These gigantic jackfruits are... gigantic. Hat tip: Jillian York.I've been reading a lot about ethnic conflict this week to prepare for two presentations I'm giving next month, but rather than quote something, I'd like to point you to two related links that came my way today:Never Again in Sri Lanka is a set of video clips in English, Sinhala and Tamil that commemorate the 25th anniversary of the 1983 anti-Tamil riots in Sri Lanka. The videos were originally broadcast on Sri Lankan television and have been collected and preserved online as part of the effort to document the Sri Lankan civil war, one of the longest-running ethnic conflicts in the world. (Original link from GV: Sri Lanka: Anti-Tamil riot videos.)Resolve Uganda is hosting a petition to President Bush, thanking him for...
In my efforts to pay more regular attention to the ongoing conflict in northern Uganda, I've been spending a lot of time on these web sites:The Uganda Conflict Action Network has been posting near-daily updates about the conflict since June 2005.A month-by-month description of the peace talk process and of the status of peace and reconciliation (these overlap a lot; anyone know why they aren't merged?) can be found at USAID's Virtual Presence Post: Northern Uganda.The Beyond Juba Project looks beyond the peace talks and the conflict in northern Uganda to address larger issues of sustainable national reconciliation. It is a joint initiative of the Refugee Law Project, the Human Rights and Peace Center and the Makerere University Faculty of Law.A photo essay about the six days photographer...
One of my strongest memories from Uganda is riding the bus between Kampala and Gulu, watching the land — green, thick, damp and hilly in Kampala, at times stifling and claustrophobic — flatten out to meet the bright, open sky. It always felt good, no matter what meetings I had ahead of me or what I had left behind in Kampala. from Flickr via SnaptographyIn an essay titled "Landscape and Character," Lawrence Durrell, a novelist and travel writer whose works I devoured in Uganda, claimed that "human beings are expressions of their landscape." Land is a central part of the northern Ugandan conflict; the Acholi, for the most part, are subsistence farmers, and being separated from their land and herded into Internally Displaced Persons camps has ruined their economy and their...
I leave town for ONE WEEK, and Joseph Kony has to go and announce a new...
Chris Blattman recently posted an excellent reading list on northern Uganda. I particularly recommend Alice Lakwena and the Holy Spirits (Kampalans: you can get this at Aristoc) and the reports published online by Survey of War Affected Youth.Trial Justice gave me a much better understanding of the International Criminal Court's role in the conflict, and I've been glued to the Uganda Conflict Action Network blog since it began in the summer of...
Pernille, formerly of I Have Left Copenhagen but now writing at Louder than Swahili, has published her final report on the two years she spent in West Nile as an information advisor with Sudanese refugees for MS Uganda. The report, in addition to being a fascinating, intensely honest look at development work, is beautifully laid out with photos and clips from Pernille's blog. You can download it...
The documentary made by the four Danish women who were in Uganda earlier this year is online, both at the Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke website and on Google Video: It makes me miss you...
My next piece is up at Global Voices Online:At last month’s Uganda Bloggers Happy Hour, I took an informal poll of why the blogren do what they do. My favorite response came from Carlo, who said that blogging is “just like Facebook,” the social networking site that’s currently sweeping the young, internet-connected world. Every blogger present declared blogging in Uganda to be a purely social exercise, evidenced by the recent “8 Random Things” meme circulating among Ivan, Magoola, Magintu and others.Perhaps that’s why hardly anyone has mentioned last week’s one-year anniversary of the beginning of the peace talks between the Government of Uganda and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a “sadistic rebel militia which ha[s] made a hell out of the north of the country for...
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My car has crossed the bridge over the River Albert Nile at Pakwach for the last time, at least with me inside of it. I have crossed this bridge many times within the past 26 months.
When I came here in June 2005 the bridge had a security check point with soldiers trying to delay you unessecaryly if not given a lift. Always a problem as we timed driving from Arua to the ferry at Paraa in Murchison Falls. 2½ hour would do it on a good day.
Working for an NGO you are not supposed to carry soldiers, an argument is that you become a target yourself. I don't know what would actually happen in real life, or if it's just a pacifist' excuse. The regular UDPF or SPLA soldier, dressed in gumboots and handling their weapon too casually for my style, never made me feel safer anyway.
Another...
I have visited Koboko for probably the last time (definitely in a long time). I left it this morning for Arua, which turned out to be a hell of a trip. It rained all of last night and this morning. The rain soaked the road and had simply turned it into one big piece of soft soap!
I think Uganda has made me soft-hearted, too. I had to stop in the mud when I saw a pregnant woman and her husband wave from the ditch trying to get a lift for the hospital in Arua. 'Twins', he explained brieftly, as I tried to figure out how soon, and if the substance of this road would affect a woman in labour. They both got in and filled the car with the inevitable smell which hangs on people who live in a tukul. I'm afraid to admit that my gesture today probably made more change in that woman's life than...
Just had some relatively rough & intensive days with lots of driving on bad, bad roads. (If the CHOGM ever thinks about taking the Queen E the road less travelled as in up-country Uganda - I'd suggest they don't take the Kampala-Masindi Road untill someone makes it ready for CHOGM!).
In Murchison Falls the elephants and giraffes were out - beautiful morning sight. In West Nile I gave a lift to a woman with a child sick of malaria. Next I gave a lift to an old woman, who had to go to TASO - due to 'the epedimic'.
In Arua I took my Danish passenger to the market for buying kitenge, on a photosafari down Adumi Street and ended up eating pork chops in Oasis Inn.
A lot of Africa in no time, and even I have been feeling a little overwhelmed. I mean, how much Africa can you take...
I have followed the debate pushed by the Nigerian writer Iweala Uzodinma's article 'Stop Trying to Save Africa. It has been commented on various blogs and even the Danish Sunday paper Politiken translated it and put in on page 2.
The article and the writer pissed me off big time, and in between whatever I have to do in a country where I have been put off a plane with no luggage, I have been trying to formulate a comment.
The man was right. - Yes, the West should leave Africa on its own (to the Chinese?). But then I got strongly dissappointed with his lousy argumentation and arrogance which makes him speak on behalf of all Africans. Categorising them all in one go, as well as he does with the whole group of ex-pats trying to save Africa.
I have given up the project for today. It...
Earlier this month the Government of Uganda backtracked on the most recent section of the peace agreement, which in theory promised that a special blend of traditional and national justice mechanisms would be established to deal with war criminals on both sides of the conflict. The government is now planning to set up a special tribunal for LRA members but handle UPDF members through court marshals.The most surprising part of the Reuters report was that conflict analysts are saying the LRA is being too soft in their demands. In case you didn’t get that: conflict analysts are saying the LRA is being too soft in their demands.Weird. For so long the LRA has been vilified from all sides — it's odd to hear someone supporting their arguments and saying they should push harder for...
In Gulu Willy Akena writes about the peace process between LRA and the two governments of South Sudan and Uganda.
Last year Willy went to South Sudan on this truck (!!) to participate in the peace process. The caption for the photo goes like this:
The road to peace is not smooth, It's full of pot holes like the one in the picture: Some people had to travel on this Diana Truck to meet Kony in the Jungle as a confidence building measure in July 2006, including of course Rev.Willy Akena.
I think Willly has illustrated one of the most important things for Uganda on the spot with an image which is very familiar to people who have travelled in the area; - Suddenly it's damn difficult to make things move, you are stuck - but I bet this truck got out there - because people got together and...
Check out this blog - the Kampala bloggers have joined forces. Cool! Really interesting information about how to access wireless Internet in Kampala, cheap or free. Suppose that is what counts in a bloggers universe as fun.
Am thinking about how challengingly fun it could be to do the same up-country; Everything you need to know to have fun upcountry Uganda ( - or how to avoid Kony!)
Reminds me that I have received quite a few emails (which I never got around to answer due to the malaria and subsequent, momental apatia) with questions regarding life in the upcountry sphere. I believe there is an unutilised potential here for promoting upcountry Uganda.
Leave a comment if interested one way or the......
Last night, as part of the Global Youth Partnership for Africa’s July Student Global Ambassador Immersion on youth, development and peace-building, I got the chance to hear Steven Okello speak.Steven is the Country Director of Resolve Uganda, an advocacy organization that evolved out of the Uganda Conflict Action Network. He is an Acholi, and last night he shared his personal experiences and perspectives of the conflict. Steven is an incredibly eloquent, passionate speaker, and what struck me most as he was talking last night was that he was undeniably angry.A year and a half ago I attended a lecture by Dr. Stephen Schwenke on development ethics in Uganda. During his talk, he asked the audience, “Where is the rage?” He wanted to know, and wanted us to be curious about, what the...
My good friend Jared crafted such a good response to my earlier post about prospects for peace in northern Uganda that I'm going post the whole thing here and call him a guest blogger:I agree with much of what Jackfruity wrote, as well as 27th Comrade's ideas that reconciliation is likely a more effective way of addressing communal needs and building a holistic, regional peace. However, I have four comments regarding Jackfruity's and Comrade's ideas regarding: the ICC as a player; traditional vs. western justice; lack of UPDF indictments; and what can be done by Ugandans to regain their voice in the process.1. Comrade and Jackfruity, and many many others, hold an underlying assumption that the ICC is a player like the GoU or LRA. This assumption leads to the common notion that the ICC can...
In Shadow of the Sun, his literary montage of more than 40 years as a reporter in post-independence Africa, Ryszard Kapuscinski writes of the incredible ability of people in violent areas to continue with their daily lives as if war were nothing more than a mild natural disaster. I am amazed by the resilience of many of the Ugandans I have met, both those who have been affected by one or more of the many armed conflicts this country has seen since independence and those whose lives have been touched by other, less violent tragedies: the death of a parent, HIV, extreme poverty.The people I know have carried on through things I think would have destroyed me, and whether it's because of a difference in our hometowns and cultures or if, under similar duress, I would remain just as...
My father, in addition to being our family's designated Finder of Lost Objects, is also a master of logical sayings. These range from "that'll feel better when it stops hurting" (when I injure myself) to "you make a better door than a window" (when I stand in front of the television) to "you just don't have the right tool for the job."This last invariably follows a complaint that I can't open a jar (square rubbery thing) or hang up a picture (special hooks) or wow my third grade classmates on Special Hat Day (foil-covered baseball cap with blinking LED lights — Dad never fails), and it is the first thing I thought of when I saw this guy:I'm not sure of his job title, but I would imagine it to be something like "Professional Sharpener of Sharp Objects That Could Be Sharper Using a...
Last Saturday the Uganda Conflict Action Network reported that Vincent Otti, Joseph Kony’s righthand man, has declared that he will turn himself over to the International Criminal Court if it charges the UPDF with crimes against humanity and war crimes. This is the second time this year I’ve found myself wanting to side with the LRA, another reminder that this conflict is vastly more complex than it seems. Last year’s ICC indictments of the top LRA commanders have raised a number of questions:Should the ICC take precedence over Ugandan governmental and/or traditional justice mechanisms?I wrote earlier about the problems inherent in using traditional justice to “solve” the conflict in northern Uganda: though Acholi culture provides a number of reconciliation rituals that may be...
I gushed a little bit earlier about the Global Kimeeza II, a program of the Global Youth Partnership for Africa, an organization I've been involved with for a little over a year and a half. GYPA leads regular conferences for American and Ugandan youth leaders that focus on how young people can actively participate in finding solutions to the variety of challenges Africa faces.I credit GYPA with cementing my interest in development issues as a whole and in Uganda in particular. For this reason, I am crazy excited to announce the first of our two summer immersion programs: Youth, Development & Peace-building.These immersions are open to Ugandans ages 18-30 who are already involved in community development projects and/or youth leadership initiatives. The programs will take place in...
Writing for the Daily Monitor, Lucy Hannan has a chilling account of life inside a Lord's Resistance Army camp in the DRC: "Unlike former abductees who have horrific tales of escape and fear, or children who have been murdered and tortured in the bush, these are the kids who will kill for the mystical, militarised cult."Country Boyi wonders what would happen if Ugandans blogged in local languages. All of the Ugandan blogs I've found so far have been in English — why is that? Is there a whole sector of the blogren I'm missing?Owera responds to recent controversy over whether or not bloggers are afforded the same legal protection as journalists: "I am not a journalist. I am a blogger. I blog. I run an online diary. Period." (Particularly interesting is the AP article he quotes, in...
I have been on the road a lot recently. Today I drove Arua to Kampala (8 hours). Saturday we drove Yei-Juba ( 3 hours), Sunday we returned. Yesterday I drove from Yei in Southern Sudan to Arua. These days the road from Yei to Kaya is relatively good, and I did it in 2½ hours.
The hassling at the immigration at the Kaya border also went surprisingly easy (10 minutes), and then the final part was left: Kaya-Koboko-Arua (1½ hours). However, the Koboko-Arua road side scenario is unbelievable after heavy rains. As allways a challenge to navigate between the fallen trucks and the ones stuck in red mud. The people stranded. I gear down, I take deep breath, consider who I can call I get stuck or don't make it over the bridge. I give a lift to a desperate guy, whose World Food Programme truck...
has a remarkably strong resemblance to that one of West Nile in Uganda (and to when we tried to dress up like Robert Smith, The Cure's front singer, in the 1980ties in Europe)....
Another rule applying to this kind of world is that if you can do the party you can also overcome the day after - including any kind of hangover, pack your stuff, deal with the world's most annoying and inconsequent border patrol, drive on to the next destination, and get ready for work.
Sunday I drove us out of Kajo Keji into Moyo on the Ugandan side and then half way to Yumbe, then my colleague Peter took over to Koboko. Then we both drove from Koboko and then back into Southern Sudan reaching Yei just before dusk.
Today I had to facilitate a workshop which I actually thought was sceduled for tomorrow with the same group I found myself with this morning, having completely lost track of dates matching with what days. However, I think I sort of got away with it. At least, my...
In
Current Affairs,
Miss Uganda = MS Uganda,
Kitu Kidogo,
Safari Safari,
An African Trademark,
What does a development worker do?,
Sudan,
Into Africa (or out of Africa?),
Bending The Rules Of Gravity,
Uganda,
northern Uganda
I know that when (or if) I once have to settle somewhere out of Africa there is one thing I will miss deep down in my heart. That will be the informal invitations for functions in nowhere - driving long distances, meeting with good people and having a party in far out places.
This weekend took me to Moyo and the day after to Kajo Keji in Southern Sudan, where the Danish Refugee Council had invited for farewell parties for Beatriz in Moyo and Erik in Kajo Keji.
How often do you go to a party where you warm up, gladly driving 150-200 km, listening to loud music, step out your car, hardly notice the fact that your hair is all dusty, your skin greasy, and your clothes stained. Make-up melted (if applied), all there is left of the perfume you actually hopefullly did apply when you left...
I am moving a bit in and out of cyberspace for some days. I am off to Koboko and Moyo in a bit for a farewell party for Beatriz, the manager of the Danish Refugee Council in Moyo this afternoon.
Then on Saturday another farewell-party in Kajo Keji about an hour across the border in Southern Sudan for Erik, the leaving DRC manager there.
Then back from Kajo Keji, over Moyo, to Koboko on Sunday for a re-pack of the car, and then off to Yei in Southern Sudan, where I will be probably untill Friday next week.
The car is being cleaned now, and packed with our new Education for Peace pamphlets, the democracy material - and lots of cheese in the cooler bag, apparently a prerequisite for receiving an invitation by the DRC to a function in Sudan!
Don't download and use this map, I added...
I have been working on this pamphlet for our civic education programme 'Education for Peace' (for what has felt like a 100 years). But now it is here and to be distributed. I love concrete......
I met American Kelly last night at the UBHH. I also asked her some of the same questions which Jackfruity does ask in general today on her blog, and which I will return to in another post.
However, she writes today on her blog:
Baz made the suggestion that since UBHH meets once a month, every month we should throw in 5k each (approx 3.00$) and use the money to pay for school fees for a kid in Gulu, courtesy of the Uganda Bloggers! I thought it was a very nice idea if we could organize it properly and make sure the money went directly to the school and that the kid went to school. I would suggest though that we choose a poor kid from the Kampala area, just so that it would be easier for us to monitor since we all live here.
Allow me to support Baz' original idea. I like the thing...