Revised Profile and Voice

Profile
 

Meet my mate Charlotte! Charlotte is a witty Brit who documents her Ugandan volunteer initiatives on a travel blog called “Diary of a Muzungu”. Charlotte conveys herself with such passion and excitement that she makes even elephant feces interesting...yum!

  Five years ago, Charlotte joined an international development charity called VSO (Voluntary Services Overseas). VSO strives to find a long-term solution to global poverty. The four main focuses are health, participation and governance, secure livelihoods, and education. These focuses encompass a holistic approach to global issues that parallels my public health aspirations.

In 2009, Charlotte joined the Uganda Conservation Foundation (UCF) with the goal of “achieving the balance between human development and wildlife and habitat conservation”.

       Since then, Charlotte dramatically expanded her blog into organized sections called “Adventure”, “Conservation”, “Diary”, “Society & Culture”, “Travel Tips”, “Travel”, and “Volunteering”. Because she posted monthly, this organization was important to filter posts into appealing themes. No one wants to read through 5 years of posts! This functionality might be one reason why her blog is popular. Over 50% of viewers spend 2.5+ hours reading her blog, and the average viewer reads her blog 3x a day. 

It’s encouraging to see such growth in Charlotte’s blog because it reveals the enormous capabilities of my own blog. Charlotte started her blog like mine-to document research and volunteer initiatives. However, her small-scaled means of Ugandan research evolved into a massive outlet for future learning!

Charlotte’s strong voice was another reason her blog caught my attention. Her words captivated my interest in both her volunteer work and in who she actually was. The voice behind her words is the inspiration that charges her words with purpose. This voice component is a tremendous reason why Charlotte’s blog has grown over the years. She started her blog with a shy, noob-like tone saying, 

“I’m just learning the ropes here with blogging but thought you might be interested in hearing about my journey ‘pre-departure’.” 

Her only tag was “Uganda”, and she had no links to support the networking aspect of her posts. This is exactly what my noob blog looks like, as I am still finding my voice and figuring out how to contribute my ideas to the social network.

Now, she is confident, funny, and opinionated. This successful blog growth/voice development is a direct product of Charlotte’s personal growth. “Diary of a Muzungu” was an outlet for Charlotte’s character development as she evolved from a shy blogger with one tag into a smooth, humorous blogger who invites you in by saying,

 “I am the Captain for your tour of the Pearl of Africa”. 

Now, her posts are filled with tags like this:
 

       
She is also very detailed as she links to pictures, other websites, and other blog posts. If she mentions a topic she previously discussed, she links the reader to that post by integrating the link into her sentence (rather than providing a daunting list of references). 

The resulting voice appeals to both common readers and academic scholars/ professionals because she speaks intimately and factually. She reveals emotions and opinions, but her content is supported by research and understanding. Thus, her personality-infused content delivery attracts common readers while her research attracts professionals (e.g  Wikipedia cites her for Muzungus). 

I aspire to model "Diary of a Muzungu", as Charlotte portrays a wonderful integration of her voice/personality with the details of her work/experiences. I want to surpass my noob status by capturing her ability to both educate and entertain a wide range of audiences.

Examples of some of her interesting posts are:

  1. 50 Reasons Why I Love Uganda; 

This post appeals to the common reader part of me who just wants to know what to look forward to when I go to Uganda!

   2. Interview with a Rebel: Ugandan Cultural Activist Stephen Rwangyezi

This post appeals to the scholar part of me because it details the history of the Ndere Cultural Centre and the Uganda Development Theatre Association. The topics are: dance, development, the impact of colonialism on traditional culture, and the conflicts of homosexuality and born-again Christians.

However, our blogs will differ because I’m going to Uganda for human based public health initiatives instead of animal conservation. My posts will also be limited because my service is restricted to 3 weeks. BUT, it is possible that my blog, like Charlotte’s, will evolve into a broader, more comprehensive outlet for my future travels and service!

Voice Critique

Meet Tumwijuke Mutambuka (say that 3x fast!). She is a brutally honest Ugandan journalist who authors Ugandan Insomniac. The words that scramble out of her unfiltered mind paint her posts with vivid social commentary and humor. She depicts life in Uganda with a satirical simplicity that elucidates larger societal issues. In this way, her spontaneity and passion arouses laughter. On the other hand, her words highlight deeper, serious issues.

       For example, in “Mr. Museveni, Please Come to My Wedding”, Tumwijuke utilizes extreme sarcasm while addressing President Museveni in a submissive manner. However, her sarcasm conveys a sense of feisty-ness that contradicts submissiveness.  For example, she says:

“Mr. President, I don’t have a husband-in-waiting. I’m searching for one, but the hunt is hard... I felt your pain when you admitted to being tormented because only you had the power of foresight for Uganda. I identify, Mr. President. I identify. There are no men who live up to my one and only requirement that they be men. Masculinity and vision are hard to find these days.”

Through these words, she highlights an unrealistic oppression-like attitude toward women. She agrees with Museveni’s strife for “vision” and “power of foresight for Uganda” in order to disagree with and undermine him. She  idolizes Museveni's authority when she repeats words like “I identify” next to "Mr.President". She is ironically idolizing his supreme and seemingly unquestionable authority. She doesn’t actually identify. Her feigned submissiveness undermines Museveni and highlights a larger societal issue.

This is especially apparent when she says how her “one and only requirement” is that “they be men”. The view that women don’t have needs or expectations other than simply having a man is patronizing towards women and their complex humanity. This jaded oppression of women deprives them of the empowerment, understanding, and respect they deserve.

 

            Later Tumwijuke sarcastically invites Museveni to her wedding and says:

"A congregation full of people… clapping at my unwise decision to choose a five-time divorcee as my marriage counselor... smiling hoards bless my man and I, ignoring the fact that he is a known thief and scoundrel. It’s beautiful, Mr. President.”

Because the only requirement is that he be a man, the quality of her husband’s character doesn’t matter. This is downright ignorant and stupid! Museveni would rather see traditional marriages/gender roles among scoundrels than nontraditional marriages of people with true love and upright character. It doesn’t matter that her husband is a “thief” and a “scoundrel”, because he only needs to be a man. 

This schleps all Ugandan women into the same E-harmony boat with the sole spouse criteria of “strong, masculine, man”. Her overstatement depicts Museveni’s wrongness for focusing solely on gender to define matrimony.

But hey, “it’s beautiful”. This is ironic because no one would agree that being married to a thief and scoundrel is “beautiful”.

Tumwijuke’s ironic and sassy attitude displays her strong opinion. Through artfully crafted word choice, she stirs your opinion in a conversation that dives beyond surface humor. Her sarcasm and wit display a profound understanding and awareness of her environment. “Laughing at Our Own Absurdity” is a great example of this.

She prefaces her post with “jus” saying that she has no constructive options to offer. Her use of “jus’” creates a nonchalant colloquial tone that identifies her post as a funny rant. However, she follows her preface with suspenseful “…” punctuation.

To relieve the suspense, she discusses how ridiculous Ugandans are for commercially marketing children. Although she presents this problem in a humorous manner, the  “…” creates an ominous vibe in the recognition of a terrible problem. 

Tumwijuke then personifies Uganda:

“Yes, Uganda knows how to sell its children.”  

       The personification villainizes Ugandans as it implicates all Ugandans in the responsibility for marketing children.The sarcastic use of “yes” sets an artificial encouraging tone that reiterates the issue as something so easily accepted and promoted.

Her encouraging tone depicts how Ugandans are blinded to their blunders. Good job Uganda! Thus, her encouraging tone is used to discourage this abuse of children.

        Continuing her hyperbolic language, Tumwijuke interjects with “Eeeeeh? Aaaaaah!”. These interjections magnify the absurdity of marketing children like animals on display.

Furthermore, she overstates the issue when she says:

“They are doing a good job! They are raising good money for the underprivileged in Uganda…Their mission is higher than any because it is a mission directed by God”
 

            Her sarcasm underscores ignorance. They really are raising money for Uganda, BUT this skewed moral justification (using the bible!) for selling children is ridiculous.Thus, Tumwijuke utilizes an excellent rhetorical appeal to human rights and morality to convey her messages.

Her firm and clever delivery of Ugandan issues is something I wish to emulate. However, Tumwijuke's opinion blog differs from my blog because my blog is more fact/research based. Fortunately, her opinion and first-hand accounts of her country are wonderful insights for health professionals to use as community analysis tools. Her brave endeavor to tackle societal issues can guide future health research and effective solutions.