Opinions are like...... we all have one!

For quite a while now, there has been the topic of the "Anti-gay bill" in Uganda. I have friends and people I know from all corners of the world in Amsterdam and they always ask me "is it true they kill gay people in Uganda?"....... It is a bill, not a law, and NO they do not kill gay people in Uganda. But I can assure you, if you go to Jamaica or Pakistan, they probably would kill you for being homosexual. Why is the media so focused on Uganda? Is it really because of the bill?

I have watched some foreign interviewers going to Uganda and interviewing MP's and local authorities about the situation. And I keep thinking to myself, is it really about human rights?
In August 2012, one British producer David Edwards Cecil that was arrested for staging an apparently controversial gay play “The river and the mountain” in Kampala, Uganda.
In my opinion, if you want to act on human rights, do not push buttons and move aside to see what will happen. Why did he not go to the Middle East or a really gay unfriendly country and make a statement there? I would have more respect for him, than coming to Uganda where the worst could be arrest or people booing at him.

People all over the world religiously listen to Dance hall and reggae even though it continuously bashes homosexuals. Why not bash Jamaican artists or boycott their concerts or iTunes that sells this music too?
I have realised that Uganda has become some sort of punch bag for many countries. We (meaning the leaders) have taken so much aid from Western countries, we are in debt till our throats yet still take more aid. Aid comes with so many strings attached. You can not expect someone to give you money just like that. It comes with a lot of conditions...."if I give you this amount, you have to do this in such and such period of time."
Debt is bondage!!!

And now so much aid was cut off because of the anti- gay bill. Maybe then Uganda will wake up!! If you are self sufficient, nobody can tell you what to do with yourself or resources.
Many Ugandans were complaining about how the West is hypocritical for cutting off aid.... Well you refused to live up to their expectations.You were asked to stop the anti gay bill...you refused..hence forth no more money! Besides how can they keep injecting money in dysfunctional economies. Something that also beats my understanding... over decades of giving aid, people noticed it does not work but still more funds are injected in these corrupt economies.

I do not care for anybody's sexual preference, I actually do not want to know what happens in people's privacy. I also do not reduce people to just their sexual orientation, educational background, how much money is in their bank account or many superficial aspects that we humans sometimes take so much pride in. I look at people from their actions, how they talk and react with me and other people. We all have different roles on this earth and this comes on different levels.

We all come from different backgrounds. I come from a polygamous background where it is okay for a man to have as many women as he pleases though he can only marry one (the irony). Almost every influential man in my country has illegitimate children or a string of affairs that can even be publicly known. It is very easy to have siblings you do not know about in my culture. When I mention that to some of my European friends here, they are amazed, sometimes shocked. That is when I also say.." When I tell my friends back home that in Europe, when your parents start getting old, they move out of your house or theirs and you put them in an old people's home where they usually spend the rest of their life......their jaws drop to the floor."

We all come from different backgrounds. I come from Uganda where we are not only governed by the Constitution but also Culture and Religion. This makes the society some what conservative. Much as people are opening up to many things, some things are rather still closed. Especially when it comes to sex. For instance, a prostitute's chances of ever getting a man to marry her are as slim as the chances of finding a needle in a haystack.

Even though prostitution is the oldest profession there is on this planet, it has failed to evolve into an actual profession where I come from. Despite survival knowing no dignity or shame, there are some things that are a cultural and social NO! Because where I come from, I had never met anybody who went into prostitution because it was a career option, but rather a means of survival or out of lack of employment or job skills.

On the other hand, in the Netherlands, prostitution is an actual profession where taxes are paid. Many prostitutes are even wives and mothers. Compared to Uganda where the whole community would only look at you as a prostitute and nothing else. Whatever you would do, you were still a prostitute. A woman that is selling her body.

Much as poor countries have no influence on rich countries, they are always expected to follow the richer nations in many aspects. Does that mean that for instance Germany has nothing to learn from Mali? Or that Canada can not learn from the Philippines? Isn't that an even bigger form of labeling and discrimination?

They want me to learn from them constantly, they want me to live as they live but they call my lifestyle primitive just because as a woman I chose to cover my whole body in clothing or if I decide to have concubines that could fill up a football field.
It is give and take...... You teach me something, learn from me as well. But also it is not by force, if I want you to learn about me and you are not willing, that is your right! You can take a donkey to the river, but you can not force it to drink!!

If someone does not get the concept of same sex marriage, it is does not necessarily mean that they are homophobic, maybe they just did not grow up with it. And if they want to stay in that state, that is their choice. If they do get to be open about it, well and good, if they do not...it is also their right. Do not label people homophobic when you do not know their history.

In my traveling, I have met so many incredible people and if I was so focused on their skin colour or sexuality or any other superficial aspect, I would be like a spider caught up in its own web. People are much more than the labels they are given. I want to work with all people from anywhere but when I hear people saying they want diversity in their companies so they will hire more blacks, gays and more women. I am like...... really? Hire people because they are that good not all this propaganda nonsense.

It is not entirely true that if you go to Rome, you do what the Romans do. But you can learn to live side by side with the Romans. I have lived in Holland for 6 years, I have failed to eat the slimy raw herring with raw onions, a typical Dutch culture but I also managed to some how learn the language.

I do not want this article to be one of those posts I see on Facebook where people are fighting against each other because with such topics, there are always the ones that support and the ones that are against. Why is everything black and white? There so many grey areas in life and in these grey areas, it makes us human beings. We are not robots that are programmed to only have one track opinions or go with the masses. We are all unique much as we are all under the same sun.