Rains...finally...

It's March in Karamoja and it seems that a 4 year drought might be broken. The ground which normally wrinkles into a cracked dry mosaic has been transformed into a velvet green wonderland. Fingers of life stretch out of the red ground in a performance reminiscent of a resurrection. Birds, butterflies and bees are reborn, rivers overflow, and clouds enshroud Mount Moroto. New life has been breathed into a barren existence. An existence which weeks before seemed to be hanging on the fringe of survival...on the fringe of the world's thoughts. There is a sense of hope...at least for now...

Random pictures of nothing in particular

Samaritan's Purse / UNWFP Food Distribution Slide-show

Here is a short slide-show about the food distributions we are running in Karamoja.

The what and the what....

It seems my blogging drought has been corresponding to the actual drought here in Karamoja. hmmm... exhale....and back to work.

The Face of Akorro In Karamoja

It has been quite a while since my last post but it seems work is getting the most of me these days. The food distributions continue to go forward and right now we are providing life saving food rations to nearly 540,000 people. April and May provided Karamoja with some hope of agricultural production as the rains came and numerous agencies including Samaritan's Purse provided inputs to the local farmers. June however greeted us with no rain and now the knee high crops are wilting in the face of what seems to be yet another drought (see All Africa - Karamoja Drought). The last month has also seen my physical health deteriorate due to a combination of malaria and a week long battle with food poisoning, however, it seems I am recovering and now I'm just trying to add weight to my scrawny 112lbs frame.

Rainy Daze

The rains seemed to have officially arrived as every afternoon we are assaulted by a heavy down pour. Im praying that it continues for the sake of my garden and the hungry bellies in Karamoja.
Below are some pictures i snapped about a month ago. They were taken while registering households in the mountainous region of Tapac. These days office work has had me too busy to escape into the field.

Somewhere Between Amnesia and Dali's Persistence of Memory

Emerging from some capsule void of time, change and memory, I feel I am awakening into a world once lost to me. Born into a sphere where my voice is silenced by the chasm of cultures and human capacity for understanding.

My Pictures For Samaritan's Purse

Samaritan's Purse recently used my pictures in a story they did about the HIV/AIDS testing program in Lira, Uganda. You can find the story by going here http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/articles/peace_of_mind/
click on the little tv with "play multimedia" on it to see the slideshow.

Picture of the Day: Rice Fields in Uganda

Farmer showing off his rice fields close to Lira, Uganda

Uganda Revisited: Congolese Refugees

As many of you might remember, during our stay in Uganda the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) flared up. I had the opportunity to join a Samaritan's Purse team on a needs assessment trip to Kisoro District where large numbers of refugees were coming across the border. The area was honestly one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen; a place of other-worldly ageless beauty where rolling green hills stretch as far as the eye can seen, lakes line the valley crevices and primeval trees reach far into the oceanic skies. We found a group of about 500 villagers living in temporary shacks just inside the Ugandan border. They told us that every day they would cross over the border to work in their gardens and then return at night. Their greatest needs were access to clean water and finding health care for their sick.
The majority of refugees were younger boys (ages 12-18) and many of them stated that the reason they left was because the rebel troops were recruiting child soldiers.
We also visited the UNHCR Refugee Camp called Nakivale. At the time of our visit approximately 13,000 refugees(primarily Congolese) were living here. One little girl about 8 years old that I met during our visit will forever stand out in my mind. The entire time we were there, she followed me around and kept telling me her story. She said she was living in the refugee camp by herself and the only living person left in her family was her grandmother. She had gotten separated from her during the trip to Uganda and desperately wanted us to help her find her.

Book Review: Waiting for the Barbarians by J.M. Coetzee

Without giving away too much of the plot "Waiting for the Barbarians" describes the life of a magistrate living on the fringe of an empire. His peaceful life here is soon disturbed when the empire sends troops to the frontiers to fight the "barbarians". J.M. Coetzee who is the South African author never comes out and actually names the empire as South Africa but throughout the novel the allusions and similarities are undeniable. The magistrate experiences internal turmoil as he slowly comes to grips with the barbarity within his own "civilized" heritage.
He concludes that barbarity is less a result of external actors and more of internal fear; essentially that xenophobia reveals the barbarity within "civilized" society.
Overall, a very intriguing and thought provoking book that I highly recommend.

Eyeing Africa Photoblog

I have a new daily photoblog at www.eyeingafrica.aminus3.com
I will continue to post on here but the other one will purely be for photography.

Book Review - From Poverty to Power by Duncan Green

So I just recently finished reading From Poverty to Power by Duncan Green. Duncan Green is Head of Research for Oxfam and maintains a blog here
http://www.oxfamblogs.org/fp2p/
The book melds both academic thought and theory on development with concrete evidence and case studies. He takes a thorough look at the driving factors behind development, its discontents and what can be done to forge a way forward. His primary premise is that active citizens (empowered people who realize their rights and are able to claim them) partnered with an effective state (a state willing to listen to the people and who has their interests at hand) is what ultimately drives development. Overall it was a very interesting read and quite thought provoking.

Cure to AIDS discovered courtesy of His Excellency Professor Alhaji Dr. Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh

The president of the Gambia claims to be able to cure AIDS. Watch this and decide for yourself?!?!
Also food for thought...
Jammeh graduated from Military Police Officers Basic Course Training at Fort McClellan, Ala., U.S in 1994, in July of the same year he successfully executed his coup. hmmm...

Pfizer tests experimental drugs on Africans leading to numerous deaths

In 1996 during a bacterial meningitis outbreak in Nigeria, the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, illegally used a test drug on the local population. "Those reportedly treated by the company ended up with adverse effects like deafness, muteness, paralysis, brain damage, loss of sight, slurred speech and death." I find it interesting that pharmaceutical companies choose to test in Africa...why is that? Perhaps the developed world is too good for testing and thus opt to use Africans as their Guinea pigs. Today Pfizer settled out of court with the government of Nigeria in an attempt to further hide the truth of their inhumane testing practices.
Read more here
All Africa
Washington Post

My Zimbabwean soapbox or how the world watches another country collapse (the other being Somalia)

Okay, so it is not often that I use this blog as soapbox for my views and opinions but I feel that the situation in Zimbabwe is an issue that people should be aware of.
So... consider this less of a opinionated imposition and more like a passionate rant. Current president Mugabe is an archaic freedom fighter turned kleptocratic murderous dictator. He has single-handedly transformed the "breadbasket of Africa" into a failed state marked by food insecurity, a feeble health care system, and daily human rights abuses.
A January 21st IRIN News Report states that "Forbes Asia, put the annual inflation rate at around 6.5 quindecillion novemdecillion percent - 65 followed by 107 zeros. "Prices double every 24.7 hours," The geniuses behind this financial demise also decided this month to release a 100 trillion Zimbabwean dollar note so that people no longer have to take a wheelbarrow full of money to the store in order to buy a loaf of bread. Thanks guys...
Despite all this, the question should be "is there hope for Zimbabwe?" Assuming the breadbasket collapse was not caused by global warming the answer is yes, but this change will not be achieved through sanctions or through the limp noodle governments in Southern Africa who have stood along and watched as Mugabe manhandled his own people. The biggest obstacle is no doubt Mugabe who has shown himself very resistant to change as he recently stated "Zimbabwe is mine- I will never surrender". So as the world turns Zimbabweans are starving, Cholera is breaking out all over their country, and their currency can be used as a toilet paper substitute. Thank you Mr. Mugabe.
Since this is a photoblog, I will post some pictures of trees for your enjoyment....