UW author reads from African novel

by Kristin Snell of Waterloo International

As we go about our daily lives, complaining about the too hot or too snowy weather, our too busy lives, and the many things that annoy us, few among us pause to think about life in a country torn apart by political turbulence, who struggle each day for survival and who cannot complain for fear of retribution. In his novel Duel with a Dictator, An African Woman’s Political Struggle, Emmanuel Acheta, now of Waterloo, provides a glimpse of life in a country under a corrupt, ruthless dictator. His main character, Paula Okappah, galvanizes the opposition against the long-reigning dictator and endures exile, harassment, torture and jail.

He'll appear at noon today, in one of the final events for International Education Week at UW. He'll read excerpts from his book, Duel with a Dictator, starting at 12:00 in Waterloo International, Needles Hall room 1101. Some copies of the book will be available for purchase.

Asked why he chose to write from a woman’s perspective, Acheta (left) explained that "women activists who resist injustice or struggle for fairness, of any kind under the sun, have always captured my heart and it almost natural that I empathize with them. I push their struggle as if my voice and perspective was their very own. I'm passionate about women's issues, especially issues that they front to better society, for example, securing prosperous and healthy families. I believe that the more women there are in leadership positions, the better the world will be. I follow human rights issues around the world, and I am an unapologetic advocate of women activists seeking to right the world.”

Born in Teso in eastern Uganda, Acheta came to Canada in 1999. He graduated from Makerere University Kampala with a degree in commerce and from Wilfrid Laurier University with an MBA. When inspiration strikes, he dedicates his early mornings to the literary word, while his days are spent working with numbers as a financial analyst in UW’s Office of Research. He also serves on the Board of African-Canadian Association of the Tri-Cities and is active in his church. He lives in Kitchener with his wife, Carol, and their daughter, Patience.

He says he appreciates the freedom of speech and the health care system in Canada but misses Uganda’s fruits, which he thinks “are among the juiciest fruits in the world”. He also feels disconnected from the rich folk stories his grandparents told him, and the sense of togetherness that comes from an extended family.

His next literary work is a non-fiction book tentatively titled My Canadian Journey: Letters to My Daughter. It is “the outpouring of a father's heart and soul to a daughter on what it means for her to grow up in this country of opportunities, and to some, a country of trials. This will be advice on living a life of hard-work, community, honesty, faith in God, and encouraging her to aspire to her wildest dreams in whatever she will seek to do.”

International Education Week will also be marked at St. Paul's College, with "international cuisine" in the Watson Student Centre at noontime today. And a display on international study opportunities winds up today in the Renison University College library.

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Lectures at tomorrow's CS open house

a release from the UW media relations office

More than 150 high school students and their parents can explore the breadth and depth of computer science research and teaching during the University of Waterloo's CS4U at UWaterloo Day on Saturday. The event, hosted by the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science, is aimed at students in Grades 8, 9, 10 and 11, their families, and interested computer science and mathematics teachers. It takes place from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the William G. Davis Computer Research Centre.

The participants attending the event will be acquainted with computer science and introduced to the forefront research being carried out at UW. The activities require no computer science background.

"Computer science is changing the world in more ways than anybody could have imagined," said Dan Brown, a professor of CS and director of first-year studies. "The fundamental concepts of this young intellectual discipline are reshaping the way we think — the scientist, the banker and the social worker must all think computer science. We explore what computers can and can't do, and how computer science is changing everything from origami to cellphone privacy."

While most speakers are UW computer scientists, one is a prominent software engineer at Google Waterloo. Joanne McKinley, who graduated from UW, will give a talk entitled Internet and Email in Your Pocket: The Science Behind Software for Mobile Phones.

Other topics presented by UW researchers:

• How to Hide Secrets from Nosy Siblings (and Others) — Urs Hengartner
• Fax Yourself Around the World — Tian Kou
• The Ancient Art of Origami Meets the Modern Art of Algorithms — Anna Lubiw
• Encode a Human on a CD: Genome Sequencing for Personalized Medicine — Bin Ma
• What is Computer Science? — M. Tamer Özsu
• Meet the Smart-Walker, a Robotic Nurse — Pascal Poupart

Posters and invitations were sent to all Ontario high schools and members of Grand Valley Math Association. The math association reaches a wide southern Ontario area, including Brantford, Goderich, Milton and Stratford, and all the communities and schools in between. The event is free and lunch will be provided. Students are asked to register online.

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Caesar, winter, and other notes

The drama department’s production of Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” is nearing the end of its run, with a student matinee today at 12:30 and public performances tonight and tomorrow at 8:00, all in the Theatre of the Arts, Modern Languages building. Tickets are $12 (students $10) from the Humanities box office, 519-888-4908. Mark Kimmich, arts editor of Imprint, had an interesting review last Friday, observing that the show “could not have been better timed. Issues of dictatorship and democracy — and the role of the plebes in the two — are echoed in our own political atmosphere.” The production is directed by drama professor Jennifer Roberts-Smith and stars Terry Reid as Caesar and Kristi Dukovich as Brutus.

Snow on lawns and snow on windshields has its delights, but not so much for those who have to live and sleep outdoors. And that’s the background for an event that will start tonight at 7:00 in the Student Life Centre courtyard. “Out in the Cold” is a charity fund-raiser and awareness-raiser, writes arts student Nick Petten: “We are raising cash donations for an organization called ROOF (Reaching Our Outdoor Friends), which provides essential services for youth between the ages of 12 and 25. The event consists of participants sleeping outside overnight for 12 hours to raise awareness and shed some light on the issue of homelessness in our Region. The act of sleeping outside overnight lets students and community members experience a very little bit what it is like to be homelessness in the streets during the cold winter months.”

With fall term exams on the horizon — well, they’re more than on the horizon; they’re more like knocking on the kitchen window — anyway, the UW libraries will have extended operating hours starting this Sunday, and running until the end of exams on December 19. Through that period, the Davis Centre library will be open 24 hours a day, except for Sundays from 2 to 8 a.m. The Dana Porter Library will be open 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily. December 20 through 23, the libraries will have daytime hours only, and then will be entirely closed from December 24 until the new term begins on January 5.

Sean Roche, a fourth-year civil engineering student and forward for the men’s hockey Warriors, is the Canadian Interuniversity Sport male athlete of the week after scoring five times in two games last weekend. • The Engineering Society’s end-of-term drama production, dubbed “EngPlay”, is in production tonight and tomorrow, though I haven’t received details. • Food services is taking reservations for a Christmas buffet lunch offered in the Laurel Room of South Campus Hall December 9 through 12 (turkey, sirloin, tofu curry and Christmas pudding, $17.95, call ext. 84700).

The engineering faculty’s e-newsletter reports that Jonathan Kofman, a faculty member in systems design engineering, is the inaugural recipient of the En-hui Yang Engineering Research Innovation Award established by Waterloo electrical and computer engineering professor En-hui Yang. Yang, co-founder of RIM subsidiary SlipStream Data, donated the proceeds of his 2007 Ontario Premier’s Catalyst Award for Innovator of the Year to support research and innovation by Waterloo Engineering faculty. Kofman, whose award is valued at at least $16,000, was selected by a committee made up of representatives from Waterloo Engineering departments.”

The Pragma Council, an advisory body for the UW school of planning, met on November 13 and 14 to discuss “the management of change”, with speakers including Sheila Botting, a senior “capital markets” official with Cushman and Wakefield LePage Inc. • Beate Flint, who has been a custodian in UW’s plant operations department since April 1976, will officially retire as of December 1. • The Centre for International Governance Innovation is holding a workshop today and tomorrow in Stellenbosch, South Africa, under the title “Moving Health Sovereignty: Global Health, African Perspective”.

CAR

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