{UAH} IDDI AMIN NEVER TARGETED LANGIs/ACHOLIs, THEY TARGETED HIM {---Series Sixty three}

Friends

 

As a Muganda I grew up in the most culturally rich region of Uganda, yet when I was forced to immigrate to diaspora due to the Acholi violence out of my country, I ended up in Canada a country built under the leadership of her majesty. Culture followed me as well. So I highly understand what culture is and what it so does. Cultural leaders and customs have a limit on what they do and what they cannot do, as an example, if a Muganda refuses to build a Katandalo we call Ow'omuluka to settle the matter, but when a Muganda stabs a fellow Muganda, yes we inform the Ow'omuluka that invites in the Uganda Police. When an Acholi refuses to dig a pit latrine on his dwelling it is a cultural leader's issue, but when he walks to Cwero and murders a fellow Acholi, this is a criminal act thus the culture and customs have absolutely nothing to do with it but Uganda government. The relatives of the dead Acholi do not sue the killer, the state of Uganda sues him, and this is very simply, because all of us as Ugandans are suing you through the government we have in Uganda. We stop  to hold tribal identifications as soon as we die for we automatically become Ugandans and the state of Uganda goes out there to find out who has killed us.

 

Since the atrocities of Kony war started in Acholi land, many in that region decided to use cultural institutions to solve the atrocities, and that is the habit this series is going after. Yes Acholi are culturally endowed and their history is long past my arm, but when a man murders a human being that is not a cultural problem it is a state business. Because Acholi have buried their so heads into these so called ceremonies they have made life of the population unbearable, think about it, Kony fighters kidnapped 5 children from a family, age between 6 and 11, on arrival to the camp the Kony commanders decide that these kids cannot be useful when they are together, so they direct the 3 to beat up the two and kill them. You have on your hands a family of five kids where three have been forced to kill the two, and after the coming back to Acholi land the three children angry as they are, they are sitting with the men and women that directed them to murder their fellow brothers or sister for The Acholi society states that the killers have been forgiven for they were cleansed through the nyono tong gweno crap. By using such practices you are creating many problems ranging from forcing these killers to be in Acholi land but living with the children they forced to murder fellow children.                         >Are you nuts or bolts?

 

That is why with this series, I call on Uganda government to immediately put a restriction on the following Acholi cultural customs {1} Nyono Tong Gweno {2} Lwok Pik Wang {3} Moyo Piny {4} Moyo Kum {5} Laketeket {6} Ajwaka and now that I have decided to go this deep I might as well throw in Mato Oput, juu yake.  The restriction I am asking from our governments, is to put a stop from these customs of behaving as judges or Police stations during a crime occurrence. They do not have the legal expertise to do such but they do not even have the capability to set sentences let alone take care of the victims of crimes. When I read reports out of Acholi land there is no abandoned Acholi as a kid that was ever kidnaped and made pregnant for no one is out there following her for we all are looking forward to a better Uganda, and how can we turn Uganda into a federal state. They are sitting in Acholi land crying for we dumped them into such a fucked up judicial system, where they have to live with those that trained them how to murder. What we need in Acholi is lawyers, judges, criminal investigators, social workers but anger management counsellors than ceremonial craps.

 

Through the funding of Dorothy C. and Maurice B. Shapiro travelling Fellowship at the George Washington University, Kate Lonergan, Joyce Abalo and Aloyo Proscovia decided to study the Acholi Cosmology and came back with a comprehensive paper with a heading "Gender and Generation in Acholi Tradition Justice Mechanisms" We are posting from page 9 so that you realize how this Acholi cultural institutional crap can never fix the massive problem we have in Acholi that breeds the very Acholi violence this series is all about.

 

Friends we need to start discussing Acholi violence candidly.

 

Case Study: Stella

 

In May of 2005, Stella was traveling from her home in Awach sub-county to Gulu town,

approximately 20 kilometers away, when LRA rebels attacked their convoy. In the confusion,

Stella and six other girls were abducted. That night, all seven girls tried to escape. They

were caught, and upon returning to the LRA encampment they were sentenced to death as

punishment for trying to escape. The first five girls were killed, one by one, until they reached

Stella. "Wait," Stella said as they reached her, "Please let me pray first." To her surprise, the

commander overseeing the killings allowed her to pray. When she finished he said, "Your God

has saved you. Untie this girl." After her life was spared, Stella stayed with the LRA for one

month, until she was able to successfully escape.

When Stella returned from captivity, her family arranged nyono tong gweno and lwoko pik wang

ceremonies to welcome her back. Despite these ceremonies, Stella suffered greatly when she

returned home. "I would cry, and scream, and shout," Stella explained. She returned from

captivity with a child, and sometimes she would take her anger out on the child by refusing to

feed it. One night, a spirit came to her and threatened to kill her and the child. This frightened

Stella so much that she tried to strangle her child. Stella's mother tried to arrange a cleansing

ceremony for her daughter, but was not able to afford costly ceremony requirements such as

a goat for sacrifice. Secretly, Stella was happy about this. After seeing no benefit from the

nyono tong gweno ceremony, Stella did not think that a traditional practice would help her

problems. She thought back to the time when God protected her as the rebels were about to

kill her, so she decided to try going to church. She started attending a nearby prayer service,

and finally felt some relief from the visions and pain that tormented her since she arrived back

from captivity.

Stella's unique conflict experience and personal explanations for her problems led her to find

the most meaning from a religious response. Still, she does not discount the power of traditional

practices for others, and speaks of other returnees in her community who benefited from

traditional cleansing ceremonies. While she acknowledges the existence and power of spirits,

a traditional ceremony to banish those spirits does not resonate with her explanations of her

own problems. Stella's story demonstrates the delicate balance between tradition and religion

in northern Uganda. For many, they are not mutually exclusive choices, but two recovery

strategies that returnees can actively choose between, or combine, depending on their unique

problems. For Stella, the ability to play an active role in making this choice allowed her to

choose the response that most aligned with her own understandings of her problems.

 

Case Study: David

David was five years old when the LRA rebels attacked his village and abducted him and ten

other young boys. The group of captives made the long march to Sudan, abducting others

along the way. When they arrived in Sudan, David was given to the commander who abducted

him. For the first few years of his captivity, David grew up in the commander's home, caring

for his children and helping with chores. When David was old enough, the commander began

to train him as a soldier. Over a period of nine years in the LRA, David participated in some of

the worst massacres across northern Uganda. Eventually, in 2005, David managed to escape

during a battle with the UPDF. He found his way to a World Vision reception center, where he

received an Amnesty certificate and a modest resettlement package.

After leaving World Vision, David eventually settled back at his Uncle's home near Gulu.

Although he participated in a nyono tong gweno ceremony immediately after leaving World

Vision, David still suffered a lot when he returned home. He explains, "from that day when I first

killed a human being, all of a sudden my life changed and the people' spirits haunt me a lot…I

feel better when I stay alone because when I am in places with many people the thoughts of

killing comes to my mind and I may end up doing what I am not supposed to do." David felt that

his problems stemmed from the angry spirits of the many people he killed while in the bush. He

sought help from a community leader, who suggested that a moyokumceremony might help

to appease the angry spirits. For many months, David struggled to raise money to perform the

ceremony and pay the fee for an ajwaka to determine the specific demands of his spirits.

Finally, on the day of the ceremony, David and some of his family members went to a secluded

spot about a fifteen-minute walk from their home compound. In that place, David made

offerings to his spirits in accordance to the demands they relayed through the ajwaka, and

received blessings from his family members. By the end of this ceremony, David felt that he

had appeased thespirits, atoned for the atrocities he committed during the conflict, and felt a

renewed sense of support from his family members.

David independently identified his problems as spiritual affliction, and thus sought out a

traditional spirit cleansing ceremony as a solution. For him, the ceremony was a direct

strategy to remedy his most pressing recovery concerns and an active step in addressing the

atrocities he committed during the conflict. Unfortunately, David's story also highlights many

of the obstacles that youth face in raising support and funds to initiate traditional ceremonies.

Despite these obstacles, David continued to seek out traditional cleansing practices, and was

eventually able to find some relief from the torment he attributed to cen.

 

Stay in the forum for Series sixty-four on the way   ------>

EM

On the 49^th Parallel          

                 Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja and Dr. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda is in anarchy"
                    Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
"Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja na Dk. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda ni katika machafuko"