It's all about the ladies

Wowza. Last week was one crazy week. Lina and I took the bus up to Gulu to participate in events organized for International Women’s Day. Our conference was scheduled to be launched this week, but political meddling forced us to reschedule until next month. Such is life.

I gotta say that I love Gulu – on one corner I can buy a new battery for my watch and on the other, I can get my broken sandal repaired for 200 shillings (10 cents). And my reunion with the Roma Hotel is always great, accompanied by cassava, rice and beans.

So on Tuesday we traveled with a number of folks from Gulu town to Alero Camp (Alero in Luo means “I tried”), which is one of the hardest hit camps in northern Uganda for Women’s Day. There have been a number of attacks on the civilians in the camp, due to its geography – LRA soldiers are able to hide easily in the neighboring forest. Lina and I spent the day at the camp, fully engaging in the celebrations. I even got the chance to show off my Acholi dancing skills, though I may have been taken aback when I was attempting Larakaraka when two elder women decided to take advantage of the situation to sandwich me into a chest-butting competition to the delight of the crowds around us. One official took a moment to congratulate me on dancing “with distinction” – ah yeah! Overall, a great day, though there was a big official, who shall remain nameless, who took the opportunity to go off on political propaganda for a third term and declaring that the people in the camp should thank the UPDF for protecting them. Excuse me? Homey say what? The UPDF? The UPDF bear responsibility for a good share of the suffering in the IDP camps, including raping young girls and women, forceful labor of civilians, assault, looting. In the camps, rather than protect the civilians, the UPDF has opted to use them as human shields when the LRA attacks. If I was offended by such a declaration, imagine the people of the camp who simply want to celebrate women’s day…

On Wednesday Lina and I boarded that too small of a plane to Kitgum - with the escalation of attacks by the LRA, and especially on women, we still can’t take the road. We spent the remainder of the week on foot around Kitgum, meeting with various community groups, local government folks, and even the police. It was an incredibly productive trip but I have to say the most telling experience was our visit to the women’s ward at Kitgum Prison, as eight young women are imprisoned with their small children, and three others are very pregnant. We listened to all their stories and were appalled simply because these women are more the victims of social circumstances rather than criminals. Lina, who is a former magistrate, is trying to use her position to bring some attention to these cases and we even managed to assist in one woman’s release:

One woman, the mother of three, left her husband (who was most likely abusive) and was apparently with a new man with whom she had a child. The husband had her imprisoned on the charge of “elopement” because he wanted the dowry he paid returned, which totaled 40,000 shillings or about $25. Mind you the dowry goes to the woman’s family, not the woman, but regardless, the woman and her infant are now in prison. I could not believe that it was just this 40,000 keeping this woman and her child from freedom. My instinct was to open my wallet right then and there and provide the 40,000 but then I quickly realized I did not even have the money on me to pay, as we unexpectedly got stuck on the road longer than expected and barely had enough to get back. But just a few hours later, while preparing to head to the airstrip, we shared the story with a British photojournalist who decided to go right then and there and provide the money. It worked! I will follow-up on the case when I return to be sure, but it is exciting that we were able to share this woman’s story and secure her and her child’s release.

But really, most of these women are in for the most ridiculous of accusations and they are afforded neither legal representation nor advisement of their rights. And if you could only see the conditions to which they are subjected. Lina gave them some money to purchase soap, but they need a lot more than that!

There’s just so much more to share…