Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

How civilized! A beautiful buffet breakfast on the patio… certainly not the Uganda we anticipated. Allan presented us with our itinerary and we loaded into the cars heading for Lira for the ride of our lifetime! North we headed through the most unbelievable traffic… it even paled from our harrowing ride from the airport. Thank goodness Frank and his camera are recording this because it is certain that no one would believe the sights passing our car windows! THE NILE! We cross over the Nile – but are warned very strongly to keep our cameras hidden. There is a Ugandan army base at the edge of the river to guard against rebel forces that in the past have hidden in the woods to cross the river and for security reasons a camera could be confiscated. The base visible to us consists of a sea of mud and thatch roofed huts, no fencing and certainly not very imposing. There are baboons, lots of baboons sitting on the roadside with their hands held out for treats from the cars that slow down for the photo opportunity. The need for a restroom stop arises and we wonder how, where? There certainly are no rest areas and there are school children in colorful uniforms walking everywhere! Suddenly Peter pulls over and asks us to wait…. he returns quickly saying the lady welcomes us to use her facilities. She greets us with a huge smile and the typical soft-handed shake. Seven children from age 2 – 15 suddenly appear. They, in contrast to their Mother, are shy but also curious. We approach and shake their hands. Their Mother leads us back to a turquoise building with 4 doors. She points to the last door – our first experience with a keyhole in the floor latrine. None of us will ever claim this was a good experience but it was balanced by being with this delightful family, by seeing the round mud-cooking hut, the kidney beans drying on a sheet in the dirt swept courtyard, the drying hut. Again this was highlighted by the children, we took their pictures and when shown their digital images the squeals of delight made up for any discomfort in the latrine. As someone pointed out these people don’t have mirrors so seeing themselves in our camera screen must have seemed like “white magic”. The road has been recently improved and there are occasional stretches where we don’t see people, this brings someone to say, “we comment that we could be in Hawaii – lots of bananas, tropical trees, thatch covered roofs”. But this isn’t Hawaii; this is Uganda whose recent history is rife with terror. Idi Amin self proclaimed “President for Life” is reported to have killed over 300,000 Ugandans, including church leaders and recalcitrant cabinet members in 1977. The National Resistance Army (NRA) led by Yoweri Museveni seized the capital, Kampala, in 1986 and with the assistance of many Western countries began the process of transforming this farming country. President Museveni was reelected in 2006 in spite of a spirited and nasty campaign. Wars with Rwanda and the Congo have in turmoil. Uganda signed a peace accord with the Congo in 2002 and finally withdrew its remaining troops from the country in May 2003. Uganda’s 18-year long battle against the Lord’s Resistance Army is so barbaric that it is truly hard to imagine the horrors that were committed. Between 8,000 and 10,000 children have been abducted by the LRA to form the army of “prophet” Joseph Kony, whose aim was to take over Uganda and run it with his vision of Christianity. The boys were turned into soldiers (some as young a 5 or 6) and the girls into sex slaves. An entire village in Northern Uganda was wiped out because there was an encampment of the Ugandan soldiers near that had attacked a LRA unit. The soldiers found only 2 of the Ugandan soldiers at the camp, after they had killed them they posed as Uganda soldiers and marched into the village and slaughtered 350 men, women and children. We will visit Barlonyo where the government has erected a monument in memory of this tragic event tomorrow.

Dinner was in Lira proper at a well known Lillian Towers restaurant. We drove past a cyclone-fenced area marked Lira Prison where we could see people walking about in uniforms but also people sitting at long tables visiting. Immediately attached is an area with similar fencing but a sign inscribed Lira Hospital, much the same scene minus the yellow uniforms. The main street of Lira looked like their was a carnival going on – crowds of people getting off work, some cooking their dinners in small fires right on the dusty parking area in front of the rows of shops. Children running everywhere, again amazing how anyone can keep track of who is where and or why. The restaurant was reminiscent of the dining hall at a military base, complete with a bouquet of silk roses and a hanging fluorescent light bulb. We were joined by 6 of the MTI staff. A table of 7 children with a single Mother was seated next to us –they were fascinated by our group so after asking permission we took their picture and then shared the digital image much to their delight. The giggles were delightful! The chicken curry that Megan had remembered and recommended was delicious. This was a tired group who headed back to the Paulina Hotel and our beds! The uniformed guard walking the courtyard with his shouldered rifle, the constantine wire atop the wall should make us feel secure but instead I wonder “why are such measures necessary?” Tomorrow we visit the Ogur Youth Center and the Memorial.