A REASON FOR HOPE

The drive to Alere village in Kuji sub-county of Amuria district was a pleasant one. Drives through the countryside are often pleasing for the eye. The area had received some good rainfall in the preceding weeks and the lush greenery was evidence of that. But the beauty of the terrain hid an acute form of harshness that became evident once we started speaking to some of the people.

It was May 2010. For miles on end, there seemed to be no habitation. An odd bicyclist, a small group of kids herding cattle, a group of women going to or coming back from their market place with little kids tied securely to their backs or carrying small loads on their heads was all that we could see. The road was basically a mud track.

As we reached Alere, the atmosphere was a festive one. There were festoons and flowers. Our arrival was treated by some enthusiastic ululating, applause and of course some thumping music and robust dancing. One could be forgiven for believing that it was indeed a festival – except that it was not. It was just because a new borehole with a handpump was being commissioned, bringing an end to the travails faced particularly by women and children in accessing water. I have often seen the elation when a facility as basic as water is made available, I do believe in its transformational value, but one can still sometimes not fathom how critical, life saving or life changing it can be !

After the rituals, it was time to have a few conversations. Almost all the people from the 200 odd households had assembled and seated themselves comfortably under the generous shade of the mango trees, laden with fruits. The storyline was fairly familiar – earlier, the only source of water was a small stream at a distance, women and girls had to regularly spend lot of time in collecting the water which often was not of good quality, cases of cholera and diarrhoea were high and sometimes, they were bitten by snakes or other insects as they went looking for water in the streams. But, there was much more.

This district was in proximity to the Karamoja region which had witnessed a long period of instability and conflict. This was the area where the notorious Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) was operating. There were many cases of violence perpetrated by the LRA, but more worrying was that of children, particularly boys being abducted and trained to be child soldiers, ruining permanently their childhood and their innocence. The conflict brought in the military sent by the government to maintain peace, and there were often pitched battles between the LRA and the military. And the poor community got caught in the crossfire, with the LRA suspecting them to be sympathetic to the military, while the military suspecting them to protect LRA members. Either way, they had no choice, caught between the devil and the deep sea.

The Karamoja region is also home to a community known as cattle rustlers. They fundamentally believe that all cattle (cows in particular) anywhere in the world, belong to them. Their affinity to cattle often brought them in sharp conflict with other settlers, especially farmers. These cattle rustlers would come in hordes and forcibly take the cattle away. Cattle is valued in the area as they provide the most inflation busting insurance, an asset that is liquid only next to cash, and this was something very important for the impoverished community. But often, they had their cattle taken away by force – the ensuing violence in case of any resistance had also caused fatalities.

HIV/AIDS was a major scourge. It was quite widespread in the region. Worse still, because of the relative inaccessibility of villages and issues of conflict,  and of course government apathy and lack of resources, not much was forthcoming in terms of services or awareness. It was quite heart wrenching to see a frail elderly woman being the sole carer of six young children, since their parents had both died of HIV/AIDS. It was almost impossible for her or her grandchildren to work and fend for themselves, and they had to largely rely on the generosity of their (already impoverished) neighbours to bail them out. A small patch of a kitchen garden with some vegetables was probably the only ‘sustainable’ source of food for this family. Looking at the children, one wondered how long they would survive, for they looked extremely malnourished – and one would never know if they had been affected by the deadly virus !

And then, to make matters even more difficult was that this area was prone to flooding. A heavy downpour in the catchment areas meant that this community would be flooded. This was a rather regular occurrence during the monsoon season, thus further marginalising them.

The newly installed and inaugurated hand pump had thus to be seen in this context. A community that had almost given up any hope of anything that would be positive or transformational in their lives, had now reason to be optimistic and aspire for a brighter future. A young girl said that she aspired to be a teacher. Many adults nodded in agreement, saying that while their lives had been spent in despair, they had hopes for their children. Women said that precious time and immense toil could be saved with water almost at their doorstep. A lot of money (which was scarce anyway) could be saved for not having to pay for medicines. Children would be much less vulnerable to disease and death. But there was also reason for some mirth. A young man, thanking us for supporting the community with the hand pump said that his wife looked more beautiful now as she could bathe regularly, and that she also smelled good as she was using soap as well !