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Shaka Mao

@_segutunga_

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Community development worker
exploring collective power 4 Social Justice.
#freetheyouth
#freemovement
#freeafrica

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Equality on this land often arrives not as justice, but as shared vulnerability, shared neglect, and shared suffering manufactured by broken systems rather than fate.

We are not all exempt from what can and could go wrong in our home, on this farm. Not from poor roads or hospital rooms running on hope.

Silence does not fix it, nor does it cure disease, nor does inaction stop bleeding. So, as we wait for development to literally take hold, we must be more concerned about what's actually going on. Not just for ourselves, but for our neighbours, in our home, our country.

Here is the Ugandan farm as I see it and live it, from health to livelihoods, from justice to dignity. In this farm, we suffer together, and until accountability is demanded, suffering is not destiny! It is policy, neglect, and silence

Enjoy, and leave a comment if you wish. by @_segutunga_

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9 months ago

Artist Statement.
Home is a paradox for me. It is refuge and cage, cradle and wound. In Home, I explore the tension between these extremes, the spaces where pain, memory, and longing collide. Home is where I lay my head, and my mind goes to rest, a room that knows my farts, walls that hold both my sorrow and my stories, where grief is not asked to perform, and my heart can rest, though not always in peace.

I ask difficult questions: Aren’t we tired of paying the cost of living, of surviving, without ever being valued? If so, how do we turn our wounds into strategy, our grief into pressure soft enough to bring people together, strong enough to move systems? How do we resist harm without losing ourselves? And how do we claim our humanity in spaces that would rather see us broken?

Home is inspired by the people I have watched leave their homes, sometimes for painful reasons, like war, sometimes in search of a place that truly welcomes them. I have heard stories of longing and absence, of homes that change and no longer love them back. It comes from personal struggle and collective endurance.

I carry the weight of inherited pain and the longing for a home that sees me, holds me, and judges me little. Home is more than just a place, it is a survival strategy, a site where love and trauma, nurture and harm, coexist and are negotiated.

Through the poem, I illuminate the invisible architecture of suffering and belonging. I create space for reflection and solidarity, insisting that both my pain and the pain I witness be recognised, honoured, and transformed. Home is where I learn to break, to stay, to resist, and, perhaps, to heal. It is the place I carry with me, whether near or far, and the lens through which I see myself and the world.

And yet, I must say: we cannot normalise suffering inflicted by our own people, our own land, or our own government. If the pain comes from family, it is sharper, so sharp that facing a stranger would feel like mercy. That is my truth. Harambee..

@dut_jessino you inspired this one too.
"Where I come from, we don't aim for the stars, we shoot our own" by @_segutunga_

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6 months ago

Kisubi schools Career day.

AmFuture being passionate about Youth and talent development, we were invited to talk to students of kisubi schools about passion, Goal setting, inspiration, Entertainment and prioritising what is prime at a given time, for them, SCHOOL.

We had an interactive session and the students sure enjoyed it and themselves..

Special thanks to the school administration for acknowledging creative arts, and inviting experts to inspire and enlighten students about the industry and on the different ways we break even as creatives or personalities in the media and entertainment industry.

@ian_muwonge_ well done sir. taken in Kisubi Schools by @_segutunga_

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3 years ago

We cannot afford to keep quiet anymore..
Credit @dailymonitorug very good story.. by @_segutunga_

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3 months ago

On reading Ngwena’s What is Africanness? Questions linger and refuse to let go.

We speak of “African culture” as if it were a single room with one door. Charles Ngwena calls this nativism: the political rhetoric and act of shrinking, belittling, and reducing a vast, living multiplicity into one fixed, policed identity.

Here is the part that stings most: nativism comes not only from outside. It comes from within, dressed in the language of tradition, authenticity, and belonging, wielded most sharply against those whose lives refuse the approved shape.

On the other hand, how many of us are willing to sit with difference, to hold multiple truths at once, even as bias, prejudice and misinformation continue to hurt, threaten and erase people and societies?

When someone says, “This is un-African,” are they describing culture, or performing a power move that overlooks complexity to control it?

Tragically, the damage falls on the people who are told they do not belong in the culture they were born into. People who are criminalised for who they are and how they live and love are not outside African culture, they are African culture. by @_segutunga_

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6 months ago

We are all a little broken if you look closer. by @_segutunga_

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7 months ago

Artist Statement

In this poem, I examine the psychological and historical weight carried within Black identity. I confront the inherited narratives that have long framed Blackness and Africa itself through absence, inferiority, or distortion.

I explore how such narratives not only remain external but also slowly take root in the mind, shaping how one sees oneself and measures one's worth. Through the poem, I trace this quiet violence and the way a lie, repeated long enough, can begin to feel like truth.

Yet the work also charts a movement toward self-recognition. I reflect on the moment when internalised stories begin to unravel, revealing that what was accepted as truth was, in fact, constructed. In this way, the poem becomes both a meditation on memory and an act of resistance.

At its core, I reclaim Blackness as generative rather than deficient. Darkness is often associated with absence or negativity, but here I reimagine it as a space of possibility, like night, where stars appear, and light becomes visible. Darkness is not emptiness but a field of resilience, transformation, and illumination.

Central to this vision is the enduring strength of women. Their hands hold memory, their resilience nurtures hope, and their presence shapes the future. Through images of the body, inheritance, and cosmic darkness, I affirm that identity is carried not only in appearance but in history, survival, and the women who sustain life.

Ultimately, I invite readers to question inherited ideas of worth and to recognise the dignity and light that persist even within shadow.

"You hear something long enough, you start to believe it.
Get broken hearted enough it's so hard to heal it.

You told me I was wrong and I started to feel it"

Shout to @megaishername for such powerful lyrics and for the inspiration. by @_segutunga_

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7 months ago

Feel sparingly! by @_segutunga_

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8 months ago

Post Poem: Birds of a feather.

Wait, is it just me, or is pain written in every warrior’s eyes? Look around. Tell me, what do you see?

Our friends are weary, and the people are bruised, their spirits heavy with frustration at dreams that feel choked.

Part of this struggle is economic. Youth unemployment in Kampala is around 15%, and in the northern and eastern regions, poverty exceeds 40%. When survival is a daily battle, some turn to tragic, sophisticated, financially-driven crimes, fraud, cybercrime, and violence that truly hurts.

Then there’s the justice system. Many see officials who go unpunished, while others are policed simply for being who they are. That breaks trust in a way silence alone never could.

And the city itself is changing fast.

Rapid urbanisation has brought people pouring in from all corners, but our infrastructure has not kept pace. Roads are poor and congested, schools and health facilities are stretched thin, and policing struggles to cover growing neighbourhoods.

Add rising living costs, underemployment, food, rent, and basic services, and you see why pressure builds.

Crime, in this sense, is both a result of and a signal of these challenges: economic stress, poor governance, urban growth, and inequality.

So yes, overall crime might be lower than in some past years. But the crimes we do see are serious, economically motivated, and very visible. That’s why it feels like the city is struggling more than ever.

In all honesty, it is striking and sad to see that the capital has grown, yet so many challenges remain: violence, healthcare, education, and, in many cases, food security.

Money meant for the public should do just that. by @_segutunga_

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8 months ago

Freedom looks like thinking out loud.

If it was a class room, doors would be open, noise inside and questions everywhere.

"The future is rarely illustrated by the same hands that survive its theft"... Interesting quote!.

#decoloniality #epistemicviolence #epistemicdisobedience #freetheyouth #freethemind by @_segutunga_

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9 months ago

You don't need to study African history to understand the frustration on the streets of Nairobi, Lagos, Rabat, or Dakar. You see it in the news, in the faces of young people marching for their futures, and in the hashtags echoing across social media.

Across Africa, where more than 60% of the population is under 25, young people are no longer waiting for leaders to solve problems that affect their lives every day.There is a Ugandan proverb that I like, “The child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth.”

The proverb speaks to the consequences of exclusion, not an endorsement of destruction. Youth across the continent are rising because they feel ignored, neglected, and denied real opportunity and because dignity has been postponed for far too long.

Our neighbours in Kenya continue to call for accountability, transparency, and change amidst deepening economic hardship. Young people are leading the charge, resisting attempts to dismiss them as simply disruptive and insisting instead that they be taken seriously as citizens with a stake in the future.

In Morocco, young people took to the streets demanding better healthcare, education, and jobs rather than continued investment in flashy infrastructure, a clear plea for priorities that serve people, not image. In Togo, youth simply wanted to be heard on governance and justice, asking for dialogue rather than dismissal.

This movement is not limited to Africa. Around the world, from Bulgaria to Nepal, young people have mobilised against inequality, corruption, and elitism, forcing leaders to reckon with the voices of a generation that refuses to be invisible. And while these protests are powerful and inspiring, young people are not seeking chaos. We are demanding dignity, opportunity, and inclusion.

Our energy and sacrifice are not lessons in rebellion for its own sake, but calls for governance that listens, respects, and responds. Across Africa, young people are challenging poor governance, unemployment, rising costs of living, and systemic corruption, and they are doing it visibly, loudly, and with resolve.

So here is a poem to the world leaders and the African kings. Free us... by @_segutunga_

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10 months ago

Something about the trajectory of our future in this regard, is deeply unsettling. We may have more churches than schools and hospitals combined. by @_segutunga_

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8 months ago