Uganda: Gulu

To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world.

Freya Stark

Gulu is the second-largest city in northern Uganda.

Greetings, Readers, from Gulu!

Nile crossing - the de facto border between north and south Uganda.

I arrived Tuesday, in style as it were, since my cousin scored me a cush ride in an Embassy car that was headed north. It was lovely to get out of Kampala (which took about an hour) and head up through the hinterlands, which offered stunning views and a new take on Uganda. The topography changed markedly as we headed north, from verdant hills to more savannah-like terrain. The road was great until we were about 2/3 of the way, at which point it deteriorated markedly.

The trip was uneventful until we crossed the Nile at a bridge the effectively divides north and south Uganda. There are UPDF (Ugandan Army) officers permanently stationed at the bridge. I unwittingly asked the driver if I could snap a few photos of the impressive view of some raging rapids. He was hesitant because, as I later found out, it's prohibited to take photos due to the presence of a military installation up the hill from the river. Two UPDF officers approached the car, one looking particularly perturbed. The less-perturbed fellow spoke with the driver, explaining the reason that photography is prohibited, while the other officer attempted to grab my rather expensive camera through the window. Happily, the driver and second officer diffused the situation and quickly compared my photos to the portion of the view that was sensitive. Luckily, I hadn't snapped any photos including the installation, so was allowed to keep them. We continued on our way as I uttered profuse apologies for the driver, who laughed at me for being both naive and over-apologetic. All's well that ends well, in any event.

After arriving, I headed to a hotel recommended by a grad school friend living in Gulu. I then met up with a Peace Corps-era friend who is currently in Gulu, as well. The world is indeed small. We met some Ugandans and other expats for dinner - my introduction to what has proven to be a large and interesting international community in Gulu.

On day two, I met my hotel neighbor, a Canadian who works at the same NGO as my grad school friend. We hit it off immediately and ventured into the center of town for lunch. She hadn't been feeling great and, when we encountered my friend from Burkina Faso, he urged her to get a malaria test immediately. Fast forward two hours to me holding her hand while she had blood drawn, almost getting thrown up on, and, finally, relief at the diagnosis of a virus, not malaria. Talk about a bonding experience.

Since then, I've met more and more of the mzungu (expat) community here - students and researchers, like me, folks working for NGOs, and those who've made a home here and run businesses around town. It's been incredible. This community has, so far, informed my research as much as the wonderfully helpful Ugandans that I've met with.

More on the last few days to come. 'Til then, thanks for reading!

Roadside monkey.

Mango season!

Sunset view of Gulu from my hotel balcony.

Gulu twilight.

Uganda: The Good Life

Now more than ever do I realize that I will never be content with a sedentary life, that I will always be haunted by thoughts of a sun-drenched elsewhere.

Isabelle Eberhardt, The Nomad: The Diaries of Isabelle Eberhardt

Hello, friends!


It's been a fantastic week since I last wrote. I spent the end of last week running errands around Kampala, particularly securing my research permit from the National Council of Science & Technology. After filling out some not-unreasonable paperwork, I showed up at the NCST office and was floored by how fast and smooth the process was. Afterward, I sat down to talk with two young Ugandan bloggers who are the founders of Uganda Speaks, a site focused on promoting young Ugandan voices in addressing Ugandan issues. Our conversation provided a lot of food for thought, particularly regarding the intervention of the western world in Africa. That evening, I met up with a friend from undergrad for a delightful evening of dinner, wine, and great conversation. 


On Friday, I joined my cousins at a going away party for an Embassy staffer. I didn't meet her until the end of the party, only to discover that she's from Denver and graduated from high school with several of my friends. The party was a lot of fun and afforded the opportunity to talk with State and USAID folks and get some input on and reactions to my research topic. Hanging with my cousins and their colleagues has put diplomacy and state-sponsored development work in a whole new, very practical light.


Last weekend, we headed to Jinja and the source of the Nile with some of my cousins' State Dept and USAID friends. My cousins are serious campers and have rooftop tents on their Land Rovers, so our setup was impressive. We enjoyed two days of swimming, sitting around the campfire, and exploring the Nile headwaters by boat. The most striking aspect of the boat trip, aside from the knowledge that we were floating over the source of the world's longest river, was the array of birds--kingfishers, fish eagles, cranes, cormorants, pelicans, egrets, storks, ducks, hornbills, and so many more. Uganda is a bird-watcher's paradise.


As we continued down the Nile from the source, our boatman guide pointed out a huge pillar on a hill overlooking the source where John Speke, who "discovered" the source, once stood. Coincidentally, my cousin lent me Adam Hochschild's "King Leopold's Ghost," a fascinating, disturbing history of the Belgian Congo, the only colony ruled by a single man, and not a state, and the resulting int'l human rights movement that emerged once the atrocities committed by King Leopold's forces came to light. It's a great read for Africa and human rights enthusiasts, alike. 


It's been so wonderful to have the opportunity to relax, explore, read, and catch up with family during the first two weeks of my time in Uganda.  Having the time to sit still and move a little slower has impressed on me just how hectic life has been during the last year and a half of grad school. 3 jobs, an internship, a full course load, and an active social life have been hard to balance. It makes me to eager to move on to the next step and a more predictable schedule. 


Next week, I move on to Gulu, in the north, where I'll embark on my field research. 


'Til next time, thanks for reading!

Africa is mystic; it is wild; it is a sweltering inferno; it is a photographer's paradise, a hunter's Valhalla, an escapist's Utopia. It is what you will, and it withstands all interpretations. It is the last vestige of a dead world or the cradle of a shiny new one. 

Beryl Markham, West with the Night

Camping in style

Lake Victoria

African Openbill Stork

Little Egret

The Source

Sunrise over Lake Victoria

Back to Africa: Uganda

The gladdest moment in human life, methinks, is a departure into unknown lands. The blood flows with the fast circulation of childhood.

Sir Richard Burton 

Greetings from Lubowa, on the outskirts of Kampala. I'm writing from a comfortable seat on the veranda of my cousins' house, with a beautiful view of Lake Victoria. The scene is resplendent with dense foliage including palm trees, banana trees, and flowering trees and shrubs boasting hues of brilliant white, violet, magenta, marigold, powder blue, and saffron. There is a subtle and consistent chorus of melodic birdsongs, punctuated from time to time with the honking call of an Ibis. 

It's been over four years since I left Burkina Faso after 27 months of Peace Corps service. This six-week trip to Uganda is my first return to the continent. I'm here in an entirely different role, as a visitor/tourist, student, and researcher. My six weeks will consist of visiting family--my cousin and cousin-in-law work at the U.S. Embassy--and research in northern Uganda, in collaboration with a U.S.-based NGO and an association of indigenous Ugandan civil society organizations.

After 24 hours of typically tedious but surprisingly seamless travel, I arrived in Entebbe three days ago. The first thing that struck me, in a deeply comforting way, was the hot, dusty smell unique to Africa, with subtle variations.  

I'll spend the first two weeks of my trip in Kampala with family, networking with contacts in Uganda, catching up with a college friend, and partaking in some weekend adventures, including a camping trip to Jinja and the headwaters of the Nile and some sailing on Lake Victoria. This is Africa as I have never experienced it - with the comforts of expat life, a driver to take me into the city for meetings and errands, consistent wireless internet access, and the wonderful hospitality of family. 

Yesterday, I ventured into Kampala for the first time to meet with a representative of an NGO association sponsoring my research permit application (DENIVA - the Ugandan Network of NGOs and CBOs [community-based orgs]). It felt at once vastly different and intimately familiar. Kampala is nothing like the west and north African cities I've experienced in terms of the level of overall development, but the roadside stalls, encompassing everything from restaurants to mechanic shops to purveyors of every good and combination of goods imaginable, are ubiquitous in sub-Saharan Africa. Many of the roads we traversed could easily have been in Ouagadougou, Accra, or Dakar. Isaac, the driver, provided a narration of Kampala sites as we traversed the city, passing Uganda's parliament, embassies, the industrial region of the city, and even a lush golf course.

Today, after enjoying a lazy, rainy morning in Lubowa, I'll head into Kampala to procure my research permit, meet with a young journalist, and grab dinner with a college friend. I'm excited to sit down with Rosebell, an up-and-coming journalist and blogger who writes on current events, culture, and politics and has authored and filmed some wonderful pieces in response to Invisible Children's Kony 2012 campaign. I hope that our conversation will lend some useful context, in terms of public opinion and youth activism in Uganda, to my research, which focuses on the capacities of NGOs and IOs to provide rehabilitative and reintegrative services for children formerly affiliated with fighting forces (CAFF) in northern Uganda.

Thanks for reading. 'Til next time.

All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.

Martin Buber

Kampala

Downtown Kampala

Kampala traffic

Qaddafi Mosque

Kampala from Lubowa

On to the next adventure....

INDIA!
For the continuing saga of post-Peace Corps life, check out my new blog at: http://chrissyhart.wordpress.com/

Mali: Le Pays Dogon (Dogon Country)

During my last month in Burkina, I made a clandestine 3-day trip to Mali with a few PC friends (I’d already used all of my vacation days). The opportunity to see Dogon Country - a unique 100k-long escarpment that runs parallel to Mali’s southern border with a sheer face scattered with centuries-old villages nestled amongst the cracks and crevices – was too good to pass up. So I swallowed my moral reservations, informed many friends so that my whereabouts were known and headed north. I’ve held off on publishing this post in the interest of being divested of my volunteer status before confessing but I don’t regret my transgression for a moment – the trip was more than worth it.

Voici, les photos du voyage:

The Long Goodbye

The things that hurt, instruct.

Benjamin Franklin

Dear Readers,

This is one of the last few blog entries I’ll publish…until I start my new blog to report on new adventures, that is.

I arrived in Ouagadougou yesterday after saying goodbye to my village for good. The last several weeks have consisted of uncertainties, changes, a plethora of emotional highs and lows and more goodbyes than I care to recount. As my last week in Burkina Faso begins, I’m emotionally drained and have begun to feel acutely the weight of two years of challenges and growth. I’m simultaneously sad to leave, knowing that this is not an experience one can ever revisit or recreate, and elated at the prospect of a solid month of relaxing at home and then moving on to explore new corners of the world and, well, get on with life.

After working the last week of volunteer training, I headed to village for four days in order to ready my house for my replacement and to say my goodbyes in the way I wanted – individually, taking the time to visit with friends and their families, take photos and make my exit quietly. Some friends – mostly civil servants – gave me a hard time for not throwing a party or making more of my departure, but that didn’t appeal to me, being beyond my means and the means of the average villager. Instead, my goodbyes consisted of conversation; rehashing funny moments – cultural faux pas and foibles, insect-induced screams, lingual confusion - from my first months in village, promises to stay in touch and to send photos and thanks…many, many thanks.

The hardest goodbyes were with my female friends – the unique, dynamic women whose daily struggles and accomplishments never cease to amaze me – and my babies; the children in neighboring courtyards and my counterpart’s family, whose constant, unwavering affection and utter inability to judge me the way I’m so often judged as a stranger here, has been one of the absolute sustaining elements of my Peace Corps service.

I’m just beginning to realize how challenging moving on from and processing this experience will be. I’m the last of my group to leave Burkina – a few of us are already home, many others are traveling and will be for some time, but I think none of us yet fully realizes the challenges that reintegration and life after Peace Corps will present. I think my time at home and then out in the world again (traveling in SE Asia), will allow me to reflect on these 27 months, on the big questions that I hoped to pursue in coming to Burkina, on my place in the world, and on how I’ve changed; what I’ve learned about myself and how it will impact the choices I make and the path that lies ahead.



I recently received an e-mail from a good friend who had just finished his PC service in Mongolia. He was writing about his post-service travels; relaxing on a Cambodian beach, beyond content with a hammock, a good iPod playlist and some copies of The Economist. He wrote that he was just beginning to reflect on his service and those “big questions” pertaining to development, the efficacy of Peace Corps, the impact volunteers make, and countless other elements of the experience. He said those answers are slow in coming. Right now, it’s hard to imagine having answers to those questions at all – being able to generalize or summarize anything about two years of a life transplanted…it’s hard even to imagine actually being back in the States in six days. That said, I know that I’m tougher, wiser, and, grace of getting knocked down and picking myself back up time and time again, better than I was 27 months ago.

As many truths as men. Occasionally, I glimpse a truer Truth, hiding in imperfect simulacrums of itself, but as I approach, it bestirs itself & moves deeper into the thorny swamp of dissent.

David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

Warlord says he played part in Burkina Faso coup

International Herald Tribune

The Associated Press Published: August 26, 2008

MONROVIA, Liberia: One of Liberia's most infamous warlords admittedTuesday that he had trained in Libya and helped topple the government of Burkina Faso before overthrowing Liberia's president.

Prince Johnson, a warlord who has reinvented himself and is now a senator in Liberia's U.S.-modeled Congress, had initially refused to appear before the country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

His testimony Tuesday before the packed hall was another turning point in Liberia's struggle to make the actors of its brutal 14-year conflict face up to the horrors they inflicted.

Although he is now a senator, Johnson is viewed by many as a warlord-in-a-suit. He is best known for the gruesome torture of Liberia's President Samuel K. Doe, who died in 1990 in Johnson's custody.

Johnson led the assault, taking Doe hostage and then videotaped himself drinking Budweiser beer as he ordered his men to cut off the former president's ears. The videotape was copied and sold on street corners. Johnson's men celebrated by parading Doe's body in a wheelbarrow.

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But since Liberia emerged from war in 2003 and he, along with other warlords, reinvented himself as a senator, Johnson has tried to distance himself from the president's death. On Tuesday he told the truth commission that although it was his forces that captured Doe, others are responsible for his death.

He argued that long before he led the Sept. 9, 1990 overthrow, an interim government had been formed in exile. Its goal was to overthrow Doe, who had become deeply unpopular by favoring members of his ethnic group and allowing government forces to brutally kill his rivals.

"They sat in exile and formed an interim government to replace the Doe government when Doe was still on the throne," Johnson said. "I was only the instrument that they used."

"We all were involved in this Samuel Doe matter," he added. "We all wanted a change."

To overthrow Doe, Johnson said he and the other Liberians-in-exile reached out to Blaise Compaore, the head of Burkina Faso's army and the trusted friend of Burkina Faso's President Thomas Sankara. Compaore helped Johnson and warlord Charles Taylor go to Libya for guerrilla training.

In his testimony, he does not say how or why he helped overthrow Sankara. But in his 2003 autobiography, Johnson explains that when Sankara learned of the planned coup, he refused to let his country be used to destabilize Liberia. So Taylor conspired with Compaore to assassinate the president, Johnson wrote.

The 1987 death of Sankara, who was widely considered one of Africa's hopes, was a blow for the region.

Earlier this year, Johnson adamantly refused to appear before the commission, saying he had already apologized to Doe's family. Doe's family has said that although they accept Johnson's apology, they would like him to show them where the former president's body is buried.

At the hearing, Johnson revealed that Doe was first buried on a beach, and was later exhumed and cremated. "Doe was cremated and thrown in the river," he said. "Let us not open wounds."

Although the country held transparent elections in 2005, Liberia is struggling to knit itself back together. With the exception of Charles Taylor who is now on trial at The Hague for war crimes in neighboring Sierra Leone, none of the actors in Liberia's conflict is currently facing charges.

In an effort to heal the wounds of the past, Liberia's new government created the truth commission, where victims and perpetrators are invited to lay the past bare. Many have criticized the commission as toothless, pointing out that numerous well known warlords have refused to testify and even those that have come forward have been less than remorseful.