Books published by Fountain Publishers

Heroic Struggle: Coping with Chronic Illnesses guides a reader into living with a life-long disorder or disease. This is inspired by the personal experiences of the writer, who has beaten the odds, suffering from eczema for 14 years. It opens with a real-life situation and offers tips and insights for sufferers of chronic illness, victims, carers, families, friends, medical practitioners and institutions. It provides tangible approaches and coping mechanisms which different actors may and should adapt in such an adverse situation. Coping with chronic illnesses is not only a daunting task but rather an endeavour worth the label of a heroic struggle.

The importance of integrating indigenous knowledge systems into mainstream social work and ensuring context-specific, culturally relevant practice has long been emphasised in Africa and the Global South. This book, based on empirical research, presents a selection of indigenous and innovative models and approaches of problem solving that will inspire social work practice and education. At the core of these models lies a conceptual understanding of the community as the overarching principle for effective social work and social development in African contexts. The empirical part of the book has a focus on East Africa and highlights case examples from Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, and Kenya. The book is intended for use by those involved in social work and social development practice, social work educators, students, as well as policy makers. It is relevant not just for audiences in Africa but also the global social work community, especially those interested in promoting culturally relevant social work.

Mkwamo is a Kiswahili play written by Masereka Levi Kahaika and Published in 2013. Though largely fictious Mkwamo is also partly built on the background of the two existing kingdoms of Kasulenge and Bupomboli, which represent the kingdoms of Buganda and Bunyoro during the colonial period in Uganda. The play is also imagines the killings of the Uganda Martyrs; how and why it happened. The play offers readers a glance of the confusion between the kings of the time and the colonialists, and a reflection on the seeds of religiosity among the Ugandan community.

This selection of newspaper articles by columnist Kevin O'Connor for the Sunday Monitor, are drawn almost entirely from 2007 to 2015. Divided into thirteen chapters ranging from sex to religion and from inequality to the environment, the 193 articles are always thoughtful, often provocative and sometimes humorous. The text is further enlivened by Moses Balagadde's cartoons. Kevin provides a multitude of insights into Ugandan society, which amply reflect both the title of his column, Roving Eye, and his catchphrase, "For the observer of human behaviour every scene has its interest."

When the boys in her class asked her to sit on the ground in the classroom because they felt girls were dull and so only fit for the dusty floor while they sat on chairs, Grace refused to do so, and vowed to struggle for gender equality. As she excelled in school, the war in neighbouring northern Uganda districts was something Grace only heard about, but did not witness. In the early morning of 10 October 1996, this ended. The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebel group broke into her school dormitory at St. Mary's College, Aboke in Apac district, and abducted 139 schoolgirls. Grace was marched to South Sudan where she endured close to nine years of forced labour, hardship and violence at the hands of the rebels. This book is a story of her childhood, abduction and life inside the LRA. Grace never gave up hope of returning to Uganda to realise her dream. She escaped the LRA to resume her education, providing exceptional leadership to thousands of students in high school and university. Not Yet Sunset is a story of survival, resilience, determination and inspiration. Today, Grace is an advocate for the rights of women, children, and conflict-affected communities in Uganda. She has a degree from Gulu University in Development Studies and is currently pursuing a post-graduate diploma in Project Planning and Management.

In Challenging Social Exclusion: Multi-sectoral Approaches to Realising Social Justice in East Africa contributing authors interrogate the question of social justice in East Africa, unravelling how people who live on the margins of society are cheated of their livelihoods. The work delves into thorny issues in social justice and recommends ways of addressing them. Based on recent field research, the book is informed by views from latest scholarly works. Issues about social justice from various areas including judiciary, health, land law, education and legal institutions are presented and explained. The authors, through examples from different sectors across East Africa, establish that attainment of social justice is the foremost concern of the legal sector in relation to social protection and resource sharing. They show that the justice, law and order institutions are means through which social justice should be accessed without discrimination of the poor, marginalised and vulnerable people. Contributing writers are scholars from various backgrounds including development studies, social work and law. The book is written in clear language and well organised. It addresses the needs of social workers, local government leaders, women and gender activists, the legal fraternity and the general reader.

Over the past three decades, African countries have been reforming their public sector with a view to improving efficiency, effectiveness, accountability and transparency as part of efforts to improve the delivery of public services. Reform actions have included privatisation, public/private partnerships, commercialisation and adoption of private sector approaches in managing public organisations. This book, put together by OSSREA, reviews measures by African countries in that regard, the extent to which the measures have achieved their intended results, as well as the factors behind the failure to achieve those results, where this was the case.

It would be everybody's hope that the education system of a First World country would create room for a first rate academically-oriented student body. Yet when the author, Rev. Fred Sheldon Mwesigwa, encountered education in the UK's public secondary schools, the reverse was true. In this book, he compares the dire resistance to learning in the UK schools, with the high appetite for learning among Uganda's poor students. The book raises some pertinent issues concerning British educational policies and social responsibility towards children. The discussion also raises questions concerning the parameters of students' rights vis-a-vis teachers' exercise of authority and their own rights.

Despite significant economic recovery and improved macro-economic indicators since 1986, Ugandäs economy continues to face considerable challenges. This book analyses the relationship between economic and human resource development in the country. It identifies deficits in capabilities, skills, know-how, experience, linkage building, and technology use as well as undesirable business practices. These shortcomings limit economic diversification, productivity enhancement, job and income creation, as well as poverty reduction. The book calls for more efforts towards human resource development. The current narrow mainstream economic policy focus on macro-economic stability, a favourable investment climate, and improved physical infrastructure alone will not foster economic development and broad-based well-being. The Ugandan people and the private sector need more state support - in addition to the predominant education and health focus of the government and donors - if they are to develop the required human resources. More and better training, enhanced learning at the place of work and an improved business culture are vital. It is essential to focus on technical, organisational, managerial, entrepreneurial, learning, innovative, social, and institutional capabilities. Efforts towards dealing with these challenges will require attention to the political-economic climate of the country. To make the argument, the author covers a wide range of topics such as training and learning, technology, productivity, latecomer development, competitiveness, labour market, MSMEs, entrepreneurship, value chains, cooperation and trust, and human resource management. The book contains more than 130 figures, tables and information boxes. - See more at: http://www.africanbookscollective.com/books/ugandas-human-resource-challenge#sthash.4XThRHxq.dpuf

Prevalent poverty and related problems in the East African region call for substantial action from various stakeholders, including social workers. This book, based on comprehensive empirical research, portrays an emerging yet powerful profession that has a significant role to play in the endeavour towards social development, social justice, human rights and gender equality. The book is the first of its kind to provide first-hand theoretical and empirical evidence about social work in East Africa.

National Integration in Uganda 1962-2013 delves into the problems that have beset Uganda on the path to national integration and explores the prospects for consolidating this integration. The book reviews the process of incorporating three regions - Buganda, Karamoja and the Northern Region - into present-day Uganda, and examines the effects of this process. Besides ethno-cultural diversity, what impact has religious diversity had on this process? And what role has the language factor played? Is integration, in terms of territorial integrity, social cohesion and subordination to a central authority over the long term possible? The book offers insights that are crucial to the achievement of Uganda's dream of nationhood.

Doreen's story is a tale of modern Uganda. After her adored husband is abducted by armed men, she is harassed by her brothers-in-law. Destitute, she trains as a teacher, and sets up a drama and music project. She uncovers the exploitation and corruption of two headmasters, and meets many complications, though never loses her energy and humour.

Tall Grass: Stories of Suffering and Peace in Northern Uganda is a personal story of a Spanish priest who was working in northern Uganda when a bizarre group that called itself The Lord's Resistance Army declared war on the government. Within a few years, the conflict had brought large scale suffering and misery to the region. Father Carlos was so pained by the situation that he decided to embark on a quest to find a solution to the problem. But first he had to undertake a tacit and cautious inquiry into the nature and causes of the misunderstanding between the two sides to the conflict. Next he had to find allies to work with in the search for a solution. Father Carlos worked with Acholi Religious Leaders' Peace Initiative and the Justice and Peace Commission of Gulu Archdiocese. He was part of the efforts of northern Uganda's civil society, a peace movement that included traditional leaders, local politicians, religious leaders, media personalities as well as foreign diplomats, all of who could have some influence on the course of event. However, there were occasions in which the priest found himself in conflict with some of them, for different reasons. But Father Carlos would not listen to any of this because he was living in a theatre of horror in which he watched young children being abducted and being forced to join the rebels and young girls being forced to become rebels' concubines. So tormented was he by the magnitude of the human suffering he saw around him that he experienced psychological traumas that affected him deeply and required professional help. This book is Carlos' single minded determination to mobilise assistance for the abducted children and their families as well as for the hundreds of peasants who were driven into displaced people's camps by the war.