No where to turn

Well, we’ve made it past the half way mark and we find it very difficult to believe that we have been in Padibe now for more than 2 weeks.

Sometimes we find that we start to lose perspective of the situation here but then we are punched in the face (not literally) with reality. The next story will explain.

On Wednesday we had the privilege of visiting the winning school of the Padibe East music competition; Padibe Boys Primary School. The music class was outside cleaning their outfits and preparing for the regional competition in Kitgum on Thursday and Friday. The children were all very excited and you could feel it in the atmosphere.

To get the day started we showed the P7 (ages 13-16) class some video from the competition.

The rest of our visit consisted of introducing ourselves and our project, answering any questions they might have, and also finding out about their experiences/life in the camp. We ended up learning more than we bargained for.

At the P7 level, children are able to write quite well in English, so we asked them to tell us about the good and the bad of camp life. They were all very open and honest.

The good usually consisted of two things; 1. Free Food from different organizations, 2. People being educated. However, many wrote that nothing was good about camp life. Not shocking.

The bad always consisted of a much longer list. Some of the issues were heavy work, poverty, poor sanitation, problems of food, money for school fees, child soldiers, early marriage, no house, abduction, and disease. One issue came up quite often though and I think it would be best to quote one of the children;

“Men are defiling* many girls. You will be sent by your parents to share the neighbour’s house and if any man knows where you sleep you will be defiled. Rape is happening especially when you are going to collect firewood, to the borehole and even when you are going to school they will wait for you on the way…” –Female, 14.

This may be difficult to hear, but this is reality. Out of the 36 children in the class, 26 had rape and defilement as the top issues in the camp. That’s 73%! Others also mentioned them but lower down on their lists.

This is an issue and it is happening often. We visited the health clinic yesterday and the clinical officer also stated that rape is a real issue in the camp. However, only 3 cases are reported in a month because many girls fear the consequences (or no consequences at all for the men). Many try to solve it domestically he said. Not only are they being raped, but the prevelance of HIV/AIDS is much higher in camps then it is towns. At this specific health clinic over 600 people are being treated but most do not come in for treatment or even know that they are infected. 

So, basically, rape is ignored but it is there and many girls are victims.

To be honest, we had heard about the problem of rape and defilement in the camp but we did not realize the issue was happening so often. I felt completely helpless after reading their stories and I think Lara will agree with me when I say, it made the rest of the day more difficult. How do you tell a little girl to go get firewood, water, or go to school when she knows that she may be attacked? And how do you explain to a child that there is nothing you can do about it?

The list of issues for all IDPs keeps on growing and growing…they need to go home.

*Defilement is used as the term for statutory rape; just in case anyone was wondering.

After dinner last night, we decided to lighten the mood and visit the local saloon (otherwise known as the barber shop). It’s on the way to our toilet and we often pass by and just give a wave. It seems like the cool place to be and sometimes it’s pretty intimidating:). We found though that the boys were very welcoming and when Lara asked for a trim, they said no problem at all. Watch the video for the whole experience….tomorrow Lara is getting braids (stay tuned for future pictures)!

done

Well, that’s it for today. Sorry I couldn’t be a little more positive but we’re here to tell the truth and that’s what we’re going to do:).

~Andrea

Note: Hepatitis E is still on the rise with 134 new cases in Padibe from Monday to Thursday for this week. The clinical officer estimated another 30-40 cases would be discovered today.

Also, there was another ambush on the Lira/Kitgum road. No one has yet to report whether this is LRA or Boo-Kec. We’re waiting to hear more.