Karamoja Travelog - Part 1
I am sitting in a very decent coffee shop in a little town called Mbale, a few hours out of Kampala and home to the beautiful Mt. Elgon. Karamoja is still a couple of hours away. We left at 5:30 this morning, riding in the ten-ton truck, which will be our luxurious mode of transportation throughout this journey.
When dawn broke I groggily climbed into the front seat of the truck, opting for no coffee, and slept all the way to Jinja, a thriving town about an hour away. I woke for a quick breakfast of chapattis and roadside barbecue—goat-meat on a stick, before climbing back into the truck and sleeping all the way to Mbale.
This coffee certainly hits the spot. We got excited when we saw the unbelievably cheap prices on this menu, as well as the wide range of choices. Cappuccino out here? For only 2,000 Ugandan Shillings?! (About a dollar and very cheap here.) I ordered that. The waitress looked and me with a blank face and said, “Eh…but there is no electricity here. No power for the machines. You choose something else.”
Typical!
So over regular coffee I listened to my co-worker Robin outlining the tentative plan. The first camp is still a few hours away. Her stories about the Karimojong warriors are exciting. Well, actually they’re starting to scare me.
She’s telling me to prepare for their affectionate greetings: “They will grab you by the head and stick you under their arm-pits!” she says enthusiastically.
I pull a sour face…”Are you sure?!”
“Oh yes,” she assures me, “I’ve been waiting to experience this for forever!”
I figure in my head that it can hardly be worth the wait…but if worse comes to worse, at least it’ll be something to write home about. She also warns me of the warriors’ infamous personality and culture. “Usually, when we deliver goods to the camps, the people line up in orderly fashions, right? But here, there is a high chance of fights and riots.”
As I explained earlier, the Karimojong, are a cattle-rustling tribe, known for their hot tempers and wild personas. I hadn’t thought about it much when volunteering for the trip. But now I think back on that meeting last week, and…well, it makes sense why I was the only one who innocently raised my hand! Last night, a friend bid me goodbye: “Stay safe and don’t get shot or anything!” I realize now that’s entirely possible.
How exciting!
* * * * *
We’ve been put up in a Catholic convent for the night, provided by the Sacred Heart Sisters. They are the most hospitable people I have ever met! The three nuns are wonderful and have treated us royally! After driving through miles and miles of wilderness, I didn’t expect such a warm welcome from anyone in these parts. But look—a wonderful bed, tea, hot showers, and a lavish supper laid out for us!
On the way in we drove through a wildlife reserve park. We spotted Ugandan cob countless varieties of birds. They say there are also lions and leopards here, and I’m on the lookout. God blessed us with the most beautiful rainbow arching through silver clouds, coming down over the mountains in the distance—perfect color, overlooking this wild terrain. I do take it as a sign of His blessing and I know that this trip will be just one more awesome experience to add to my books!
At one point on the drive, Grace, our friend and the Karimojong woman who is heading up this trip, told us more about her people: “Don’t be surprised when they greet you by spitting on you, okay, Nyx?”
“What!” This freaked me out even more that the armpit greeting.
“Well, it’s meant to be a sign of blessing! So don’t look at them funny when they do it, ok?”
“They’re really going to spit on me?” I thought, horrified. I realized that if I wanted to get the most out of this trip and visiting this fascinating tribe I was just going to have to accept the “whole experience.” Still, I’m just glad the Nuns at the convent are taking care of us in a civilized fashion. They’ve supplied us with mosquito netting for the overhead bed frames. Malaria is supposed to be rampant in these parts and already I have been bitten in a hundred places.
The sisters chatted with us much over dinner. “I’ve been here eight years now,” sister Mary said, explaining that she is from the West Nile, an entirely different district. “The first two years were so tough. I was so discouraged. Because of the rebel activity here and the constant insecurity, trucks of supplies were not allowed to come up the road. Men would sit with guns ready to shoot passersby. In the same year that I was stationed here, my father died. Then, I also lost my brother and had to worry about his family. It was very tough. God put me through all these tests, but I made it—slowly but surely.”
I sat, nodding and listening to her story. I cannot even begin to imagine this kind of dedication! She finally learned, after two years, to speak the language of the Karamoja people. But the tough times continued. Her nephew was diagnosed with leukemia and eventually passed away.
Robin told her the story of Steve, an 18-year-old second-generation member of the Family. He was a good friend of mine who’d also battled leukemia over a year ago. Yet, up until his death, he would testify over and over again of the Lord’s love and how it was manifested to him all throughout his time of affliction. Steve was an amazing inspiration to many and always spoke of Heaven with a light in his eyes—it was the destination he left for shortly.
We continued to talk with Sister Mary over dinner and were amazed at how strong her passion for serving God and others was. At that point the two other nuns joined us. One had walked miles from the other medical center where she attended to people in need. One person in need had been a pregnant girl in labor at the center. The nun had just delivered a baby girl. They are truly amazing women! We were so taken aback by their hospitality and love. They prepared basins of hot water for us to bathe and made sure that we had everything we needed for the night. I was dead tired by the time everyone retired. I slept well, although I couldn’t help but think about the 3 murders which they said had just taken place near here last night.
Well, yeah. It’s all part of the adventure, right?
