Patricia Achiro Olwoch hails from Gulu, in Northern Uganda and she is a writer/film maker and playwright
New York, NY
Joined October 2010
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Achiro P. Olwoch retweeted
Torture of Ugandans and detention without trial MUST STOP!
#FreeSamMugumya
Achiro P. Olwoch retweeted
I need to stop caring about what Americans do with Africa related stories. Because what are the Africans doing with their own stories? Some of us can barely get people, publishers and the general public to care about our own historical stories, but the moment an American touches it, Africans queue up to comment, consume and ululate.
Meanwhile where is African money going? Is it building narratives? Investing in storytelling? Lagosians are always bragging about how many dollar millionaires they have. Where is any investment in the stories they are so proud about? Northern Nigeria is even worse, because those ones do not even care one bit. Apart from buying cars and gold not one of the wealthy educated people cares about their history, literature or art. They are more interested in proximity to Arab culture and society than their own past which they are mostly ashamed about, especially when it veers even slightly from Islam.
I know how hard I am fighting just to get a historical novel set in the Sokoto Caliphate out. Yes I have not made it sexy and accessible like American stories are because I do not want to do that kind of storytelling. Because somewhere inside me I still hope that someone will care enough not to first think of whether this will "sell in the US" or Europe.
We are slowly flattening storytelling so that it can be relatable to Americans and Europeans. What is that thing which is peculiar about our own type of storytelling? We say we care about craft and history and legacy but why are we so obsessed with how well we are liked and praised and consumed by Americans?
Achiro P. Olwoch retweeted
Uganda: crackdown on fundamental freedoms ohchr.org/en/press-releases/…
Achiro P. Olwoch retweeted
Tyrants are often stunned by how little writers, artists, and journalists want from them - to leave them alone.
Achiro P. Olwoch retweeted
TEN days since the BBC reported that 16 starved to death in Karamoja, the regime found some food, but then waited for Monday morning, organised cameras, officials paused & smiled for them, then flagged off the food to SAVE WHATEVER LIVES WAITED LONG ENOUGH!
Peak Shamelessness!🙌🏾
The Government of Uganda, represented by the Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. @R_Nabbanja, has flagged off relief food to be distributed to communities in the Karamoja sub-region affected by food insecurity. The relief food includes 200,000 kilograms of maize flour and 100,000 kilograms of beans.
📸: @francis_isano
#NBSUpdates
Achiro P. Olwoch retweeted
Hi! My name is Maimuna Ibrahim, an indie author, and this is my debut paperback, Flaws.
If this somehow made it onto your timeline, please like, repost, and share. It would mean the world to me and would really help this book reach more readers.
Thank you so much. 🩷📚
Achiro P. Olwoch retweeted
WHY EVERYONE LOVES MIRIA MATEMBE:
——————————————————
See, Dr. Miria Matembe reminds almost everyone of their mother; the typical African Mother. Unpredictable, Fearless, Risky, Hilarious, in between being Mean and being Angelic.
-The kind of mother you ask after eating, “Mummy where should I put the plate,?” And she says, “Put it on my head.”
-The kind of mother who hears/sees you break a glass plate and gives you another ten plates saying, “Break these ones too, we no longer need them.”
-The kind of mother who attempts to slap your face and when you protect your face with your hands, she calls her brothers (your uncles) and says, “If you fine me dead just know your nephew finished me; isn’t he the one who now has beards and a deep voice?”
-That mother who would beat you blue black but should any teacher beat you at school, the headmaster, teacher on duty, bursar and Askari would have to leave the country until she stops coming to school to ask, “Who wanted to kill my child.”
-The kind of mother who would see you accept a piece of meat from the visitor and give you that look with a pointed mouth-the look that would make you go to wash plates, mop the toilets and slash the compound at night without being told to.
-A disciplinarian with unmatched motherly love, a pillar in her family, the one who keeps the home together and the one who praises God like they have ever met face to face.
That’s why we love Miria Matembe. We see our mothers in her.
Achiro P. Olwoch retweeted
All womens stand up and demand your rights today by Miria Matembe.
@NUP_Ug
@HEBobiwine
Achiro P. Olwoch retweeted
Members of the Uganda Women’s Movement across all generations have camped at Luzira court the whole day, waiting for the outcome of Hon. Dr. Miria Matembe’s bail application.
Ruling in a few #FreeMiriaMatembe
Achiro P. Olwoch retweeted
Besigye.
Matembe.
Kalyegira.
Lukwago.
Hundreds more.
Thousands more.
We're back in the nightmare they claim they released us from. – at Kampala, Uganda
Achiro P. Olwoch retweeted
September 1995:
Hon. Miria Matembe, among other outstanding women, celebrating the new Constitution, whose drafting she had been part of, including a strong Bill of Rights in Chapter 4.
Now, at 73 years, she has to helplessly plead like a child in tears before a young magistrate, for things as basic as respecting her right to health and fair hearing! Spending the night in jail with her raw disregarded pain, I can’t imagine what is running through her mind as she flashes back!
Achiro P. Olwoch retweeted
Hon Dr. Miria Matembe 20 years ago 👇
#MatembeOnceSaid
#IStandWithMatembe
#FreeMiriaMatembe
Uganda’s surviving matriarch of the women’s movement in military detention at 72 years
Achiro P. Olwoch retweeted
It's like watching my own mother. The emotions going through me right now, i can't even explain. How did we even get here?
Achiro P. Olwoch retweeted
And don’t forget to pray for your country. Don’t leave that to someone else, they are also leaving it to someone else and someone else might be too bitter or too preoccupied to remember that prayer changes things. Do not give up. Pray, wherever and whoever you are. It is not in vain. Please pray. This is not business as usual.
Achiro P. Olwoch retweeted
Even after Dr. Miria Matembe pleaded and cried for mercy. The magistrate still denied her bail application 💔
What happened to humanity ?
Achiro P. Olwoch retweeted
This was Hon. Miria Matembe pleading with the Magistrate to allow her to go for treatment for her back. "At least Amin used to shoot you, po! But this kind of breaking......." She said.
For context, this senior citizen was one of the eminent Ugandans who traversed this country seeking views on the 1995 Constitution! As I saw her crying out, I couldn't help but imagine what was going on in her mind. Mulimba mutufuze bubi nnyo!
#FreeUgandaNow