Tegeera Study Track

Everyone is using AI, but few know how to use it without losing their academic soul.

Namirembe writes her blog post about AI ethics Photo by Timothy Kalyegira

• Use AI to correct grammar, simplify a point, or find better words.

• Asking AI to write an entire assignment is unethical. It is like paying someone to sit one’s papers.

• AI can be a "professional conman." It might create fake facts just to fill space or give you citations for books that don't even exist in any library. This is called hallucination.

• If one has a brilliant point in their head but they are struggling to find the right academic English, one can ask AI to "rephrase this sentence to be more formal."

• After finishing your draft, paste it into the AI and say: "What are the weaknesses in my argument?" This helps one fix gaps before they actually submit.

• If you have a 50-page PDF that is too "heavy" to read before a morning lecture, ask AI to "give me the five main points of this document." It helps you get the gist so you can go and read the details yourself.

• If one’s notes are disorganised, they can ask AI to arrange them in a logical way. This helps one structure one's thoughts so they can study more effectively.

• When you are staring at a blank page, and the deadline is knocking, ask AI for an "outline" or "structure" for your essay topic. It gives you the "skeleton," but you must provide the "meat" and the local examples.

• The Golden Rule: If you would be "ashamed" to tell your lecturer that you used AI for a specific part of your work, you are probably crossing the line into cheating!

I Can Smell AI from a Mile Away (And the Lecturer Can Too!)

I’m going to be honest: I am sick of reading and listening to AI-generated group presentations. Whether it’s an AI image that looks 'too perfect' or a 2,000-word essay that sounds like a robot, I can smell it a mile away, and I’m tired of it. This is not to say that I’m not guilty of using it too.  I’ve used these tools myself, so I know exactly how the 'shortcut' trap works. But if I can tell it’s fake, believe me, your lecturers can too. Here is how to tell when someone is being lazy:

• If your coursework is full of words like delve, tapestry, pivotal, or shaping the landscape, you’ve been caught. Real students don’t write like that!
• AI work often feels "flat" because every sentence is roughly the same length, whereas real people mix short, punchy points with longer explanations to give their writing a natural rhythm.
• AI is always too nice. If you ask it "Who makes the best Rolex in Kampala?" it will give a boring, balanced answer. Real people have strong, local opinions; AI doesn't.
• Look at those AI-generated posters. Are there six fingers on a hand? Do the people in the background look like thin millet porridge? If the signposts are written in a strange language, it’s a fake.  

This AI-generated image contains unreadable text and hidden SyncID

Why the above image is fake news:

Unclear Text: Although the main poster is clear, the Stabex board behind has numbers that look "melted," and the small writing at the bottom is just scribbles that make no sense.

Plastic Skin: That man holding the sign has skin which is too "polished,” it looks like a 3D animation instead of a real person sweating in the Kampala heat.

Anatomical Errors: If you look at the hand of the man in the reflector jacket, his pointing finger is suspiciously long, and how he is holding that wooden pole is physically impossible.

Digital Markers: You can clearly see the Gemini Sparkle icon sitting in the bottom-right corner, confirming this image is artificial and was generated by Gemini Ai. 

Use AI to Catch AI

To determine if an image was generated by AI:

• Upload the image to an AI tool and ask if the image was AI-generated.

• The AI will search for digital watermarks like a SyncID, or "unnatural metadata." A SyncID is a hidden digital stamp buried inside an image that only a computer can see to prove it was made by AI. An Unnatural Metadata are hidden file notes that look unusual because they lack real camera details and instead show computer-made labels.

• The AI scans for inconsistencies, like shadows falling in opposite directions or skin and surfaces looking too perfectly smooth to be real.

If we use AI to do the thinking, we’re the ones losing.

Coming up next: Using Ai without Cheating

Okonkwo’s story, as told in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart is a perfect example of how childhood trauma can influence someone’s future. Throughout his life, he is haunted by a deep fear of becoming like his father, Unoka and strives to be successful. He uses traditional wisdom and proverbs to justify his rigid behaviour and hide his inner anxiety. He tries hard not to let his father's failures ruin his success.

1. The Fear of Being "Soft"

Although Okonkwo’s father loved music, the people in his village looked down on him because he was poor. They called him "agbala," an insulting word used for men who had no official titles or who were seen as feminine. 

This leaves Okonkwo with a deep emotional wound. To distance himself from his past and his father’s "weak" reputation, Okonkwo decides that being a man means hiding any sign of weakness. He walks on his heels as if on springs, always ready to pounce on somebody. This aggressive stride is his way of rejecting the haggard and mournful stoop of his father. One elder uses the proverb, "Looking at a king's mouth, one would think he never sucked at his mother's breast," to describe his character. Okonkwo believes a man must never show emotion or act as if he ever needed help. To him, earning titles and showing strength in war is the only way to prove he isn't "feminine" like his father.

To Okonkwo, a weed-chocked farm signalled a man’s failure

One elder uses the proverb, 'Looking at a king's mouth, one would think he never sucked at his mother's breast,' to describe his character. Okonkwo believes a man must never show emotion or act as if he ever needed help. To him, earning titles and showing strength in war is the only way to prove he isn't 'feminine' like his father.

2. The Need for Total Control

Okonkwo’s home life shows a constant need for dominance. During the Week of Peace, a time meant for kindness, he beats his youngest wife because she does not cook his dinner on time.

From a psychological view, Okonkwo cannot follow the "soft" rules of the Week of Peace because he views any form of restraint or patience as a threat to his authority. He lives by the idea that "if a child washed his hands he could eat with kings." To him, this means that as long as he works hard and acts tough, he earns the right to rule his household with an iron hand. He would rather break sacred laws and risk the wrath of the gods than appear to lose control for even a single minute.

3. The Ikemefuna Case

The most tragic part of his life is the death of Ikemefuna, a boy who lived in his house and called him "father." Even though Okonkwo was fond of the boy, he never showed it. A wise elder, Ezeudu, warned him: "That boy calls you father. Do not bear a hand in his death."

But when the men led the boy into the woods, Okonkwo’s fear made him lose his way. When the boy was attacked, he ran to Okonkwo crying, "My father, they have killed me!" Instead of helping, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was dazed with fear, terrified that if he showed mercy, the other men would think he was weak. By killing the boy, he ignored the elder's advice and ruined his own peace of mind.

4. The Mind That Cannot Bend

When Okonkwo is exiled to his mother’s village, he falls into a deep depression. He cannot see the value in his mother’s family because he views anything "maternal" as weak. 

He feels like a lost man, fearing his life will end up empty and haggard like his father's.

He feared the forest reclaiming his father’s failed legacy

When he returns home and finds that his son, Nwoye, has joined the new church, Okonkwo snaps. He sits by his fire and calls his son "cold ash," thinking of the proverb: "Living fire begets cold, impotent ash." He sees himself as the roaring fire and his son as the useless remains. He cannot understand that the world is changing. Because his ego is like stone, it does not bend—it shatters.

Conclusion

Okonkwo’s life is a lesson in the danger of a rigid ego. He spends his life building a wall against his father’s ghost, but that wall eventually becomes his own prison. When the world changed and the white man arrived, Okonkwo could not change with it. He was not destroyed by a new government; he was destroyed by his own inability to accept that true strength includes the courage to be human. His refusal to bend eventually led to his tragic end.

Have you noticed how much noise is in Kampala's suburbs? Everywhere we go, from the massive billboards of beverage companies to shops blasting loud ads through megaphones and the constant ting-ting of WhatsApp notifications, it feels like we are living inside our screens.

But here’s a deep question: Is the media showing us what Uganda is really like, or is it actually creating the world we live in?

1. We are "Saturated" (It’s Everywhere!)

Remember when we only had one TV channel and a handful of radio stations to choose from? Those days are long gone. Today, with 54 TV stations and 282 radio stations saturating the airwaves, the media has become like the dust in Kampala. It's everywhere, settling into every corner of our lives, and there is simply no avoiding it.

Whether you’re at a shopping mall in Ntinda or in a taxi to Entebbe, someone is on TikTok, a radio is blasting, or a TV is showing football. We are so "soaked" in media that it has become the basis of how we think. We don’t just watch the news; we live it.

2. When Everything is a Product

Think about being a football fan. Whether you support KCCA FC or you’re a die-hard Manchester United fan, your love for the game is now a massive business. It’s not just about the ball; it’s about:

• Buying that expensive DSTV subscription.
• Betting on apps during your lunch break.
• Buying the latest "original" jersey in downtown Kampala.

Even our hobbies are now just another way for companies to make money.

3. Information Overload

Have you ever felt "information overload"? This is when you have so many TikToks, tweets, and news alerts coming at you that your brain just gives up.

Instead of understanding a big issue deeply, we just scroll. We half-watch the 9 PM news while checking Instagram and chatting on WhatsApp. We aren't looking for the "truth" anymore; we are just looking for the next quick thrill or lugambo (gossip).

A woman focuses on a screen Photo by Timothy Kalyegira

4. Is the "Real World" Gone? 

Some scholars argue that the line between "real life" and "media life" has completely disappeared. For example, when something happens in town, we don't judge it by what we saw with our own eyes. We judge it by which video is trending on social media. 

If it’s not on social media, did it even happen? To many of us, the "screen version" of our lives feels more real than the actual world.

Light from a television reflects on a woman in a darkened room Photo by Timothy Kalyegira

The Bottom Line

Media isn't just something we "use" anymore—it is the world we live in. We are constantly bombarded by ads and messages because companies are always looking for new ways to sell us things.

So, next time you’re scrolling through your phone for the fifth hour today, ask yourself: are you living your life, or are you just living in the media's version of it?

Chapter 1: The Struggle Was Real (March 28, 2026)

Before the tarmac, we were "eating" dust every day.

Campaign posters overlook the Kira-Mulawa mud

For a long time, the people in Kira-Mulawa Road have suffered living under a thick blanket of red dust that slows down every business. On March 28, a heavy downpour turns this busy section into a muddy area near Kira town. This mess is a hint of how the old road used to fail us and why we really needed this "glow-up."

The red dust era ends as new tarmac arrives

Even when some parts are still muddy, we can see fresh black tarmac appearing behind this caution tape. This shot from March 28 gives us a "sneak peek" of the clean life that is just around the corner. This ribbon is how the contractors are protecting the new surface while they finish the rest.

Chapter 2: No More "Orange" Shoes (April 12, 2026)

Checking the progress two weeks later.

The new drains to keep Kira dust-free

By April 12, the team is focusing on the deep concrete drains that keep the road dry. Local workers have fitted these heavy slabs by hand so that rainwater has a place to go. This smart drainage is how we will finally stop the mud and dust from coming back.

Clean tarmac near Rosefoam finally saves our nice shoes Look at that smooth tarmac finally reaching the shops in Mulawa! On April 12, the area near the Rosefoam building looks clean for the first time. We can now walk to the shops without worrying about our nice shoes turning red. Chapter 3: Welcome to the Smooth Era (April 12, 2026)

The final result is looking "sharp."

No more "eating" red dust The stretch near Makerere College School is now a wide, clean corridor for everyone. By mid-April, students can finally commute without "eating" clouds of dust. This extra space is how the road is becoming safer for both pedestrians and drivers.

A big plate of grilled chicken and fries

KAMPALA, April 2, 2026 – Café Javas served its famous large plate of chicken and fries as one of its many options this Thursday to attract customers who value quality and status. The restaurant maintains its top reputation by combining fast service with a luxurious setting, turning a simple lunch into a prestigious dining experience.

I grew up knowing Kampala only as a noisy city. But on this quiet afternoon, March 28, 2026, I am walking the streets with my phone, showing a different side of the city. These pictures show the peaceful beauty you can find there, with no sound from taxis or boda bodas hooting.

1. KLA’s Old Taxi Park

The park at rest

2. Equatoria Junction

A peaceful stop at the Equatoria Junction

Boda-boda riders wait patiently at the Equatoria Junction. Usually, this place is full of shouting and engines, but right now, it feels like everyone is just enjoying the warm breeze.

3. Blue Sky Reflections at Church House

Taking it slow on Kampala Road

A few people and boda bodas cross the road near Church House. On this still afternoon, the tall windows reflect the blue sky, proving that even the busiest streets have a peaceful side.

4. Modern Kampala (Mapeera House)

The quiet big giant

5. Roadside Gallery

The sidewalk museum

These paintings of animals and children are lined up on a wall for everyone to see. Today, the street feels like a museum where you can walk slowly and enjoy the view.

6. Craft Africa

Art waiting for a home

At the Craft Africa stall, colourful paintings sit quietly while fabrics glow in the sun. This quiet moment gives visitors a rare chance to see every detail without the usual big crowds.

I felt very safe taking these photos. One person warned me to be careful with my phone near Mapeera House, but the quiet mood makes me feel relaxed. I am not worried at all.