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Barnes in Commonthe magazine of Churches Together in Barnes
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A visit to Northern Ugandaby Peter, Barbara and Claire Doherty
We are extremely fortunate at St. Osmund's now, in that each year, Father Romano Ouma comes during the summer from Uganda as a supply priest to enable Fr. Logan to enjoy a well-earned break. His parish is based in a tiny village called Amuru in the north of Uganda, about 50km. from the nearest main centre Gulu, and in the heartland of the area ravaged by what is curiously known as the Lord's Resistance Army. As my wife, daughter and I were visiting Uganda in the latter part of November, Fr.Romano kindly invited us to visit him up in the north. Although the current situation remains fairly tense, peace talks had commenced with the UN and southern Sudan, and we managed to arrange transport to take us up on the four-hour drive from Kampala. The road is largely tarmac, with odd stretches of natural dirt, but quite safe by day. Fr. Romano overwhelmed us with his welcome and had fortunately managed to borrow a suitably springed saloon car from another priest which had been well trained on dirt roads. His parish now consists of an enormous camp of around 15,000 villagers who have assembled there over the past twenty years for mutual protection against the nightly terrorist attacks from the Lord's Army. Closely built circular huts of local brick with wattle and straw roofs. The surrounding area is largely flat and cultivatable allowing a degree of farming to supplement the meagre supplies of food from the central government and non government agencies. Severe malnutrition and lack of adequate clothing can be seen from some of the photographs.
The main problem in the camps is that many of the children have lost their parents either as a consequence of AIDS or the parents have been conscripted into the Lord's Resistance Army. Consequently, as a result of the African custom of extended families, grannies are left to look after the surviving children. They are then dependant on charity for survival. We spoke to one granny who is looking after 22 children. Young male adults are around but they are suffering from the ‘refugee syndrome' which means they have lost the will to actively work and provide for their dependants after having been in the camps for most of their lives and despondently await external relief from their current situation. They spend their time largely drinking fermented cassava, the local stimulant, to relieve their depression and rapidly become disturbed. Lack of a means of obtaining water is another highly significant feature and it will be noticed from the photographs the availability of a bore hole well which is helping to provide it.
The well was provided by the assistance of funds made available from the parish of St. Osmund's. Fr. Romano can be seen in his baseball cap directing operations. In Gulu we visited a camp established by World Vision for young mothers who had escaped from their enforced stay with the Lord's Resistance Army. They had escaped to return to their own families, many of whom rejected them and their children, due to the possibility they had joined the rebels voluntarily rather than having been abducted. But now with no husbands, they have no means of subsistence. World Vision takes this on, feeding them and their children, and teaching them some basic means of livelihood such as sewing, making clothes or baskets to sell in the market. On a brighter note, with a view to providing a future for these unfortunate people, Father Romano is now working on the establishment of a secondary school in his camp to provide secondary education for those who have graduated from the few primitive primary schools that already exist. The building has already been built and he is seeking funds to supply equipment and teachers to get it going. Teachers are available but they have to be paid. When it is thoroughly established the government may take it over. Overall we witnessed a tragic scene which has been long neglected and the hope is that the current peace negotiations which are proceeding so slowly will be successful.
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