More Photos

Hi there. I have posted some of my non-artistic photos that illustrate my blog stories on Facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=175019&id=755434941&saved#/album.php?aid=175019&id=755434941

Sorry something was deleted in my last post. The photos can be seen at flikr.com/lauren_sammon
I am posting more each day so check them out over the next few weeks.

Photographs

I am home and have started posting some of my photographs online. You can check them out at until I get my website up and running. All of the photographs are for sale. If you are interested in purchasing any of them you can email me at LNSammon@gmail.com for prices.

I will be adding more photographs each day for the next week so make sure you check back.

peace-
Lauren

Almost Home.

So here I am in Numulanda again giving you a double dose of news due to the blog blooper last week.



The last few days in Lira were a homogeneous blur. Esther and I tried to get all of the stories of the beneficiaries in a digital mode (currently they are only in her own head) with her narration and my typing. We only reached around 80 with almost all of those being typed in the last two days. We were getting up at 6 to work on them and working until a little past 11 at night and any little time we had in between. We delayed because Esther thought she had them somewhere, but she really just had an outdated chart with their names, schools and ages. Also, we didn't have power at her home and the computer battery at full charge would only last about an hour which forced us to leave the computer for charging all day and only have a short time to work int eh evenings. The night we got back to Namulanda we were sitting together on a bed under a mosquito net around 11 and we both became loopy for the exhaustion of the all day travel and the zombie inducing light of the computer screen. Words were coming out of mouths that weren't English or Lwo and we would randomly just start laughing at nothing. I felt like I was doing a group paper in college again and I knew how much I would miss being with Esther all the time.



We are very similar in ambition and overestimating our idea of how much we can get done in a certain amount of time. It was the day before I was leaving and we still had much to do so Esther thought we should stop at her cousin's place where he is starting an orchard. Random, but reminded me of something I would do so no judgements were passed - just time.



The stories were heart wrenching, twisted and raw. Esther knows dates of everything, names, family members, histories. It is truly amazing. You will see if you read the stories on the website (just a little plug for the future) but it is incredible these people and children have gone though these realities and are still working towards a positive future. I have never typed the word "killed" or "died" so much in my life. Just by being in the project does not solve all of their problems, but it is a support system that many of them desperately need.



I miss my piggy and crazy Tiger already. I had no one to feed the past two mornings and no one to come running and squealing when I come home at night. There was something different in the air that Thursday. The two little girls that live close to us that only come over to see me on Sundays and speak in whole paragraphs I don't understand never looking like they are expecting a response came over to just sit next to me and push my hair behind my ears when it falls forward as they usually do. The one little girl was very interested on the form my body took while wearing a sports bra. She kept outlining the undergarment talking the whole time. Tiger was crazy like he was weeks ago before he learned manners and Lucky stayed next to me at all times following me in the house in into my room a few times. Maybe it was imagination, but something about me told everybody I was leaving without words. It was strange. Then on the motorcycle ride to town to the bus we fell leaving me with a gushing knee. Things were off kilter.



Esther insisted that I take sim sim past home which is 50% gound sim sim (sesame seed) and 50% ground g nut (peanut) butter. The containers we brought were plastic and guy grinding it said it comes out hot and would melt the containers instantly. So...we ran to the market and bought a kettle and carried the hot kettle of this consistency with a box of beads to send to Lorna, all my luggage, Esther's overnight bag 3 papayas and a bag of Mangos we got on the way.



I am not in Namulanda and feel very ready to come home. Although the students all didn't do their assignment when I was away and I really have no photographs to make a book with they took some photographs that didn't fit the assignment at all, but were at least metered correctly and I know they have learned something and have the tools to continue with the medium. They need to think alot about composition and I feel that they still have that nervous excitement of holding a camera that overrides their logic and patience. It's like, "Look there is a bird 1000 feet away, quick I'll take a photo." I have talked to them all about it though. The school is also working out kinks in the camera borrowing system where some couldn't take it to the places they needed to go to fulfil their assignment. That issue will be resolved before I leave and they will send me negatives when they do or redo their assignment.



Tomorrow I have to wonder around and take my last photos. I am going to be looking for flowering or fruit filled coffee plants to possible sell to local coffee shops and packing. Monday will be at NIIAD to have a wrap up meeting with Dr. Kizito and help any more of the kids that have questions for me and then off the the airport at night.



I thought it would be awesome to schedule a 9 hour layover in Amsterdam to get out a little as opposed to the 5 hour option that left me little time to leave the airport. Well I did the time change calculation way wrong and I will have time to explore the city of myths from 5 in the morning until I need to be back at the airport at 11 for a 2PM flight. Very lame. 30 hours in airports. I will be happy to be home.



I will be doing a recap post when I return and link all of you to photos. Thanks for being with me electronically for the past two months. It's been real.


peace,
Lauren

My last day in Lira - a recap of last weeked.

So here goes the blog post from last Thursday that got messed up in the posting process.

Last weekend I went to Kotido where the Karamoja tribe lives. It is almost the most north eastern district in Lira that is close to both Sudan and Kenya. We went there to help one of the boys in our program. I don't know if I mentioned his situation before, so I will share a recap.

He is a 17 year old shy boy named Hussein. His father was a Muslim from Lira and his mother a Catholic from Kitido. They stayed in Lira and had three children which Hussein is the oldest of. Both of his parents died a few years back around the time of heightened LRA insurgency. His father passed first of sickness and the family moved to Kotido close to where his mother's family was and then his mother passed of sickness. It wasn't until his sister tested positive for HIV that they realized that it was the same disease that has taken his parents. At that point Hussein and his brother decided to move in with their father's brother back in Lira (it gets complicated from here) and their mom's sister took custody of his young sister and she stayed in Kotido for three years until the aunt got "sick of caring for her" and returned her to her brothers. The uncle who was caring for them was having them stay in a hut in a village that belonged to some one who had not yet returned to from the Internally Displaced Person Camps. This person came back the first week I was in Lira and requested their land back. I guess this uncle was not always so responsible in the past either because Hussein had dropped out a few times (although her is one of the best students out of our 163) to support his family while he continued to support his younger brother who has passed him in grade levels. At this point of homelessness the uncle left them all together to leave Hussein in charge of his siblings and on his own.

So our mission was to find any family member on his mom's side who would help support him both with half of his school fees and in a general parental manner.

I want to comment both on the different culture we experienced while there and what resulted of the Hussein situation.

The afternoon we got in we went to his grandmother's compound that was surrounded as all of the compounds were by a densely woven fence made of sticks. She was sitting on the ground and once again proved my hypothesis true that Ugandan women age on their feet and not on their faces. She was warm and accepting. She is currently caring for 10 of her orphaned grandchildren that meandered in and out of the area helping with this or carrying that. Later his Uncle William came over. He immediately embraced his nephew and just kept repeating, "This is our home. You are home. You are most welcome. You are home." What I didn't know what that Hussein had not seen the maternal side of his family since his mother passed away four years ago. As the sun set and we sat in the warm night air illuminated by a bright moon his uncle broke down taking Hussein's head in his hand guiding their foreheads together and crying. I was captivated. I did not know if it was appropriate to watch, but I was locked into the moment feeling this energy of peace. He apologized for his tears and told us that he had been told that Hussein was dead, he did not know for these years that he was still alive. At that moment I knew that if this was all that happened it was worth the journey.

We wanted to meet with his aunt that had kept his sister for a few years because she is financially stable. We were unaware of the reception that we would receive from her because we knew she had resentment in her that her nephews had decided (when they were 13 and 11 and had just lost their mother) to stay with their paternal uncle and not her. We had a glimpse of hope when she talked to Uncle William on the phone though. He said she sounded surprised and happy that he was in Kotido. As it turns out she turned down our request to help financially. The grandmother told us that it has to do with her husband who has a PhD and does not want to help support children that are not of his bloodline, but nothing is for certain. She went to the extent of turning her phone off to avoid our request of a meeting.

We also found out that the grandmother is not even the real grandmother. Her sister who had passed away after having Hussein's mother and the aunt that we mentioned, so the Grandy as they call her has now cared for twelve orphans that span two generations.

Trying to resolve the situation both temporarily and permanently Esther and I spoke to the grandy and Hussein Monday morning before we left. Hussein said that the best school in the district is only 180,000 shillings (about $95) per term for secondary school boarding which is less than Esther pays for her son Calvin to attend a primary one level day school in Lira. The grandy said she would care for his younger sister because there are more programs in Kotido for HIV+ children which would make it financially capable for her to take in another child. There are programs that will give the children eggs, vitamin enriched porridge, and milk. In the clinics there people can collect their medication in two month increments instead of the standard one month and can get refills if it is not enough which is a problem Esther says in prevalent in Lira. In addition there was an INGO that was covering full school fees for HIV+ children and when she gets the name of the program I am going to contact them to see if they will pick her up. Her grands are good enough that an aunt on their father's side has used her test scores and registered her own daughter in a prestigious school under her name.

I am paying Hussein's school fees for the first term, we are going to see if his Uncle William will help with the purchase of the basic things he will need for boarding that include a mattress, a basin for laundry, and and dishware and we are going to put their stories up on the program website when I get it up and running as emergency cases that need a one on one permanent sponsor. They money that is donated up until now is spread evenly to cover school fees and Income Generating Activity costs for the caregivers. Hussein told Esther later that he did not believe we were actually going to help him, but if we can find a way to pay both his and his brothers fees they would just need one mattress to share. These boys are 17 and 15 and the mattresses are smaller than our twin beds. I am determined to make sure these kids are taken care of. The boys will both be doctors and their sister is going to be a nurse.

The Culture

It was both extremely similar and much different than other places I have been in the North. They have little risk of Malaria because there are very few mosquitoes, but they suffer from drought and water shortages. The LRA was never able to attack in that area, but they have fallen victim to the warriors of their own tribes conducting raids and killing people for cattle that I will describe later. Also, the Ugandan People's Defense Forces (their Army) are seen as a positive presence in the area that provides security from the warriors. The only negative comment was that they wear second hand t shirt and other clothes under their traditional woven fabric because the UPDF requires them to do so. Esther told us that in the village she is from it was discovered that 2/3 - 3/4 of the population now is HIV+ as a result of UPDF soldiers there to protect civilians from the LRA had raped many women and coaxed other with salary money both bringing and spreading the disease. She said this is a common scenario in the LRA effected areas. The people we talked to in Kitido said they had never heard of a UPDF rape case. The problems are different, but it is that same struggle for survival that made them so much alike.

The Karamoja tribe is split into six clans. Each have a group of warriors that are nomadic cattle herders that have conducted raids and have been trained in violence as a form of property protection for hundreds of years. There was an apparent change when Amin entered power where the warriors switched from spears to guns. This ability to access illegal arms intensified as the violence in neighboring Sudan increased. Some of the tribes even work with Sudanese tribes to raid villages.

A few months ago the government has appointed the first lady as the official ambassador between the Karamoja people and the government and has been touring different areas. President Museveni rolled out a campaign to the warriors that emphasized the fact that they too were dying as a result of the guns they are using. Four of the clans have voluntarily disarmed following this campaign's goals, but the Giji and Pian are left with guns and no one can defend themselves because every one else gave up their arms. Now, when there is a treat, the UPDF will quarantine an area and conduct a widespread raid collecting illegal arms. All of this information was communicated to me by a district security officer so it must be noted that he both has connections to data and knows what procedures have been enacted and at the same time has an allegiance to the government that employs him.

Most Ugandans outside that area tell me things like all Karamoja run around naked, they drink cow blood, either they only eat meat or they never slaughter their cows depending on the person you are talking to, so on and so forth. There is a grave misconception about who they areas a majority. They wear layers of different colored beads around their heads, necks,waits, wrists, ankles, etc. Many had beads, but no shoes which I found strangely appealing. The women who wore round metal necklaces are women who were married with a fifty or more cow bride price. The other jewelry was for decoration and carried no significant meaning. Men and women both had scarification tattoos on their faces in series of dots. I remembered from anthropology class that that is often a practice that coincides with a right of passage ceremony. They told me it is just something people like having done. They decide they want it and they go to a specialist to have the procedure done. It consists of cutting into the skin on the forehead, temples, and cheeks deep enough to leave a raised scar. It is their equivalent to our tattoos. Their traditional clothing is a handwoven thick fabric worn as a draped robe by men and a knee length skirt by women. The patterns are deep color in stripes of plaid. The irony there is that they were most heavily influenced by Catholic Missionaries in the area I was and the clothing they have worn throughout their tribe's history already looked similar to Catholic school girl skirts.

I also was able to view one of their traditional activities that relates to finding a wife. It is an adaptation of something they have done for hundreds of years that ironically (or not) occurs after their Catholic Church service on Sundays. The young "eligible" girls and boys gather in a circle and "dance" which consists of jumping, pounding sticks on the ground and chanting or singing. A few enter the circle at a time. They are looking at people they may be interested in as a mate. I was told that in the past the boy will grab the girl and pull her out of the circle and if he can wrestle her to the ground than he earns the right to marry her if he then receives her parents permission after going to their house with her. Now the boy will grab the girls arm and pull her out of the cirlce. It seemed like if she gave a strong fight they wouldn't get her out. If they did the girl's younger sisters would chase them yelling and hitting trying to free their sister. The boy's friends would walk with them as they exited the main area. When things settled down they would stand by a fence and talk. I was told that from this point there could still be up to two years until they are married and the parents have that time to learn about the potential child-in-law's family and give their approval or concern. Also, Uncle William told us that the people that still participate in this are kids that are not in school - that kids in school usually meet their mate in school. He expressed his dislike of the ceremony because he believed that parents would often pull their girls out of school so they could participate in this, get married and the parents could collect their bride price. There is an interesting clash in traditional vs. western modes of existence across the country that I have seen, but this might have been one of the most apparent.

I learned so much in two days and accomplished the mission of finding a solution for Hussein and his struggling little family. The day after we returned we had Hussein, his brother and sister meet us at the office so we could photograph all of them and take a short interview with Hussein. Many of the trees at Esther's had Papayas ripe and we brought one for his family to share. Esther told him to keep the seeds to plant in Kotido because the soil would grow them well and they didn't have any in the area. The more I thought about the gesture the more I found it poetically fitting. We are giving him an initial gift of support that carried within it the seeds that will grow and sustain their futures.

I am really glad to have had that opportunity. Now I am finishing up in Lira. Tomorrow Esther and I will travel to Namulanda, I will have a day concluding my photography teaching at NIIAD and I will be on my way home Monday.

Time is all relative.

Nearing an End in Lira

So I only have a bit longer in Lira and this weekend will be spent in Karamoja which will leave only three days when we get back until I go for my final 3 days in Numulanda. Crazy how time works.

The past week has been slower than others, but fate has taken us places we needed to go at times when we thought we needed to be somewhere else.

Monday we were all prepared to go to some far away schools to get photos, interviews and drawings from four students. The police has set up a check point where they were verifying drivers licences. Well, Esther (and most every one else) does not have a licence so we had to turn around. Then it started raining and Esther took us to a school partially for cover partially because we had gone there and the two girls had drawn their pictures, but we had not photographed them. As it turns out one had been sent home 10 minutes earlier because she still owed the school 10,000 Uganda Shillings (about $5). The Children of Hope program only provides partial payment of school fees because the don't have the money to pay in full and because they want to empower the caregivers and have them share responsibility of the children. The girl has her primary 7 tests on Monday which will determine if she is able to pass primary school and move to secondary school. With this problem, she will have spent 7 years as one of COH's best testing girls and would not be allowed to take her exiting test.

With our altered schedule we had time to go to her home where her mom was unaware of the situation because we had reached before the girl did. I told them that I would cover the 10,000. Esther kept saying this is such a small amount that is needed "to save the girls life." The mom said this money was an overdue balance from the last term. When we went back to the school to pay it they school said it was from this term. We checked all records and found that there was no balance due - everything had been paid in full. The truth is she would not have taken her tests and moved to secondary school if we hadn't been there.

Esther said she is working really hard on building relationships with these caregivers who don't come right to her in an emergency. I was surprised by this because strangers come up to me and demand money out of no where and the COH have helped them over the past two years. It is a sign of independence that will help them support themselves through the IGAs, but can hold them back in instances such as these. I hope that these (mostly women) become strong and empowered. I see how the culture of gender rolls have hurt so many especially because many of the men have died in the LRA conflict leaving women run families or indirectly forced women to remarry into unhealthy relationships to support their children.

Another example of this is the woman I mentioned before who is the oldest sister of a beneficiary. Her mother (the beneficiaries caregiver) asked Esther to allow this woman to come and learn tailoring. She is young (maybe as young as 18) with a 4 year old and a baby. She has been coming to each lesson and has opened up over the past few weeks. When before she sat quietly, she smiles and talks to the other caregivers now. I have learned that she just found out about a week ago that she has contracted HIV from her husband - she has not yet tested her boys. Her husband does not work and has two other wives. Esther and I hope that she works hard and is able to break away from the situation she is in to support her boys and herself.

I really came here with every intention to observe and help - not to judge, but the respect of women needs to change. I see it happening though. Just as the women's rights movement spawned from their ability to hold down the home front during WWII I see a change happening as a result of this conflict. Women have had to play all roles.

I fight in my head with the thought that gender equality will be reached with economic equality (education is a key component of this). Then I realize what I am saying take into consideration my socialist-leaning beliefs. I then invert my view and can safely say that gender inequality is a result of economic inequality which will always exist to an extent between classes, genders, and people in capitalist society. I need to do more thinking on this, but I am open to other views if you want to share.

I have more stories to post at a time with better power security. I will tell you all about the Karamoja next week.

Oh and we have photographed and collected drawings from 100 of the 163 students as of today! Not what I hoped for, but a great milestone.

peace-
Lauren

Another week has come and gone.

I desperately feel the time crunch here as days are passing faster and faster and the number of days I have left are few. This week has been a hodgepodge of getting many things done and sitting around. I am just here to volunteer where Esther is running an organization, a family and seems to be the support system for a million other things. It doesn't help that the motorcycle is out of commission, but at least now it is in some one else's hands. We have found some new mechanics who seem to know what they are doing and have quoted her much lower (like 50% lower) than the place we were taking it before for the same procedures. It might be better than ever soon.

Monday: Some kids worked on their drawings at the office (way easier to make sure they know what they are doing when we are there with them), we went to 1 school to photograph a student and drop off drawing materials, we went to a technical training place (ok a gravel filled area where boys were learning to fix cars) to take a photo, an interview and drop drawing materials, found a girl who Esther has been trying to track down for a year who dropped out of the program and moved twice and talked to her about getting back into the program and school, stopped at Esther's brother's home and left with gifts of oranges, mangoes and guavas, collected scrap fabric from a tailor to use for IGAs, took the motorcycle to a new guy, and started compiling the background stories of all the COH beneficiaries.

Tuesday: I did some word processing for Esther and sat int he office as she had meetings all day.

Wednesday: I picked out beads for sample necklaces and bracelets to present to PTAs, Booster clubs, and different city officials to sell based on city colors (orange and black, yellow with purple, etc.). I also took photos as some caregivers came for a sewing lesson. Tailoring is one of the IGAs that will help generate income and also drastically reduce the price of school uniforms for the COH. Esther did alot of running around and had more meetings.

Thursday: We picked up drawings and drawing materials from two schools that had completed, dropped off the materials to two more schools (each having only one COH beneficiary each), visited one of the boy's homes where his aunt and grandmother (caregivers) just having returned from selling pancakes as an IGA at a local school (they also have a goat from the program), collected more fabiric scraps and made the samples for the school sales.

Today:Tried to find an internet that runs on a generator because we haven't had power here for 2 days. As you may tell we found it.

That is the brief synopsis. Other than that I have purchased some cheaply printed fabric that has Obama's face on it and a map of Africa and I am going to have matching skirts made for Esther and myself. I have come to terms with the fact that we will in no way shape or form reach each kid. We have almost gotten to 100, but the remaining are far away and in individual schools, not in groups. This makes my projects hard/impossible, but I will regroup and figure out what I will do with the photographs and drawings I do have. There are existing photographs of each beneficiary, but they are holding paper signs with their names on it and look like prisoners. The technique of shaking them by their shoulders until they laugh has produced good results of those we have reached - even the really shy ones.

Esther and I have talked about cultural expectations, assumptions and habits lately that have been really interesting. There are women here who use chemicals to lighten their skin. Since there are many Indians here (almost the only non-African ethnicity you see) I assumed they were part Indian. All that she pointed out have horrible complexions, bumps, spots, etc. She couldn't believe that pale people in the US put themselves in tanning booths that cause cancer or use spray chemicals to make them darker.

She has mentioned over and over how reluctant the caregivers were at first to the Income Generating Activities. They feared the donation money would go away and she said they would rather do nothing and just get little money than support themselves. Now that those involved are doing well, every one wants to take part. If this continues and people are able to support themselves the donation money will be used to further IGAs and be used to expand the number of families the program helps. She said that is going to be a very difficult shift and that people still want their "free money", but I trust that she will know when it is the right thing to do. This program is not just about getting these kids through school, it's about changing their community. I was just thinking how pointless the program would be if it didn't involve the caregivers. It would be sending these kids to school for a future and showing them that other people will come in and just give them money. When I was at Barlonyo I emphasized this. Esther asked me to make a brief statement to the caregivers to encourage them. I told them that by working hard and not giving up they were setting a positive message for their children and those they are caring for. She said they are the most organized group she works with. They selected a representative from the group as the communication between them and Esther. In addition they have set up a fund that profits from their farming go into so they can equally pay for their children that are not in the program and the farm, plant, and plow in groups. The first harvest has not yet happened, but that group has alot of potential. I think a key element is they are a bit far from the office. They are physically autonomous and must ask in a matching manner.

There is a boy who came into the office almost 2 weeks ago now who has a serious problem. He is a total orphan (both parents have died) and he initially chose to live with the paternal uncle. It is common here to stay on the paternal side of the family when there is divorce or other family complications. His uncle has proved to be not fit for the responsibility and he has tried to contact his maternal aunt who lives hours from here and works in the government (honest and has the money to pay the other half of his school fees). She has told Esther that she refuses to be his caregiver because she offered when the parents first died and he chose his uncle instead. Well, the uncle has been living with the children he cares for in a hut that is not his in a village. The rightful owners have just moved back from an IDP camp and are planning on demolishing the hut to rebuild a new one for themselves on their land leaving this boy homeless.

Next weekend we might travel with him to where his aunt lives and tell her of the new problems that have come up and ask her again to be the caregiver as the boy has no other options right now, but to drop out of school in which case he will still be homeless. There is no emergency fund set up with the COH to deal with these type of cases where a beneficiary might need to go into boarding school as a last resort. This would mean still going to to the same school they are currently enrolled in as most are mixed day and boarding schools, but they would have a safe place to live. I hope with the website I am going to make for them we can set that account up.

The boy is of the Karamajong tribe which some members happen to be the last remaining group in Uganda that live the way they have for thousands of years. They are nomadic cow herders who use cows as a currency and do not eat beef. They do not wear clothes and don't really associate with the other parts of society except that they sometimes or often (depending on who you are talking to) steal cattle from other people and defend their cattle with guns. There are only a small number of Karamajong that still live like this and the government is trying to lure them away from this life by promising their children free schooling and food. From the way it has been described to me it seems like what white settlers did to Native Americans when they would "adopt" their children and send them to European based schools. Many people here think it's a good idea for them to leave their traditional lifestyle though. If we travel to where this boy's aunt lives we might have him take us to meet the traditional Karamajong since he knows the area, their language and he is one of their tribe members.

This weekend will be the board meeting, visiting Esther's sister who grows coffee, a trip to a busy secondhand market, and I am sure some other running around.

I am learning a little more of their language here and there, enough to make people laugh when I sound funny pronouncing their words or surprise them that I know a response, or some mixture of both. I have less than 2 weeks now left in Lira and then just 4 days back in Namulanda and Kampala and then home. I am hoping to schedule a meeting with Esther and myself at the US Embassy to see if we can register the COH as an American Non Profit so donations can be tax deductible. They are registered here and meet all the requirements of a non profit, but I am not sure of the procedure.

Thanks for reading and I will see you soon. At times it felt I could never honestly write that.
peace,
Lauren