the organisation forward beyond where I have been able. Therefore, this is the Michael Ojok last foreword I will be writing for this magazine in my capacity as CEO. Like in the last issue, we Daniel Ntende continue to use this magazine to highlight the plight of ex-offenders who seek employment in the Rendel Freude formal sector. You may be aware of the challenges and discrimination that ex-offenders face in trying DESIGN & LAYOUT to seek f employment, the background check, stigma and lack of trust, among others. All these see an Vivid Solutions Ltd. ex-offender serving another jail term out of prison (in the society). PUBLISHED BY Advance Afrika In this issue of Imagine Uganda Magazine, we feature the story of Ojok Denis Abura whom we met at Kaladima Prison. He was serving the last year of his four-year jail term for rape. Owing to the nature UPCOMING ACTIVITIES/EVENTS • Disability is not inability: Muzamil Ali of his offence, Denis was committed to the High Court and he spent three years on remand while on life and work with Advance Afrika occasionally reporting to court only for mention of his case. When he learnt of the plea bargain • Breakfast meeting arrangement, he made up his mind to accept the offence in exchange for a lighter sentence. While in • Coalition building meeting prison, because of his teaching background, Denis used his time to teach his fellow colleagues who • Retreat in Karamoja • Extending our work to karamoja had enrolled in both primary and secondary education. Upon release from prison, Denis was invited • Online survey about employment of to resume his teaching job at Awer Primary School and, besides teaching, he practises mixed farming. ex-convicts Also in this issue, we bring you stories from our West Nile intervention where one inmate, Nabil • A new beginning in 2019 Abdalla, is giving back to his fellow inmates and prisons authority by repairing uniforms free of This issue is for January 2019. We love to hear from you, send us your charge as he sells other clothes, which he makes from inside Arua Main Prison, and provides for his favorite story/comment or opinion about young family. life after prison to info@advanceafrika. Colleagues, a life with dignity for these young people is possible if we all do our part and support the org and we will feature them. Help us become better with each issue. restoration of their social functionality. We continue to remain indebted and grateful to everyone who has made it possible for us to reach as many prison units and ex-inmates as possible through Disclaimer: This document has been produced with generous contributions, prayers and determination to make a difference and see lives restored. On the financial assistance of the European their part, some of the youth ex-offenders are already doing remarkably well and have become agents Union and Caritas Switzerland. of change in their communities. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of Advance Afrika Thank you all for standing with us and let us keep doing whatever we can to see many more lives and can under no circumstances be changed and transformed. regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union and Caritas Switzerland. Yours sincerely, Copyright 2019 © Advance Afrika. RWANKANGI RONALD | CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER All Rights Reserved. No portion of this publication may be reused or reproduced in any form without express written permission. OFFICES Plot 29, Acholi Road, Pece Housing Estate, Gulu District Room A112, KKT Center, Plot 16-22 Duka Road, Arua District CEO Rwankangi Ronald 5th Floor, South Point Mall, Ggaba Road, Contents Kabalagala; 5 14 Stepping Down P.O Box 36888 Kampala, Uganda Tel: +256 706 302 9799 Email: [email protected] 15 Staff Members on SREE Website: www.advanceafrika.org 2 16 Coalition Meeting ISSUE 08 IMAGINE UGANDA MUSIC ACADEMY Abdalla Nabil preparing a cloth for sewing ABDALLA NABIL y name is Abdalla Nabil part-time at Family Health Care Then one day, I just saw police and I am 31 years old now. I Clinic on weekends. Working two officers coming to arrest me. was arrested in July 2015 jobs was difficult because you barely I was thrown in jail and when they Mand charged with the get any rest, but because I needed arraigned me in court, I was charged offence of aggravated defilement. the money, I soldiered on. with aggravated defilement. They After being on remand for a year, I Being an only child who had been alleged that I had been living with an was convicted on 31 August 2016 taken care of by a single and poor underage girl (17 years). However, and I will be released on 21 April mother, I decided to get married so that is not what she told me. When 2023. After finishing my second that my mother could have someone we had met nine months earlier, she degree in Human Medicine from to help her while I juggled my two had said she was 19 years old. Uganda Christian University in 2014, demanding jobs. So I met a girl and However, there was nothing to prove I went back to the village and got a we started cohabiting. I made my it. So they accused me of being teaching job at Bramali Primary intention to marry her known to her educated and an adult who should School in Maracha district. I was an people, but their response was have known better than to marry a English and Mathematics teacher on negative. They asked her to go back young girl and they concluded that I government payroll. To complement home, but she refused. After that, had influenced her decision. my income, I would also work they were quiet for several months. IMAGINE UGANDA ISSUE 08 NOVEMBER 2018 3 As we speak now, I and my wife, whom I was imprisoned for defiling, have a three-year-old daughter. My wife was seven months pregnant when I was arrested and she lives After taking part in the business and life with my mother in Maracha district. skills training offered by Advance Afrika, Together, they are raising her. I also send some support to them from I went on to register for the business plan here, but my mother, who is a competition which was open to all the cleaner at Maracha Hospital, is the one who supports them on a daily trainees. basis. While already in prison, I learnt that my wife’s family did not want us to tailoring machine, which I use for this account. When I get out, I want live together because in the past making clothes. My customers are to open a shop for selling clothes there was a clash between her clan fellow inmates as well as prison and to also start a tailoring school so and mine. Some people from her officers. Sometimes I buy materials I can share my skills with those who clan killed one of my nephews and and sew clothes which I sell in the deserve it, since it was other my uncle reported the matter to the prison barracks and also send to my people’s generosity which made it police. As a result, six of them were wife to sell in the village. possible for me to know what I know. arrested and charged with murder, Inside here, I mainly repair private I am very grateful to Advance Afrika and three of the suspects are serving clothes for inmates (the ones they and every other person they work their jail sentence in Arua Prison here use for going to court) and also for with for thinking about us inmates. with me. Surprisingly, we all live prison officers. I normally charge For me, in particular, the skills I have together as one. between 500 and 1,500 shillings, learnt have enabled me to provide I am scared of the relationship depending on the size and for my family while in jail. The quality between my wife and her family magnitude of the work to be done of my life has improved and I can since she refused to go back to them on the clothes, but for the torn also take care of my pressing needs. and it led to my arrest. I hope to find inmates’ and officers’ uniforms, I out when I get out. repair them free of charge. That is my way of giving back to the At first, life in prison was not easy.