IDP camps, no home away from home

Mary Acen, 43, came to Pabbo 18 years ago to seek the security of the government's army base in Gulu, northern Uganda, shortly after the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) began their insurgency against the government in 1986. "All my children have been born in this situation, lived in camps all their lives," she told IRIN. "They do not know anything but a life full of fear of rebels. They do not know their land." The Ugandan government estimates that more than 1.4 million people in Uganda's northern and eastern regions have been forced to leave their homes for the relative safety afforded by about 180 internally displaced persons' (IDP) camps that have mushroomed across the affected areas over the last few years. According to Nahman Ojwee, the chairman of Kitgum district, one of the worst affected districts in northern Uganda, 255,000 of the district’s total population of 280,000 were living in IDP camps. "The district is deserted," Ojwee told IRIN. "Our people are living in camps. They cannot feed, clothe or help themselves in any way. They have no land to cultivate or build on." Pabbo, the largest IDP camp in Gulu district, about 380 km north of Kampala, was officially opened in 1996, but several thousand people had already been living there informally. Pabbo camp spans a radius of about one km. It is a mass of tiny, tightly packed grass-thatched mud huts that 64,000 people call home. According to Pabbo's camp leader, Wilson Ojok, each hut houses up to 15 family members. "The camp is severely overpopulated," he said. "Every year it catches fire in the dry season. When one hut catches fire, the camp burns down, and people are made homeless once again." Indeed, about half the huts in Pabbo are currently covered by tarpaulins or plastic sheeting provided by various NGOs following the last spate of devastating fires in February. The Uganda People's Defence Forces provide security to the IDPs, and if a resident must leave the camp to fetch water or firewood for cooking, an army escort should be provided. An escort is not always available, however, and camp residents have found themselves under rebel fire – or even government fire - while carrying out their daily chores close to the camp. "In an unfortunate incident recently, the army mistook some Kitgum IDPs for rebels and killed them - they had left the camp to fetch wood," Ojwee told IRIN. Joyce Akello, a resident of Labuje IDP camp in Kitgum, said fear was a constant part of her existence. "You go to fetch wood, you are afraid, to fetch water, you are afraid – you never know when the rebels will attack you. We cannot live like this for much longer," she said. As a result of such limited movement, camp residents are unable to cultivate land, and depend almost entirely on food provided by the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and other NGOs. "These are extremely productive populations," Raphael Makoha, head of the Kitgum Amnesty Commission, told IRIN. "It is really dehumanising for them to be reduced to a state of waiting with their hands outstretched to be fed by NGOs." WFP provides up to 75 percent of the food consumed in the camps. The IDPs are meant to produce the rest, but the prevailing insecurity makes even that a virtual impossibility. "The NGOs are doing a good job," Ojwee said. “However, the people need a more balanced diet. If security were good enough, they could go fishing or hunting for a more nutritious, wholesome diet." Water is another serious issue the camp dwellers must deal with on a daily basis. At Labuje, a motorised pump provided by the International Committee of the Red Cross supplies some water, while another 13 boreholes drilled by the government and other NGOs provide the rest. However, the endless queues of colourful water cans at the pump and boreholes are testament to the fact that the water being provided is far from sufficient for Labuje’s 17,000 IDPs. Many residents have to make the dangerous trek outside the camp in search of vital water. "I have been queuing for the last five hours for 20 litres of water," Jane Acan, 13, told IRIN at Labuje. "I do this every day, and this water is not enough for my whole family to bathe, cook and drink for one day."

Trying to get some water at Pabbo IDP camp

NGOs have also built hygienic latrines for the IDPs in Pabbo, but these have long since filled up. None have been emptied, nor have any new latrines been built. Ojok jokingly warned against stepping on “landmines”, in reference to the piles of human waste that litter the camp. The high cost of no education Primary education has been free in Uganda since 1996, so most school-age children in the country have since then received at least a primary school education. The standards in the north, however, are very poor, as most teachers have fled the insurgency. Residents of the camps related how in many instances, secondary school students served as primary school teachers due to the dearth of trained educators. Secondary school is too expensive for the majority of IDPs, therefore many children stop their education after primary school. "These children sometimes repeat primary school classes up to three times so they can stay in school rather than be idle in the camps," Innocent Opira, information secretary of Labuje camp, told IRIN. Vocational institutes are few and far between, and are prohibitively expensive. Most people who attend vocational school to learn practical skills such as carpentry or tailoring, are sponsored by NGOs. "Our main worry is what happens to our uneducated population once the war is over," Opira said. "We will be unable to compete with the rest of the country on an even basis - it will take us years to catch up." A constant health emergency Poor health is endemic in the camps, with waterborne diseases and malaria posing problems practically all year long. "We have had a cholera outbreak since January," Joe Okello, the clinical officer at one of Pabbo's two government health centres, said. "Two people have died, and we currently have six admitted to the unit suffering from the disease." Okello displays a chart showing the 10 most prevalent illnesses in the camp, which range from diarrhoea to malaria to worm infestation. "One problem we frequently see which is not on the chart is gender-based violence," Okello said. "It is possibly the most common problem we have at the health centre. "The men in the camp have nothing to do,” he explained. “They find themselves drinking alcohol all day to pass the time, and end up going home and beating their wives." Okello said defilement and child abuse were also on the rise in the camp. Idleness and frustration, Okello noted, were also responsible for the indulgence in risky behaviour that has caused the incidence of HIV/AIDS to skyrocket throughout the IDP camps. The health centres are extremely poorly staffed. Pabbo has two government health centres and another run by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). Between them are just five trained medical staff to care for all 64,000 people in the camp. In Labuje IDP camp in Kitgum district, two nurses run the single dispensary that provides healthcare to the camp's 17,000-plus residents. A second clinic in the camp was in April blown away by strong winds. Most qualified medical personnel, Okello said, had long fled the insecurity and poverty in the region. A more permanent residence The camps were originally intended as a temporary measure, never meant to house civilians for as long as they have. Several leaders and relief workers in the north have criticised the government's refusal to build more permanent structures in the camps to make life easier for the IDPs. "Yes, the camps were meant to be temporary, but this war has gone on for 19 years and will go on for who knows how long," a relief worker who preferred anonymity told IRIN. "It would make sense to build permanent structures - even after the war some use could be found for them." Moses Ali, the minister in charge of IDPs, said the government was considering the option of making the camps more permanent settlements, but that it was a complex issue. "It involves purchasing land that owners may not be willing to sell - when we broached the subject to people in the north, the government was accused of trying to grab the people's land," he said. Life after encampment When the war is over, people will be free to return to their places of origin. According to the government, it has already set up a plan for the resettlement of former IDPs. "We launched an IDP policy, which specifies the government's plans for health, education, housing and so on once they return home," Ali said. In Kitgum, the rehabilitation of villages has already begun. Ojwee said: "These people will not be IDPs forever, so we are putting boreholes in all the sub-counties as we speak, we are building schools in all the sub-counties, we are putting health centres all over the district in preparation for the return of Kitgum's residents to their homes." "That money may not be available when 1.4 million IDPs all have to go home at once," he added. « Waiting for elusive peace in the war-ravaged north