More From my First Trip to Karamoja...

I wrote this last week, but I'm posting it now.  

So…I think there’s still hope that I may find a way to love at least part of Uganda.  Yes, that’s right, I said it.  I might not hate everything about Uganda.  As I write this, I’m sitting in my cottage at the Hill Top Resort in Nakapiripirit Town Council.  I’ve just had a lovely (albeit far more expensive than I’m used to at $5000 UGX – that’s about $2.50 for those of you trying to convert) dinner of matooke, beans and rice with some superb chili sauce and a Coke that tasted like it was bottled about 12 years ago.  But back to the fact that I’m staying at a hotel with the word “resort” in the name.  Let me assure you, it is, in fact, not a resort.  I am finding myself quite at home, though, bucket showers and all.  It doesn’t hurt that there are gorgeous mountains that form a semi-circle around us, though from the name of the place, you’d think we’d be located on the mountains. 

Before you continue reading, here’s a special warning for you, mom (and Colleen and Lynora if you’re reading this).  I know you three especially worry about me, and I feel like this is one of those things, like bungy-jumping, that’s best left until after the fact. 

Either way, I’m quite enjoying trip, and so far it has been filled with firsts: first time I’ve ever been in Karamoja (obviously), first time I’ve been East of Kampala, oh, and first time I’ve been left behind by a group of people (I was forgotten in Kampala, before the journey to Moroto even started).  Also, my first time wearing a bulletproof vest, and first time travelling in a convoy (okay, I’ve travelled in convoy before, but not for safety reasons), first time having to call someone for security updates on the road before traveling, ah and  perhaps most importantly, first time I’ve prayed before taking a car journey.  No problem with any of it, as everything worked out fine, the movement was safe, uneventful, and only slightly nerve-wracking. 

Today I left Moroto around 10:15, in a 2-vehicle convoy.  We had a regular pickup which carried some few staff, and me and a driver and the wife and baby of an IRC staff in a Land Cruiser.  We drove for maybe 20 kilometers only before we reached the district border.  The drive was absolutely stunning.  I didn’t know that there were going to be so many mountains so close to Moroto or Nakapiripirit, but there are, and they’re gorgeous.  I tried to take some photos and videos on the drive here, but I’m certain they wont do the landscape justice, especially since we couldn’t stop to take any photos.  Oh, speaking of photos, today I learned that they’re called “snaps.”  While meeting with the 2 GBV staff here, and the chairman of the CBO they’re working with (Bosco), he mentioned an incident in which some thugs attacked elderly & vulnerable people who were getting their WFP rations last week, and said that some of the CBO workers helped those who had been attacked, and even took some snaps of the scene to document it.

Anyways, we arrived a little past noon in Nakapiripirit Town Council (Ugandan districts are basically all the same, and not unlike having a state and a state capital with the same name).  We passed less than 10 villages/trading centers along the road the entire journey; as I said before, the landscape was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.  Mountains and plateaus were all around, and the African bush was alongside the road except for when we came to small villages.  The road was dirt, but very high quality, as we were cruising well above the 80 km/hr IRC speed limit.  After arriving and meeting everyone (there are about 10 staff at the field office, which is the PERFECT size as far as I’m concerned), I had some few minutes to speak with Patrick & Lilly, the GBV staff, as the vehicles were being unloaded and reloaded for our trip to the village of Nabilatuk to meet with women from the local CBO called WAPIK (War Against Poverty in Karamoja).  We traveled in a convoy again, as just on Sunday some warriors were spotted crossing the road just down the hill from the IRC office.  I traveled in the Land Rover again, with Lilly and Patrick and the same driver that took me safely from Moroto to Nakaps.  In the other truck was someone from another department (I think health) who needed to stop at one of the Health Centers in a village along the way.  Lucky for him, we made it to the village where he was heading (called Tokora, which reminded me very much, but only in name, of Torocko, the Hungarian village we went to in Romania).  Just prior to reaching Tokora, we received word that there had been some disturbance on the “highway” (read: one-lane dirt road) earlier in the day, and that there were some 6 people shot in a scuffle between police/army and perhaps raiders/warriors.  We stopped at Tokora briefly so that someone could drop some things off, then headed back to the town council, following the UN convoy up a windy road that is apparently safer than the one we went down, though they seemed to actually just be opposite sides of the same road.  I’m still not quite sure what the cause of the exchange was, as I’ve heard conflicting stories.  I also heard that this news made its way to Kampala office, where the acting CD is, and that she was having some input into whether or not we will be able to go to Nabilatuk tomorrow (though that’ll obviously depend also on the LCs’ and IRC security recommendations/reports). 

Perhaps I need to explain, somewhat, the current situation in Karamoja.  The Karamojong people raise cattle, sheep, goats, etc.  They are somewhat nomadic in history, I believe, though there seem to be many small villages these days.  Poverty and hunger are both especially large-scale problems in this region, neither of which are helped in the least by the lack of care the rest of Uganda seems to have for this region.  Culturally, the Karamojong tend to use violence as a means to get what they want – whether it be raping women because the men want sex or ambushing convoys, or raiding cattle or any combination of several other things. 

Because we are not so far from the Kenyan border, there are Kenyan pastoralists (mainly the Kenyan Pokot, but also some Turkana, I think) who often come across the mountains to raid cattle.  Don’t get me wrong, from what I’ve heard, there is plenty of regional cattle-raiding done by Ugandan Pokot especially, but lately there’s also been a rise in the cross-border cattle raids.  I don’t know a ton about the situation, but from what I’ve heard, they don’t just raid cattle, but also goats, sheep, and other herded animals that are of value in this region.

Even though I've only been here about 24 hours, I'd like to provide some insight into why I might have a more positive attitude about Uganda if I'd gotten to live in the Karamoja region like I was originally supposed to.

Reasons why I like Karamoja so far:

1.     Everyone has been so nice to me so far.  And not the fake, “you’re a muzungu so I have to seem nice” type of nice.  When people say “you are welcome,” it seems like they mean it.  Both last night in Moroto and tonight in Nakaps IRC staff have taken me to my hotel, then come with me to reception to get my key and make sure everything was fine.  I’ve also just gotten a call from Sajja (coolest name ever?  Maybe.), the head transport guy in Moroto, just checking to see how my day was (well, I think, we got disconnected and I haven’t been able to get through to him, so that’s as far as our conversation was allowed to go). 

2.     Karamoja, Karamojong, and K’jong are all fun to say.  Oh, and so is Nakaps, the abbreviation for Nakapiripirit, though Nakapiripirit itself is fun to say too. 

3.     The K’jong girls wear amazing plaid skirts.   I really, really, really want to have someone make me one – most of them are kind-of patchwork-ish, and bounce and sway and make me want to twirl around. 

4.     The K’jong wear lovely beaded jewellery.  I’m hoping that I’ll be able to get some, though I am not quite sure where I could do that.  Perhaps the same person who helps me to obtain a fun plaid skirt can help me to get some new beads.  I hope.  They wear many layers of beaded necklaces – I’m sure there is some sort of significance to how/why/what colors they wear, but I’m not sure of it.  I have also seen some few women with what appear to be lovely beaded earrings, though from what I’ve seen, it kind of looks like you have to sit still while someone makes the beaded earrings through your ear piercing.  Oh man, if I could get a beaded hoop nosering…that would be STELLAR.  And by stellar, I mean the best souvenir I’ve ever gotten anywhere ever in life. 

5.     The K’jong wear a lot of plaid in general.  They have large pieces of plaid material that they wear as shawls, though some of the men wear them as skirts or a skirt-dress.  I’m sure I’m doing a horrible job of explaining this.  Hopefully we will be able to move to the village tomorrow and I can take some photos of the women we’ll meet with there.  Anyways, if you’re at all familiar with the Maasai of Kenya or Tanzania, the Karamojong are the Ugandan equivalent.  They are pastoralists, and have a terrible reputation among Ugandans as being backwards, dirty, uncivilized, dangerous, etc.  Almost all of my colleagues at IRC Kitgum were shocked when I said I was coming to Karamoja – they openly said that they’ve never been to this region because they’re fearing the K’jong.