Peace Camp

For one week 80 youth from 4 different tribes of Northern Uganda joined us for our first ever Peace Camp. The youth were both boys and girls ranging from 15-19 and had all been heavily affected by the conflict with the Lord’s Resistance Army. Some of the kids had been abducted and forced to fight with the rebels, others spent their childhoods in IDP camps, many saw their parents, siblings, and friends murdered and some were even forced to assist with the killings, many of the girls had been raped and some had children. All grew up in harsh conditions where it was unclear whether or not they’d survive until the next day.

Peace Camp was designed to allow the youth to address some of the lingering issues and trauma resulting from their experiences during the war. The hope was that they would be able to release some of the burdens they had been carrying and start the process of bringing peace to themselves, their families, and their communities. The main topics addressed during camp were forgiveness, reconciliation, positive communication, trust, peaceful living, and looking towards the future.

I was lucky enough to have been selected to be a counselor for the camp which meant that my Ugandan co-counselor and I was responsible for bringing 10 campers through the days activities and helping them process all of the new information they were getting as well as their feelings.

They training was extremely dynamic with interactive lessons prepared by PCVs, experts brought in to address certain topics, a man who had also been abducted who now runs an extremely successful company, an opportunity to showcase their traditional tribal dances to the kids from other regions, and even a trip to a phenomenal ropes course to put lessons on teamwork, communication, and self-esteem into action.

It’s difficult for me to write about Peace Camp because it was such an amazing experience both for me and my campers. It feels too big to put into words. What I can tell you is that I saw kids who’s lives had been dark smile, laugh, and play. I saw kids mourn the loss of parents who one day just disappeared. I saw friendships made between children of different tribes that had historically blamed one another for the violence. I saw kids whose bright futures had been stolen from them see that the world can still hold opportunities for them if they are willing to take control of their lives again. I feel so lucky to have been a part of this experience.

Email Home- Oct. 2010

Hi Everyone!

First of all, thanks for the Birthday wishes! It was really nice to
know that everyone was thinking about me! Second, once again I'm
sorry for my MASSIVE delay in giving you any information about my
time in Uganda thus far. Training didn't allow for much of an
opportunity to get online and when I had time the power was usually
out. There's a lot to fill you in on in regards to what's already
happened but right now I want to fill you in on where I am now!

We were officially 'sworn in' as Peace Corps Volunteers on the 21st
and traveled to our sites on Oct. 22- my 27th birthday! It would have
been a kind of cool symbolic thing had I actually made it to my site.
Instead I got as far as my friend Steve's site before concerns arose
about bad road conditions, the increasingly late hour, and whether
there was a place for me to stay outweighed the benefits of continuing on. I finally arrived in Ngai, Oyam
District in Northern Uganda on the 24th.

Ngai is referred to as a 'trading center' because of it's relative
large size although it would make anywhere in the U.S. look like a
metropolis in comparison. The closest 'town' aka- place you can find
on a map and get most of the more basic things you need (mirror,
mattress, spices, chocolate, etc.) is Lira. There seems to be one
truck and one van that go to Lira daily. I went to town the other day
and it took 4 hours to get there due to bad roads and a bad truck.

Ngai is surrounded by swamps. Someone said to me that during the
rainy season (now) Ngai is virtually an island. It's true! When I
finally did get here I arrived in a big 4 wheel drive SUV which was
lucky, we basically had to forge a river because the road was so
flooded. There were literally people swimming and spear fishing next
to the car! There are some buildings with electricity in the trading
center but as far as I know no running water. The water comes from a
borehole and some of the people who have metal roofs collect
rainwater. The majority of people in Ngai live in grasshuts and are
farmers (one of the popular cash crops are sunflowers- they're
beautiful!). Every night we've had spectacular rain and lightning
storms that light up the sky and silhouette the trees and grasses. I
find myself mesmerized by it. We also have such loud crickets that,
given you call me at night- which you should, I promise you'll be able
to hear wherever you are in the world. So while Ngai is
intimidatingly remote it's also totally my cup of tea.

I will be a community health worker at the Ngai Health Center lll (the
government health centers are ranked by the variety and intensity of
services they offer). The health center is made up of 3 buildings
about the size of a 7/11- to give a very American analogy. One
building is for maternity, one for patient care- aka- sick people, and
one is a youth center (but that one doesn't have walls but strangely
does have a pool table donated by a German NGO). TONS of people come
to the center everyday and wait under the mango tree outside before
they are seen. Numerous babies have been born since I've been here.
Susan, the midwife and my new found friend, has promised to let me
watch a baby be born while William, my supervisor and the head of the
health center jokes (but is kind of serious) that I'll be delivering
babies before too long.

As a pseudo health center employee I will be living in health center
housing. I am temporarily living with a young nurse named Junior and
her 5 month old baby, Baracka. Junior has been great, easy going,
extremely hospitable, funny- really great. Another nice aspect of my
living situation is that all of the health workers plus their families
and others whose connections are yet to be determined all function as
a makeshift family. They look after one another's kids, share chores,
and leave their homes open with no worry. They also eat together- a
custom which I, thankfully, have been immediately included in. Ngai
is super remote and rural so there aren't a ton of options for food.
There are no small restaurants or places that sell prepared food and
only a small market with a few vegetables, rice, beans, unappealing
looking raw meats, and an improportionate number of people selling and
drinking the local booze. Additionally, I am staying in someones
house and feel a bit awkward coming out of my bedroom with a plate of
pasta (which I bought in Lira, they don't sell pasta anywhere in Oyam
District). Therefore I'm extremely happy to be included in the
communal meals. I've found that if I hang out long enough, someone
will eventually bring me food. This morning I was sitting outside
reading my book before going to the health center and what appeared in
front of me? Two African sweet potatoes and a very sugary cup of tea!
This plan does have it's drawbacks however. Yesterday my supervisor,
a few of the nurses, and I were sitting on his porch in prime lunch
serving position but it wasn't coming. Finally, when I became visibly
hungry (cranky and withdrawn- great qualities, I know) they told me
that they didn't have any charcoal to cook the beans on but that we
could hold ourselves over on glucose (aka- powdered sugar) which we
did until 5pm when we had lunch. I'd be lying if I said that this
communal living situation was always totally easy but I do feel very
fortunate to be surrounded by such thoughtful, caring people.

Today I was sent, equipped with handwritten letters from William, to
introduce myself to the headmasters of the primary and secondary
schools. I went to the primary school first and was welcomed warmly
and taken around to all of the classes. We went to the P7 class first
(rough equivalent of 7th grade) where I was surprised to find that the
majority of students were taller than me (I'm not usually outgrown
until 9th or 10th grade in the states). I credit this to the fact
that A- Lango people (the tribe of this region) are really tall or B-
the P7 students are older than our 7th graders because they were held back
when they don't pass exams, lack of school fees caused them not to
attend consecutive schooling, or they started school late. I think that
it's probably a mix of the two. I also found that only P7 and P6
classes had desks and chairs while P1-5 sat on the floor. Some of the
lower grade classrooms were so crammed with students that it was
physically difficult to get in the room. After many greetings and
songs and promises to come back I continued on to the secondary
school.

At the secondary school I spent a good deal of time speaking with the
headmaster. He told me about the unique challenges that he's come
across as a result of working in Northern Uganda. As you may or may
not know the Northern region of the country experienced a devastating
20 year war which just ended around 2005. The conflict was caused by
the rebel group the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). The history of the
conflict is messy and I fear that I'll make a mistake in trying to
summarize it but the main point is that it was really bad. The LRA
used to attack people in their homes, burn down villages, abduct
children from their homes and schools- boys would be forced to become
child soldiers and girls were used as 'wives.' The brutality of the
war gets much worse but I'll leave it at that for now. The headmaster
explained to me that at one point towards the beginning of the war 50
students were abducted from the secondary school. It was also implied
that it was not the only raid. Eventually everyone in the region
moved into Internally Displaced Peoples Camps (which caused a whole
mess of other problems) and the school was used as barracks for the
Ugandan army. While the President has promised to construct new
buildings, the headmaster explained that during that time the
structure of the buildings was essentially destroyed. He described
the state of the school as being 'unfit for human use.' At another
point in our conversation he explained that they've had to move things
around because 2 classrooms recently collapsed. Some other startling
facts: It is the only secondary school for the sub-county which has a
population of about 48,000 but the total enrollment is only 321
students. Only 3 students got the equivalent of a C grade on the
national exams last year- the rest got Ds or failed. Only 20% of the
student body is female.

What the school, and Oyam District in general, has going for it is
amazingly intelligent, optimistic, and motivated people working to
find solutions to issues and support the communities here. With a mix
of poverty, lack of education and resources, effects of the recent
war, and the previlance of HIV/AIDS there's a lot of work to be done
in Oyam but I'm excited to be here. I'll promise to try a harder to
keep anyone whose interested in how my time in Uganda progresses in
the loop.