I wrote a few weeks ago about the cost of being here..in the DR Congo. Well i did not expect to experience that cost so visibly and powerfully, only 3.5 weeks after arriving.
On saturday i recieved some heartbreaking news from home. My sister was due to give birth in just 5 weeks, but on Friday, on a check up at the hospital, she and her husband were told that the baby had died. She has still had to go through the trauma of giving birth, and so in the early hours of this morning, alexander luke was born. Devestating for my sister and her husband, and terrible for the rest of my family too.
I have experienced a mixture of emotions since hearing the news. Shock, anger, confusion, sadness. im sure that all pales in comparison to what my sister and her husband are feeling right now. My feelings have been exacerbated by the fact that im so far from home.
Medair have been great, very supportive. They offered me the chance to fly home. I have spoken to the family a lot over the last 48 hours and we have decided the best thing is for me to stay in the DR Congo. I need to settle here and there are already so many people supporting Jude and Jonny. i think if i had returned home, it would have been more for my benefit than theirs. We will speak on the phone and on skype, and i am OK with that for now.
A colleague said to me yesterday that you really make a big sacrifice whn you leave for the field. Not only does that apply to me, but for the people you leave behind as well. I have had that truth rammed down my throat.
Please pray for my sister and her husband if you get a chance. i would appreciate it.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Peace for Development...by way of billboard...What?
On Sunday the beautiful landscape of Kaabong was marred by a billboard - can you imagine? This is what it says...
On one side english & on the other Karamojong - and yet most likely those who can read either are already working toward development in Kaabong...the ironies really could go on & on...
Surely they mean well, but really, I could think of many other things to spend Aid money on that would promote peace!!!
In other news, today was the 2nd consecutive day of rain in Kaabong! Its not just the people who are happy for this!
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
My job so far....
We have a lot of emergencies at the moment in the North East Congo, as the LRA continue to attack villages, causing thousands of people to leave their homes and live in temporary camps. These people are officially classified as IDP`s (Internally Displaced People). This effectively means that they are refugees within the borders of their own country
These are the people who get caught in the crossfire and suffer the most in many cases. Hard to believe, but the UN estimate that 45,000 people die every month in the DR Congo. Most of these people die from preventable diseases, an indirect consequence of the chaos that surrounds them. The infrastructure can be so bad in eastern Congo, and the security so unstable that these people can be difficult to reach. People die from diahrroea in the Eastern Congo. Does that not make you angry? The war in Eastern Congo officialy ended 5 years ago but fighting continues, and the shattered economy and infrastructure have never recovered
Consequently many of Medairs programmes in the Congo are focusing on emergency response and trying to ensure that as many people as possible can recieve the medication they so desparately need. Since I arrived in Isiro, my role has focused on the control of the medical stock and making sure this kit is transported to our beneficiaries in the field. The medical kit is mostly transported by air. The roads are in a terrible state so they are not really an option...the planes get in and out pretty quickly.
We have medical supervisors who distribute the medicines. They are all Congolese, completely dedicated to what they do and pretty corageous guys too, putting themselvs in the middle of some pretty dangerous situations.
I hope to get to grips with the rest of my role over the next few weeks. Its been a pretty busy start, but the role has a hands on feel, and knowing what you are doing really does contribute to saving lives directly is a good thing. That why I came i guess, to serve the people of one of the most forgotten crises on planet earth.
These are the people who get caught in the crossfire and suffer the most in many cases. Hard to believe, but the UN estimate that 45,000 people die every month in the DR Congo. Most of these people die from preventable diseases, an indirect consequence of the chaos that surrounds them. The infrastructure can be so bad in eastern Congo, and the security so unstable that these people can be difficult to reach. People die from diahrroea in the Eastern Congo. Does that not make you angry? The war in Eastern Congo officialy ended 5 years ago but fighting continues, and the shattered economy and infrastructure have never recovered
Consequently many of Medairs programmes in the Congo are focusing on emergency response and trying to ensure that as many people as possible can recieve the medication they so desparately need. Since I arrived in Isiro, my role has focused on the control of the medical stock and making sure this kit is transported to our beneficiaries in the field. The medical kit is mostly transported by air. The roads are in a terrible state so they are not really an option...the planes get in and out pretty quickly.
We have medical supervisors who distribute the medicines. They are all Congolese, completely dedicated to what they do and pretty corageous guys too, putting themselvs in the middle of some pretty dangerous situations.
I hope to get to grips with the rest of my role over the next few weeks. Its been a pretty busy start, but the role has a hands on feel, and knowing what you are doing really does contribute to saving lives directly is a good thing. That why I came i guess, to serve the people of one of the most forgotten crises on planet earth.
In the picture you can see myself and my colleague Isaac delivering the medication to the airport
Monday, June 22, 2009
Timu
Timu is located on the far Eastern border of Uganda & Kenya in Kaabong. It is at about 6,500 feet elevation and receives much more rain than the area we are staying in a bit south of it at 5,200 feet. The vegetation gets greener and more bushy as you head that way - it was a beautiful, albeit bumpy 1 and a half hour journey there on Saturday. Amber & Terrill are building a house there so they can be closer to the Ik people. The Ik are a different tribe than the Karamajong and there are very few of them, some estimate only around a few thousand people. They are primarily agriculturalists & do not raise livestock, but are unfortunately caught in a geographic area between the Turkana of Kenya & the Dodoth Karamojong of Kaabong. Which means they are often vulnerable to the raiding of their villages even without owning livestock.
Some pictures from there:
This is the doorway in/out of their village!
Graineries
Amber on the way to the village
the new house & its proud owners (the Ik community consider this house to be 'theirs')
the views are incredible! Kenya is in the valley on the other side of these hills.
cute baby covered with cream for its chicken pox :(
cute baby covered with cream for its chicken pox :(Friday, June 19, 2009
Present-day child sacrifice
While in Kampala I had a brief chat with Shane, the 'head of ops' shall we say at Come, Let's Dance. She was telling me how that week she had been invited to attend a meeting of Parliament & to be part of a press conference talking about this new law being proposed to end child sacrifice! Here's what she had to say about it:
MPS have been called upon to quickly enact laws against child sacrifice. The request was made by a local rights’ NGO after children presented a petition to the deputy Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, yesterday.
The children had marched through the streets of Kampala before going to Parliament. The campaign was organised by Action for the Rights of Children (ARC) and the Uganda Parliamentary Forum for Children.
“We condemn this act, as well as the perpetrators, and ask Parliament to come up with laws criminalising child sacrifice,” the children said in the petition by Ingrid Naiga of Green Hill Academy.
In the petition, also signed by Penny Baziga, the ARC director and Rebecca Lukwago, the MP for Luweero, the children said the perpetrators of the crime were aiming at getting rich quickly.
“Children are the future leaders. Witchdoctors have no right to kill them. When they do so, it means, there would be no leaders and, therefore, no development,” Sharon Kyomuhendo from Mukono Boarding Primary school said.
The children cited Police statistics stating that at least 18 ritual murder cases were reported in 2008, but only 15 had been probed.
They also said close to 3,000 children disappear from home annually, adding that they could have been sacrificed.
The petitioners urged the Government to set up special courts to try perpetrators of the crime and to develop a standard code of conduct for traditional healers.
They also called for the establishment of a unit within the Police Force to check child sacrifice. Kadaga promised to forward the petition to Parliament within two weeks.
Last Monday I was asked to go to Parliament and be a key spokesperson for Child sacrificing — to speak out against it and help make it a law in Uganda. Right now the President of Uganda is saying he will consider making the punishment ‘no bale’ for the person who sacrifices a child. I couldn’t believe it when they actually asked me what the law should be, what I would propose as a punishment or something to deter people from listening to the local witchdoctors and killing even their own children. WOW. So, I asked all the TV stations, radios, and Newspapers what the punishment for MURDER is...they said the death penalty or life in prison. So, I said child sacrificing IS murder, they should get the same punishment — and, can you believe that they had never thought of that?! What? So, I made Come, Let’s Dance the official NGO speaking out against child sacrificing — this Thursday we’re joining up with some other groups to march to parliament and deliver the petition asking the President to make this a law in Uganda — definitely NO bale, but also deem it murder. I was all on tv and radio and now I’m meeting the Speaker of the House. We all have t-shirts to wear and taking all the taxis full of college kids and such to make a statement — they’ll love it! Meanwhile, we’re living out Psalm 82 and defending the cause of the weak, fighting the wicked and injustice! Amen.Yes...it is still happening & yes, it is mind-blowing to realize that its not even seen to be on the same line as murder. Here's an article that came out this week in the local Ugandan newspaper, New Vision. http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/13/685203
Pass law against child sacrifice quickly, Parliament told
Publication date: Thursday, 18th June, 2009
By Mary KarugabaMPS have been called upon to quickly enact laws against child sacrifice. The request was made by a local rights’ NGO after children presented a petition to the deputy Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, yesterday.
The children had marched through the streets of Kampala before going to Parliament. The campaign was organised by Action for the Rights of Children (ARC) and the Uganda Parliamentary Forum for Children.
“We condemn this act, as well as the perpetrators, and ask Parliament to come up with laws criminalising child sacrifice,” the children said in the petition by Ingrid Naiga of Green Hill Academy.
In the petition, also signed by Penny Baziga, the ARC director and Rebecca Lukwago, the MP for Luweero, the children said the perpetrators of the crime were aiming at getting rich quickly.
“Children are the future leaders. Witchdoctors have no right to kill them. When they do so, it means, there would be no leaders and, therefore, no development,” Sharon Kyomuhendo from Mukono Boarding Primary school said.
The children cited Police statistics stating that at least 18 ritual murder cases were reported in 2008, but only 15 had been probed.
They also said close to 3,000 children disappear from home annually, adding that they could have been sacrificed.
The petitioners urged the Government to set up special courts to try perpetrators of the crime and to develop a standard code of conduct for traditional healers.
They also called for the establishment of a unit within the Police Force to check child sacrifice. Kadaga promised to forward the petition to Parliament within two weeks.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
School Latrines
Another portion of this project has been the construction of latrines for local schools and then hygiene education for the students. This block of latrines is currently being built & I had the chance to visit. I know, not too exciting...but important! I'll upload photos of the finished product as well!
(that's Fiona there in the photos - our Hygiene Manager)
(that's Fiona there in the photos - our Hygiene Manager)Sub-Surface Dam Project
Because I am far from technical in knowledge of all things construction & engineering, I find these projects so fascinating - at least to watch them come together & see how things are built and designed from the beginning to the end. So, this type of dam is built up underneath the riverbed to allow the water collection under the sand to be held in a certain area to provide more access to water during droughts. Part of this project is employing people from the local villages to provide work and therefore some flow of funds through the local economy. This particular dam is 3 meters deep! As you can see, the project is almost finished - at the end all you'll see is the sandy riverbed. I'll most pictures then.
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