Lee Webster, from our London office, is joining women activists, all survivors of rape, who are embarking on a four-day march from their home in the conflict-affected north to the capital Kampala to meet their politicians and say enough is enough. They’ll be joined by more than 1,000 people on the streets of Kampala, including a national pop star (Mariam Ndagire), to send a strong message to the government to end sexual and gender based violence.
27 November
Today our journey continues from Gulu to Pader – an hour and a half by road, dodging potholes and wandering cattle on the way. Our party has grown. Jenny (the photographer I am traveling with), Grace and I have been joined by Judith, CARE Uganda’s sexual and gender based violence (SGBV) focal point, and James, a local consultant who’s been hired to translate from Acholi to English for us.
It’s great to meet Judith, I’ve spoken to her on the phone several times, and I’ve heard her speak passionately about SGBV in a film made by CARE Uganda. She’s just as energetic and assertive as I’d imagined, and spends the journey talking rapidly on her mobile phone to local officials, police and women’s leaders, addressing last minute organizational issues calmly.
James is a wealth of information. Not only is he an experienced translator, he’s doing a Masters degree at Gulu University in Conflict Resolution, and has encyclopedic knowledge of the history of his region. In half an hour, he puts into context what I’ve spent weeks trying to read up on and understand. It’s not a pretty story. Northern Uganda has been caught up in the conflict between government forces and rebel uprisings for many years. Innocent civilians became the targets for looting, kidnapping, torture and rape. As is usual in conflict, women and children were disproportionately affected. 1.8 million people in Uganda were forced to leave their homes, many congregating in overcrowded camps by the main towns.
The long lasting impact of conflict is brought home to me when we reach Pader. I talk to a group of school children while I’m waiting for the day’s proceedings to begin. Bill (“as in Clinton”) is fifteen and attends school in Pader. He’s clearly a bright and inquisitive youngster, and immediately starts quizzing me on Manchester United and Arsenal. I answer his questions best I can (not being a football fan) but his next question floors me.
“Is yours a peaceful country?” he asks seriously. I am momentarily lost for words. That in his short life, one of Bill’s main reference points is conflict saddens me greatly. I don’t know how to answer, and give a very inadequate “Yes, more or less” then change the subject. I need to be more prepared to speak to people about the reality of conflict, I wasn’t quite ready for this.
All of a sudden, musicians, dancers, a sound system and stage appear. Several women smartly clothed in colourful African dresses start to shuffle papers. Whilst I’ve been chatting, marquees have been erected in the school field, and buses have transported around a hundred local women to the scene.
The day aims to raise awareness of violence against women, to mobilize local people and to send a strong call to action to the local government. Local women councilors, artists and musicians, representatives of the police, local traditional and religious leaders, and a national MP, Franka Akello, have been invited. It all starts with a march. As a long-time activist on women’s rights, I love marching! So it’s a huge privilege to join the hundred women, and some warmly welcomed men, and march through the town of Pader. The women wear t-shirts that say in English and Acholi, “Happy families, happy lives, choose to be non-violent”. Some women wear shoes, and some don’t. Most don’t speak English but smile warmly and chat via James. A band at the front plays a marching tune, and the women, some old, some young, some with children on their backs, march to show their opposition to violence.
On our return, a series of speakers talk about SGBV, a young female musician, Olivia Lanyero sings a message of non-violence, and local politicians give their views. The sun beats down mercilessly, and the attendees gather under the marquee roofs, but everyone listens attentively.
The MP, Franka Akello, tells the crowd: “I grew up in a poor family. My mother looked after 22 orphans and had no money to send me to a good school. I went to primary school, studied hard and managed to go to secondary school. There I was the first pupil to pass with first class, and got a bursary to study at university. Please, families of Pader, think of the futures of your daughters, send them to school, invest in them for their future lives”.
Later I’m honoured to meet Franka Akello. It’s a ray of hope that in Uganda, which has experienced such disruption through conflict, Franka, and other women like her, have overcome the multiple barriers to rise in public life. I hope she’s been an inspiration to the women campaigning against violence in Pader today. She certainly inspires me.
Read Lee's previous blogs here.
Read about the campaign, "16 days to end violence against women"!
