We're going out to the biggest internally displaced person's camp -- or at least it has been the biggest, with over 30,000 people who have had to leave home -- in Kitgum district.
We are going to see a program run by Food for the Hungry International, a nongovernmental organization based, I believe in the U.S. FHI has a program for helping formerly abducted girls (that's one jargon-y name for them) who have had babies in the bush. They also are known as child mothers. Other vulnerable girls also can participate. Some Northern Ugandans complain that there is all sorts of help for formerly abducted kids and not much for everyone else. Don't think of that as jealousy: Think of that reaction as being reflective of the layers of problems in northern Uganda. Lots of people, including kids, have never been abducted, yet have deep problems because of the war and poverty. One girl we talked to today was an orphan with a baby of her own. She has struggled, but she has a relative who has helped her take care of the baby. The FHI program taught her to write and skills like baking and parenting. She also went to a tailoring class.
We left the camp early because our vehicle doesn't have four-wheel drive. It's a minivan taxi. We needed to leave before the day's downpour (it rains heavily just about every day in the rainy season) because the roads get too soupy for our poor, old vehicle to make it through.
When we got back, we met again with Egidio, a returned abductee who helped start an income-generation program. He is the one who knew about the attack on Jennifer's village, though tonight I learn he had escaped before the day that Jennifer was burned in her hut. He nonetheless told me many details of that night, which he said he had heard about from numerous people. What he said differs in some ways from what Jennifer's family has told me so when we get back to Gulu today, I will go over what happened with Jennifer's mother, if she is willing to talk in more detail about that day.
We ended the day by visiting two of the income-generation programs supported by Egidio's group: Men who work with honeybees and women who quarry. Those kind of programs are essential if this country is to overcome the war.
