Gardening, “Drive-In” Movies and Hep-E, Oh My!

Hey everyone! The network in Kitgum town has been down and really spotty…but we’ll keep trying to upload- please be patient with the internet connection in this neck of the woods. (For instance, this one has taken 5 hours to post!!!!). Anyways, we had shot a lovely walk through video of the camp for you, but you’ll have to wait until the network improves.

It’s been a busy couple of days, we finally got our home routine down + have been able to move around more. I’l try to condense here, but it is somewhat frustrating and difficult to relate all that is going on, all that we feel, and give the people who share with us the space and depth that they deserve!

Yesterday, we ventured out to “the gardens”, that is, the space beyond the camp that is green and lush, filled with people’s growing foodstuffs and even some people who have recently returned home and recently rebuilt their homesteads on their traditional land.

This is Kathy Adibu, age 46.

 

We came upon her on her traditional lands about 4km south of Padibe, attending to a ritual for a child who had a breech birth. We enquired why she has not yet left the camp to rebuild her homestead. We also asked about access to water from her traditional place, but that was not so much of a problem as the bore hole was only about 1 km away (not a problem here apparently!!). We found out that the real problem was that there were no men to build her roofs, and also that the grass to cover the huts would only be ready in December or so…I know, it sounds strange to me too that if you could possibly leave the camps, a little thing like a roof or grass would not stand in your way. But, you do need a roof on your home, and you need willing men and grass to build the roofs; and apparently both are in short supply. She said the worst thing about living in the camp is the lack of privacy, the overcrowding and related diseases and, before there was enough security to reach the gardens, the hunger. I asked her about whether she thinks that peace is here to stay- and she blew me away. She said that as long as there are people still living in the camps, there is no peace, regardless of the “political” situation. It really hit home and completely crystallized why I was here, and what Andrea and I are trying to call attention to.

We went on our way quite pensive in the breezy morning, re-committed and refreshingly inspired. We then walked another 1.5 kms or so and visited a group of elderly women (+ a couple of men) who had started their own community group that pools their time and labour once a week for different work. Check out Andrea below helping them weed g-nuts: can you guess which one she is?

They hope that through donations and their work they could build a type of security for themselves and their community. You don’t get any more grass-roots than that! Talk about helping thyself…and I really admire their ingenuity and daring! These are some of the amazing women on the way back to camp.

When we reached the camp, our pseudo-reverie was shattered. We saw government trucks blaring loud music. People had come out of the camp onto the main road and we stood there with them too. The music turned into a type of public service announcement, and as it turns out, it was about Hepatitis E, Cholera, Meningitis, Typhoid and the importance of cleanliness in the camp. We learned that they were going to show a health film outside of the clinic at 7pm and that the next day should be spent cleaning up the camp.

We went to the “outdoor screening”- it was packed with thousands of people. I am pretty short (around 5′2″), so I asked the tall young man beside me to take this photo.

He was wearing a Toronto Maple Leafs sweater, so I figured it was the right way to go! (I am actually a die-hard Montreal Canadians fan, but hockey of any sign is hard to come by here…sorry! Go HABS go!).

In any case, it was a completely bizarre experience to be standing with thousands of others watching health videos about potentially deadly diseases. Even more bizarre was the fact that Andrea and I were probably two of the only sufficiently “privileged” people there who were actually vaccinated against the described diseases (Hep E excluded)…and most of the diseases do not exist in Canada. O.k., I can go on here a lot, but I’ll get to my rant soon.

Contrary to the update of my last blog, Hep E is not on the decline. New figures for northern Uganda are up to 4824 reported cases. There have been 381 reported cases in Padibe and 72 deaths.

O.k., I guess it’s time for a rant. We were woken up at 6am by the same loudspeakers urging people to clean up the camp…I have to tell you- the people in the camp are some of the cleanest people I have ever met. They bathe every day, brush their teeth, wash all their dishes after every meal, wash their clothes…everything one can do! What is the problem is the crowded conditions, lack of proper sanitation facilities and lack of proper medical care.  How can disease be contained when the only place for trash are open pits at the edge of camp- where dogs and unwatched children roam and complicate containment further? How can disease be contained when 25 000 people are squeezed into the space where normally 2000 would live? No, I don’t think solutions lie in simply cleaning up the camp…solutions lie in getting a final peace accord, in getting people returned to their traditional lands and lifestyle; in making the camps, and rampant disease, a sad and difficult memory of the past.

I’ll repeat again what Kathy Adibu said: “…peace will only be here when people are no longer living in the camps”. 

Peace out,
Lara