June 9 – National Heroes' Day in Uganda

Posted on June 9, 2016

I read that National Heroes' Day is actually quite divisive for Ugandans. Everyone seems to disagree about who should be recognized as heroes!

Officially, the day seems to have been created to celebrate people who fought and died in the civil war, but since both sides of the war committed horrible crimes, it's hard for many to celebrate fallen soldiers. Some people want to celebrate non-soldiers such as the Ugandan doctor who detected a deadly Ebola outbreak and was able to institute a quarantine that stopped its spread.

Yeah, I agree! Let's celebrate that guy (or gal)!

Actually, I was unable to discover the doctor's name. So let's check out a few other Ugandan heroes:

Stephen Kiprotich is the reigning Olympic marathon champion,
having won the gold medal in the 2012 London Summer Olympics.
He also won gold at the 2013 World Championships.

John Akii Bua was the first Olympic champion from
his country. He ran the hurdles.

Chameleone is one of the most popular Ugandan musicians,
and he sings in Luganda, English, and Swahili.
His popularity has spread to other nations, and so
he is responsible for spreading consciousness of and
appreciation for Ugandan folk music and AfroBeat.

Mildred Barya is a prize-winning writer and poet.
She is a founding member and serves on the advisory
board of African Writers Trust.

I found it interesting that so many beautiful photos of Uganda center on water...since the country is landlocked. “Landlocked” means that it doesn't touch on an ocean or on a sea that connects to an ocean.

So why do we see photos like this one?

Uganda includes a substantial “chunk” of Lake Victoria, Africa's largest lake. And there are islands in that lake. And there are beaches on at least some of those islands. Beaches that look like tropical island beaches in the Pacific!

Here are some more beautiful-water photos of Uganda: