WORLD CUP 2010

Today is the final day of FIFA World Cup 2010, the very first one hosted by Africa. It is unfortunate that there is no African team in the final. Ghana came close - were only denied progression (to the semis and possibly final) by the wicked act of a one Luis Suarez. So much was the pressure on the Uruguay team that it was not surprising to find a striker clearing the goal line - great evidence of defeat Uruguay suffered in that game.

That ball went off John Mensah's head with a sure destination - the back of the net - only to be stopped by a deliberate wicked act of a 'professional' player. Fairness ruled as Uruguay did not go beyond semi finals; they did not get any medal either. 'What goes around comes around' they say. How else could one explain the fact that Ghana missed its last chance by a strike (by their best striker) hitting the cross-bar and Uruguay's last shot (by their best striker) that would probably have taken them to extra time and possibly penalties hit the cross-bar? I don't remember seeing the German defender celebrate thereafter but I saw Suarez celebrate Ghana's miss.

This reminds me of another deliberate act of 'theft' that Mr. Thierry Henry committed to bring France to South Africa. France did not last in the tournament. They actually crumbled before they got to the pitch if what we heard about the troubles in the camp was true. I guess at some point Thierry must have regretted why he 'brought' his countrymen to South Africa. Moreso because he himself did not see much of playing time while in South Africa - no reward. Maybe he did not deserve any anyway. I hope that while they were there they used the one day off to identify some property in South Africa to invest in otherwise their trip to South Africa will be characterised as being in vain.

Back to the final. Some creatures have taken on new short-lived assignments. I am told an octopus has got itself popular by confirming some people's wishes ahead of the games. By some good coincidences, it has been getting the predictions right. I am not convinced that it actually knows what it is doing. Somebody needs to tell me the relationship between the human beings around this octopus and the betting industry. I do not care what the octopus predicts, I am looking forward to a beautiful game and you guessed it right, Netherlands will win it.

My only advice to the Dutch players is that they should not be intimidated by some creature. Instead they should play the game with the aim of winning despite the octopus' prediction. What does it think it is anyway. Go Netherlands go.

Educational Technology

Technology has totally changed the methods of teaching and learning. The innovations and the corresponding opportunities they present are simply too many. Just today alone I experienced not less than two technologies I had not actively interacted with. First it was Elsevier's, I believe, most recent solution, pageburst, and then the not-so-recent Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro.

I attended a demo on the pageburst earlier in the day and then wound the day with attending a lecture at the same time with people located several miles away from me and each other, viewing the same presentation slides and listening to the same voice at the same time. The experience was great.

It is important to note that in between these two experiences, I also was exposed to a novel application of technology to 'tell' human beings what an animal is doing at a particular time without eye witness. This is besides the various curricula innovations and developments I got to learn of.

Technology is great. It also made it possible for me to witness in real time the loss Chelsea FC, the club I support, suffered in the UEFA Champions League.

Technology also makes it possible for me to document these events here and make it accessible to anybody in this world. Great. Isn't it?

More later. Watch this space as this post grows.

I am a digital immigrant who speaks the language of the natives

Mufuruki is a word used in Uganda, largely among the Bantu, to mean 'immigrant'. This word has become a household word largely due to its recent use by President Y.K. Museveni with reference to immigrants into Bunyoro land, mainly of Bakiga origin. I am told in Lango immigrants are referred to as “Obini” (‘Abini’ in singular).

If it were coined in Uganda today, the phrase "Digital Immigrants" would be "Digital Bafuruki" for Bantu and “Digital Obini” (for the Langi). I do qualify to be referred to as a 'digital Mufuruki' or “Digital Abini”- I am actually a typical one.

"Digital Bafuruki", according to some school of thought, are people who were born and bred in the pre-digital (non-digital) world and have since migrated to settle in the digital world. Unfortunately for these Bafuruki, their former country has been obliterated and however much they are tempted, they have no where to return to - they have to live in the current country, the digital world. The Bafuruki do definitely come with their language and with such a heavy accent that cannot be missed. For them to survive in this new country, they must learn and speak the language of the natives. This reminds me of a report in one of the Kampala Newspapers that President Museveni did advise the Bafuruki in Bunyoro to speak Lunyoro (and abandon their 'former' language?). I believe this advice is very good for the digital Bafuruki.

In any part of Uganda (and I believe other parts of the world) we know Bafuruki by their accent, among others. Likewise, digital Bafuruki are known by their typical accent. If you find the following examples of 'accent' familiar (either in your recent past life or actually current life) then you are probably a digital Mufuruki:

• Your secretary, son, daughter, grand child or younger colleague at work created for you your first e-mail address (and probably helped/helps you check your emails).
  
• You request for your e-mails to be printed (and you scribble your reply on paper for somebody to type or maybe you type it yourself once in a while).
  
• You are a university teacher and you insist on assignments, however small, submitted in hard copy rather than soft copy (even for a small class).
  
• You send an e-mail and follow it up with a phone call to confirm that it did arrive or you call to tell somebody you have received their e-mail and then go ahead to reply it.
  
• You get irritated by the amount of time your children 'waste' chatting on their phones. You cannot even pronounce iPod. "What is this craze about phones, facebook?" you wonder forgetting that these kids have never known the alternative - your country of origin. You are an immigrant to their digital world, just adapt and live there rather than attempt to change it to look like your former country. Sorry, even you yourself cannot go back to 'your country' - it does not exist anymore.
  
• You have never pressed Ctrl+X, Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+T, Ctrl+S, etc on your computer keyboard. What do they mean anyway? Never mind if you cannot see a button on your keyboard labeled 'Ctrl+V'. You are a Mufuruki. Yes, your accent tells it all.
  
• You and your neighbour wondered why your 21-year-old son in second year in university wants 75,000/= to buy a 'stick'! Moreover he is not disabled and you do not expect a university student to be reduced to a herdsman. You wonder, "in primary school of my days teachers asked us to take brooms to school, these days in university they take sticks! Things have really changed”. Probably not. You have just migrated to a different world.
  
• When the young talk about Second Life, you either think they meant to talk about ‘Second Chance’ or they visited church recently and are talking about life after death.

Now, fellow Bafuruki, I encourage you to heed President Museveni's advice. Simply learn the language of the natives. I could bet that there are many Bakiga immigrants in Bunyoro (Bafuruki) who speak Lunyoro as well or even better than Banyoro. These guys have adapted. Likewise, there are Digital Bafuruki who have adapted well in this 'new land' of the digital natives and do even speak the language fluently. I consider myself in this category.

Considering the demographic structure of our population and the global trends, we have no choice but to plan for a digital-dominated life (current and future). We are actually late as a nation. As a learning process facilitator, standards regulator and budding entrepreneur, operating in the digital world, it is very urgent for me to forget my nonexistent country of birth (and early life) and learn to live in this 'new country'. I must therefore endeavour to continuously follow the cycle of learning, unlearning and relearning to avoid illiteracy in this age that is greatly dominated by the need for “information literacy”. The challenge is heavy upon some of us who are teachers. Today’s students would have loved to be treated differently than what we subject them to (endure). What should we do to arrive at a balance? How can a teacher, born and bred in the land of chalk and blackboard, overhead transparencies, paper-based application forms, no talking in class, be effective and efficient in his/her work in this digital world of Smart Boards, LCD projectors, online application forms, class chat rooms, etc?

Fellow Bafuruki teachers, we simply must change and move with the times. Let us adopt education technologies and integrate them into our teaching to enhance learning (for the natives) in this era. Did you know that a student could now carry their class room (and you the teacher and some of his classmates) to their bed or to the bathroom?

Corporate managers also ought to be aware of the habits of the current generation and create working environments complete with technologies that enhance performance of the digital natives. About 5 years ago, I was amazed at how Fred, a friend of mine who lives and works in London, was managing the affairs of his office from Kampala with a small gadget in the palm of his hand. Phew! Such is the working environment for a digital native.

Bafuruki, I do implore you to endeavor to include words such as these in your vocabulary and practice: e-mail, chat room, blog, wiki, e-portfolio, trading online, search engines, folksonomy, emoticons, social network sites e.g. Facebook, etc.

About the constitutionality of 'ring-fencing' of some positions in the digital world (for the natives), I have no immediate comment. In the meantime, I encourage the Digital Bafuruki to simply adapt and swiftly develop capacity for harmonious and productive coexistence with the Digital Natives – speaking their language (with their accent) is one of the requirements.

Digital Bufuruki must speak the language of the Digital Natives

Guus Hiddink for President

"Guus Hiddink for President" read a banner over 8 years ago when the Dutchman steered the South Korean Soccer team to a level they had not reached before in Soccer World Cup. Just yesterday, 30 May 2009, he helped Chelsea FC win the English FA Cup. I guess the Stamford Bridge fans would have loved to have him there for many more years but he has to go back to complete the business of preparing the Russian team for the 2010 World Cup. The players did express their wishes though but I am told the Dutchman loves to keep his word and the word so far is that he had come to fill in a void only up to the end of the season. He got a good send-off (see ESPN photo gallery). It would have been better if a one Ovrebo had not officiated in the Chelsea-Barca UEFA semi-final game at the Bridge - Guus would most likely be having two big trophies to his name by now: the English FA Cup and the UEFA Champion's League trophies.

My closest and best friend and I have this thing for the Dutch players, Dutch team and Dutch coaches so Guus Hiddink was not new to us when he showed up in the English Premiership. Just like the South Korean fans, we also thought he deserved a huge reward but maybe not with the Presidency of South Korea. We even followed him closely when he took the Australian Soccer team to World Cup 2006. You can already know that I will watch most, if not all, Russia's games in the 2010 World Cup just for one guy, Hiddink.

I am not yet an official soccer coach or tactician but I love Guus Hiddink's tactics - he knows how to identify and neutralise the opponents' point of strength (biggest weapon) while he unleashes his in the right amounts and at the right time. I believe that at least Pep Guardiola and Arsene Wenger can testify to this fact. One football commentator once observed (during the 2006 World Cup games) that most coaches find it very tough to play against a Hiddink-coached side. I thought he read my mind.

Well, he did not get the Presidency to South Korea and of course will not get the Presidency of Russia even if the fans express their wish (as the South Korean ones did) but let credit be given where it is due. Mr. Guss Hiddink deserves accolades.

World Veterinary Day 2009

The World Veterinary Day was instigated in 2000 and has been observed annually on the last Saturday of April. In Uganda, we celebrated it for the first time last year. This year's celebration was much better than last year's.

In Uganda we have decided to dedicate a whole week, dubbed 'The Vet Week', to activities organised in various parts of the country. These activities culminate into the World Vet Day.

Below are highlights of some of the activities we had in The Vet Week:

• Press conference.
  
• Cattle vaccination against CBPP.
  
• Symposium - seminars, demonstrations and discussions.
  
• A school programme.
  
• Mass treatment of animals in a community recovering from the effects of more than 20 years of war.
  
• Ministerial statement on World Veterinary Day.
  
• TV Talk Show on national television.
  
• Grand celebration graced by a government Minister. Participants included local leaders, NGOs, veterinarians, farmers, veterinary students, school children and the public. After the ceremony, the farmers and veterinarians were hosted to lunch by the Uganda Veterinary Association with support from SPRING project, an NGO based in Northern Uganda. Traditional dancers entertained guests at the ceremony grounds.

In order to run all these activities successfully, we had to harness synergies from various veterinary-related stakeholders to whom I am personally grateful.

Watch this space for further details.

I TAKE IT HEAD-ON

I offered myself; I asked for it and on 5th December 2008, the members of the Uganda Veterinary Association meeting in Primrose Hall, Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala responded.

I offered to serve as President Uganda Veterinary Association 2008-2010. The members spoke loud and clear by giving me the majority of votes cast. The humble strategies I had shared with them are found in another blog.

I do take the challenge head-on and pledge maximum attention and efforts to the Veterinary profession causes. So help me God.

YES WE CAN

In his first speech to the public at Grand Park, Chicago, as the US President-elect, Mr. Barack Hussein Obama, made an affirmation to the nation and I believe to the rest of the world that 'Yes We Can'. He had earlier used it on 8 January 2008 in his remarks in New Hampshire Democratic Party Primary Night. This has become a common phrase, at least in the mailing lists I subscribe to and the circles I socialise in. The question is, are we just borrowing words to spice up our e-mail messages or simply using the phrase in our speech to sound relevant to the talk of the moment or are we also taking heed of the deep advice in there?

It is so easy to quote from an eloquent speech but it is another thing taking time to reflect on what message the speech sent / intended to send to the rest of us, the listeners or readers.

What does 'Yes We Can' mean to you and I? I am aware that some of the readers of this blog might not have been in Chicago at the time, nor are they US citizen but wherever you were and whichever country you belong to, those words have a message for you.

In an attempt to understand it, one may look at the words individually (reductionist approach), then collectively each time doing that in some context. To Obama, there is a context; to me or you, there are possibly others. What therefore do the words singly or collectively mean to me, you, Obama and all of us?

'Yes' is an expression of agreement; word of affirmation; a positive response; etc. 'We' could mean collective responsibility as it refers to the speaker and one or more people or even refers to people in general. 'Can' may be used to imply that the necessary ability, knowledge, money or equipment to accomplish a task or do something exist.

What do these words mean collectively? They possibly suggest the need for an agreement by all of us that we collectively have the capacity to accomplish tasks to cause the change we can believe in. The phrase may also be seen as a call for responsibility with our sight on the hope for a better future.

The other question is, do you think we can derive some message from the 'Yes We Can' phrase that applies / is relevant to our context? My response is, 'Yes We Can'. You are most welcome to make comments highlighting how these words apply in your context.