Gulu

I’m having a hard time figuring out how to explain an IDP camp. I guess I’ll start with the name. “IDP” means “Internally Displaced Person.” So an IDP camp is a refugee camp for people who stay in their home country but not at home.

Hundreds of thousands of Ugandans live in IDP camps. On Saturday, I visited a camp northern Uganda. It was outside of a town called Gulu, which is less than 200 km from the Sudan.

The particular camp that I visited (which will remain unnamed) contains about 50,000 people. Although these camps are supposed to be temporary, they have existed long enough so that an entire generation of Ugandans see the camps as home. They’ve never actually been “home.”

The best way to describe the camps is to say that these people are living in their own waste. The best word to describe the living situation rhymes with “hit” but this is a family website and I’d rather not offend anybody. But that is the most accurate description.

There are 50,000 people and there is no septic system. There is just an area filled with human waste. Also, there livestock waste is bountiful throughout the entire camp. This is a problem for numerous reasons. Physically, it’s a problem because of proximity. Disease spreads quickly through waste, flies, mosquitoes, and drinking water. Spiritually, it’s a problem because people aren’t supposed to be forced to live like this.

The LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) is a bizarre group that terrorizes people in the north. That’s why Ugandans live in the camps. I’m avoiding politics because I don’t want this site to get flagged for monitoring any more than it has to, but if you Google “LRA” or “northern Uganda” then you can find what you need.

Anyway, my thoughts are scattered about the camp. More than anything the smell and the color gray stick in my mind. The mud is gray, the water is gray, the mud houses are gray.

Another thing that sticks in my mind is humanity’s capacity for good. I went to the camp with a friend from Invisible Children. IC provides a steady source of income for hundreds in the IDP camp by buying handmade bracelets from the Ugandans. They pay these Ugandans a good wage and then sell the bracelets via IC. With the money that they make from bracelets, the Ugandans are able to support their families and also open small business to work their way out of poverty. It’s a great program.

I got to spent some time with the bracelet makers, and they showed me how to make bracelets out of reeds. We actually had a lot of fun. We laughed a lot, which I didn’t expect to do that day. I told them that many of my friends back home wear the IC bracelets, and that I would tell you about them. I’m a man of my word, so I would invite you to check out the Invisible Children website and order a bracelet. I’ve seen where your money goes and I can tell you it goes to a very good place.

I enjoyed my time with the bracelet makers, and I enjoyed my time with the kids in the camp. Kids are the same anywhere. They play games, they laugh, and sometimes they play too rough. They want attention, they want warmth and love. And kids deserve those things. Everyone does. But I digress.

The IC worker I was with spends a sizable amount of time in the camp, and the kids love him. He ran into the middle of a soccer game and started picking up kids and swinging them around. They went absolutely nuts, and it might’ve been the funniest thing I’ve seen since I’ve been in East Africa.

The lesson is that maybe we have more in common than we think. These are good people and good kids who don’t deserve the hand they’ve been dealt. I’m sure you know somebody like that – maybe it’s you.

Rwanda was devastating to me because so many people died, and no one did anything to help. These camps are even harder to stomach because people are dying and I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to do. I’ve looked these kids in the face, and I can’t just forget them. I don’t have answers, but I had two hands they could hold. Maybe that’s something. Maybe that’s a start.

If you know me well enough to know my politics, then you know I’m a realist – I’m a pragmatist with a heart. I know that money talks, and that it’s hard to get money without an education. So I’m guessing what these people need (after physical safety) is education and money. And what we need is education.

I’m positive that if most people walked through a camp they would be willing to help. We’re made to help. So let’s educate ourselves on what’s happening. Then, we can work alongside our Ugandan brothers and sisters and figure this out.

I don’t believe in, “That’s just how it is.” That’s not good enough for the people I met on Saturday. They deserve better.

So look at the Invisible Children website, look at the links on the James Travels website. Let’s get to work.