Diocese of Winchester

Greetings from Kitgum

Kitgum in Northern Uganda is still in a the grip of a strained political situation after years of turmoil caused by conflict between a rebel group called the Lords’ Resistance Army and government forces.

The Diocesan President of Mothers’ Union in Winchester Diocese met with leaders of Mothers’ Union work in Kitgum whilst visiting Uganda in October 2008, although she was unable to visit the region itself because peace talks had broken down. The information below is a summary of what she was told:

NORTHERN UGANDA – AN OVERVIEW

The 22 years of war has left the population traumatized especially in the displacement camps in Kitgum. Children have never known peace. Though the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) are not currently active in Northern Uganda, people are very afraid they will return, and that fighting and atrocities will start again.

The people have lost much of their culture. The elders of the villages have either died or been killed so that hierarchy no longer exists. There are land issues, as boundaries have been lost; some young men are challenging land rights where land has been given by their grandfathers to community projects. Even when there is no dispute about the boundaries, the people in the camps are afraid to return home as they fear the ghosts of the people who have been killed there. Some people have also lost their identity, especially those returning from the LRA; their villages are no longer there and their families all killed. Unsurprisingly there is great mental distress and psychiatric illness.

KITGUM

The situation in the displacement camps is dire. Families all share one small hut so there is no privacy especially as the huts are close together. People have been moved from the large camps where they were guarded by soldiers, to satellite camps which are unguarded but closer to their original villages. In the camps villagers are kept together.

Boredom is a problem. The men are a serious concern as they do little except get drunk. The women fetch the water and the firewood as well as the cooking and clothes washing. The food from the World Food Programme is given out to the women but whilst they are away on their chores the men may sell the food to get money for alcohol. This leads to domestic fighting and violence which is rampant in the camps and the women complain that “The men are so lazy!”

A displacement camp in Kitgum 2005

People living in the camps have got used to having everything provided for them, including clean water and food. However some of the women are now going to the area of their villages and doing some agricultural work with seeds and fertilizer provided by non-governmental organsiations (NGOs).

Girls living in camp are particularly vulnerable as rape and incest are not uncommon. In Uganda, statistics suggest 50% of girls are sexually assaulted (IRIN, the Integrated Regional Information Network, May 2006.) Hygiene in the camps is also very poor with inadequate latrines and washing facilities. This means personal cleanliness is not maintained. There are health centres in the camps run by nurses and there had recently been a serious outbreak of Hepatitis E. Even the local government hospital in Kitgum has just 2 doctors!

With support from UNICEF, a group are working on resettling young people (from the displacement camps) with small income generating projects and training in hygiene promotion. Children have spent their entire lives in the camps. As a result they are completely lacking in everyday living skills. They are also deeply traumatised: there is the story of one girl who had been taken to Kampala to be cared for during her pregnancy; she had no concept of hygiene or community living, and was unable to smile for months. In another story, women protesting against the injustices in the displacement camps carried a placard saying:
“OH GOD It is tough to live in camp as a woman
Born in the camp – Defiled in camp
Forced to early marriage in camp WHAT A HELL”

Supporting young people

There is an organization called ‘Daughters of the King’, funded by Americans, which is exclusively for troubled girls especially those who have been pregnant. Some have abortions, others kill their babies at birth but some do keep their babies. Mothers’ Union members act as mothers to these young girls, giving them love and hope for the future and encouraging them in the love of God.

Education of a sort is provided with primary schools near government camps but secondary schools are further away. In all cases, the classes are very big and equipment, including books and pens, is lacking. In 2005 the Mothers’ Union set up a project to construct safe learning centres in the camps for preschool children, again with support from UNICEF. Ten classrooms were built and mothers would volunteer to care for the children in these rooms, whilst other mothers went out to look for firewood and water. The centres were supplied with play materials like balls, whistles, books and crayons.

The building that sheltered the ‘night commuters’ (children who sheltered in the towns during the worst attrocities by the LRA and for which Mothers’ Union members in the Diocese of Winchester raised funds in 2004) now has solar lighting installed thanks to UNICEF and is used to encourage children to read, supporting the education they do receive, and as a valuable, safe recreation space.

Building hope

For the last two years the Mothers’ Union has been engaged in a peace building project around the Diocese of Kitgum focusing on peace and reconciliation, training on child abuse, domestic violence and land issues. In their local areas Mothers’ Union members also work sharing God’s love through Bible study, visiting the sick, together with support for HIV/AIDS sufferers and child-headed households. There is also a small project for clergy wives to make paper beads for a little income.

Mothers’ Union members in Kitgum are asking for help to establish a Vocational Centre through which to give skills to vulnerable groups – women, orphans, child mothers and former child soldiers who will be trained in catering, tailoring, brick laying and carpentry. The hope is that they will then have skills to enable them to be self reliant. They also want to empower women with micro-financing.

Having heard of these needs and hopes from Mothers’ Union members in Kitgum, and also visited the Family Life Programme, operating in a diocese closer to Kampala, Winchester’s Diocesan President feels that the Family Life Programme would be a huge blessing to the people in the rural areas of Kitgum Diocese, especially if it could be promoted as they move back to rebuild their villages. You can find out more about the Family Life Programme by following links through our ‘Projects’ pages.

Please continue to hold these people and projects in your prayers, and in your fundraising for the Mothers’ Union Overseas Fund, from which projects like these are funded.

For more information about the background to the conflict in Northern Uganda and the tactics of the Lords’ Resistance Army read -
Wounds for Healing.