At home in Gulu

Hello from Gulu, Uganda! This land of red soil and bustling life will be my home now until Dec. 16. I’m on my field experience period as a part of my Masters Degree at Notre Dame in International Peace Studies. Having completed one year of classroom study this is the perfect time to get a chance to participate in ongoing peace work and reflect on how it conflicts and agrees with the theories we’ve been studying. We spend four days a week working with an organization and the last day working on our own research. Three of my classmates are here with me: Karin from the US who is working with Human Rights Focus, Christina from Germany who is working for Caritas, and Ahmad from Iraq who is working for TASO. My other classmates have been spread throughout the world in Cape Town, South Africa, Jerusalem and Mindinao, Philippines. A few have remained in the US to work on a Thesis.

I arrived in Kampala on June 29th after a very long almost 48 hours of travel. I’m now very well reacquainted with both the Heathrow and Amsterdam airports. Karin and Christina met me in Amsterdam so that we could travel the rest of the way together. We spent a day and a half in Kampala before jumping on the “post bus” for Gulu. The most exciting part of the six hour ride was coming across a whole group of monkeys (we think Baboons) on the road.

We arrived safely to a few surprises. The house the university rented for us is beautiful. However we were surprised to find it completely empty! The landlord managed to get beds, including mosquito nets in it before night fall. We were outside with our headlamps that first night helping the electricians hook up the electricity to the house. Slowly slowly we’ve been making it feel like home. Everything we bring home has to come on a boda boda (motorcycle taxi). We are a half hour walk outside of downtown Gulu and so our surroundings feel truly rural.
For those need a quick reminder on the conflict of Northern Uganda here’s a very quick one, for those who know the conflict feel free to skip this paragraph. Note that this is very very simplified version and the actors and issues are far more complex. Uganda gained its independence in 1962 after being an English Protectorate. Many know of the horrible period of Idi Amin. However, here in the North the most recent conflict began when the current President, Musevini, took over power. Around the same period Joseph Kony start the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). There is a long history of economic and resource disparity between the north and south of Uganda, they are also made up of different ethnic groups and difference traditional governance structures. For the last 20 years the people of Northern Uganda have experience atrocities from both government and the LRA. At one point the government forced the whole population into IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camps, which also became an easy target for the LRA. Internationally the LRA is known for their wide usage of child soldiers through abduction, which resulted in the phenomena of night commuters, children coming in and of town every night. In 2006 the LRA and the Government finally agreed to sit down for peace talks. In 2008 when the final comprehensive agreement was completed and ready for signing Kony walked away from the table. Musevini again responded with military force. Currently the LRA is active in the DRC and the Central African Republic, but not here in Northern Uganda. The government has forcefully dismantled the IDP camps and many ex-LRA soldiers are working at reintegration after receiving amnesty. It is currently a society struggling to rebuild after been devastated by a multi-decade conflict that may or may not be done.

I’m working with the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative (ARLPI), particularly with documentation and research. Feel free to browse their website: http://www.arlpi.org/ I’m very excited to be with them as they are one of the few groups who works both at the grassroots and at the political level. I’ll write more about their work and my work with them as I begin the work more in depth.

Overall life is slower here. Everything is just a little bit harder to do. This morning we washed our clothes in the tub. The people are lovely and very helpful. We’ve been making great fools of ourselves as we move through the market testing out our Acholi, the local language. Many people understand English, but are delighted when you give Acholi a try.

I believe this update is long enough for now. I’ll write again soon.

Peace be with you.