An Acholi Chief and psycho-social counselor for CARITAS (an organization that trains community psychologists), an Acholi Historian who has written three books this past year about the Acholi culture and history, an Acholi Professor, Ron Atkinson (our Professor that taught us in the US and who has written extensively on the Acholi culture (see The Roots of Ethnicity: The Origins of the Acholi of Uganda)), my father (the Director of the National Teachers College in Gulu), Opiyo (Jacob White, my group mate), and I (me) sit at the dinner table at my pacho/gon (home).   

We discuss a lot. 

The Chief begins by emphasizing that the moment the ICC (International Criminal Court) lifts their indictments of LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) members, then it will create a sense of belonging for these members as peace can be signed.  The war has created a sense of loss and ceremonies help the people become open so that others can be reintegrated.  The process is dialogue: a sense of love and belonging is created.  There is a human need for agreeability, and the Acholi see it as unfortunate that people, such as the ICC are putting reconciliation before peace.   The Chief ends by saying that people still love and want us (the LRA) despite what we committed.  For a man whose people have been killed by the LRA, he is so forgiving and so welcoming of the LRA back to his community and clan that he does not even differentiate between the people loving his clan (us) and the LRA.  Amazing.

Ron then asks the four Acholi men how the ceremony of Mato Oput (the Acholi ceremony of forgiveness) will play out, specifically the aspect of it that includes compensations, given all the poverty and destruction from the war?  The Chief answered that people need a situation of awareness of what took place, that some of what happened was not intentional (child soldiers and such forced to do it), but even if it was intentional, the gravity of the crimes can be too much.  Reconciliation is not a one-man business, but it is spread to the entire extended family and clan.  The obligation is that the entire clan participates in it because if you are the head of a family tomorrow it might be your family who is charged.  There is a fear of revenge present so need to have a clear understanding because if it was one clan-mate harming another, then there is a great chance of revenge so every member of the clan participates so it is not just “one on one hate”, but a group reconciliation. All have to pay for the person that committed as the entire clan takes responsibility so therefore that will solve impunity and this ceremony is there (Ron agrees). In terms of larger compensation, beyond specific cases solved by the clan, there will need to be a general fund, with the government of Uganda with aid from foreign governments or NGOs contributing, to compensate victims because almost all of us are victims and no single source can help. But specific cases it is the clan.  The Chief ended, “In our culture, there are some things you don’t force.  A person who committed the crime will confess because of cen (the misfortune)”.  Yet, it is not enough for religious people just to pray; need to find the root cause and nature of problem to combine spiritual and culture aspects.  Reconciliation will not go bad if it is distributed in the right manner (Ron’s book Traditional Ways of Coping in Acholi, outlines these ceremonies).  They will come back with the ceremonies as they synthesize and help people.

Another question which Ron poses for the Acholi men is how the Reconciliation and Accountability Document says that government actors can’t go through alternative justice methods and only go through Uganda Government legal methods.  Are all government people excluded from cultural approaches then?  Or what if it would not be the Uganda national legal system, but the military courts where the UPDF (the Ugandan military who has been fighting the LRA) people would be going through their own legal system.

The Chief is the first to answer again and he says it would look “funny” if the UPDF and the LRA committed crimes in the same community and then they were punished differently.  If two parties go through Mato Oput then the person who committed the crime will feel free and accepted as people who were victims feel free since both parties are brought together to reconcile.  The Chief adds that we can’t use two systems to recognize two people on one issue.  This creates dissatisfaction and is not proper practice.

Ron then asks what about some LRA and UPDF people who committed crimes from other parts of Uganda so the Acholi justice and cultural practices do not apply to them?  The Chief says that most of these people are higher-ups, but most on the ground who are Acholi and lower-rank and did the crime themselves need reconciliation.  The Acholi Professor adds that someone of another culture wouldn’t get it or see value of it (their traditional justice). Those UPDF who are Acholi should go through Mato Oput and those not Acholi should go through the legal system.

The Chief then adds that different cultures have similar traditional legal systems. For example, if tell Buganda about the Mato Oput concept, they’ll tell you a similar concept in their culture.  Forgiveness is in every culture and Mato Oput is a very strong part of forgiveness and reconciliation.  If a Buganda kills an Acholi, then it is not the same ceremony, but it satisfies both sides.  For example, the South Sudanese have ritual of killing a bull that still satisfies both sides. A second example is if one marries a girl from another tribe then he takes on their customs to marry her. 

The most important thing in Mato Oput is acceptance and the truth that I committed the crime. Once this accepted (that I’ve confessed and been forgiven) it brings you together.  Practical aspect of the ceremony is just symbolic.  Difference with Acholi is actual drinking (symbolic part).  In Buganda, they pray once accepted and then compensation determined and that’s it.  Same for the Acholi as compensation is not looked at until after Mato Oput occurs.  Another example was when people bended their spears to symbolize the rejecting of violence and making that a taboo now.  Both sides accept that we were killing each other so that’s how bending spears started in Acholi culture.  So different communities can look for something to symbolize the spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation.  Doing this has a psychological aspect of healing.  You can even do without it.  So in Acholi, drinking itself depends on crime.  If do it intentionally, then drink, but if not, then just accept it and done.  If different communities sit down, they can come up with a similar tradition like Mato Oput and perform it.

Ron’s last big question was if the Acholi men see problems coming up with people returning in large-scale to their land like arguments over boundaries and customary clan land?  The Chief answered that people have not yet returned on such a scale and as people want to go back there are already a lot of problems for people among their brothers and in same clans even.  Lots of disagreement and conflict of various types will exist, especially psychological problems.  They need lots of preparation in place and it is unfortunate that we are not preparing ourselves for it, the Chief goes on.  We need to start thinking about such problems and visualize the likely problems and strategize for when the people return.

Ron then drew a picture of his idea for solving land disputes which is finding out through the catechists or elders and get young people on both sides with computers and devices like GPS tracking to mark the land and get the elders to agree on the boundaries. So get two groups, elders and youth, to walk boundaries and mark them.  The Chief looked at the drawing and said the forefathers were smart and named and marked boundaries by natural resources.  Although the boundaries are not physically seen, people are aware of them.  For instance, he asked a district to give them all the sub-clans in the district and then mark off where they live and where others live around them.  The people used the directions, like where the sun falls and rises, where Sudan is (North) and to the South (the Nile) and mentioned that these directions will be used to resolve land conflicts.  The Chief admits that we can’t stop conflict, but can use a strategy like Ron’s to help.

Ron added how some people are trying to take land so if have these boundaries established then people don’t take empty land and say no one is using it and thus, it’s ours.  There is an understanding and boundaries marked that it belongs to someone, and it is empty as it could be hunting land or wild land for timber that the clan isn’t using, but it’s their land.  The Chief agreed that land has different purposes and that is not left for nothing, like to keep animals and that they know the value of land and that it is a God-given thing that people want to utilize.  Even during Colonialism, the British told them their land would be better used for tourism to show the animals and the Acholi way of letting them graze was backwards.  So today, land of Acholi is now a zoo and the Acholi were moved by force.  The Chief added that when people were chased out, it included his Grandfather who was pushed out when his land was carved.  So, two months ago the Chief went to check the land and his items are still there at his old home (from about 100 years ago!). 

Another problem is that people may be forced out as the rate of birth in Uganda is very high and the population boom can lead to people impeding on other’s land.  So people need to be secure in their land and to not let others take it.  So he proposed that three clan elders (one a woman) who know the boundaries and survived the war will talk to the Chief and say where the land is and who has responsibility for it.  So we have system and mechanism to know who has land.  It should not be left to the young government people today who are in their 20s and don’t know.  Now, these government people have their fourth land act and previous land acts with different presidents and different versions like the traditional land act, and it is confusing for people. 

All of the men agree that a big problem is stopping the young people from selling their land as they who don’t see the future and want.  The President pushes people to sell their land and says things like “are you anti-investment and backwards?”.  The Chief adds that the land tenure system in Acholi doesn’t allow an individual to claim land, it is the clan’s land.  Even though the present situation provokes us a lot, we know the value of the land so we shouldn’t finish ourselves.  In the past, Acholi have been good with land and have shared it with others.  Yet, the government can’t impose investments and investors on the land.  Individuals will try and the Chairman has contacted them, but if people rise up then it won’t work.  Ron adds that the people here won’t forget and will protect land.  He closes that right after reconciliation, the most important thing is to have people secure with their land and that this is in fact very important for reconciliation.

The discussion then went into the role of Acholi Chiefs.  My Dad said that the colonial governments did a lot to undermine the power of traditional chiefs of their people.  The Chief added that greed for power contributed to this in the past, and now, people realize how the integration of components of both (government and chiefs) is essential.  The current government understood the importance of reinstating traditional chiefs because current generation doesn’t understand it.  Chiefs have stabilizing characteristics and looked to as divine authority and have more influence over people and more acceptance from people because they know chiefs aren’t divisive and people trust them.  These are the qualities looked for in the chiefs.  The colonial and past governments made a mistake by not partnering with them.  There is a need to reinstate the chiefs when people go home after the war.

The Chief said that a power struggle occurs when the government tries to silence Chiefs.  But even the Chiefs have checks and balances in conducting their work and they use views of their people for judgments.  The Chief says “we have to be patient and listen and consult with counsel of elders”.  He adds that they are neutral and can’t say “I’m the cultural leader so it’s this”.  People don’t even vote for Chiefs because that divides people.  People choose them and they are accepted.

Ron gets on the topic land again and says that young thing people need to realize in respect to communal land is that it this is their future. Even if they want to stay in town now or go to school or city, this land is important for them and the home is always there and can be security for them.  The Chief agrees that the young ones in the past just had land there so didn’t have to worry about finding land for grazing and hunting.  The problem now is people just want land for sale.  People born in captivity don’t have identity and don’t know who their father is or where their land is.  Giving people psycho-social support and counseling can help people outside of camps have a sense of belonging.  People wasting their time if they are giving this support in the IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) Camps.  Instead, the people in the camps need to be shown where their land is and who their elders are.  People born in bush without fathers don’t know.  Can’t just say these people are primitive and don’t understand, but need to help remind and educate them that their communities have values and they deserve respect and recognition.  All agree that this is the best so as not to alienate them and to do it practically with the elders finding the land and showing it to them rather than the ICC and the government deciding on their future.

Yesterday, we finally got around to visiting NGOs and asking them if they would sponsor our end-of-the-year tournament for ENGAGE Namuwongo. I was sure doors would be slammed in our faces, however, the end of the day left me hopeful about our potential sponsors, but also slightly disillusioned with the policy of NGOs.

We broke into two groups, one visiting Save the Children and World Vision, and the other, my group, visiting MTN (the giant cell phone company in East Africa), World Food Program, and UNICEF.

Much as I expected, MTN basically shrugged us off. However, the two massive NGOs, World Food Program (WFP) and UNICEF were much more receptive. The people we talked to, these men and women who spent their days behind desks in air conditioned offices, were incredibly kind to us, giving us contact information and promising that they would get back to us soon. They seemed to care about our project, yet made less idealistic comments that occupied the center of my mind for the rest of the day.

The first came at WFP, where the lady we were talking to said, “I just don’t see these kids as needy.” The second came at UNICEF, where our contact asked us, “What category are these children?” Apparently, the categories are “orphans,” “street children,” and “vulnerable children.” These questions and comments left a mark on me. I understand that NGOs, especially giants like UNICEF and WFP, are concerned with helping the most desperate people, but their attitudes proved what misgivings I’d had in the past about NGOs. In order to receive aid, people are forced to prove how terrible their lives are; if their situations improve, funding is removed. So instead of seeing our group of very poor and malnourished youngsters from Namuwongo with potential and the desire to learn, they saw them as kids who did not fit into the category of “orphans” or “street children.” Even if these kids’ parents were alcoholics or abusive, it didn’t matter, because they weren’t orphans or on the street.

So, at the end of the day, I hope that WFP and UNICEF see our requests as small enough to grant, and maybe even send a representative to our tournament. Possibly, they could learn something from us the way I learned from them yesterday.

--Ann

“You are so beautiful like a crested crane.  Your neck is so long and soft.  You have so much beauty.”

These are the words of one of the songs that the Acholi Youth Cultural Dance Group danced to at Jacob “Opiyo” White’s Birthday Party as one of our groupmates, Opiyo, celebrated his 20^th birthday on Friday.  He got the name Opiyo because he is the first twin and his brother Ochen is the second twin. There are many ceremonies, including a birth pot, for twins and beliefs surrounding them, including if Opiyo gets angry, he has the power to kill Ochen, no matter how far apart they are (Note to Jacob’s brother Nick: keep Jacob happy!?!).

Opiyo’s father went crazy for Opiyo’s party and got him a DJ (who played rap and Kenny Rogers (at Jacob’s request)), the Dance Group to perform, and a ridiculous amount of food, including a cake with two candles, one for each decade (or they say he is only days old now since he was just born into a new family).

The dancing was absolutely amazing and we all participated.  In one of the dances, the group sang about a man who had two sons.  The first born was a leper and the second was normal, but in Acholi culture, only the first born can marry.  The problem was the leper could not find a bride so the father told them both to go and whoever gets a wife and brings her back can marry her.  So the leper went right to the river where women were washing clothes and grabbed the most beautiful woman and put her on his back and ran home where the father was preparing the wedding ceremony.  So the women married the leper.  The next song was about pride and sons and daughters dancing together so it was as interesting.

Another song had these words: “All women’s food does not taste the same as some food is spicy with good sauces and other’s food is not good, but they are all the same because they are all women.  All women don’t look the same: some are pretty, some are ugly, but they are all fine because they are all women.”

A Chaford board member told me that the elders would dance to discuss community issues, whereas the kids and others would dance to pass the time and keep the youth together and build relationships.  The final two dances were to celebrate a war victory where the boys danced with axes, and another dance, called the Courtship dance, where girls would dance over to a boy and then they would leave the circle and they would sit down and if they accepted each other’s dance/performance/everything then they would get on their knees and touch each other’s faces and heads and then go off for fifteen minutes and then come back later.  The boys would also court the girls by putting a large necklace over the girls so it fit over both of them (Note to Self: Get Large Necklaces!).

Basically, the night was extremely memorable and our Professor Ron, who is in town and has lived in Northern Uganda for half of his life doing research and living with the Acholi here (see his book The Roots of Ethnicity: The Origins of the Acholi of Uganda), said that we will never forget this for our entire life.  He is right, plus the cake was good.

Time for random factoids about Gulu and My Family:

·        More Random Crazy Gulu:

o       There is a guy that walks around town naked who we creatively call “Naked Guy”.  Rachael’s Dad went to school with him and attributes his nakedness to the “insurgency”, as in he was picked up by the rebels.  My brother Tony says he saw him at the Insane Asylum when Toni was with our uncle, and the doctors keep sending Naked Guy back on the street because they do not have the time and are not paid enough to deal with him.

§         Some Highlights include (guess which one didn’t happen):

·        I saw him eating a banana

·        Susannah saw him walking with a pink flower in the glowing yellow sun

·        Jacob had a nice romantic birthday dinner with him

o       Tuesdays and Fridays are the official days for people to beg in Gulu.  So when those days come around, us “munus/muzungus” (foreigners) are even more popular.  I cannot wait to tell the people I work with back in Chicago that countries have designated days for people to beg rather than the freedom to beg any day like in the US, assuming a cop does not throw you in the back of his car for loitering or for existing.

o       The old ladies that I give my water bottles too are now discussing and we are working out a system where each one gets my bottle on a different day so they are equally dispersed among the seven of them.  Talks are still in place and I have three weeks, but I think it is sustainable...it is not, but any munus here should really save their bottles and give it to them because they are like little recycling centers.

·        More Random How Funny My Family Is:

o       My brothers went around doing Idi Amin (“The Last King of Scotland” and Ugandan dictator) impressions with chicken bones for an entire dinner.

o       My older sister Winnifred asked my mom for three names like white people and my brother Tony said why don’t you be called Adyero Winnifred Museveni (the last name of the Ugandan President)!

o       My mother Santa, “Big Momma”, wants me to train her in computers, and she told me her family tree so we are going to try to map that on the computer.

o       Everyone still makes fun of me for saying, “so long”, “oh yeah”, and anything else as my slight Wisconsin vernacular is even funny here.

o       Lona, my youngest sister (we are both “The Last Born” according to my Dad) is the best tire hula-hooper in the world, but she didn’t know the name for what she was doing so I guess she is the best tire…in the world.

o       My family asked me my traditions and I told them our holidays and they laughed.

o       On a serious note, my cousin keeps trying to get money from me for school fees, books, shoes, etc. and I have to pass his notes to my father.  I can help him, but I do not think I should go around his Uncle.

Part of our program is visiting NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and there is no better place to do this than Gulu and Northern Uganda as NGOs are everywhere.  We learn more about how NGOs operate within a conflict, or now a close-conflict area, and also to see the possibilities of partnerships with Chaford, the organization we work with here.   

I think it is important to explain a little bit more about Chaford-Uganda as I learn more about them as the trip goes on since we were not told the full story at first for why they exist.  Basically, Chaford, Charity for Rural Development, came about because no one was doing work in Atiak, a region that was absolutely destroyed from the war as it served as the crossroads for the Lord’s Resistance Army (the rebel army) and the military who would engage in heavy fighting in this region.  All the board members are from Atiak so they set up Chaford to work with the rural population there.  Each of the board members also work with different NGOs or schools and have experience in these fields.  Many work with youth so that is a passion that Chaford has, but they do not have a consistent source of funding and are working on and applying for funds for several different projects so those are concerns that they are working on.

The first NGO that we visited was GUSCO (Gulu Support the Children Organisation (gusco.org)).  They welcome anyone at anytime to visit (there were monos (white people) volunteering when we were there).   They are an indigenous NGO that started in 1994 to take care of kids under 18 that were captured by the LRA.  They have rehabbed 8,200 kids back into the community.  They have community outreach operations and also centers (one of which we visited) where they provide clothes, food, counseling and help the children find their families.  This is especially difficult with former child soldiers and those captured by the LRA as the parents are often now in IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) Camps and they were not in the camps when their children were taken.  Once GUSCO reunites the child with their family (either guardians or extended relatives (they have never not found someone's family!), they also help counsel the family and make follow-ups for one year.

            The Center has structured activities with a time table for every hours so the children feel busy all the time with the evening being for games and sports.  They reminded us that they are a small NGO with not enough funding to pay for the children's school funds, but they help one time with clothes and materials for their formal education.  If they come back and can't do formal education, they teach them technical skills.  They also train teachers in primary schools with psycho-social support because the kids who have been captured  will misbehave in schools.

Child mothers come here too as "they are given to men at a very young age".  Here they get money (non-refundable) to start income-generating activities and get training in different activities.  A majority of the activities are buying produce and selling it at the market.  It is important that GUSCO provides a place for them as some parents do not welcome them back given their pregnancy.  The GUSCO representative that was describing this to us pointed to some of the child mothers outside gathering food and water.   I looked into the eyes of the babies on their back.  They were so big, so full, he has done a lot while on his mom's back, worked, lived, struggled, but he's on there, and he's not crying from seeing me so he's not afraid of "munus" (foreigners).  They currently have seven children living at the Center: 5 children from 14-17 and two babies.  Six of the children are boys as they told us that there are usually more boys than girls.

They have a 300 kid capacity and they had this for quite some time especially during the military's Operation Iron Fist Campaign (www.refugeesinternational.org/content/article/detail/888) and then they would stay for 6-8 weeks.  Now and when there are so few kids, they provide much one-on-one care and focus on field work.  They also have programs to get kids from the center into town and they call these country walks.  Their parents are also allowed to visit and do so.  They tell us that the kids come from the Child Protection Unit where they are screened for injuries or diseases.  The average stay is 3 weeks though there has even been a kid that stayed for three plus years because of their illnesses. 

GUSCO relies on relatives to take care of orphans as the Acholi tradition is a relative takes care of orphans and GUSCO has never fostered a child!  They do training for these relatives and work hard to find the families through family tracing rather than relying on the community or the family to find the kid.  Some of the ways they would find this information is through rebels who would call and ask the kids who their family was doing or the rebels would ask this on the radio. 

We also asked if a family has ever rejected a rehabbed child and they said very few do.  We also asked the average time of a child in the Bush and they said it's hard to tell as a child can be abducted and the next day rescued.   Child moms have an average time captured of six years.  The reason why some kids hesitate coming back is because the rebels tell them that if they come back then the people in the communities will poison them so GUSCO brings support for them until that fear subsides and then the kids are able to open up.  They keep them busy with football helps this and on Tuesday and Thursday they have dance and traditional ceremonies. 

            One of the things we realized walking around there were the walls on the inside of buildings have drawings of helicopters and big guns and gunfire as kids would even stand on windows to draw.  GUSCO said when the kids first come to the center they draw things like this from the bush then about half way there they draw about the center like soccer and the dances and then towards the end they draw about wanting to go to school and stuff after the center.   You can learn a lot from kids drawings here and what we learned from speaking with an art therapy teacher from the Art Institute in Chicago is that you simply let the child draw what ever is on their mind and don't tell them what to draw or try to interpret what they drew for them, but let them tell you.  GUSCO does this as they simply ask them to draw what they think and the class therapy teachers at GUSCO keep the drawings and assess them.

            GUSCO has also built two new large permanent housing structures as UNICEF said that they are expecting a lot of youth to come into town if peace is realized, while before there were mostly temporary tent-like structures.  They always emphasized that people had freedom here.  Also, when we left we saw two white flags on top of their huge protected barbed wire fence that covers the center. They said the meaning of the flags was when the rebels and government signed a cessation of hostilities.  Everyone in the North had these flags up for a long time and they were for the kids here as a sign of no more bloodshed and as an expression of peace "that they can just look at each other and that people can be hopeful about peace here".  The main offices for GUSCO are also connected to this center and the people on the board interact with people at the center.

The second NGO we visited was the Gulu Youth Center  which targets youth (ages 10-24, though you are still considered a youth until 35 in Acholi culture) and kids in school come here for after-school programs while those out of school come here full time.  The employee that we spoke with was named Kifola which means misfortunate, but there was a ceremony to lift the curse for all of the names so now she is fortunate.  She told us how they are sponsored by Straight Talk, which is a non-profit that is sponsored by UNICEF.  One of the main roles of the Youth Center is HIV-AIDS testing and counseling, which occurs on a first come, first serve basis as they open early and there are always tons of youth that come as there are more than the counselors are able to see.   They also provide contraceptives, STI drug and treatment, have a radio show, do peer education, and distribute  newspapers about issues kids face and social issues like the environment in the Acholi language of Luo and in English. 

When we were there, we could see kids inside watching a film about abductions and there were sex awareness drawings and posters all over the building.  The drawings were very graphic and had people dancing with their clothes falling off and the girl saying "Does AIDS exist?" and the boy she is dancing with saying "No!".  There was also a poster for their Girl Talk which is a girls only discussion that hopefully some of my female group mates get a chance to go too.  There are also tons of NGO sponsored posters in both Acholi and English including tons sponsored by the German Foundation for World Population.  Most of the posters are saying don't do gift for gift sex which involves being with someone because they give you a cell phone or some gift and then you have to have sex with them.  You see the competition of different NGO stances as some say "Always say no to sex", another says "Always say no to premarital sex" and another says "use a condom".

The third NGO we visited was Health Alert-Uganda, a local NGO that serves youth in Northern Uganda with HIV-AIDS.  Their entry point are clinics where they follow pregnant moms with HIV-AIDS and ensure that they don't pass it on to their newborns.  They disclose the test results to their husbands for them as husbands often have negative reactions to such results.  As an organization, they try to figure out the number of youth who have HIV-AIDS as no one has been able to release the figure ("we need an IT wizard').