Food Security Program Causes Starvation? The Need for Change

This is what I will be working on for the next couple of weeks. KDF is organizing a 'Food Security & Setting the Agenda Conference'. The meeting will be held on the 14th (Valentines day) and then there will be a traditional Akriket the following day. This is KDF's first official big meeting, so we will have to make it a success.  

So from my writings the last month most of you would probably not quite see why KDF is now organizing a food security conference (also setting the agenda), but as I have learned everything here is connected in ways you might not expect.

Some of the issues that I have written about before are directly linked to food security, one of them being the land acquisitions by private companies and the government here. Pastoralism is the main livelihood in this region, and the land acquisitions that have taken place in the recent years don’t really acknowledge this, or they are purposely trying to change it.

The government of Uganda has had a policy of looking at pastoralism as outdated, and quoting the Human Rights Watch President Museveni when he appointed his wife as the current Minister of Karamoja he spoke of the need to “develop one of the backward areas” of Uganda. Later in a letter to the European Union in 2010 this point was highlighted as Mrs. Museveni asked for support from donors for government programs aimed to “stop nomadism and settle permanently because that is the government’s focus”. (HRW, 2014)

Their way of life is their culture, their heritage and their 'food security'

There is a great lack of understanding of pastoralism, and especially the need for pastoralism in this area. If you look at the history there is a reason why the people living in this region are pastoralists. It is not like they woke up one day and thought it would be a brilliant idea to move themselves and their cattle around? It has a purpose. The region is prone to drought, and the seasons are highly unpredictable. By relying on pastoralism as a survival mechanism people have been able to make this region their home, in a way that would not have been possible otherwise. People and animals migrate to follow the seasonal patterns, and agriculture is also practiced, but in a way where the sole reliance is not on this for survival. What is now being pushed on the people of Karamoja is to step completely away from pastoralism and rely on sedenterized agriculture for their livelihood. This might be possible in some parts of the region that are more fertile, but looking around the area I am currently living in, it seems like a horrible idea to make people reliant on agriculture when there is no guarantee for the weather patterns. It might work for a year or two, but then what do you do when the dry season runs longer than expected? I guess the answer is just keep delivering food aid as that has been the norm for the last 40 years.

The WFP has stepped down a lot of their food distribution in the area, causing mixed results. One of the areas where they have stepped back is in relation to food distribution to schools in the area. The government of Uganda has stepped in where the WFP has stepped back and has expanded their prison gardens in Namalu to be able to provide food for children in school.

When I first heard this, and I drove past the prison gardens, I didn’t really picture there to really be an issue with this. However as I have learned what is essentially a program to establish food security, has caused people to starve. The issue lies in the land acquisitions that I have talked about previously. The land needed for the expansion of the prison gardens, was taken away without considering the community who occupied the land. Those who lived off the land there, fed their children from that land, they were simply evicted without any notice and had to live on the side of the road. This resulted in people starving and food aid was eventually distributed. I can’t even begin to explain how wrong this comes across to me. I understand that this program will bring food to school children, but wouldn’t there be a better way to do this without essentially making people starve for the food security of others in the region?

So a little introduction to how the issue of ‘Food Security’ in Karamoja is not as simple as encouraging agriculture or giving people food. This region is unique in many ways, and I still do not think that the majority of the programs in the region are adapted to this. What works in other parts of Uganda will not work here, Karamoja has its own identity and not just that, they have their own way of surviving in what really can be a harsh and unforgiving environment. Those who have lived here for centuries should be the ones who know best how to survive and thrive, not us coming from other parts of the world where we think we know better. I am not saying there is no need for support, but in my mind food security & development of Karamoja go hand in hand with pastoralism and traditional life, for Karamoja to succeed they need to be allowed to develop in a way which is right for them.

Also I found this image on the site of the British High Commission for Uganda yesterday, it might be time for an updated map.

Moroto where I am currently staying is in the easily noticeable red region

So evidently I am living in an area where all travel is advised against. For the adventurous story I wish I could say I have seen many weapons in the area, and that there is lots of stuff happening, but no. The only weapons I have seen, except for spears, belong to the military, who are currently having army week in town, and as for safety; I still feel safer here than I have in most other parts of East Africa. If you have a travel ban on Karamoja for safety reasons you should probably have one for Dar Es Salaam and Kampala as well. 

The Price for a Daughter & Riding through the Dust

My writing is turning into a bit of a weekly thing now. The power situation was again not the best last week, and after another couple of days of chasing power around town (also I have to admit searching all over town for cold drinks as that seemed equally as crucial) I gave up. But power is back and has been stable and online for the last few days, although I probably should not say that as it might jinx it.

It is Monday here, but a public holiday, liberation day to be exact, or NRM day as most like to refer to it as. But as we have a busy few weeks in front of us KDF is in office and working away at planning and writing.

The weeks seem to be flying past now, as tomorrow should have been the day I was  going back home, but I am very happy I’ve been able to extend my stay for another couple of months as I definitely do not feel ready to be flying back yet. Although I know I have a family back home that wishes I was travelling home tomorrow, but I will be home soon enough and until then I plan to make the most of every experience I have here.

So this weekend was another adventurous one here. I ended up at an introduction ceremony in a village about 40 minutes from Moroto. An interesting experience of seeing how traditions have blended together to create a bit of a bizarre event.

Simon exploring Lotome

To get to the village we went by boda, an experience in itself. I have always loved that aspect of being in Uganda, that you can just ride on the back of a motorcycle, with no helmet and go just about anywhere, dirt, pavement, through rivers it really doesn't matter. My first time in Uganda I found myself with four other guys wading through a river with water up to my waist carrying the bike across, obstacles on route are always overcome.

My personal Boda driver who only made me fly a few times

Teba and Simon were riding so for a change I actually knew the person who was driving me, not sure if that made me feel safer or not, but regardless we did make it there. Only minor scare was when a truck passing us going the opposite direction slid out on the dirt road and nearly came crashing into us, but thankfully that was not how my story of being in Uganda ended and we continued on to Lotome.

Lotome was where the introduction ceremony was to be held, but it is also Teba’s home village, so he was kind enough to take us around and show us his family home, his school and the other sites of the village.

Supposedly being in Karamoja is supposed to make you taller, still waiting for results

With Teba in his home village of Lotome

I love seeing the village life in Uganda. The place where I am living, Moroto, is more of an NGO city than anything resembling a traditional town or village, so it was refreshing to have a day away from that and having someone I know show me his home and family was great. Sitting under the big trees in the family courtyard listening to the mom explain her recipes for orange wine and the dad’s tales of where the goats were herded today, all while sipping on some local wine, with music playing in the background from the nearby ‘bar’. It was definitely my favorite part of the day.

The best of family life 

After seeing the family we went on to the introduction ceremony, which was a much bigger event than I had imagined. It seemed like everyone from Moroto and around had come together to this village for the day, I met people I know working for the UN, the government and other NGO’s. So for this Saturday Lotome was ‘The place to be’ in Karamoja. The ceremony itself was a mix of many different traditions, including the normal rings of a Western style wedding, but also a tricking ceremony and all while wearing traditional or traditionally upgraded clothes.

A guest traditionally dressed for the introduction

The tricking part was the most entertaining of the ceremony. Here 5 different groups of girls and women were brought forward to the husband to be and he had to choose his wife to be from them, if he chose the wrong girl he would have to pay a fine. The first group were little children, the second were slightly older girls dressed moderately, the third more daringly dressed girls and then came a group of big mamas and finally a group of covered up young women. The wife to be was amongst the last group of covered up women and her future husband had to pick her out by simply looking at feet. An interesting concept as I am not sure my boyfriend would be able to pick me out from a line up by simply looking at my feet, surely not something I’d like to test out and risk a fine of a 1 million UGX, but very entertaining to watch.

Is this his wife to be?

Rejected the little girls dance away

The rest of the ceremony turned more into a bit of western wedding with giving out of rings and then cake, and people bringing gifts forward. Although there were many people at the event, it seemed many were not too comfortable with how far from tradition this ceremony was going. The traditional aspect of an introduction ceremony has more to do with getting the right price for the woman, this includes how many cattle and also how much money, but traditionally as I was told this is conducted in a much more low scale ceremony involving more the shepherds of the goats and cattle rather than the extravagant party I was seeing.  I was also told that the family of the husband had to pay around 10 million UGX for the woman, which seems a bit excessive, I realize the whole having to pay for someone in the first place might be a bit of a strange concept for most where I come from, but it is more understandable if you look at it from the traditional perspective of seeing cattle as not just a currency but the livelihood and connection of communities. It is also interesting though that it is the family of the man that must pay the family of the woman, so it is in fact quite profitable to have girls here, especially if you can get rates as high as 10 million UGX, or in one case I heard as high as 20 million UGX for your daughter.

Traditionally dressed with a bit of modern bling

The beauty of the Karimojong

So the ceremony although it was interesting, did not really interest me as much here as the more traditional ceremonies I've attended. I like the idea that they are blending the traditions together, as it does create a sort of uniqueness in itself, but this was a bit too much blending for me. And as weddings tend to go on for hours and hours, I am not too big a fan of the waiting and the speeches.
A bit of a sad reality as well was that the ceremony because it was such a big event in the area brought together many politicians who were sort of using the event as a platform for campaigning for the upcoming elections. I know politicians have to be creative to find their platforms, but I would like to think the day that I get married that no politician will be there to give a speech on what is good for the country etc. Kind of ruins the atmosphere a bit. But as I have been told here: ‘Sex, Marriage and Politics are all linked together very closely’ – I’d prefer them as separate entities.

The ceremony was of course held under a big UNICEF tent

After the wedding we headed back to Moroto, which turned out to be a very dusty ride while the sun was going down. I still do not understand why cars here feel the need to drive so fast, especially when they are passing people on motorcycles and they know the dust will make it almost impossible to see. It has become the norm to be dusted down by some sort of NGO car every day here. So by the time we reached Moroto at night, my hair and skin had changed color to a sort of dusty grayish/brown. Thankfully a cold Nile Special was waiting.

A constant project of learning - Daily life in Moroto

Sorry for the delay in posting for the last few days. I’ve had some struggles finding power the last week so my writing has become a bit sporadic.  Finally back to normal power situation here though, well at least for now. Seeing that green light come on my laptop charger is exciting! Who knew I’d spend my days running around trying to find a generator so I could charge my life up.

I wish I could say being here I’m not reliant on power and all that, but unfortunately staying in touch with the outside world and doing work kind of requires that. So the last week has seen me walking up and down through town with my laptop in search of power and internet signal. Unfortunately the two don’t ever seem to come in the same place, but as KDF now officially has an office space this will hopefully makes things easier.

KDF finally has an office & Teba a place to put all his ideas

The last week has been spent doing a lot of editing and also thinking a lot about what I want and should write while I’m here. I really want to write something on the mining sector and the challenges that will come from the expansion of mining in Karamoja. Although I am realizing it’s a difficult subject to approach because the two sides of the argument are so far apart, and I don’t know if I really see them ever coming together. The cultural and ecological aspect against the pure capitalist, I would say the capitalist will succeed and those advocating for the preservation of Karamoja will be left to pick up the pieces once the mining runs its course. A bit of a pessimistic view I know, but if you look at the facts of what it is happening it is hard not to think like that. I read the Human Rights Watch report on mining before I came to Karamoja, and as this report is almost a year old now I would imagine some of their recommendations would have been implemented already, or that there would at least be some more talk about the human rights abuses connected to mining. This is not to say that it is not on the agenda of various NGO’s and government here, but little is actually being done. The mines that I have seen are exactly the same as described a year ago and the same issues are there. People are not being paid enough, and some not even paid at all. The minerals are being shipped out of Karamoja at a fast pace, perhaps they know the time of unregulated mining is bound to come to an end at some point. So currently one of my many projects here is gathering more specific information on mining in the region, hopefully another trip to the artisanal miners will provide some more 

accurate numbers of prices of gold etc. Another walk with Teba might be needed.

Artisanal gold mining hole, they can be found all along the road

On a completely different note the more time I spend here the more I hear of the way Karamoja used to be in the past. The past when weapons were everywhere, and insecurity followed you to the borders of Karamoja. Writing my dissertation on the disarmament of Karamoja I approached it from a cultural aspect that I’m realizing is not too practical in real life. The majority of my study was a comparative view of Karimojong societies and Daasanach in Ethiopia. I argued that disarmament or not just disarmament, but the negative government involvement in Karamoja caused the region to become unsafe, and that the culture and the strength of traditional society in the area would have been strong enough to cope with the influx of weapons if the outside had not interfered too much. I realize as this is a ‘what if’ sort of scenario it’s hard to say if it could have been possible. The more I’m told about the years of weapons here though, it seems a great deal of it was just unorganized violence that took the lives of any civilian caught in the crossfire. Then again there are the stories of tanks rolling over villages, with people still in their huts, and the violent cordon and search operations performed by the military. The disarmament was successful in the end, and I think overall that is a very positive thing for Karamoja, but I still firmly believe that the road to disarmament and the human rights abuses perpetrated on the way were not justified. It has also served to create a great deal of mistrust, which I think the state of Uganda will take a long time to rectify. The people here have been through decades of discriminatory policies, and I hope and believe that the time is here now for Karamoja to become an active part of Uganda. Karamoja shouldn’t just be known as the insecure region with development issues, it is so much stronger than that.

Disarmed but still fierce in the cultural pride 

So that was my serious thoughts of today. Now I keep getting asked what I do here every day and during the weekends. So a little recap of my weekend with some pictures. As I said previously my search for power took up quite a bit of time the last week, so once I finally found power I would sit for a few hours writing, researching or editing, depending on the day.

Saturday I went clothes shopping with Karolien. In Moroto that means digging your way through heaps of used clothes, which seemed to not be in any particular order, but we did succeed in finding a few things. The clothes markets always fascinate me here as so much of the clothes that are sold are clothes people in the ‘West’ give away to charities. So whoever donated away their nice clothes probably did not expect a Norwegian girl to be buying them in a market in Moroto. But at the same time it does create a market, and an economy, which is more ideal than simply giving away things, at least in my mind. So to whoever owned the nice top I bought for 5000 UGX, you are now a little part of supporting the economy here.

Karolien digging her way to her new outfits

After shopping we made dinner and decided to head out for a couple of drinks. We met up with Simon and he ended up taking us to a club in town to play pool. A bit of a bizarre experience as there were hardly any girls in the club, but the guys were very friendly and let us play pool with them, I do believe we did win or almost won one of the times as well. Dj Fresh had the music going, and yea it was a good night. So life here is not too different from anywhere else. The power might not be too reliable, but I think I prefer a night out here than a night out in Oslo.

The freshest DJ in Moroto

The Value of Minerals - Stepping out of my comfort zone

Marble mining in Karamoja - this is not from the mine I visited yesterday as I have been told not to name that site. 

Finding myself in the strangest of situations that I never could have predicted seem to becoming the norm as of lately. Yesterday was another one of those days, where at one point I found myself in a car full of miners driving into the bush to drill. I have always believed in seeing every issue from the angle of everyone involved, so as I've spent quite a bit of time looking at the mining from the human rights perspective, yesterday was time to see it from the capitalist point of view. This decision following a night of drinks, so not the most thought through of plans, but still at 7 am I was packed and ready to go.

The first thought that struck me as leaving town was the horrible condition of the roads, and how moving the heavy loads of stone out from these site must be a bit of a nightmare. Seemingly though the trucks, although slow moving at times, make it past the near impassable roads. Although as their loads are so heavy the ‘roads’ that were there are being completely destroyed. I can only imagine what the roads will look like as rainy season hits.

Arriving at the camp for the mining site it is clear that I have come to a different part of Karamoja than I have seen so far. I am met by groups of young men, smoking and drinking heavily with sunglasses on, this at 9 am in the morning. I feel like I’ve stepped into the movie Blood Diamond, just minus the amount of weapons, thank god for that. It is a bizarre reality to walk around the little village that has sprung up around the mining site. There is money here, there is no doubt about that. As will happen in most villages in Uganda, when I start walking around a woman comes up to me and insists I sit down so I can have chai and breakfast. I sit with her four little kids, who all speak perfect English. She is the owner of one of the shops in town where I can see a line of men lining up to get their alcohol for the morning, so her business seems to be booming. She brings over Chai and a plate of meat with bread, although a bit chewy surprisingly good meat, as the norm for breakfast here is usually chapatti or some bread I am surprised to see everyone having meat for breakfast, even the young kids are given a plate each.

After breakfast I catch up with my mining friends and we head down to the actual site of the mining. It is as I expected full of men, young and old, standing under the hot sun breaking rocks apart using the power of their body and simple tools. The women are busy bringing firewood to use to heat up the rocks so they can be broken apart easier. The guys I am with clearly are not comfortable with the way the work is being conducted and keep telling me how they tried to bring machines here to do the heavy work, but the workers simply refused them to start up the machines and in one case even tried to set a machine on fire. It’s not hard to understand why this would happen. If you bring in heavy modern equipment the manpower of these people would become obsolete, and with that their jobs.

The men are paid about 100 000 UGX or around 40 dollars to break apart the rocks and load them into the truck. The 40 USD being for one truckload, so you can imagine the amount of work that goes into this.

The guys I am with are from all over Africa and the world. They come here on contracts for drilling, and I would believe they make quite a bit of money being in a remote part of the world like this. They tell me stories from their various mining adventures, the worst they say was the Congo, the fear of getting shot everyday was not quite worth the money made, although as some had done 2 years there, the money must be good.

I understand the capitalist view of mining, particularly in a place like this. Karamoja has few regulations on mining and on land in particular. It is a sparsely populated region, or with pastoralism it seems sparsely populated as people are moving around. The people here do not know the value of the minerals their region holds and so it is easy to come in and take the minerals out at a low cost. As Simon told me: ‘Minerals leave Karamoja as simple rocks, their value is non-existent until they have left.’

This is not to say that people are not being paid from the mining sector, obviously they are as I witnessed the village next to the site profiting of the money the many men working in the mines have. There are also many truck drivers coming through the region, who add their part to the economy, although as I've been told HIV/AIDS has now become more prevalent with the influx of people from other parts of Uganda and the world, and the truck drivers are often blamed for this. So the money is there, but I find it hard to see a sustainable improvement in the local economy from the mining sector. The majority of those paid actual wages are foreign workers, or workers from other parts of Uganda, who have a level of education that the local people cannot compete with.

Conclusion of my thoughts today. The mining in Karamoja is making someone a lot of money, unfortunately the majority of those making money are not in Karamoja. I don’t see this changing in the foreseeable future. I just hope that the example of a mining village I saw yesterday does not become the norm in Karamoja. I said I always feel safe here, this village was the first place in this region that made me feel uneasy, and I’m glad to be back in my little home in Moroto. 

A little place of Magic in the mountains of Karamoja

 Hi from Karamoja again. Finally back to writing from Moroto now, and writing from my very own studio ‘apartment’ here. It is a bit bizarre to have my own place here, it sort of feels a bit more permanent now, not that I am complaining. The place I am living in is actually very comfortable, it’s small, but clean and I have electricity, gas and water. What more could you want? The complex I am living in is filled up with people who are working as engineers supervising the Chinese road building project here. I have to say I am still impressed by the efficiency of the road construction, but as I recently saw a poster showing a proposed cement factory by a Chinese company here I am a bit worried as to what the road will bring. It will surely bring investment, but not quite sure if factories is the way to develop Karamoja in a sustainable and positive way.

My new little home

One thing I have learned by being here is that Karamoja has changed drastically in the last decade. I have heard stories of how a decade ago bullets functioned as currency. A bullet was worth 500 shillings, and you could buy beer, food or whatever else was needed with bullets. I guess it shouldn't come as a surprise, I am sure that happens in other ‘war’ torn areas of the world as well, but it’s just a bizarre thought in my head that bullets were in such abundance and importance that they essentially became currency. The KDF boys were explaining to me that at night you would always look around to make sure there was a weapon in the house, because that was safety, and when dark came everyone would get their guns ready. If you didn't have a gun, your safety throughout the night was not guaranteed. This seems so far away from the reality I am seeing in Karamoja now. I feel a lot safer being here than most places I have been in the world. People are extremely friendly and I simply can’t picture it in my mind that the place where I am staying was known as the war corridor. You just wouldn't move around in this area unless necessary, because if you did the risk of getting shot, was far from hypothetical. People describe it as those with guns would just shoot everyone, with no real thought to who they were shooting at. I am not sure how accurate that is, but a terrifying concept.

I do see it as a positive that Karamoja is ‘disarmed’ now, but I also see the danger in that. The people here were used to being able to protect themselves, and the society was built around the sort of strong warrior culture that emerges from that. The government was in Kampala, the UPDF has been here, but their role for decades was very minimal, and often their role was not exactly positively regarded. Karamoja remained so far removed from the rest of Uganda for such a long time that it seems like a completely separate state in many ways. The culture and people are so different from other parts of the country, but then again other parts differ from each other again. I guess that is the colonial, lets draw straight lines across the continent heritage. I do believe Karamoja can be a very successful part of Uganda, but I think that depends on the attitudes of people. When I first decided I wanted to go to Karamoja, almost every Ugandan I know warned me saying that the people in Karamoja are just naked warriors who are backwards, illiterate and that it is a horrible place to go. This attitude towards Karamoja from the rest of Uganda is disturbing to say the least, and dangerous. Karamoja is different from other parts of Uganda, but it’s not that different. The people here are just as friendly as Ugandans everywhere, and it is just as safe, and people are strong, they are proud. Often more proud to be Karimojong than Ugandan, but they are still Ugandan, and I think part of the key for a 

successful future for Karamoja lies in the perception from the rest of Uganda

From protest against Kautakou land grabbing - The Karimojong are disarmed, but are they protected?

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So a little of what I want to do while being here is try to help change that perception, if even for just one person somewhere. Karamoja surprises me every day and yesterday was no exception. It was Sunday, so what better way to spend a Sunday than to hike up a mountain and find a waterfall and swimming hole to spend the day relaxing by? Not quite what you would expect a normal day in Karamoja to be like, but that was what we did.

Mountains ready to be conquered

Hiking up the mountain I realized how out of shape I really am! I keep thinking back to my days in Hawaii when going for hikes in the mountains and surfing all day was the norm, now just making it 5 minutes without having to take a break while hiking was a struggle. In my defence it was quite steep and hot, but yea definitely a wake-up call. Time to start working out again! Luckily I had awesome company going up the mountain so it wasn't too bad. Teba so kindly carrying my backpack and looking for places to open his mountain side bar, while Simon with his long legs ran up front after Karolien who climbed the mountain with no hassle at all.  The core little group that has become my little Moroto family. A day spent with them is always a day full of laughs, and sometimes serious discussions who always somehow turn into cold beer and more laughs.

On the edge

Look for the big rock to find the secret pool

Hiking down lost in the bush

We did make it up the mountain, and once up we began aiming for where the big rock is which has the waterfall underneath it. Fighting our way through grass as high as ourselves we emerged at a lookout point where you could see for miles away and hear the trickle of water in the background. On route there we passed through areas where all the grass had been burned away, making me think that would be a very bad ending to the day is someone started burning again now, but luckily that did not happen. It wasn’t until we were safely down the mountain again we looked up and saw the mountainside on fire. The explanation for why they do this seem to be to make it easier to collect firewood and for grazing, but as the mountainside seems like a treacherous place to graze your cattle I would hope the firewood is more likely, or perhaps they have other reasons I haven’t come across yet. Regardless it is an amazing thing to see, the mountain lit up in flames against the dark sky.

Once we had aimed our route towards the big rock, finding the waterfall was not too difficult. Unfortunately the main waterfall didn’t have too much water, but it wouldn’t take much to imagine the amount of water that could flow over the edge in the rainy season. We made our way to the swimming hole, which I was not prepared for would be this beautiful. A perfectly shaped round swimming pool, with clean, icy cold water. For anyone who knows me you know how much I love water, so being here far up in the mountains in Karamoja and having a beautiful pool in front of me was the most amazing thing. It didn’t take long for Karolien and I to change and jump in the icy water, the most refreshing thing after my nearly dyeing the whole hike up.  The boys joined us and an hour of jumping around, splashing and giving swimming lessons followed.

Magical swimming pool in the midst of the mountains

A day of swimming and playing

We spent the day lounging on the rocks above the pool and going down to cool down when it got too hot.  The boys were practicing their swimming, Simon being almost 2 meters tall had a bit of an advantage as he could simply stand up anywhere he liked, but nonetheless watching their near drowning attempts at swimming was the best amusement. A packed lunch of Samosas, chapattis and fruit kept us going for hours of swimming and laughing. A perfect Sunday in my mind. Who knew you could find this in the mountains of Karamoja?

Teba contemplating swimming into the freezing water

Lounging on the rocks

Stoked on making it up and down the mountain!

My little Moroto Family

KDF at work, serious work but lots of laughs

The walk down the mountain was less exhausting but more treacherous as Simon and I spent nearly every 2 minutes tripping and sliding down rather than gracefully walking down like our friends. This resulting in my toes being a bit beat up and me spending quite a bit of time on my butt in the grass, but at least Teba and Karolien had some amusement on the walk down and as a cold beer was waiting at Mt Moroto Hotel after, my focus on that kept me going.

Karamoja might have been a place on insecurity in the past (some say still) , but to me it is one of the most beautiful and peaceful places in the world. I would recommend anyone who has the chance to see it one day, it is different, but it is different in a beautiful and natural way.

The secret beauty of Karamoja

Upgrade from Dolly Parton Safari & Aid frustrations - My thoughts

Happy New Year!

I am sorry my writing took a bit of a break there. I didn’t realize that my access to internet would be so limited, and as most of you have probably realized writing a long blog entry on your phone is more than frustrating, so although I did attempt it, I never quite finished.

Ruaha National Park, Tanzania - a magical place

I have had an amazing Christmas and New Years. I spent Christmas Eve and day in Ruaha in Tanzania, going on game drives and eating amazing food. I had done the safari thing before, but always on a very very limited budget, so my safari mostly consisted on staying in local villages next to the national parks for 3 dollars a night, followed by some walking safaris around the area and also a very amusing night drive through QEP in a taxi blasting Dolly Parton with hyenas and lions pacing around the car. Also important to note this only happened after everyone in the car had signed a piece of paper signing our lives away as none of the park rangers would guarantee for our safety.The next day was spent hitching a ride with a truck full of sand to go search for some chimps who never materialized, but did slip down a mud slope with hippos all around, followed by an 8 hour bus ride with the replay of The Terminator over and over. Experiences I would not be without, but I have to admit it was nice to see the safari life that people travel to Africa to see (although thankfully did not have to pay the price for it as my budget is still on the 3 dollar mark).

Some epic safari days with Foxes

The Safaris that cost thousands of dollars and guarantee you not just animals but amazingly comfy beds, security guards and a three course meal every day. To my surprise the majority of the people staying at the lodge for Christmas were all Scandinavians, so I also got to speak Norwegian for Christmas, which was a nice treat, it did feel a bit closer to home. Christmas day was spent driving around Ruaha National Park looking for animals, unfortunately the first 3 hours were mostly dedicated to bird watching, which for the life of me I do not understand, maybe in 40 years I will have the patience to sit in a car staring at a bird miles away, for now I prefer the giraffes and lions up close. So I was more than happy when suddenly an elephant decided to walk out right in front of the car, did almost jump into the lap of our guide when the elephant looked like it was going to charge though, wasn’t quite prepared for that. Alex our friendly driver repeatedly had to tell me to ‘shhh’ as evidently asking over and over again ‘is this safe?!’ is not the thing to do when you have an angry elephant next to you.

Angry elephant - about the time I freaked out...

Elephant munching as I learned to keep quiet

Zebra chilling - bizarre but beauriful

 It is an amazing experience sitting not even a meter from a grown elephant with huge tusks that is looking at you like it wants to squash you. Thankfully as our guide said elephants prefer to charge when humans are outside the cars, as they have realized that cars (although in my mind an equal match) are too much trouble. So after a few amazing minutes of watching the giant beast of an elephant, we happily drove on, only to be encountered right down the road by a big herd of Zebras, more elephants, giraffes and impalas. I know giraffes and zebras are fairly common encounters on any safari, but they will always be my favourite, they stand out in such a way that you can’t help being amazed by how beautiful and bizarre these creatures are. So that was my Christmas, very different from any Christmas I have had before, definitely one I will remember.

Giraffe beauty

The most amazing colors on this little guy!

Jackal prancing around

Between Christmas and New Year’s I travelled back and forth between Dodoma and Dar Es Salaam a couple of times and spent a lot of time reading, well up in the air reading, as my days were mostly spent tagging along on flights. I can happily say I now know the route Dar – Dodoma – Ruaha – Mahale – Katavi – Ruaha – Selous – Mafia – Dar…For someone who had never been on a small plane I think I did pretty good..well except for the time I fell asleep and woke up thinking the plane was crashing and came close to just making it crash myself as I was so freaked out..but no mostly days were lazy and seeing Tanzania from the air was great.. Dodoma by the way has the most amazing Pizza I have ever had in Africa, the Lione Pizzeria by the airport is almost worth a trip to Dodoma in itself.

For New Year’s we had a BBQ and lots of drinks, followed by a day relaxing at the Golden Tulip hotel in Dar. It was so nice to just relax by a pool and spend some time swimming around. It gave me a bit of a flashback to Hawaii. There were actual waves on the beach right there, and good waves too! I miss the ocean so much, and surfing. I keep thinking back to Hawaii and my time there and being a bit scared that I will never be as happy as I was. I fell in love with the ocean, and the waves and the people there, and I’ll always carry that with me. Hopefully someday soon I will be able to go back.

Enough about the reminiscing, I am beyond happy to be in Africa right now. And even more excited that I am headed back to Moroto tomorrow. I know I didn’t spend that long there before Christmas, but I do really miss it. I miss the people and the KDF boys, and I am excited for the work we will be doing this new year.

I have been reading a couple of books that have got me thinking a lot about Karamoja. The first one was a book called ‘The Worst Date Ever’ – by Jane Bussman. I know the title doesn’t really elude to any great insights into the difficulties of development there, but I was surprised by how insightful it was. So the storyline is basically a journalist who follows a man to Uganda for love and ends up in Gulu in Northern Uganda while the LRA is still on the loose in the country and she starts to realize things about the war against the LRA that just don’t make sense. Through her investigations she finds that the government and many of the former LRA are actually benefitting from the continuous war on the LRA, and that the war could have been over a long time ago. It highlighted a point that I have always found confusing, especially in studying peace studies. We always take it for granted that people want peace. I think if the whole world, including those very rich and powerful individuals who control the majority of our markets and daily lives, wanted peace then there would be peace. Peace though is not profitable, war is. The arms market is huge, and many nations do gain from the fact that people go to war, so how will there ever be peace in the world if there is always that incentive to keep fighting?  

Well from another book I have been reading called ‘Aid and other Dirty Business – Giles Bolton’ it seems the aid industry is also quite a successful business of sorts. Bolton although he is critical I think still believes there is an underlying goodness in the aid industry, I am not so sure anymore. I think there are good people who want to do the right thing, but I think the aid industry has grown too big and too powerful in itself. Take the example of food aid. I support the need for food aid in disaster situations, but what I witnessed at food distribution points in Karamoja, that is not a disaster situation. People have been made dependent on aid, and this dependency is holding them back from reaching their potential, and it is essentially holding back development. I understand it’s not a black and white picture, you could say people are starving so obviously we will feed them. Yet the people of Karamoja have been given food aid from the WFP among others for over 30 years. If people are starving for 30 years perhaps a different approach should be considered? (Would hope that if you were doing something completely wrong for 30 years you would have enough common sense to change it up a bit, although I know it is not that simple as the security situation in Karamoja has been difficult at best in the last decades, but just a thought)

I know the food at the moment is not simply dropped off, it is part of a work for food program or other initiatives, yet I am still struggling to see the sustainability of that. So these people work, why not pay them? Why pay them with food? Shouldn’t there be a higher incentive for these people to create their own functioning society, rather than simply distributing food? I know my opinions on this might be a bit far fetch, but the more time I spend in developing countries, the more I question the things that we back home would never regard as a potential problem.

There is good in the aid industry, but I still believe there is an issue with emergency relief aid and development aid, the overlapping of the two seem to make the lines slightly blurred. The main lesson I have learned from KDF and Karamoja so far is the need for further involvement of the local people. Imagine if someone came to your home and told you what you needed to do to be more successful in your life, without ever considering what you think of as successful or if you even wanted change in the first place? I think we are so convinced in the West that the way we live our life is better than any other alternatives, that we become a bit blind to this. The Karamojong know how to live in Karamoja, they know the environment, the ecosystem, better than anyone. They know that pastoralism is the best suited way of life in a region that has unreliable rainfall and as such mobility is key. From the outside pastoralism is viewed as unnecessary because we now have technology to ensure that there is water in one place throughout the year and as such crops can be yielded from that. Yet do we really want to encourage people to give up the way of life that they have practiced successfully for centuries? Just because we now have the technology and knowledge to change their way of life, it doesn’t seem fair, and not just that what if our technology fails us? Then we have made people dependent on a non-sustainable lifestyle, does that not make us responsible for their future? I like to think people should be in charge of their own future, or at least be a part of shaping that future, unfortunately that’s not a reality in many cases in the developing world. Just because it is the ‘developing world’ doesn’t mean that we as ‘developed nations’ hold the key to their future.

So a few thoughts from my readings the last few weeks. I know I am still learning, and maybe my perception of Karamoja will change, and I will realize the usefulness of many of the programs I criticize. I am completely aware and open to that happening, I am just here to learn, but to me a part of learning is putting the ideas that I form in my head out there and maybe someone else will read it and make sense of it.

Now it is time for me to finish up my packing. My day was spent at the airtel office in Kampala trying to register my phone, as evidently I should have done that a month ago..oops…but all good, phone back on and I got to go shopping for some essentials to bring to Moroto and had a few lazy hours by the pool reading a book. So definitely not the worst day J   Now tomorrow a 5 am wake up to hopefully be in Mbale before midday and then catch a ride with the UN to Moroto. Again escaping the joys of the Gateway bus! Thankful for all the generous people here who have made my travelling a million times easier lately! 

Giraffe beauty all over in Ruaha

Lion Chill time

Some Tanzania beauties to finish it off :)