For your enjoyment/depression

These are just a few of the articles/headlines found in the local newspaper last Thursday:

Several concerning politics

Suspected goat thief arrested

Fishmongers protest harassment - officials extorting fish sellers

LC1 chairman caned over drunkenness - Youths gave the chairman 10 strokes after repetitively pissing his pants while drunk

Man held for killing daughter - Father beat the 13 year old daughter to death because of rumors that she was having an affair

K'jong warriors kill one, injure 3 - 10 year old boy shot dead as part of a revenge attack at tribal dance

15,000 Bugiri pupils get treatment for Jiggers

Jinja parents blamed for rise in child abuse - Some parents do not report the assaults, hoping for compensation from defilers

Female genital mutilation is the worst form of torture

Fireworks good, but can be dangerous - Can set off intruder alarms, distress elderly and animals

Witchcraft, land disputes escalate murder in Lango - Seven people accused of witchcraft were killed between July and September

5 different sexual partner every woman needs before settling down

So we are all clear on this: fireworks are potentially dangerous because they set off alarms and scare old people and animals, the whole exploding thing is apparently not that big a deal. If you are in politics and often find yourself drunkenly pissing your pants, you should probably avoid the youth. Jiggers are real. In a country ravaged by HIV/aids and where unwed mothers are ostracized, it is important for young women to have several different types of sexual partners and specific experiences before settling down and becoming respectable.

The best part about reading the newspaper out here is seeing how fundamentally different cultures are and how the most bizarre and abnormal events can find themselves on the 16th page of the Thursday paper, as if they were afterthoughts to the important info concerning local politics. At least witches aren't stealing penises in Uganda yet. No, seriously http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2319603620080424

Before you judge someone from a different culture, or assume you know how to fix problems in other countries, bear in mind, most people's common sense/logic is built on information and experiences that differ from what you would consider normal. It isn't arrogant to think that you are right; it's arrogant to think everyone else is an idiot for not recognizing it.