Just Journey to Uganda 2010

This blogpost is related to a joint UUA/UUSC JustJourney to Uganda in November 2010.    In the post below, participant Marie Kidder shares her impressions of the people and places they’re visiting in the north.

We are staying in a compound near the cathedral; there are bells at 6:30 a.m. Nuns who were up late to care for us were up early to make sure we had breakfast.

We are clearly in the north. One of our hosts said, “In the south, they say, ‘What can I do?’; in the north, they say, ‘What can we do?’” In the south, the institutions were run by the government; the churches are the anchor of the north. The religious compounds are for religious services, language lessons, schools, medical care, and security. We saw amazing caretaking.

We are reflecting on yesterday’s inspirational stories. Sister AnnaMaria from the Aboke girls’ school (where the rebels abducted 139 girls) talked about the abductions and the fact that she lost some of her girls, which she had to come to peace with. Fr. Luis told of the father who searched for his lost son, found him in government custody, and had to get paperwork to show he was not a rebel — only to return with the paperwork and find him dead. He said he’s unable to forgive because his government killed his son for no reason. Paul, one of the Caritasleaders, told us that church leaders came together up here to start working on the peace process. Even imams joined in.

In our meeting at the seminary, they told us that northern Uganda was left alone without any help for nine years of the war. It was off limits to travelers. The Africans have a saying: “When two people fight, it is the grass that suffers.”

Paul, the Caritas worker, is a remarkable young man. His nephew was abducted and later rescued, and Paul has forgiven him. One of four children, Paul has experienced much loss. One brother died of disease, and one other died in the war. Together they left five children, and Paul came back after university in Kampala to raise them. “I was a father before I was a husband,” he says. He and his wife have a 14-year-old son and two daughters. Paul was a “night commuter” with his children, walking into Gulu every night to sleep.

On Friday, November 5, Constance Kane, UUSC’s vice president and COO as well as a participant on the Uganda JustJourney, reported in with a quick update on the beginning of their travels.

We are just beginning our Uganda JustJourney and have spent the morning with the Refugee Law Project, an ally working on post-conflict reconciliation. Among other things, they have just sponsored the National Reconstruction Bill, designed to foster dialogue and forgiveness throughout the country.

Tomorrow, we are heading up north, where we will meet with UUSC partner Caritasin Gulu and Pader. There we have been working to help families return to their villages and help regain livelihoods and local support services.

One of the unique aspects of this trip is that it is being jointly led by the UUA and UUSC. It’s a rich and unique partnership and a model for the future.

This blogpost is related to a joint UUA/UUSC JustJourney to Uganda in November 2010.  It is written by UUA International Resources Director Rev. Eric Cherry on November 4, 2010.

The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) – Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) experiential learning trip to Uganda is off to a terrific start. Fifteen Unitarian Universalists from across the United States arrived in Kampala on Thursday, November 4, 2010, for our first day together. And, if today is any measure of what we have in store, this is going to be a powerful trip infused with a deep faith dimension, with tragic and inspiring stories of human rights and justice work, and with the development of a sense of community between us and the people that we meet along the way.

Each evening, we will share reflection time together. Tonight there was a great deal of sharing, especially about the welcome that we received from four members of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Kampala: Marie, Tomas, Frank, and Peter. Each of them has been deeply involved in the fight against bisexual, gay, lesbian, and transgender (BGLT) discrimination in Uganda, each of them has provided incredible support to the BGLT community, and each of them has sacrificed and suffered – sometimes horrendously – because of who they are.

We heard frightening stories of ostracization, of being “cut off” by family, churches, co-workers, and society as a whole. We heard of the brutal attacks that they have suffered, and of the constant fear of being attacked at home, at work, and in all places. Even still, these brothers and sisters in faith and justice-work risked a great deal merely to meet with us – an incredible privilege for us – and helped us to understand a little bit better the reality that they face daily.

They thanked American Unitarian Universalists for being what they described as the sole religious voice supporting them from abroad. And they recognized political pressure from the United States as the only reason that the infamous “Anti Homosexuality Bill” has not yet been passed in Uganda. This is frightfully ironic, as they also credit conservative religious movements in the United States as the source of the current violence and systemic homophobia in Uganda.

And yet, when I asked these beautiful souls how they would feel if I took a photograph of them for publication on the internet, they enthusiastically gave permission.

“Our photos are already out there,” they said, “all of Kampala already knows we are gay.” The dangers inherent in that are clearer to me today than they ever have been before. And I hope that all who hear their story, and see their photographs, will recognize that we are implicated in their fate. We are tied together in interdependence. May we claim our privilege, our power, and our responsibility.

God bless Marie, Tomas, Peter, and Frank. God bless the Unitarian Universalist Church of Kampala that welcomes all people. And God bless the ties that bind each to all.

On November 4, the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) and Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) launch their first jointly organized JustJourney, a trip to Uganda. For 12 days, Unitarian Universalists and others committed to social justice will take part in Witness to a Return Home: A Trip to Uganda, an experiential learning journey to an area of the world struggling to recover from war and political unrest.

In northern Uganda, more than 1.8 million people have been displaced from their homes for as long as 22 years. UUSC has been working there for two years with partner Caritas Gulu, piloting a unique program that has empowered thousands of displaced people to return to their villages. During Witness to a Return Home, participants will learn about UUSC’s work with Caritas Gulu and see this eye-to-eye partnership model at work.

“Participants on this journey will see what it means to work for justice,” says UUSC Experiential Learning Manager Nichole Cirillo. “It is this ‘up close and personal’ witness that helps them transform their own notions of human rights.”

Complementing UUSC’s work in northern Uganda, the UUA has fostered a strong relationship with Rev. Mark Kiyimba, leader of a UU congregation in Kampala, Uganda’s capital. Kiyimba runs a 550-student school and 20-child orphanage near Masaka and has been campaigning against Uganda’s draconian anti-homosexuality bill. JustJourneys participants are scheduled to meet with the UU Kampala congregation; talk with Ugandan leaders of the struggle for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people’s rights; and visit the school and orphanage the Kampala congregation supports.

Eric Cherry, head of the UUA’s Office of International Resources and coleader of Witness to a Return Home, is looking forward to the unique educational opportunities the trip provides.

“Our time in Uganda is in direct response to Unitarian Universalism’s sixth principle: to affirm and promote the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all,” says Eric. “Even for those who are deeply committed to social-justice work, it’s easy to forget that there are countless people who want — and need — to tell their stories. To be confronted with the existing need can be daunting, but it’s also inspiring to see how the UUA and UUSC have been able to make a lasting difference — through partnership — in Uganda.”

As this social-justice sojourn unfolds, on-the-ground updates will be posted to this collaborative blog, offering photos and a variety of personal perspectives. Bloggers will share thoughts on their meetings with visionary leaders, visits to important cultural and environmental sites, including Kabarega National Park, and their interactions with the people who live in resettled villages in northern Uganda.

More than tourism, JustJourneys bring social justice to life in different locations around the world. For information on future trips, including the 2011 JustJourney to Haiti, contact Nichole Cirillo.

The Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) is a faith community of more than 1,000 self-governing congregations that bring to the world a vision of religious freedom, tolerance and social justice. For more information on the UUA, including recent press releases and news articles, please visit their online press room.

UUSC is a nonsectarian organization that advances human rights and social justice around the world, partnering with those who confront unjust power structures and mobilizing to challenge oppressive policies. For more information on UUSC, visit www.uusc.org.