The ‘Wow’ of the Internet

Internet is the most fascinating invention of the century that has impacted greatly on the life of humanity in different ways. Through the use of the internet, I have been able to connect with the world by just a click of the mouse; in other words, I have ‘traveled’ all over the world. It’s so amazing how I have been able to connect with the other women from the extreme parts of the world.

The experience of using the web 2.0 is so fulfilling, captivating, empowering and enriching. Women issues are so diverse and affect society and yet not talked about in the open in society. When one prominent man dies in a community, all the headlines in the media will report on it and yet when 16 women die every day in Uganda due to child birth related complications; virtually 4 of every 10 women have been victims of gender based violence in Uganda and yet the media is quite.

It’s not so long ago when I got more interest in using the internet to enhance my knowledge and understand what goes on in other parts of the world especially in regard to women issues since we have been able to open up to each other and by such interactions have been able to appreciate what goes on in the other parts of the world but also around us.
My experience in using the internet is not so long ago, I have been able to meet other women, and shared ideas, thoughts and dreams and become friends with each other.

During the implementation of the SHIP project, I was yearning to get the plight of adolescents known to a broader section of the community and I shared various issues of young people in my networks. It was so amazing that the responses were intriguing. One particular incident is about a post I made about Nyakagyeme Senior Secondary school that experienced 50 girls dropping out of school in just one year due to teenage pregnancies and marriages. This posting generated tremendous response from all over the world and to date Sexual Health Improvement Project (SHIP) has got partners (individuals and organizations) providing support but also learning from it. After various interventions by SHIP in this school, the rate of teenage pregnancies has drastically dropped to only 3 in the last 2 school terms. I am excited about the web 2.0 because I have been able to connect with persons very far but also around me but with a particular course/purpose which would have not easily happened without the web. This is because someone goes out purposely to look out for something.

I am confident that the web 2.0 is a very instrumental tool for promoting, creating exposure, forum for discussion, education, career and professionalism. It’s my optimism to continue making better use of web 2.0 to propagate the need to address women issues in our development programmes and enhance the understanding among women that they have a critical role to play in changing the poor status they are facing and the communities around them.