Kop Ango?!

Kope! I'm learning so many ways to say "how are you" and "I am fine!"

Anyway, day 5 in Gulu. It’s weird to say that so much has happened, yet at the same time nothing has happened at all. We arrived on Wednesday, after a very interesting bus ride. The Post Coach is like any other coach bus anywhere, but in Uganda apparently they also serve as taxis. Before even making it out of Kampala we picked up many people, which continued at various points along the way. There appeared to be stages, and one person even said “maso,” which is what people on taxis in Kampala say to tell the conductor to stop “right there.” Every time we stopped in big towns, all of these venders would rush up to the windows and poke their meat kabobs in the windows. If you reached down a little out the window, you could also buy bananas, water, gnuts, and baked lumonde (sweet potatoes). At one point near Gulu we drove through a conservation area and a family of baboons chased our bus! Like everything else here, it was quite the experience.

Since we got to Gulu, Ben, Courtney M and I have been putting ourselves up in a little bar and lodging place called “Lacan Pe Nino.” It’s 16,000 UGX a night (aka $8), and we have all three been sleeping crossways in a double bed. With our luggage, flip flops and jars of peanut butter sprawled out across the room, we have barely any space to walk. It was amusing for maybe the first night or two, but now we’re all getting cabin fever and itching to move into somewhere more permanent for the next month. Where will that be, you ask? Well just wait, I will tell you.

But first, about Gulu Town. Anyone coming from the outside would have no idea that this was an area that had been affected by a civil war as little as 2 years ago. It’s crazy to me that the roads here are nicer than the roads in Kampala. The town itself reminds me of an old Western flick, as the businesses that line the (2) main roads are all one story, and the majority of the shops are 1) “bar and lodging” or 2) “trading center.” Everything is within walking distance, and if you don’t feel like taking a stroll in the middle of the day in the hot sun, you can catch a boda for 500 or 1000…and there’s no traffic so it’s actually safe! Since we are the first group from SIT Uganda to come to Gulu, we’ve been figuring out a lot of things on our own, including where we all should live and what organizations we should work with (not to mention where all of these things are!).

After spending the last few days trying to pull a Practicum together and find a place to stay, I have the following to report: the group has found an apartment that consists of basically 2 small rooms, with an outside common area that is shared with other apartments. The 2 small rooms have barely enough space for 3 mattresses on the floor in each room - it will be tight living. I’ve decided to opt out of this apartment experience, and instead I’m planning on living in the IDP camps for at least this next week. A few of the people that I talked to here strongly recommended it in order to build better rapport with the people. I personally would really like to avoid becoming the researcher who just comes in to ask questions and then leaves without making any real connections with the people here. After this first week, I’m going back to Kampala to spend Easter with my homestay family, and when I return I’ll decide if I’ll spend the remaining weeks in the camps. I’m extremely nervous about where I will sleep, what I will sleep on, how I will shower, where I will get my food, how safe I will be – but I also know that it will probably be one of the most rewarding experiences that I can have during my Practicum, and that’s motivation enough. (Don’t worry parents – I’m addressing the safety aspect before I start living there…I’ve befriended an Irish woman who has been working here since last May who also spent some time in the camps, and I’m consulting with her about all of these things)

So that leaves me with: my Practicum. In case I haven’t mentioned, the topic that I’m theoretically researching is: the different psychosocial healing methods for former abductees and their effectiveness, including looking at play therapy, Western counseling methods and the traditional practices of the community. I’m running into quite a few problems here trying to find an organization to work with and set up my research because there are very few children still returning to Gulu from the LRA, as the fighting has moved into the Democratic Republic of Congo. There aren’t many organizations that are currently focusing exclusively on child soldier rehabilitation, and most of the counseling that goes on is more about reconciliation and the creation of livelihoods. I found one of the coolest non-profits here called H.E.A.L.S, run by the father of Jolly Okot and sponsored also by Invisible Children. They have been doing play therapy with war affected children since 2003, but they currently only have sessions on Saturdays because most of the children attend school during the week. I spent yesterday hanging out with the kids, watching them practice hip-hop and traditional dancing, and already am in love with all of these kids. They will resume full time play therapy starting on April 24th when school holidays start, so I’m hoping to spend at least 1 or 2 weeks doing intensive work with HEALS. Until then, I guess I’ll just try to find a way into the community and work with the children I meet there to find out about their experiences and what kind of activities they have participated in. As of now, my Practicum is turning into more of an ISP (Independent Study Project), and I care more about just getting to play with the kids for the next month than actually writing this 20-40 page paper.

As of now, that’s all that I have to report. We’ve actually managed to find a good internet place at the Human Rights Focus, and there are some other people in our group who have wireless internet plug-in thingys, so I’ll hopefully be able to use the internet every few days. Until next time!