I decided to visit Moroto to witness the FGM practices among the Karamajong. I was hosted by Concern worldwide Uganda and Karamoja Women Organizations Umbrella Group (KAWOU).
THE JOURNEY.
On March 20th 2012 I boarded a bus to Moroto. I was also still anxious that I had not yet seen any naked people along the way to confirm that we were going to Karamoja. As we crossed over the border from Soroti into Karamoja the difference was startling. There was no food. Everywhere I have been in Uganda, regardless of the poverty, food grows like weeds. Suddenly I felt like I had been transported to the Sahara desert. There was miles and miles of flat, dusty land broken by single small Rocky Mountains and very few villages. The isolation means Moroto stands out as you approach. It is how I can explain it and with no electricity but thousands of NGOs rather than homes and big shops or casinos. There were wooden built shops along the road and many bars made of mud and sticks resembling the “manyattas” the karamajong enclosed homes with neatly built sticks and shrubs.
VISIBLE VIOLENCE.
Then the violence begins, as the bus offloads some passengers along the way a young man carrying flour on a bicycle in his youth is trying to negotiate along the small road to pass. He finally knocks an elderly woman fit to be her mother as she had grey hair. The woman was along the way staring at the bus with other women chanting. The young man and the lady trip and fall in the ditch. As am staring the young man starts slapping the woman as the other people are looking. This was a real shock the old lady was being beaten as other people were looking on.
Finally around 9pm we arrive in Moroto town. I was startled because I had never seen thousands of NGOs in Uganda and small community organizations run from someone’s front room or a small shed-like office. Walking around town was like a who’s who of the development world with representation from every major ‘donor country’. All have big 4x4s and imposing offices with big compounds.
DAY ONE.
I arrive at Concern Worldwide Uganda. Am the first to arrive at their gate and find when they are still closed. After an hour Swaibu a programme officer arrives and opens the office, he welcomes me warmly and briefs me about the work they are doing on GBV, a project they are implementing with KAWOU. He informs me that the women are the bread winners and men just wake up to go and drink or raid cattle in the neighboring villages. The traditional method of survival being pastoralist thus cattle are the main source of conflict. He then directs me to KAWOU which is just a stone throw away from the concern worldwide compound.
KARAMOJA WOMEN ORGANISATION UMBRELLA GROUP (KAWUO)
I approach and knock at the entrance and there seems not to be any sign of an office operating in the building. One lady approaches me and welcomes me inside and I introduce myself to her. She hesitates and says she knows nothing regarding my visit to the organization minutes later a lady comes in and greets me. As am staring at the printed pictures on the wall another lady beaming with joy approaches and asks if am Andrew, which I reply yes, she reaches out her hand for a hand shake and tells me she was waiting for me.
I notice that there are only 4 chairs in the whole office with at least 3 tables. As we seat Helen Asekenye, Programme Officer KAWOU is not happy at all. She calls Josephine a case manager to attend the small interaction meeting with us. I start by introducing myself and the purpose for the visit. But as I begin highlighting my questions I realize they don’t have any statistics on any GBV victims let alone knowledge on GBV despite the fact that it is part of their main activities and areas of work. They tell me they coordinate over 2000 women groups in 7 districts in the Karamoja region. As part of their work they are supposed to follow up cases of Violence against women and children, encourage victims to come out, attend court sessions on GBV victims and encourage people to give evidence in the courts of law. But all these are just dreams as they are not functioning at all.
THE SITUATION OF KAWUO.
I ask Helen if they have a Board, she tells me that they have a board of 12 members where the Chairperson and the Executive Director are men. They only have one computer which is being used by the accountant and shared by everyone else in the office. I get to know that actually they have three computers (2 desktops and one laptop). The other computer is stationed in the ED`s office that is always locked and the laptop is also being used by the Executive Director who moves with it all the time with the organizational internet modem. I inquire why the ED is not in his office, they tell me that they don’t know. I discover that he can be away for almost 3months without any delegation notes to any one. They disclose to me that the women groups have also lost hope in them. They last had a meeting with the different women groups 6months back. She tells me that they never have staff meetings and the board meetings are also very rare as the members have lost hope in the organization. I ask what she is doing at the organization and she informs me that she is implementing a project with the IRC but doesn’t even know anything about the work plan, beneficiaries and budget.
I visited the Central Police station where I went to the Family protection Unit and discovered that GBV was visible as I found two women with bandages reporting about their problems and incidents. They told me that the forms of GBV included Rape which was very rampant, FGM, child marriage, trafficking of girls and women and domestic violence.
I decided to hike the mountains with him to find the much talked about woman who used to cut the young girls. We tracked her down as she came back from collecting firewood. She explained to us that she had stopped after realizing the dangers it had on the young girls. But she informed us that despite the fact that for her she stopped, other young girls are still being sneaked into Kenya so they are circumcised from their.
DAY TWO
This time I was going to go deep down into the Matheniko area. I observed that this area was flat and with no visible food crops being grown apart from sign posts from the NUSAF OPM projects. In this area like the others so many young girls were pregnant with the women. We reached the small village deep down in the matheniko sub county near the wild reserve where I met a small group of women weaving and making beads. They told me they sometimes went without food due to the fact that their gardens had dried up. Some women also get to eat the remains of the ajon the men drink to sleep in a bid not to feel hungry. I met a lady who told us that abrupt rapes in Karamoja have also led to marriages. Girls normally go for firewood and water far away from home and the young men stock and forcibly subject them to abrupt rape without prior courtship but because the boys’ parents have cows, the parents of the girls still go ahead and sanction the marriage. Also when bride wealth considerations of parents compel the girl to marry a man she is not in love with, she usually commits suicide and many Karamojong girls are known to have killed themselves to escape a forced marriage. Others run away from home and elope with men of their hearts.
One of the most startling things whilst I was there was the isolation of the region, logistically and culturally. The scarcity of resources and lack of income make most things twice the price of the rest of Uganda. The town runs on one huge generator which had run out of petrol when I visited (they wait two or three weeks for fuel to be transported from Kampala) so the hum of NGO generators provided background for the day’s work.
I thank the GBV team for offering this nice chance and creative exposure and for facilitating my trip. There is no way I can say am happy and grateful but continue with the work you are doing.
ACFODE (Action for Development) for showing me the way, identification and always giving me a space to learn more about the women’s movement. The time I have spent there is worth my career in fighting for the women’s rights.
Concern Worldwide Uganda and KAWUO for warmly welcoming and hosting me into Moroto district.
I encourage many other youth to join the fight against all forms of Gender Based Violence in Uganda.
PICTURES
Andrew Ssekirevu
ACFODE
Email: sekirevu@acfode.org
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