LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Student Hilda Flavia Nakabuye is at the forefront of Uganda\u2019s Fridays for Future strikes – but it was years until the 22-year-old realized her own family were victims of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Storms and drought forced Nakabuye\u2019s family to sell their livestock and almost all their land a decade ago, and she was forced out of school for months over unpaid tuition fees. None of them understood why their luck had turned so bad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe all didn\u2019t know it was because of climate change,\u201d Nakabuye told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a telephone interview from the Ugandan capital, Kampala, recalling her grandmother\u2019s confusion and distress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe sometimes told me that the gods must be very angry at us … I can remember her tears; her eyes sobbing with tears all the time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was only when Nakabuye joined Kampala International University three years ago that she learned global warming was driving the destructive weather patterns – and became part of a growing movement of young protesters demanding climate action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt felt very bad,\u201d she said, \u201cbut then at some point it felt like a relief because you can\u2019t solve a problem that you don\u2019t know the cause for.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As Fridays for Future strikes, launched by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg in 2018, spread across the world, Nakabuye has rallied young Ugandans to ditch school and protest, including delivering a list of demands to the Speaker of Parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the East African country\u2019s vulnerability to climate change, awareness of the issue is low, said Nakabuye, calling for women and girls to be given a strong voice in helping Uganda deal with the impacts of more extreme weather patterns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As co-founder of Uganda\u2019s Fridays for Future movement, Nakabuye appeared alongside Thunberg at United Nations talks in Spain and will travel to Britain to speak at a women\u2019s rights rally in London next Sunday, which is International Women\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nakabuye hopes to use her story to highlight how climate change is affecting Uganda and developing countries – particularly women and girls in rural areas who spend hours fetching water, digging fields and cooking for their families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Uganda, agriculture accounts for 70% of employment, mostly on small farms, according to the World Bank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Climate change has brought erratic weather, with heavy rainfall and flooding, as well as prolonged dry seasons and droughts, threatening crops and livelihoods – with women often burdened with ensuring everyone is washed and fed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn a traditional Ugandan setting, women suffer the most. They play the most roles in a family or a community,\u201d said Nakabuye. \u201cWomen have to move long distances to look for firewood, to fetch the water, to finish up all these chores.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The climate movement must listen to women as they can draw on their experiences to offer solutions, she added, as well as making space for voices from Africa and developing countries grappling with the impacts of a warmer world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a good thing that women are starting to take roles and responsibilities in fighting to protect their futures,\u201d said Nakabuye, who plans to study for a master\u2019s degree in sustainable development to help her community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWomen are on the frontlines of the climate crisis … I don\u2019t think it is possible to have equality for women and girls without climate justice.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Student Hilda Flavia Nakabuye is at the forefront of Uganda\u2019s Fridays for Future strikes – but it was years until the 22-year-old realized her own family were victims of climate change. Storms and drought forced Nakabuye\u2019s family to sell their livestock and almost all their land a decade ago, and she was forced out of… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":144,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/144"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4151"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4152,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4151\/revisions\/4152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}