An IDP teacher speaks out

Nelson Ojok's story

Nelson Ojok, a teacher speaks about life in a displacement camp.

"We can't feed our children, or even pay school fees for them, especially secondary education. Secondary education has collapsed in most of the north. Education standards have really gone down because of the situation. Our pupils lack learning materials. Parents cannot even buy books when they cannot even buy food. So they come to school without anything.

"The children cannot learn properly. You can be in a class teaching and gun firing starts. The children will only concentrate on the fighting. Sometimes we have to rush to the bush out of fear. There is no time to cover the syllabus. Many of our children have been abducted. My two sons were abducted in 1996. I don't know if they are still alive. Everybody is affected.

"Most children fail to come to school because they feel hungry. This is the third food distribution to this camp this year and the ratio is too little. The people try to stretch it for a long time but it is finished before the next distribution. In between the distribution, most people go to work in other people's fields to get money to pay for food.

"Many people who have been going to look for food outside the camp have been abducted. Recently, about 20 people went out to hunt. None of them has returned. Some were killed and others were abducted. Rebel activities are most concentrated in Pader district. The district is not only remote, but it is the favourite route that rebels use on their way to and from Sudan. When they go to Gulu, they pass through here. When they go to Kitgum, they pass via here. Most abductions take place in Pader.

"At night people have fear. The soldiers are always firing guns. We don't know whether it is rebels they are fighting or they are just doing this to intimidate us. Rebels have tried many times to attack, but the army has managed to overpower them. Normally after food distribution of this kind, the rebels come and take it away, if soldiers are not alert enough.

"There are only five latrines for the whole school and these are used by soldiers and other people. So many of the children just go to the bush. We have one dispensary here, but there are no drugs in it. The dispensary has no medical officer. Just an unqualified nurse, providing health care for the whole camp. Children are suffering. A lot of children below the age of 5 die. We have a lot of malnourished children. Last week, there were four child deaths. There are also many cases of HIV/AIDS.

"The children have also become disobedient to teachers and parents. This is caused by immorality in the community. Both boys and girls fall into premature love and pregnancy. It is now beyond the control of the community to prevent the UPDF soldiers from having sex with our young girls. Girls are getting pregnant when they are still children [themselves].

"We teachers also suffer a lot. Teachers and civil servants are not included in the WFP food rations. They say we are government workers with salaries. But there is nowhere to buy the food. Teachers can go for long without salaries. The head teachers collect our cheques from Pader town, and cash them in Kitgum. But they risk their lives. When the rebels know teachers are about to receive their salaries, they carry out a lot of road ambushes. Two days ago, nine teachers who were coming back from a seminar in Patongo [Pader] were ambushed and killed.

"The local authorities don't even care. They don't even come to see what our problems are. They only show up when there is a problem between the community and the military. They come to quiet things down. It is difficult also to tell if the government is doing its best to end this war. It is good they have brought security into the camp, but vehicles are being ambushed and burned by the rebels. This is a funny war, I cannot even describe it. The rebels are killing their own brothers and mothers. We are killing ourselves. We are confused. The only thing is to sit down and negotiate. The negotiations should be carried outside Uganda. With fighting, this war will take another 18 years. You can see the number of soldiers. They are very many, and yet they cannot eradicate the rebels. They are increasing more soldiers, but the rebels are still killing.

"If negotiations fail, the international community should find a way of disarming Kony. Kony is deeply rooted in Sudan. The international community should find out who is arming and supporting Kony. But if this fails, then the international community should use force to stop Kony.

"The other serious problem we have [here] is Karamojong cattle raiders. The government had started a re-stocking programme for our community, but the Karamojong come and sweep the animals away. The army says they are only here to deal with LRA, not Karamojong. There are still some few animals left in the camp, but we expect the Karamojong to come and collect them by the end of this year. The government told us last year that the Karamojong were being disarmed, but it seems that new arms have been issued."