Day 10: Blog Post by Valene

Day 10 - Thursday, July 16th, 2009 (Posted by Valene)

Today was a very different experience from our other days so far here in Uganda. Last night we went to be without power, and were hoping for power to come on in the morning. Unfortunately it did not. On most other mornings it’s ok because we wake up when the sun is rising and have light. Today we had to wake up at 5 a.m. before the sun. With the help of flashlights and water bottles we got ready to go (there was no more running water due to the power outage because the water pump needs electricity to run).

We took a 3 hour bus ride starting at about 7:40 a.m. to a refugee camp in Katakwi. The bus ride itself was an adventure! It had rained the night before so patches of the road were muddy. About 2 hours into the ride we got stuck in the mud. Everyone had to get out and the men pushed the bus. 20 minutes later, through a combination of pushing and putting branches below the wheels for traction we were finally off again...only to get stuck in the mud one more time before reaching the refugee camp. Everyone’s shoes had a thick layer of mud encasing them.

The specific refugee camp we visited was called Olupe refugee camp. It is part of a group of refugee camps that are near one another. At this camp there are 3,887 people. The camp councilman gave us a history of the camp and shared many of the challenges.




This camp, like many of the others, was started because these people were attacked by a neighboring tribe called the Karamajong. The Karamajong felt they were entitled to all the cattle of the world and would take them by force. At the same time they would kill the men and rape the women. These insurgencies happened during the late 1980’s to early 1990’s. As a result, the people that are now in the Olupe refugee camp were left with no resources and displaced from their homes. The camp was the government’s way to try to help the people.




However, the refugee camp lacks many of the resources needed for these people to sustain healthy and productive lives. For all 3,887 people, there are only two watering holes where they can pump water for the day. There is hardly any work for them and many of them are not educated past the primary level. We learned that no girl in this camp has ever reached Secondary Level 6, which is equivalent to senior year of high school in the States. The infant mortality rate is extremely high because there is no maternity ward nearby. For the babies that are born at the camp site the umbilical cord is cut with a razor blade or blades of elephant grass. These are just a few of the challenges that were explained to us at the site.

Unfortunately, there are many refugee camps like this, and much worse, in Northern Uganda. Although we are really here to support YCVM’s ministry during this trip, the leaders of YCVM felt it was important for us to visit a refugee camp to see for ourselves what the people experience there. The YCVM team member Grace had lived in a refugee camp herself as a child. We had a lot of good reflection time at the end of the day led by Becky to process what we saw and heard at the refugee camp, and I’m sure it will continue to be something we hold in our hearts as we think about and pray for Uganda.

Upon leaving the camp we had two more exciting instances of getting the bus stuck, once in sand and once more in mud. Finally we were on the road and on the way back to Kumi. On our way home we stopped in the town of Soroti for lunch and had some amazing fried chicken and fried fish, which was pretty close to what we’d get at home. Then after lunch we stopped at a roadside market and the YCVM team picked up a couple chickens for a later meal.




Tomorrow we’ll be back to the construction site for our last day to help work on building the school.

Prayer Requests:
-Please pray for the Olupe refugee camp. Pray for them to receive the aid they need in the forms of water, food, and education. Also pray for them to receive community education to help them empower themselves.
-Pray for the construction workers and their continued work building the YCVM school. Tomorrow will be the last day we will be working with them on the school.
-We would like prayer for discernment for the YCVM leaders (Silver, Grace, Patrick, and Emma). Pray for their plans for the future direction of the ministry.
-Please pray for discernment for us as we prepare to go back home. Pray for how we can proceed in our partnership with YCVM and our ministries back home, especially with all that we have learned and experienced here in Uganda.


Answers to questions for Day 9 Blogpost:
1. Peter was chosen to hammer in the first nail for the wooden forms.
2. Dustin was scared by the creature in the picture below and ran away like a girl. This bug was inside the frame of a bicycle. As we were looking at it, it flew out and scared all of us. The local construction workers were confused and amused by our actions.

3. The worst thing about the not having electricity at the Northeast Villa Country Resort is that the water pump runs on electricity. So when the power goes out, the water pump doesn’t work and we can’t flush the toilet. (This really doesn’t help when you are having stomach problems due to the change in food!)
4. The YCVM team member that has an older sister who gave a testimony at Ngora Secondary School is Emmanuel (Emma).

Questions for Day 10:
1. Out of all the men, which man did not help push the bus out of the mud and sand today?
2. Whose pants and shoes are these?

3. Who offers everyone coffee candy as a pick-me-up during the day?