LibGuides: Traveling through Africa: Uganda

Fiction
Nonfiction

Brush of Wings by Karen Kingsbury
Call Number: FICTION Kingsbury
Despite needing a heart transplant and against the advice of her doctor, Mary Catherine moves to Uganda to work at a new orphanage. Whatever time she has left, Mary Catherine wants to spend it helping children -- especially since there will be no children of her own. The only problem is Major League Baseball player Marcus Dillinger, the man she never meant to fall in love with. Neither Marcus nor Mary Catherine's other friends -- Tyler Ames and Sami Dawson -- know just how serious her heart condition is. Still, Marcus is sure in the depths of his soul that something isn't right. Ultimately his correspondence with Mary Catherine leads him on a desperate life-or-death mission to rescue her and get her to a United States hospital before time runs out. Meanwhile, Sami and Tyler struggle with issues of their own. In a season when Tyler plans to ask Sami to marry him, the very core of their relationship is in jeopardy.
A Girl Is a Body of Water by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
Call Number: FICTION Nansubuga Makumbi
In her twelfth year, Kirabo, a young Ugandan girl, confronts a piercing question that has haunted her childhood: who is my mother? Kirabo has been raised by women in the small village of Nattetta-her grandmother, her best friend, and her many aunts, but the absence of her mother follows her like a shadow. Complicating these feelings of abandonment, as Kirabo comes of age she feels the emergence of a mysterious second self, a headstrong and confusing force inside her at odds with her sweet and obedient nature. Seeking answers, Kirabo begins spending afternoons with Nsuuta, a local witch, trading stories and learning not only about this force inside her, but about the woman who birthed her, who she learns is alive but not ready to meet. Nsuuta also explains that Kirabo has a streak of the "first woman"-an independent, original state that has been all but lost to women. Kirabo's journey to reconcile her rebellious origins, alongside her desire to reconnect with her mother and to honor her family's expectations, is rich in the folklore of Uganda and an arresting exploration of what it means to be a modern girl in a world that seems determined to silence women. Makumbi's unforgettable novel is a sweeping testament to the true and lasting connections between history, tradition, family, friends, and the promise of a different future.
A History of Burning by Janika Oza
Call Number: FICTION Oza
At the turn of the twentieth century, Pirbhai, a teenage boy looking for work, is taken from his village in India to labor on the East African Railway for the British. One day Pirbhai commits an act to ensure his survival that will haunt him forever and reverberate across his family's future for years to come. Pirbhai's children are born and raised under the jacaranda trees and searing sun of Kampala during the waning days of British colonial rule. As Uganda moves towards independence and military dictatorship, Pirbhai's granddaughters, Latika, Mayuri, and Kiya, are three sisters coming of age in a divided nation. As they each forge their own path for a future, they must carry the silence of the history they've inherited. In 1972, under Idi Amin's brutal regime and the South Asian expulsion, the family has no choice but to flee, and in the chaos, they leave something devastating behind. As Pirbhai's grandchildren, scattered across the world, find their way back to each other in exile in Toronto, a letter arrives that stokes the flames of the fire that haunts the family. It makes each generation question how far they are willing to go, and who they are willing to defy to secure their own place in the world. A History of Burning is an unforgettable tour de force, an intimate family saga of complicity and resistance, about the stories we share, the ones that remain unspoken, and the eternal search for home.
Soldier Boy by Keely Hutton
Call Number: YA FIC Hutton
Follows Ricky from 1987-1991, and Samuel in 2006, as they are abducted to serve as child-soldiers in Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda. Includes historical notes and information about Friends of Orphans, an organization founded by Ricky Richard Anywar, on whose life the story is partly based.

Culture and Customs of Uganda by Kefa M. Otiso
Call Number: 967.61 Otiso
The wealth of detail in the coverage of the subjects above plus the land, people, history, literature, architecture/housing, cuisine, dress, gender roles, social customs and lifestyle, provides readers with broad sense of the country and its inhabitants. The sensitive narrative conveys the nuances between old and new, urban and rural, elite and poor for each topic. In addition, the evolution of Ugandan peoples is superbly demonstrated. Highlights include a discussion of the ways in which adherents of world religions such as Christianity and Islam mix these with traditional African religious belief in spirits, diviners, and rainmakers. The book also explores patriarchy and the social and inheritance system that has hindered women's education and prospects and exposed them to HIV/AIDS. Finally, there is a celebration of the various forms of artistic expression, such as drumming, ceremonial dance, and handicrafts, particularly ceramic pottery, that have won accolades, as well as a look at artists who excel in writing poetry, producing hip-hop, and painting batiks for popular consumption.
Operation Thunderbolt by Saul David
Call Number: 967.6104 David
On June 27, 1976, a group of Arab and German terrorists hijacked Air France flight 139 en route from Tel Aviv to Paris. The plane was diverted to Entebbe Airport in Uganda, where the terrorists demanded the release of fifty-three "freedom fighters" in Israeli, Kenyan, and European jails in return for the safe release of the 253 passengers and crew. Idi Amin, whose murderous rule of Uganda was then in its fifth year, made no attempt to intervene. After most of the non-Israeli hostages had been released, Israel faced an impossible choice: give in to terrorism or risk a rescue that had a high chance of failure. In the wake of the massacre of eleven Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics, this decision was almost incalculably difficult. As Saul David recounts in this reconstruction of one of the most complex Special Forces missions ever, Operation Thunderbolt required more than just tactical audacity. In a mere two days, three of the most important men in Israeli history--Ehud Barak, Shimon Peres, and Yitzhak Rabin--marshaled resources, secured necessary international partners, and masterminded the raid that would astonish the world. This book gives us the first comprehensive account, using classified documents from archives in tour countries and interviews with key participants, including Israeli soldiers and politicians, hostages, and a former terrorist. The result brings to life the role that ingenuity and bravery can play against even the most impossible odds and the most committed opponents.

Traveling through Africa: Uganda

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