#FreeJoyDoreen

I started this blog for the simplest of reasons.

Gay, in Uganda, with little ability to vent. You know, cry, scream, shout and tear out the few hairs that I have because of an 'unfair' world....
Yes, I know. You will tell me that the world is unfair. Always will be. Always has been. And, it will continue being so.....

But, we always want to vent. And, we vent, about lots and lots of things. And, in a country where I couldnt say that I was gay, I found it particularly satisfying to sit in my place in Kampala and start writing things that would have possibly gotten me down.

I never promote it..., lol. Why should I?

I didnt want too many people to know about it. And, too many people knowing it could lead to things that are unexpected. And, still it did...., lol. 

But that screaming and shouting? It led me to a particular place that I didnt want to be. See, all the anger that I couldnt throw out at my world, and I was living it, I came to live it on the blog. And that became an unhealthy thing. When I came to stop blogging, it was something that haunted me.

Of course I was in a better space. Which became worse in a way....., but, that is another story.
I find that I do need to do this. To talk about what it means to be gay, and African, and to be able shout it out to the rest of the world.

Things are happening back home. See this photo?

It was taken by a journalist, Ugandan, from neighbouring Kenyan media station. She had gone home for the traditional marriage ceremony. (Tshhh, for some reason, because of the coming of the white wedding ceremony, the traditional one is now relegated to 'Introduction Ceremony'....)
And the lady looked beautiful during the introduction. Check here.
Photo by Rosebell Kagumire via the Star of Kenya

She's third from the left, and making me feel so homesick for such ceremonies.....







Sigh, sigh, sigh...

If you'd like to see her alone in a pic at work..., here is one, borrowed from the Daily Monitor

Anyway, lady goes to introduce her intended to her family. A grand ceremony, as should be, of course. And, it was beautiful, till it was interrupted.

By war breaking out. Apparently, the Ugandan army attacked the palace of the King of Rwenzururu and killed 46 royal guards. Gruesome pictures of what happened have been spreading via the airwaves...
And, that particular picture that allegedly Joy Doreen Biira snapped as she transformed instantaneously from shy bride to fearless journalist, the huntress that she is, got her into trouble.

She instagrammed it......, you know

Or was it the facebook post that she fired off in anger as she saw her cultural heritage up in flames?

And, she was arrested. She was also giving eye witness accounts of the fighting, slaughter, from what I am picking up...., but you know, news from an instant frontline can become jumbled up...., and, her mom was quick to report her missing, arrested, in case something happened that was inadvertent. Crazy things happen in cases of war, you know!!!
46 royal guards were killed. Presumably defending their king. But, the goverment is ready to name them terrorists, so, I hold my breath before I commit them to the ancestors heavens in glory.....

And Joy Doreen, after being disappeared, the media does what it does in such cases. They all know that strange things happen in war, and, Joy was at the very fore front of it. So, they trumpet it far and wide, engage the social media, and even form a hashtag of course....!

And, voila, Joy Doreen is re-appeared.

But, that is not amazing. What the most amazing thing is, is that she was all the time in police custody or arrest, and, since the outcry was becoming unbearable, they police had to do something... And they gracefully accepted that they had arrested Joy Doreen, and not only that, she was still out on so called 'police bond'.

Anyway, she was quite safe. And there was no need for alarm....

She had been filming things which were considered sensitive. Apparently, this was a restricted area..., and Joy had gone overboard to film the instantaneous war/massacre that had happened. Of course she should have reined in her journalistic instincts...

But, the most laughable thing done by the government was the charge that Joy Dorreen emerged from police custody with. 

Abetting Terrorism.

That is the charge. 

Wonder of wonders that that tough woman is free. She was abetting terrorism!!!! Imagine that! An instragramed photo/video whatever that of course goes virallllllllllll

Lets not mention the so many lives lost. Just a statistic?

Life becomes such a mess.

That is why I take the chance to shout and sing and dance, and also to open my big wide mouth and start shouting about things that my countrymates take for granted should be kept hidden and not talked about...., like #FreeJoyDoreen... and of course #JournalismISnotaCrime !

The laws of the country are perveted when they are used by the state to terrorise citizens. Thankfully, Joy Doreen is free...!

But, she still apparently has to answer to that ridiculous charge....

Now, now, now,

that I have vented as I felt like, I am feeling so good. 
Sincerely, it makes one feel good. To take these things off one's shoulders and rest them on blog page....

That is what it used to do for me. Does for me now, though current trigger is very different.

Anger management therapy...., lol!

But, am so glad that Joy Doreen is free. Though we should still say #FreeJoyDoreen and #JournalismIsNotaCrime. Because that travesty of justice will continue until the charge is dropped. It is a very serious one. Very.

The state is always all powerful. That is why some people dreamt of the so called 'Bill of Rights'.

all the best

gug