Hapless Karamajong women
Aug 13, 2003
Desperately, they sit on their haunches on the ground in clusters, lean and ragged. Most are covered with scabs giving off unpleasant odour
By Charles Musisi
Desperately, they sit on their haunches on the ground in clusters, lean and ragged. Most are covered with scabs giving off unpleasant odour. They talk while their bony naked children with swollen bellies, crowed around them.
Nearby, some dressed in tatters sit on the verandah, eating beans and posho while holding plastic plates like babies.
The possessionless women live in a state of hopelessness. They say they want to return home, though they know that their husbands are dead.
They remember their breadwinners perishing in cattle raids. And they complain about scarcity of food in Bokora. Their case histories show recurring common factors.
Farming is the preserve of women and children among the Karamajong. They grow sorghum, maize, and millet.
But their climate is as hostile as any assailant; semi arid, characterised by a long spell of intense heat and drought. Rains may fail or fall at the wrong time and their crops wither.
Often men travel long distances to graze cattle due to shortage of grass and water. They leave children and their mothers to fend for themselves.
They have now been reduced to begging. Every day women and children stream from the villages to Moroto town.
“We go to beg and do odd jobs such as washing so as to get food,†says Rukia Akiru, 28.
Akiru hails from Matanyi in Bokora county. She has been roaming Kampala streets for two weeks with her friend Anna Nauze, 20. Nauze has four children.
“Like the other women, the two young widows are tall and emaciated. They wear beads around their necks and black rubber bangles on their arms and legs. They recount their trials sorrowfully.
Cattle rustling and starvation! Many Karimojong are caught between the two. Women and children treck for days to urban centres with little or no provisions. Their long itinerary begins in Nakapiripitit. They trudge to Mbale via Sironko, a distance of about 150 miles. The majority camp in Namatala, Mbale. Others move to towns like Busia, Tororo, Iganga, Malaba, Jinja and Kampala.
But what refuge is this? For many, it is living a miserable existence on the streets – rummaging through garbage skips for food, begging and sleeping in shacks. But compared to famine and insecurity, most prefer the streets.
Eighty-year-old Paska Akongo, trudged from Matanyi in Bokora to Moroto with her five children.
“We came with many other women and children. We boarded a bus from Moroto to Jinja, where we stayed for two weeks on the streets. Later we came to Kampala. We have nothing to eat,†she laments.
But if they thought their repertoire of trials was now exhausted, they were sadly mistaken. As soon as they arrived in Kampala, the Police pounced on them and whisked them off to Nsumba Street Children Centre.
“I want to go back to Moroto. I will never return to Kampala. I want to go,†pleads the elderly woman.
Lately there has been an influx of Karamajong women and children into Kampala. They sit around Shoprite on Entebbe road. At night, they retire to their shacks in Kisenyi. Every woman is charged shs500 accommodation daily.
“We ‘arrested’ about 80 but there are still many on the streets,†says Dan Mujjukizi, the City Probation Officer.
According to Sonko Eriabu, the LC 1 chairman for Kakajo, in Kisenyi, there are over 300 women and children within his jurisdiction.
“These women are between 15 and 28 years. Most of them have lost their husbands. The elderly ones are left in Masese Jinja,†he says. He says during theday they rummage through dumps for food and beg on the streets. “They are Ugandans, we cannot send them away. They are not criminals,†he says.
Bokora is the largest county in Karamoja. It is a buffer between Teso and other Karamajong clans, consequently it suffers constant raids such that women are widowed at an early age.
“Besides, Bokora is relatively developed, so the desire for modernity is driving the women to towns,†says Jimmy Lochap, an undergraduate at Makerere.
On June 25, the Police swooped on the women and children on the streets. They were bundled into police vans and whisked off to Nsumba street children centre.
It is about 11 kilometres from Kammengo trading centre in Mpigi. The centre has four blocks surrounded by high brick walls. Inmates sleep in small rooms. They are provided with bedding and food.
On July 1, the Police launched another lightening raid on the streets.
The operation was sanctioned by Kampala City Council (KCC). The campaign targets mothers with children on the streets and unaccompanied children. There are 98 inmates at the centre, 12 are above 18 years, says Patrick Bukenya, the probation officer at the Centre. Children are forced to beg , we must protect them.
They are always crying. They want to be taken to their relatives in Soroti, Tororo and Jinja. We are trying to trace their relatives and find out whether they are ready to cater for them. KCC will also contact Moroto local administration to discuss their resettlement.†he says.
Since they complain of lack of food, the Officer observes that they will be provided with resettlement kits. The kits include mattresses, blankets, cups, plates and jerricans.
“There has been prolonged drought in Moroto and the relief food given to people is inadequate. It cannot sustain a family for a week,†reveals Abura Pirir, the Matheniko MP. “The Matheniko cannot go to Kampala. These have decided to cross to Kenya which is neaer,†he says.
Patrick Apuun, the Bokora also acknowledges the problem.
“I brought up the issue of the Karamajong to the Prime Minister who promised to set up a committee to address the problem, but nothing has been done.†the MP says.
The influx of Karamajong in urban centres is not new. What is new is the magnitude of the problem. What is even newer is that they are venturing as far as Kilembe in Kasese and no one seems to know or even bother.
Apparently there is no primary intervention programme to stop the increasing flow of women and children into urban centres.
With the spectre of hunger and insecurity always on their minds, it is unlikely that arresting them will stem their exodus to the big towns forever!
Desperately, they sit on their haunches on the ground in clusters, lean and ragged. Most are covered with scabs giving off unpleasant odour. They talk while their bony naked children with swollen bellies, crowed around them.
Nearby, some dressed in tatters sit on the verandah, eating beans and posho while holding plastic plates like babies.
The possessionless women live in a state of hopelessness. They say they want to return home, though they know that their husbands are dead.
They remember their breadwinners perishing in cattle raids. And they complain about scarcity of food in Bokora. Their case histories show recurring common factors.
Farming is the preserve of women and children among the Karamajong. They grow sorghum, maize, and millet.
But their climate is as hostile as any assailant; semi arid, characterised by a long spell of intense heat and drought. Rains may fail or fall at the wrong time and their crops wither.
Often men travel long distances to graze cattle due to shortage of grass and water. They leave children and their mothers to fend for themselves.
They have now been reduced to begging. Every day women and children stream from the villages to Moroto town.
“We go to beg and do odd jobs such as washing so as to get food,†says Rukia Akiru, 28.
Akiru hails from Matanyi in Bokora county. She has been roaming Kampala streets for two weeks with her friend Anna Nauze, 20. Nauze has four children.
“Like the other women, the two young widows are tall and emaciated. They wear beads around their necks and black rubber bangles on their arms and legs. They recount their trials sorrowfully.
Cattle rustling and starvation! Many Karimojong are caught between the two. Women and children treck for days to urban centres with little or no provisions. Their long itinerary begins in Nakapiripitit. They trudge to Mbale via Sironko, a distance of about 150 miles. The majority camp in Namatala, Mbale. Others move to towns like Busia, Tororo, Iganga, Malaba, Jinja and Kampala.
But what refuge is this? For many, it is living a miserable existence on the streets – rummaging through garbage skips for food, begging and sleeping in shacks. But compared to famine and insecurity, most prefer the streets.
Eighty-year-old Paska Akongo, trudged from Matanyi in Bokora to Moroto with her five children.
“We came with many other women and children. We boarded a bus from Moroto to Jinja, where we stayed for two weeks on the streets. Later we came to Kampala. We have nothing to eat,†she laments.
But if they thought their repertoire of trials was now exhausted, they were sadly mistaken. As soon as they arrived in Kampala, the Police pounced on them and whisked them off to Nsumba Street Children Centre.
“I want to go back to Moroto. I will never return to Kampala. I want to go,†pleads the elderly woman.
Lately there has been an influx of Karamajong women and children into Kampala. They sit around Shoprite on Entebbe road. At night, they retire to their shacks in Kisenyi. Every woman is charged shs500 accommodation daily.
“We ‘arrested’ about 80 but there are still many on the streets,†says Dan Mujjukizi, the City Probation Officer.
According to Sonko Eriabu, the LC 1 chairman for Kakajo, in Kisenyi, there are over 300 women and children within his jurisdiction.
“These women are between 15 and 28 years. Most of them have lost their husbands. The elderly ones are left in Masese Jinja,†he says. He says during theday they rummage through dumps for food and beg on the streets. “They are Ugandans, we cannot send them away. They are not criminals,†he says.
Bokora is the largest county in Karamoja. It is a buffer between Teso and other Karamajong clans, consequently it suffers constant raids such that women are widowed at an early age.
“Besides, Bokora is relatively developed, so the desire for modernity is driving the women to towns,†says Jimmy Lochap, an undergraduate at Makerere.
On June 25, the Police swooped on the women and children on the streets. They were bundled into police vans and whisked off to Nsumba street children centre.
It is about 11 kilometres from Kammengo trading centre in Mpigi. The centre has four blocks surrounded by high brick walls. Inmates sleep in small rooms. They are provided with bedding and food.
On July 1, the Police launched another lightening raid on the streets.
The operation was sanctioned by Kampala City Council (KCC). The campaign targets mothers with children on the streets and unaccompanied children. There are 98 inmates at the centre, 12 are above 18 years, says Patrick Bukenya, the probation officer at the Centre. Children are forced to beg , we must protect them.
They are always crying. They want to be taken to their relatives in Soroti, Tororo and Jinja. We are trying to trace their relatives and find out whether they are ready to cater for them. KCC will also contact Moroto local administration to discuss their resettlement.†he says.
Since they complain of lack of food, the Officer observes that they will be provided with resettlement kits. The kits include mattresses, blankets, cups, plates and jerricans.
“There has been prolonged drought in Moroto and the relief food given to people is inadequate. It cannot sustain a family for a week,†reveals Abura Pirir, the Matheniko MP. “The Matheniko cannot go to Kampala. These have decided to cross to Kenya which is neaer,†he says.
Patrick Apuun, the Bokora also acknowledges the problem.
“I brought up the issue of the Karamajong to the Prime Minister who promised to set up a committee to address the problem, but nothing has been done.†the MP says.
The influx of Karamajong in urban centres is not new. What is new is the magnitude of the problem. What is even newer is that they are venturing as far as Kilembe in Kasese and no one seems to know or even bother.
Apparently there is no primary intervention programme to stop the increasing flow of women and children into urban centres.
With the spectre of hunger and insecurity always on their minds, it is unlikely that arresting them will stem their exodus to the big towns forever!