Norah Owaraga

Why is Egypt categorized middle east?

Recently I watched and listened to a video clip in which Dr. Nawal Sa’dawi expressed how she gets upset when her country, Egypt, is referred to as part of the Middle East. And I thought, wait a minute, I am among the majority who have sheepishly accepted the categorization “middle east” as though it were…

Living a good life

Among us Iteso, affirmation of the way in which you live or lived your life is indicated by naming children after you. Learn more in “I am Alinga”. And so, I was delighted, for the first time, to meet one of my namesakes in Lango, who was named my name Alinga, a name I was…

Advocating for children’s rights

Each time I am prompted to write about a random act of kindness I have done for someone, I instantly remember the weekend around 3rd October 2016. A child, a young girl, clearly mentally ill is reported to have wandered away from the major mental health care facility in Uganda – Butabika National Mental Referral Hospital – which…

Cry Uganda’s children, African extended family broken down

I was lucky to be borne while five of my paternal grandmothers (RIP) were still alive. They told us stories of how they had a collective responsibility for raising all their children. My father was breastfed by multiple mothers, the story goes. If one of my grandmothers for some reason was not able at a…