Kidepo Valley National Park

On Friday evening, Kevin & I along with my coworker/friend Judith & two IRC expats visiting Kitgum headed up to Kidepo Valley NP in the far northeast of Uganda, bordering Sudan & Kenya.  We went in an IRC vehicle with a very good driver (Jacob), who has driven up there three times before, so he knew the roads and what to expect.  Though it rained at some point and there were definitely parts of the road that were terribly muddy, the drive there was uneventful, took about 3 hours, and we didn't get stuck anywhere.  We arrived just in time for dinner and to watch the moon rise.  As we were driving into the park on our way to our hostel, we saw buffalo & giraffes in the distance.  We enjoyed an evening by a large campfire, a nice dinner, and good (though controversial) conversation with our UWA guide and some other rangers/visitors.  We also ran into another IRC employee, who was up for the night with a group of her friends, which was kind of ironic, considering we were about 3 hours away from Kitgum, and national staff don't usually tend to go to the park.  Saturday morning we left at 6:30 for a game drive, which was awesome.  The UWA truck was broken, so we did our game drive sitting on top of the IRC LandCruiser, the 5 of us and our guide.  Jacob once again did a great job as our driver, being especially careful with us on top, which was definitely much appreciated.  Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of all of us piled up there, but it's okay, because we saw many wonderful things, including lions, lionesses, baboons, giraffes, antelope, many many many buffalo, waterbuck, jackals, elephants, zebras, an old abandoned hotel that Idi Amin built, and so much beautiful scenery as Kidepo is surrounded by mountains.  We returned from our morning game drive around 10am, enjoyed some tea and Rolexes (chapattis with eggs inside rolled not unlike a burrito), and went out again to see some more animals, visit some natural hotsprings, and see the Sudanese border.  While out the second time, we also passed through the area where the rhinos will be eventually; years ago there were rhinos native to Kidepo, but during the 60s & 70s they were all killed during some chaotic times.  Overall, the park was wonderful, I'm very glad we got to go at least for one night (planning was quite difficult), and I definitely hope that I can visit again before I leave Uganda.

Just a few photos of what we saw.  There are many, many more, but these are some of my faves.

this is the view from the top floor of the old Katurum Lodge, built by Amin.  

Lazy Weekend

Last weekend I meant to be really productive.  I had big plans.  Unfortunately, I wasn't so productive.  I spent all day Saturday hanging out with a friend from the Peace Corps and another expat who runs/works at a nice local restaurant/hotel in town (that basically only expats or NGO workers hang out at).  We didn't do much, just hung out, chatted, drank some beer.  In the evening a Kenyan NGO worker stopped by.  I'd never met him before, but I found the conversation with him to be very interesting, especially hearing his views about maternal health & nutrition.  He didn't share too much, but talked about how his parents are/were pastoralists.  Sunday I spent laying in the sun at my house and reading a book, because I was too lazy to go anywhere, and because my bank card no longer works, so I don't have any money to spend on anything in town.  That's okay, though, because I very much enjoyed having some sun for a change.  While I was outside reading, I happened to look up and see a circular rainbow around the sun (hence the photo).  

Upcoming Events

things I'm looking forward to in the next month:

1. Kevin arrives on Wednesday!
2. Trip to Kidepo Valley National Park!
3. White water rafting on the Victoria Nile!
4. Seeing Mountain Gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park!
5. Sending my suitcase of useless things (and gifts for people) home with Kevin.  
6. Traveling to Karamoja for 3 weeks, including a trip back to Nakapiripirit (which I have decided is my favorite place in Uganda), staying in Moroto, and a trip to Kotido.  This will hopefully include the purchase of some beaded jewelry (hopefully a collar neckalce, beaded earrings, and beaded waistbands that they wear), a Karamojong plaid skirt, a piece of plaid fabric to wear as a cape/shawl, and a fun hat that the Karamojong men wear.  I also aim to take many photos of the Karamojong wearing all of the above-stated things in the sad event that I am not able to purchase any/all of them for myself.  

things I'm not looking forward to in the next month:

1. All the work I have to do, especially things like creating charts and graphs in excel.  
2. Attempting to find a real job.  I should really start this tedious process, but I have very little motivation.

LRA Disarmament & Northern Uganda Recovery Act

From an email that I received today....

"Wednesday evening the US Congress passed the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act following an affirmative vote in the House of Representatives. The vote was accompanied by several strong statements of support from influential Representatives calling for US leadership to support viable efforts to apprehend top LRA commanders and permanently end LRA atrocities in central Africa, as well as to hold the Ugandan government accountable for ensuring a transparent and comprehensive reconstruction process in northern Uganda. The legislation is now on President Obama's desk, and he has 10 days to either sign it into law or veto it.

The bill's passage reflects unprecedented consensus in Congress that President Obama should take stronger steps to help stop LRA violence and support efforts to secure lasting peace in northern Uganda. The legislation was cosponsored by a bipartisan group of 65 Senators and 201 Representatives, making it the most widely supported Africa-specific bill in US history. Tens of thousands of US citizens mobilized in support of the legislation, including nearly 2,000 who participated in a Washington, DC lobby day last year and thousands more who participated in hundreds of meetings with Congressional offices across the country."

For more information on the bill, check out the ResolveUganda website here.

Photos From KJA

Near the border of Moroto District & Nakapiripirit District.  The Moroto municipality is at the base of the mountains.  Kenya is somewhere nearby.

Along the drive from Moroto to Nakapiripirit

View from the doorway of the Nakapiripirit IRC office.

Patrick & Lilly (IRC GBV staff) translating our questions into Karamojong & interviewing the 3 community support volunteers, their coordinator, and the CBO leader

Patrick, Lilly, & I with some of the women from WAPIIK

Me with some of the women in front of the WAPIIK office

Some of the kids that came to see the mzungu at WAPIK

A K'jong woman walking back from WFP food distribution.  You can't really see that she's wearing a somewhat traditional Karamojong outfit, but she is.

This is the road that the IRC office is on in Nakaps.  Warriors have crossed this road very close to the IRC office recently.  

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.  

Halfway Done...

I guess I should start this by saying that I have just returned to Moroto from our field office in Nakapiripirit.  I arrived in Moroto Monday night, and left Tuesday morning for the field office.  I was supposed to return yesterday, but was unable to, so we delayed until today, and arrived just after midday.  I wrote this the first evening that I arrived in Moroto.

Sometimes it REALLY seems like the time is dragging on.  Other times it goes by more quickly.  So, obviously I didn’t do such a great job of updating this more frequently like I said I would.  I really will try harder, no, seriously.  In my defense, we’ve had some power issues lately, which obviously impacted internet access, though with the generator, there shouldn’t have been much of a problem, except for the fact that the generator doesn’t reach the GBV office (usually we run on an inverter when there’s no power.  Don’t ask me what the difference is or how either work, I don’t know), but because we were without power in the town for about 4 days, eventually the inverter got overloaded, and the generator ran out of fuel. 

Right now I’m sitting in my hotel room in Moroto, watching the Blackburn-Arsenal game.  This is the first soccer game I’ve watched and paid attention to since I’ve been here.  I’ve always wanted to be a soccer fan, but since we don’t have a TV at our house, and I’m too lazy to go to a hotel/bar to watch them in town with all the drunk men, I don’t have much opportunity to become a crazy football fan here. 

The journey to Moroto was uneventful…well, after they realized they forgot me and I caught up with them.  Yes, I got left behind in Kampala, and I almost crashed when everyone realized that I was going to Moroto and no one in their transport department knew. 

Okay, some post-Easter highlights of April:

o   I bought DVDs in Kampala.  Seasons 1-3 of Dexter, one season of CSI (that nearly caused my computer to crash), Invictus, Brooklyn’s Finest, and the Blindside. 

o   A lady from the bakery in town now brings breakfast to the office.  While it’s a bit expensive, I can appreciate some day-old mini loaves of banana bread and carrot bread.  She has yet to bring chocolate chip, which I know they make, so that’s a little disappointing.  And because she comes, the lady that used to bring pancakes doesn’t come anymore, also a little disappointing,  but still totally worth it because bakery lady brings chapattis, too. 

o   My second training went really well.  We even prepared for it (though according to our preparation, I was to be the primary facilitator on day two, and in reality, I was not only the primary facilitator for the entire training, but really the only facilitator who did anything). 

o   I finished a rough draft of the 4 remaining training sessions, including materials for facilitators and participants.  I still have some fine-tuning to do, and I have to get feedback from everyone, but at least there’s a draft done, and I don’t have to spend a ton more time working on them (hopefully). 

o   
I talked to my supervisor and the GBV manager about doing other things.  While I still can’t do anything clinical or anything that I thought I’d be doing here or that I want to do (i.e. program evaluation, learn about grantwriting, learn about financial management/budgeting), things I can do include: do a needs/strengths assessment of people working in Karamoja (hence why I’m currently in Moroto), do a shit ton of reports (monthly, grant-end, etc), and support a new, 3-year grant that encompasses training local civil service officials on how to better work with survivors. 

And some not-so-good things that happened in April:

o   We got a no-cost extension for the Irish Aid grant that was supposed to be ending May 15^th (thus meaning that the majority of the GBV department would no longer work for IRC).  Yes, I know this sounds like it should fall in the category above, but on a personal level, there are a few people in the GBV department that I don’t have such a good relationship with, so selfishly, I’ve put it under this category.  They’re all staying until July 15^th now.  That’s only 16 days less than I’m staying with IRC.  Hooray. 

o   I became really lazy.  Since my knee has been hurting really badly, I’ve pretty much been entirely unable to run.  I also got quite lazy and barely worked out in April. 

o   It became rainy season.  Again, this could also go above, but because it makes mornings and evenings cold, and the middle of the day super hot, I don’t love rainy season.  I’m finding that I didn’t bring enough layers.  I think you all know how much I dislike cold weather (and by cold, I mean approximately 70s.  Global kids, I know you think this is cold too). 

o   I have decided that my all-time least favorite mode of transportation is the boda boda.  I don’t care how efficient or practical they are, they terrify me…possibly more-so than airplanes do because I’m quite certain they’re far more dangerous. 

o   I hired a Luo tutor to try to learn the language.  I was really excited about it for the first week, but then once I realized he wasn’t actually going to show up for any of our pre-scheduled sessions, I lost hope.  Yesterday I bought myself a rather pricey Luo dictionary.  I’ll teach myself (or at least try). 

o   I contracted some type of rash when I was in Kampala.  I tried to put anti-itch cream on it, and it became much more itchy, and spread slightly.  Thankfully, it only took over one arm, and I went to the clinic and they gave me two types of pills and some special cream, and it went away.  The doctor I saw looked like he was about 15.  But whatever he gave me worked, so I’m not questioning him. 

o   
After my rash went away, I got roped into “co-facilitating” (read: facilitating) a joint GBV-Health training for some group of people associated with the health department.  I was asked to step in because a few of the GBV staff were out sick.  While conducting this training, I got to hang out with the sick people who refused to stay home, thus contracting a cold. 

o   
One of the drivers asked me if I could take him to the US.  This happens occasionally, though not usually with staff members.  However, I let it slide, because that question was preceded by “Where in America do you live?  Near the Hollywood famous people?  Do you know R. Kelly?” 

I’m sure there are more things that go in both categories, but that’s all I can think of right now, and I’ve spent enough time ignoring the work that I need to get done tonight.  

Oh, but one last thing.  Annabelle, this is for you.  Early Sunday morning, between roughly 2:30 and 3:30 I was woken up by some very loud music.  I’m not sure where the club is in relation to the Kampala guesthouse, but it couldn’t have been too far based on the fact that I could clearly hear the lyrics to every Lady Gaga song ever, especially Poker Face, which was played upwards of 5 times.