Headlines in the news

There's been some rather disturbing stories in the news over the past few months. It appears that child sacrifices are on the rise in Uganda. Yep, that's right I said child sacrifices. Hard to believe that a such a thing happens in this day and age, but it's true. A few weeks ago a Ugandan businessman was arrested for having a young boy sacrificed in hopes of bringing him good luck with the office building he was constructing.
On boxing day three men, one of them an uncle were arrested for the murder and sacrifice of a 12 year old boy. One of the men, a 'witchdoctor' ordered the sacrifice which included the young boy and the body of a wealthy man who was previously deceased and whose body was dug up by the other two men. The 'witchdoctor' apparently agreed to pay the other two men 2million Ugandan Shillings, but they only received 200,000Ugsh ($100). The uncle of the sacrificed boy received $25 out of the $100 for giving up his nephew. Before the men were caught by police the people of the community found the men and beat them until the police arrived.
Several parents in the slum where I work have recently pierced at least one of their children's ears. Apparently once the skin of a child has been pierced they are no longer at risk of being sacrificed. The same goes with circumcision for boys. Don't really know what else to comment on about that, except to say that it is truly sad that innocent children are losing their lives.

In other news some of you may have heard that the government of Uganda along with troops from the DR Congo, and the SPLA in South Sudan have resumed attacks on Joseph Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army the rebel group that has caused chaos in northern Uganda for over 20 years. After the LRA failed to sign yet another peace agreement the government had enough. Kony and his troops (many of whom are child soldiers) are currently stationed along the DR Congo border and South Sudan. Since the launch of the new offensive that began just before Christmas the government and its allies have apparently taken control of a few of the rebel camps displacing most of the rebels and killing a handful. Sadly, the rebels have gone on a killing spree as they flee the government raids killing 190 people in DR Congo and South Sudan. Reportedly 20 children have been abducted by the LRA in the attacks. Despite the offensive supported by the three governments, they have been unable to find and capture Kony or other top LRA members.
Patrons I shared the public transit system with the other day expressed their skepticism as to whether or not the government offensive was actually happening or if it was just propaganda. Others thought that Kony and the LRA were being tipped off by government forces or someone on the inside as an explanation to why he hasn't been caught yet. They feel the government benefits by having the LRA as an enemy to attract international funds. Either way, the people of northern Uganda that were starting to return to their homes after spending years in camps are again apprehensive at the thought of going back to their villages for fear of violence.

So that's where things are at with the headlines here in Uganda....

later,

matt

Christmas at Lake Bunyonyi

Charlotte and I made the 10 hour trek to Lake Bunyonyi near the Rwandan border for Christmas. The trip there was quite something. A trip that should only take three hours or so tripled due to the huge crater sized potholes scattered throughout the road making driving somewhat like a video game as we tried to dodge the potholes as well as oncoming traffic. Needless to say there were several vehicles that became casualties of the road including ours. The place that we broke down seemed to be particularly popular as a small bus broke down right behind us as we were waiting for our driver to come back from town with the radiator that he had pulled out of the car with a pair of pliers. Bunyonyi was certainly a beautiful and peaceful place to get some rest once we got there. After doing quite a bit of hiking at Sipi Falls the week before we pretty much just chilled out and read our books, ate some good food, and went canoing in a one piece canoe that was a log that had been hollowed out. It was much different to navigate then our canoes at home, but I eventually got the hang of it.

Displacing the displaced

Well, for some families living in the Namuwongo slum in which I work it has not been a very merry season. A large section of the slum in an area dubbed 'Soweto' has been marked for bulldozing to make way for a factory to be built. This means that many of the homes of the families we work with will be destroyed and the families will be forced out. Many of the people that live in the slum have already been displaced from conflict areas like northern Uganda, DRC, Sudan, and Rwanda. They do not own their homes or the land around them, they are in crude terms 'squatters', and thus have very little if any rights when it comes to the sale of the land on which they live. It is very hard to describe the helpless feeling when families come and knock on our office door crying and pleading with us to help them. I spoke with the local councellor to inquire about what rights if any the people had...his response was that they have none. When I pleaded with him that it was Christmas and surely it wasn't right to evict people at Christmas, his response was that 'business doesn't celebrate Christmas'. The picture is of one of the many houses marked for destruction. Unfortunately the organization that I'm with doesn't have the funds to help all these people find a new place to live....I'll keep you posted...

Sipi Falls- Uganda

Hi all! Well I've succumb to the world of blogs....(what's next facebook?!) after several failed attempts to send pictures via email (one pic can take an hour to send), I thought I'd check to see whether or not posting pictures on a blog would work any better, and apparently it does! So I guess I'll be doing a bit of blogging then, or at least posting pictures. Anyways this is me repelling down a 100 meter waterfall at Sipi Falls (roughly 100km from the Kenyan border). It was quite funny and very scary being my first time. No helmet, very little instruction....they just strapped me into my harness and away I went!
Anyway, I'll be posting some work related pics soon so stay tuned.

Take care,

matt