A couple of Kiwis in Kitgum
20th February 2007
I headed to Kitgum for my third and final* time on the 20th of January 2007 with Lee and Alyssa. I did the usual my usual stuff there, well as usual as Kitgum ever gets. I interviewed some ladies for GrassRootsUganda.com, bought a stack of necklaces and hung out with some Acholi friends.
I also met up with a wonderful lady called Loise Ford.
Loise is originally from New Zealand (yay!) and runs an orphanage
in Kitgum. I tried to find Loise on my previous two trips to
Kitgum (see here and here), but failed to track her down for various reasons.
Loise is very committed Christian lady. The stories she
has make my stories seem rather dull. Her 4WD vehicle would often
cart war causalities between Sudan (where she has also worked) and
Uganda. Sometimes there was not room for her on the inside of the
vehicle and she had to hang onto the outside, which given the state of
the diabolical roads, cannot of been easy. She use to
encounter rebels of both the SPLA and LRA variety on the way, and I'm sure Loise would claim that she only got through via the Grace of God.
Tender Trust, Loise's orphanage, runs out of a small building
that is located just outside of the town center of Kitgum and is
full-to-overflowing. Kitgum is not wanting for orphans (typically
war-orphans and HIV-orphans), but there is just not enough room inside
of Tender Trust.
Loise is building a new orphanage though, that should be able
to house about one hundred orphans, a marked improvement on what she
has now. The money for the new orphanage has all come from
donations. A notable donation came from the famours Christian
singer, Steven Curtis Chapman.
When we arrived at the orphanage we were made to feel most
welcome. I had brought along some books and pens, and Lee brought
along some toothbrushes that we distributed to the kids. We made the kids pose for a group picture with
their new toothbrushes. Loise suggested that they say "One, two,
three, Jesus!" to get a smile from them for the photo. Very cool.
I plan to return to Uganda sometime after my three year stay
in Asia. I'm seriously considering basing myself in Kitgum for
that time. Safety is always going to be a factor in my decision,
so one of the reasons I wanted to meet Loise was to ask her what it was
like living in Kitgum during the "bad times". She said that she
felt quite safe being based just outside of the town center and even
during the times when fighting was most intense, the LRA rebels would
rarely come so deeply into Kitgum and she therefore felt quite
safe. Almost in the next breath she talked about the rebels
targeting the roads into Kitgum. Sometimes they would seem to be
forever targeting the Kitgum-Gulu road, and at other times the
Kitgum-Pade road. I asked her that if things got bad again in
Kitgum, would she consider leaving. It was almost as if I asked
her if she would eat her own head... Leaving Kitgum was not an
option.
Loise is one of the many unsung heroes out there in the world.
If you like the work that Loise is doing and want to help, then
you can contact her here.
* Well, for now anyway. I would love to head back there, possibly after my three years in Asia.
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Do you like the work that I am doing?
Wanna help in a real and tangible way?
Then visit GrassRootsUganda.com
and purchase some crafts made by Ugandan ladies. 100% of the profits
are returned to the ladies
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(c)
2005, 2006 and 2007 Malcolm Trevena.
All the stuff on this site is written by me, Malcolm Trevena. Feel free to
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