Gulu Town

Apwoyo,

I am starting to settle into this town they call Gulu. We had our first lectures today and started to learn about the incredibly violent and troubled history of Uganda in general and Northern Uganda more specifically. From Milton Obote to Idi Amin and now to Museveni and the problems with the LRA there has scarce been a time when Uganda hasn’t been embroiled in some internal or external conflict since the end of the colonial era. I can’t wait to learn more about this troubled nation.

Gulu is the economic center of the North of Uganda. It is also a HUGE hub for NGO activity. There are between two hundred and three hundred NGOs based here. It’s a great staging area to access many troubled areas. That means a huge influx of outside influence though and who can tell whether that is a beneficial thing for the people of Gulu. I think it certainly affects their local culture and could possibly create a culture of dependency here. I will be interested to see in the coming weeks how the locals interact with the NGOs and how they feel towards each other.

In Rwanda there was an obvious gap in gender roles but it seemed an ever-narrowing one. My mother worked in town in her own store and my sisters received equal schooling to my brother. On the national stage, women were allotted a certain number of seats in congress and gender equality was pushed strongly through the government controlled media. In Uganda the situation is noticeably different. The gender roles are much more defined. Throughout the day you can see the streets full of men playing cards and hanging out with their friends. There are certainly some men working in their stores or as security guards but there are an interesting amount of men just relaxing. Women however are always hard at work in their stores, lugging sugarcane through the street or preparing meals in the house. Before meals the ladies of the household are expected to wash the hands of the elders, guests and everyone else from kneeling position. When I offered to wash my aunts hands she was visibly surprised, but I insisted and, in a possibly culturally insensitive way, tried to return a favor that normally does not get returned. The same goes for washing the dishes or making meals, every time I have offered to help I have been politely turned down while at the same time receiving an inquisitive look. Some of the girls in the last group had a very hard time adjusting to the roles considered appropriate for them, understandably so. It is a hard line to walk between what your culture tells you is right, and what another culture sees as the absolute correct way to do things.

My Homestay mother, Jackie, returned from Nairobi, Kenya yesterday. I really got lucky with my Homestay families on this trip. The Twagira family in Kigali is one of the friendliest families I have yet encountered and Jackie is no different. She used to work for War Child Holland but now works for another Dutch company focused on development. She is a brilliant woman and actually one of the lecturers for our classes here in Gulu. On her first night back we went out to Ethiopian food (amazing). She has done a lot with her life including studying for two years in the Hague and getting a degree in Post-Conflict Transformation from Gulu University. I cannot wait to hear more about her exploits.

At the end of this month in Gulu and Kampala I start my independent study project (ISP). The ISP is part of my academic program here and I have to complete a 30- 40 page paper on a topic of my choice by the end of the allotted months time. I came in with the idea that I might do my project in Northern Uganda but that soon went out the window when I saw that probably 50% of my group wanted to do that as well, not that I don’t like them, but there is something to be said for originality. So, I decided that Rwanda was where I would be. I loved Rwanda but I soon found that with only a month and the language barrier as it was combined with the reserved nature of Rwandans it would be to hard of a task to do what I envisioned. We then traveled to Southern Uganda and met with the head of all Refugee activities in Southwest Uganda. Jackpot.

I have more or less decided (but looking at my past record, what does that matter) that I want to look at the situation in the Nakivale Refugee Settlement in Southwest Uganda. I want to examine the set up of the camp, the Ugandan locals feelings about the camp, and also, the bulk of my research, on the Rwandan Refugees. The Rwandans are mostly Hutu refugees who fear going back to Rwanda due to their fear of facing biased criminal courts that might try them for crimes they did not commit. I want to find out why they fear as much as they do, where does the fear come from, and what their alternatives are. As of now they have had their refugee status revoked because the international community considers their home country to be safe.

This also means that I will be spending my 21^st birthday in a Refugee Settlement, that’s an interesting story for the grandkids. As of now it looks like I will be joined by Dani, a daring and once-dreaded Dartmouth Dame (She got dreadlocks at the beginning of the trip and now they are no more), so I won’t be alone in this endeavor. Dani is the President-Elect of her Sorority at Dartmouth, a ski patrol gal, and quite the outdoorswoman. Sounds like a perfect ISP companion to me, hopefully we can do a stellar job on out papers and get some hiking in somewhere before the program ends… a man can dream can’t he?

Thanks again for taking the time to read this ever-growing account of my time in East Africa. I hope all is well wherever you may be.

-Muzungu currently living the life in Gulu, Uganda