Day Six: Gulu

Gulu is the second largest town by population in Uganda. It houses a sizeable military base, which used primarily for operations against the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). The last 21 years here have been war-ridden, with several attacks by the LRA. During the times of conflict, tens of thousands of children would flee from their neighbouring villages into Gulu each night for safety. Millions of people in the district were displaced by the war -though the LRA is not operating in Uganda today, probably about one million people are still living in displacement camps around Gulu, trying to earn enough to restart their lives.

I have learned a lot about this conflict before coming here, and my heart goes out to these people. I am dying to visit a camp, to talk to the people I've learned so much about. (You can watch a great documentary called Invisible Children: Rough Cut, about the LRA conflict here for free; and in fact, you should.)


Unfortunately, our time in Gulu is actually very short lived and kind of disappointing; we are running behind (ah, Africa time) if we are going to catch our scheduled ferry to Murchison Falls. Instead of making our stop at an IDP camp as we thought, our van pulls up at House of Hope orphanage, a home for children orphaned by either HIV/AIDS, or the war in Northern Uganda. Thirty three children live here, many of whom, we are told, have personally witnessed the deaths of their parents at the hands of the LRA. I can't even imagine.

The orphanage is run by an evangelical grey haired white lady from Texas, and feels a bit like a child brainwashing centre. The children are well taken care of, for sure; they're just also being indoctrinated with the word of Christ from a very, very young age, which is something pretty foreign to me, personally. (And, it's true that I'm disappointed that we're not going to an IDP camp, which is the whole reason I wanted to come to Gulu in the first place, so this is definitely skewing my perception.) Of course, in addition to the Bible, the orphanage staff are teaching the kids other things too: life skills (especially in farming and agriculture), and good values. The children are happy and healthy. They have clothes; they eat well; they go school; they know love. I'm quite sure they get a ton of funding and support from American churches.

We have four hockey bags full of donations we have brought to Gulu, hoping to leave in a camp. Since there is no time, we spread them out on the floor at the orphanage instead, and Dean gives a touching speech that makes the best of what we are all feeling. We show the kids some examples of what is in the bags. They stare, and look almost expressionless. I don't see many even crack much of a smile. Next we hand out toothbrushes, which we realize they probably already have. One of the supervisors says something in Acholi to the kids, and they all smile and clap. We feel a bit uneasy knowing there are others who clearly need this stuff more than these kids, but aren't sure what to do about it.

The orphanage feeds us - yes, an orphanage feeds us! It's actually one of the better Ugandan meals we've had so far, too. We ask that they review the donations and give what they don't need to the IDPs, and they understand, and assure us that they will. We pray with them about four times. The children say "Hallelujah" and "Amen" about fifty times.

We pass some IDP camps on the road. It sucks that we don't get to see one up close, but at least some of the victims of a conflict I've learned so much about over the last few months are the recipients of Softchoice's donations. I wish it were minus the evangelical Christianity, but I know their hearts are in the right place, and what really matters is that someone cares enough about these children to help them.

I am reminded today that roughly 50% of the population of the entire country of Uganda is under 15 years old - this is mind blowing to me. There is such need here. What is going to happen to these kids?

En route to Murchison Falls National Park now - we'll have missed our ferry by the time we'd arrive at the docking area, so we are taking the long route into the park on some of the worst roads ever. We've almost been in 3 accidents already, have passed a couple of wrecks so far on the roadside shoulders, and we are bouncing all over the road. My tailbone is numb, my knees are throbbing, and as usual, I have a lot on my mind. As it turns out, I might be ready for this cushy lodge after all.