David Mafabi
26 October 2007
Mbale — THE first Ugandan newspapers were delivered to the newly created remote eastern border district of Bukwo recently amid excitement.
The very first copies of Daily Monitor were delivered to five schools in Suam town council.
"We have been reading Kenyan newspapers and in fact the majority of our children don't know that there are newspapers in Uganda at all," said Mr Martin Kiplagat, the acting chief administrative officer.
The newspapers were delivered under Daily Monitor's Newspapers in Education (NiE) project of the Young Readers' Programme. A total of 550 copies shall be sent to the district every Monday under Daily Monitor's NiE in partnership with Dutch NGO SNV.
Bukwo District was carved out of Kapchorwa District, over a year ago but the majority of its residents who do not often travel out of Bukwo, had never seen a Ugandan newspaper.
Mr Kiplagat said residents mainly trade in Kitale town in neighbouring Kenya due to the impassable 84-kilometre road stretch that connects the district to Kapchorwa.
"I have no words for Daily Monitor for being the first Ugandan newspaper to dare penetrate Bukwo. It is not easy to access this place," he said.
The NiE product is meant for children but in Bukwo many adults flocked to the the schools to see a Ugandan newspaper.
The District Education Officer, Mr Augustine Cherop described the mood at Suam, Kamet, Mugoyoni and Chepkwasta primary schools that received the first copies of the paper, as ecstatic.
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