"Up Country"

Post by Josh

I keep hearing about traveling “up country.”  It’s where the work of my organization is done, they have two field offices “up country.”  Land rights became a bigger issue after the turmoil that occurred “up country” back in 1996-2006 and we are trying to create peace, harmony, and justice there.  I’ve also heard that it is just gorgeous there, where?….”up country.”

On Tuesday, I left for the greener parts of Uganda (yeah, yeah “up country”), with two staff members from my NGO and representatives from nine other NGOs.  This is supposed to be a learning trip for other organizations whose mission overlaps with ours in the realms of land rights and/or women’s issues.  The idea is that the other participants learn what my org is doing and more about the laws governing land rights.  Because the customary laws—rules within the clans—and the new Land Act have had little time to coexist, the real governing authority is not clear.  As these organizations are well familiar with, people start to act on their volition and take whatever they feel they can have.  Victims do not know where to turn to and the organizations deployed to help may also be jaded by all the wrong ideas that are consistently followed.  Hopefully they will learn something from my organization which is on the leading edge of land rights knowledge in the country.  The second fold of the trip involves one of our donor organizations.  They also donate to the other organizations represented and this is an opportunity for them to see the work we are performing in the field and also speak with some of their other grant recipients.

The trip up was smooth, which is a big deal in Uganda.  In Uganda, people either say the roads are very bad or the roads are very good, fortunately, this road was the latter.  It even had lines, yellow ones and white ones, but still one way in each direction.  The road took us over a pretty fast moving part of the River Nile and then past some baboons hangin’ on the roadside.  There were also many people hangin’ on the roadside.  Just one of those moments I realized that we are not so far off from our monkey friends.  Just six years ago, the only way to travel in these parts was with a convoy of about a 100 cars and army vehicles situated in the front, midddle, and back.  Cars would wait by the Nile crossing until enough amassed and then make the trip, fast, and without stopping.

Tuesday’s main attraction was a visit to a property belonging to the Mwa Otira Tok clan.  This is a clan that is over 900,000 strong, at least that was the reported number of registered voters in their last election, a fact I learned while sitting next to the elected Chief on our way back—that’s right, I sat next to a Clan Chief!  The 70 or so at this meeting were just a tiny sample of the population.  We caravanned into their property in two white vans, a pickup truck, and a Land Rover.  Our reception was load, and proud.  I experienced, for the first time, African women singing (for lack of a better word) in a high pitched way: lalalalalalalala.  One woman came up to shake our hands while kneeling before each one of us.  Obviously, this organization has done something good here.

Hail to the Clan Chief

While we were sitting in a small patch of property beneath a thick old tree whose branches fingered out and above us to add much needed shade from the hot Up Country sun, I observed the skin of the clan people.  It was rough and beaten: much different than my own and that of the other NGO workers in attendance.  The people here don’t work in the city.  Instead they spend their whole life working the fields and outdoors, under the sun.  Many were barefoot and their feet had a whole layer of collouse that my delicate feet do not obtain.  The women all bend at the hip and waist, and fold over like a jackknife.  The grandma seated next to me would get up by first standing, then her hands leave the ground once her legs are straight, then unfolding to an upright position, 

NGO workers mix with the Mwa Otira Tok clan 

My organization has helped this clan in two ways: education through teaching the laws and rules around land rights, and boundary trees.  Boundary trees are a certain type of cheap, easily acquired tree that can be rooted in the ground.  When planted close together like in the picture below it is hard to remove and clearly demarcates the land boarder.  

Boundary trees keep a kid goat from grazing on the neighbor's land

We brought treats of biscuits and soda for those in attendance.  At first I didn’t feel good about giving these treats out, it almost seemed like bribery and a poor use of donor funds, but people flocked to get their “reward” for meeting with us.  The clan chiefs asked us if we had extra notebooks (cost: less than 50 cents).  We did and they were very grateful.  Some things just don’t make sense, I understand that income for clan members is low and a soda seems like a great treat, but when the better-dressed clan chief asks if he could have a 50 cent notebook, I am perplexed. 

As things wrapped up and people were mingling, one of the grandmas got my attention and asked me if there was any more soda.  She asked in her native tongue and after much back-and-forth and some help by one of the younger men I understood that she didn’t get a soda.  I ran back to the cars but the truck with the sodas had left to pick up more program participants.  I went into our van and grabbed a juicebox, you remember, the kind that used to get packed with school lunch every day.  Apple black current.  I brought it to her and, figuring the wrapper and straw might present a problem, opened it for her.  The site of grandma sipping out of a juicebox made others around laugh and made her very, very happy.

Day 2 Up Country

Today was a grueling day of presentations by all the other NGO representatives.  Some were better than others.  There was quite a bit of overlap in the work they all do.  This was mainly an informative session, and not a sharing of ideas on how to benefit from each other’s advances in the field.

Tomorrow it’s back in the field as we visit more people that we have helped in the past. 

To date, the coolest cane I've seen.