I’m approaching my final hours in Uganda for this trip, and so it’s time for a little catch up on what’s been happening this past week.
Since visiting with the Acholi folks on Sunday, I’ve actually spent quite a bit of time focussing on writing bits of my PhD. My research is looking at how women who have been forcibly displaced as a result of conflict reimagine their perceptions on what constitutes a liveable space. The concepts of liveableness, wellbeing, temporariness and community all feature in the findings, and the women that I interviewed for the research are South Sudanese refugees living in northern Uganda, and Acholi women living in Acholi Quarters. Despite the fact that some have fled recently and for others the displacement was much longer ago, it’s interesting to see how much overlap there is in the processing and perceptions.
It’s also very sad to see how trapped some of them feel, and are, as a result of situations beyond their control. This includes some ladies who can’t ever return to their family home due to the cultural norm of land inheritance passing down the male line. As a result, following the death during the war of both the husband and the parents, some of the ladies don’t have any land that they can call their own. Land-grabbing of ancestral homelands has also gone on for other reasons which have affected the opportunities of the women, and there was a look of deep sadness, resignation and a level of grief at the loss of what they can never have again.
So, that’s what I’ve been writing about, and it has felt very significant to be writing it in Uganda on the same soil as those who have been sharing their stories with me. It has also meant that I have been able to have supplementary conversations to get further clarification on some of the nuances of the cultural context against which the ladies stories were set.
Some of the writing time was in Kampala, at the home of Zoe, a very dear friend, where I interspersed writing with cuddle times with baby Mia (4 months old). The rest of the writing time was at Mityana, at the college, where the writing was interspersed with some lovely times of conversation with John, and some beautiful walks through the surrounding countryside and tea plantations.
Alongside time spent writing, I also had the opportunity to run a workshop for the college catering students on vegetarian cooking. Although quite a lot of Ugandan meals are naturally vegetarian – Ugandan beans is a staple dish, as are cowpeas – the concept of vegetarian cooking is relatively rare. People who are vegetarian out of choice rather than out of financial necessity come from a privileged position compared to many in the world, and so for many people in those countries the aspiration is to be able to afford to eat more meat. However, when I discussed the motivations for becoming a vegetarian with the college students, I was encouraged to note how they cited environmental reasons as the primary reason – something that would not be so quickly cited if I asked the next generation up.
We had a really good time discussing different recipes, and considering vegetarian foods from around the world, and there were lots of questions at the end which I always find reassuring as it shows that I haven’t bored them rigid, or completely confused them!!
Another lovely conversation was with John when he shared his thoughts on a future project that he would like to develop. It relates to the provision of water for those who currently don’t have safe or easy access to clean water. John has already done a pilot project of this nature in and around the college, where pipes have been laid to nearby homes so that they can have the excess water from the college borehole. As a result, many elderly no longer need to walk to carry water, or pay someone to collect it for them, and others who needed water to be able to develop a business have been able to see success on that front.
The provision of water has been life transforming, and John is keen to explore how he can expand that type of work into new rural communities where the likelihood of mains water pipes being laid by the government are next to nothing. That was a really beautiful conversation and I look forward to seeing what steps John takes to making it a reality in the nearish future.
I say nearish, because before that he has two more classrooms to build at the Kids Joy Primary school, some additional developments to be done to the college café restaurant, two accommodation units to be completed at Maya, and three retail units and a car washing bay to also be developed at Maya. But, having seen John at work for many years, I know it will all happen in the right way and at the right time, and all of that will be as John feels prompted through his deep relationship with God.
It's been a very good week in many ways. In fact, the whole 2.5 weeks here have been wonderful. Beautiful conversations have been had, seeds have been planted for future possibilities, four more children are now able to go to school thanks to a coming together of a number of factors, dreams have been reignited, and I’ve written thousands of words!!!
Next stop is Ethiopia – a very different focus there, but that’s for another time 😊
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