MyVoice

Notes from Conrad Mandsager

In northern Uganda, peace is finally peaking over the horizon … or is it? With no rebel attacks in the past year and the rebel army ensconced deep in the DRC-Congo, the people of the Acholi region are taking the first steps towards reestablishing their homes and communities. Because of the failed peace talks and the recent military action against the LRA in the Congo, the security of the region is still somewhat uncertain. Yet, buoyed by cautious optimism, over 60% of the people have left the IDP camps and are moving home.

Ground is being turned over for farms and gardens by plows and hoes after years of laying fallow. Huts are springing up, rising up from old foundations and homesteads. Cattle, goats, and sheep dot the landscape, grazing peacefully under the watchful eyes of boys and men. School yards are once again full of children in brightly colored school uniforms, playing, talking, laughing. Roadside markets are full of fresh produce. Long lines of women and girls overwhelm every available water source.

But maybe it isn't all what it seems ...
Simmering under the surface is a cauldron of hate and mistrust. Not against the rebels or the government, but against each other. Clan against clan, family against family, brother against brother. Fueled by arguments over land boundaries, drug and alcohol abuse, domestic disputes, no one seems immune. Hundreds are fleeing their homes and returning to safety of the camps, dealing a reeling blow to the efforts to return and resettle the 2 million displaced people of northern Uganda.

And the violence is escalating and hitting closer to home. Last month in Lukodi, a family was chased into a hut by a group of young men who then attempted to set fire to their hut and burn them alive. Another man who intervened to stop them was beaten unconscious and seriously wounded with a knife. Richard Kyitarinyeba, our logistics officer, rushed the man to a hospital, saving his life. Last week, four people were killed in Patiko, a village north of Lukodi, when villagers angry over a land dispute set fire to their rival's huts and chased them down, felling them with spears and machetes.

Unfortunately, the culture of violence borne in war has lasting impacts - sometimes, long after the war is over. This phenomenon, called "post conflict violence", has been documented in most post conflict regions around the globe. For example, in El Salvador, more people died of violent deaths in the four years after the conflict ended than during the conflict itself.

The post conflict reconstruction work in northern Uganda is proving to be much more challenging that many thought or hoped. The already traumatized population is shocked and discouraged by what they find when they move home. One 79 year old man commented, "This conflict over the land in [our] village started when we started going back home. It's surprising because before the conflict the two clans lived amicably with no hatred." Community leaders fear that they cannot control the violence without more government intervention.

Restoring infrastructure, such as health centers, schools, water and sanitation systems, while important, is not enough. Rebuilding broken families and communities, reestablishing traditional community leadership structures, and establishing effective mediation models are all part of the solution. Creating safety nets for the most vulnerable - widows, orphans, people living with HIV/AIDS, the elderly and those with disabilities - is critical.

In 2006, when ChildVoice first began work in Lukodi, we had limited understanding of the complexity and impact of this long and horrible conflict. Each day, we see more and more of what is needed. Although it is easy to be tempted by discouragement, we are encouraged by the transformation of the lives of the girls and children who live at Lukodi Centre.

Later this month, the first seven girls will graduate and go home. Excited and confident, they leave to assimilate back with their families and communities. Equipped for success, they are ready to work together to establish micro businesses and put into practice all that they learned over the last 18 months. More importantly, they are positioned to be change agents to counter the post conflict violence that they are likely to find when they go home. Once agents of violence, they are now agents of hope and peace.