Humanist

Share what you know about the year you were born.

This blogging prompt, tickled and challenged me at the same time. Off the top of my head, aside from knowing that I was born in 1968, I could not readily think of what I know about the year of my birth. So, I thought, now is as good a time as any to find out, and so I Googled, “major events in 1968 in Uganda, in Africa and in the world.”

I learnt that 1968 is the year Uganda won its first medals ever, a silver and bronze one, at the “Summer Olympics”. That year, the games were held in Mexico and both medals were won in boxing, by Leo Rwabogo and Eridad Mukwanga. Gosh, this fact I did not already know, but now I know. Read more in “Uganda at the 1968 Olympics.”

On the Africa continent, I learnt, about the “1968 uprising in Senegal – students were angry at the government and its handling over the conditions and spiraling lifestyle conditions.” It reminded me of the Kenya Gen-Z protests this year.

Other major events that caught my attention on the African continent in the year of my birth, include:

• It is when Eswatini (formerly known as Swaziland) “became a constitutional monarchy after it gained independence from Britain,”
• Mauritius “became an independent state after it gained independence from Britain.”
• Similarly, Equatorial Guinea gained independence from Spain in 1968.

Did not know this about the three countries, now I know. Read more in “Timeline of Independence.”

Globally, 1968 is characterized as “a year of political unrest and social change,” including the assassination of Martin Luther King Junior.