Arrival in Pader

Flight OK – manage to get 3 empty seats together so sleep some of the time

 

Arrive Addis and spend 3.5 hours in airport mainly chatting to woman from Kampala who had been to Dubia for a few days. Notice the lots of people are smoking the cafes in the airport and inside the terminal.

 

Bit of chaos boarding Entebbe flight as loading 3 flights through one gate and send us all through at the same time. Have vision of boarding the wrong plane.

Arrive Entebbe and passport control very quick and organised. Humid but not too bad, cloude and 21 degrees. Eventually get bags, meet Moses the driver, and head on pretty slow and busy road to Kampala.

 

Initial reflections on chatting to Moses and seeing Entebbe/Kampala:

 

• People very friendly

• Very little car hooting like in Asia

• Appears as poor as I expected

 

Meet Innocent, WAR CHILD Country Director, Matthew, WAR CHILD UK Deputy Programme Manger (who I met briefly in UK) and Peter, Polish traveller and part time photographer who will also be doing some volunteering for WAR CHILD in Pader.

 

Think will get on well with all of them. Then shower and freshen up, send a few brief texts and emails, visit to ATM and supermarket to get food supplier to take to Pader (not much available there) and then out for good meal. To bed shattered.

 

Up early for meeting with Kampala office of partner – YSA. Goes OK although uncertain whether I am hearing the reality or what they think I want to hear. Learn that their Kampala Finance Manager left about 2 weeks ago and the Finance Assistant is trying to cover but struggling.

 

Then a 7 hour drive from Kampala to Pader for the 5 of us. Initially some traffic but after first hour road very empty.

 

Generally in ok condition except for a) where they are relaying/building and for some crazy reason they place speed bumps every 20 metres and b) where they have tarmaced but not maintained and result is lots of pot holes.

 

We pass stunning rapids, see monkeys by the side of the road and stop briefly at lovely place for samosas and muffins.

Pass through numerous grubby small towns and villages and see lots of school kids.

 

Eventually get to Pader and after 5 minutes of introductions in the WAR CHILD Office head to Guest House. Get double room which is a plus but immediately notice how hot the room is and no fan or similar.

 

After unpacking a bit try out loo and discover it doesn’t flush. On checking realise there is no running water – not sure if I expected any better.

Instead of running water they give you a bowl and big water container for washing/showering. Oddly the room does have a sink, shower and toilet - just no water coming from them!!

 

Use bowl and water container to freshen up and then meet others and go for grilled fish and chips meal and Nile special beer at nearby guesthouse/restaurant. Then to bed shattered.

 

First full day of volunteer work. After further introductions and brief office induction, cleared work and personal emails and then had 3 hour meeting with Innocent to try to understand the programme strategy, the context of the programme, the role of the partners and the challenges.

 

I was nearly in tears talking to Innocent about some of the ‘beneficiaries’, what their lives were like, what they have been through and the challenges they now face. Have read about child soldiers and WAR CHILD mothers and heard/seen stuff on the radio and in films and on tv.

 

But talking with someone who had spent a lot of time with the kids, heard their stories first hand and seen the impact on them somehow made it real. How do you try to support and reintegrate into ‘normal’ society a girl who was abducted from her family and village age 9 or 10, forced to follow a rebel army around as cook and dogsbody and then become their sex slave when she was in her early teens.

 

Innocent said many had had no education from the age of 9 or 10, often had 2 or 3 children of their own from different fathers and were now rejected by their family and village.

 

Similar story for the boys who were abducted at a similar age, trained to use a gun, drugged and then forced to raid villages and abduct other kids. But the programmes do seem to be working and gradually the kids are learning to read and write, are getting an education, are learning future work and life skills and are being reaccepted by their parents, brothers and sisters and wider community.

 

Pader is smaller than I expected and many of the locals live in straw/mud huts scattered around the more developed town. Also some Internally Displaced Persons camps – like refugee camps but for Ugandan’s impacted by the civil war, are still nearby.

 

A few places to eat/drink that are mainly guesthouses with a mini restaurant attached - but nothing like UK restaurants. Generally only 1 or 2 choices on the menu if a menu exists - often it’s simply a matter of asking what they have that day. Mainly beef, chicken or fish with chips or mashed maize/grain so I would struggle if I was a vegetarian!

 

Walking home from work just get back prior to huge thunderstorm and tropical rain storm. Centre of guesthouse turned into a swimming pool!!