Positive Parenting

By Dickson Tumuramye Last week, Uganda stood still at the news of the brutal killing of Pamela Tumwebaze, the Director of Student Affairs at Uganda Christian University (UCU). A mother. A leader. A mentor to countless young people. Her life was violently cut short in her own home. Beyond the investigations and headlines, beyond the public outrage and mourning, there is a quieter and more painful reality. Somewhere, two young children will wake up and reach for a mother who will never answer again. Long after the news cycle moves on, long after court proceedings conclude, those children will still be living the sentence of a crime they did not commit. And we must dare to ask ourselves a difficult question: If someone can plan evil without thinking about two children left behind, what went wrong in their upbringing? This is not about blame. It is about conscience. Who Is Raising Our Children’s Conscience? Every adult was once a child. Every violent hand was once small and depen...

 Prim K. Tumuramye Growing up, one of my desires was to see myself maturing and getting into the world of independence. The freedom of adulthood looked luringly enticing. If only time would increase its snail-paced movement, I would soon be out of the prison of being a child. Childhood had its joys and pains.   It was always a bitter-sweet pill to swallow. Today you celebrated the joy of having no worries about old peoples’ problems like school fees, complicated relationships turned situationships and tomorrow you were on the receiving end of punishments and reprimands from elders that only seemed to know giving instructions in parables. The African adage that elders are never wrong made the childhood equation even more complex. Rarely would you be extended an opportunity to explain yourself because that was tantamount to looking elders in the mouth. ‘When I grow up, I will sleep and wake up when I want. I will also buy the things I want and eat only that which appeals to ...