Tag Archives: Aleptong

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Communities in Lango and Acholi work to memorialise their experiences

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A capacity building workshop is held in Parabongo earlier this year.
A capacity building workshop is held in Parabongo earlier this year.

With funding support from USAID-SAFE Program, the Community Mobilization department at JRP conducted a series of trainings on themes of memory and reconciliation with 39 members of Community Reconciliation (CORE) teams in seven communities across Lango and Acholi sub-regions. Held in May, 2015, these trainings covered a range of topics including conflict mitigation, peace building, forgiveness and reconciliation, gender mainstreaming in peace building and reconciliation programs, trauma healing and counseling skills, and memory and memorialization. This helped the members of the CORE teams to understand the importance of memorialization and to envision an ideal memory and reconciliation project for their communities.

During the training, the participants examined the following questions in order to come up with an ideal memory project for each of the seven communities:

  • What are the conflict events that occurred in your areas?
  • What conflict event do you want to remember?
  • How would you like to remember it?
  • What memory projects would promote healing, advocacy and reconciliation for your communities?
  • What ideal memory project can you implement in your community?

These guiding questions helped the CORE team members to come up with ideas for memory projects in consultation with their respective victims’ communities, which could be implemented within five months in their communities. The seven communities came up with the following innovative ideas for community memory projects which are now nearing successful completion.

Lukodi: The community of Lukodi chose to write a book which documents life before the war, and also emphasizes how culture has been eroded by war and makes suggestions on how it can be rejuvenated. They also chose to legally register the acquired piece of land which serves as the memorial site for the Lukodi massacre of 2004. This would enable the community to transfer a monument for the massacre which is in another area to this land and to develop the site.

Parabongo: The community of Parabongo, with guidance of the CORE team, chose to construct a new memorial stone to replace an older barely visible monument. They envisage having a more visible monument in memory of the people killed by LRA in Parabongo in 2006.

Atiak: Together with the CORE team, the victims’ community in Atiak chose to develop a list of conflict memorabilia to be preserved to document their memory of the war. They also decided to develop a profile of those who were killed in the 1995 massacre, and after verifying the list of names, they will engrave and place it onto a memorial monument. The community also pledged to facilitate a process of community-led documentation through the use of arts to preserve memories of events that became a turning point in the lives of the people of Atiak at the peak of the war.

Burcoro: The community of Burcoro chose to construct a monument in memory of the people killed during the military operation led by NRA in Burcoro in 1991. They wished to preserve memories of state-led atrocities that were never acknowledged.

Odek: The people of Odek also felt they were never publicly acknowledged to have suffered during the LRA war. To them, putting up a memorial monument would communicate what they went through in order for them to also be considered for post-conflict reconstruction services. They, therefore, chose to construct a memory stone in memory of the mass killing by LRA in Odek.

Barlonyo: The community of Barlonyo decided to beautify their memorial site in order to celebrate the lives of their loved ones who perished in the 2002 massacre. They chose to fence and beautify the memorial site with a variety of beautiful flowers blooming in gardens adjacent to well-paved walkways.

Abia: In Abia, the community chose to erect a monument in the form of a statue of a helpless woman which depicts their plight in the aftermath of the massacre of 2004. They also decided to make a painting on the wall of memorial school in memory of their war experiences.

JRP pledged to support the seven communities in the implementation of their respective community memory projects, which have been shaping well over the last five months. As the projects near completion, JRP is proud to reaffirm its support to showcase community-relevant approaches to justice, healing and reconciliation.

Joining hands for regional reconciliation

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A woman speaks during a dialogue held in Abia, Aleptong district as part of JRP's Regional Reconciliation project, 5 June 2015.
A woman speaks during a dialogue held in Abia, Aleptong district as part of JRP’s Regional Reconciliation project, 5 June 2015.

The Justice and Reconciliation Project’s Regional Reconciliation initiative is a one year program designed to foster social cohesion and reconciliation in northern Uganda following the growing tension among communities in the north. Northern Uganda went through a number of conflicts and the most recent was that of LRA war that left a land mark effect on the population: the violent nature of the war caused tension among ethnic groups in northern Uganda as some ethnic groups are accusing other ethnic groups for their suffering during the war. To improve on the fragmented social fabric of life in northern Uganda, JRP’s project seeks to reconcile the people of Acholi and Lango sub regions by combining the effort of every stakeholder in peace building processes.

With funding support from USAID’s Supporting Access to Justice, Fostering Equity and Peace program, JRP worked in four districts in northern Uganda (Amuru, Gulu, Lira and Aleptong) to foster social cohesion and reconciliation among the Acholi and the people of Lango sub-regions. In enrolling the project in the four districts, we introduced our organization and the project to districts, sub-counties, cultural institutions and civil society offices to help them understand the initiative and to seek their collaboration in fostering reconciliation within communities and between the people of Acholi and Lango. With great enthusiasm, local government officials in the districts and sub counties, CSOs, cultural and religious leaders, peace committees and victims and survivors of war all embraced the program and joined together to support regional reconciliation initiative.

“This is one area that no one has taken seriously during this post conflict reconciliation era,” said the LC III Chairperson of Agweng sub-county in Lira, “The war left societies torn apart and people are living in fear of each other including people in my area. I’m so much in support of this reconciliation project and I will give full support to the program.”

A man speaks during a community dialogue in Abia, Aleptong district as part of JRP's regional reconciliation project, 6 June 2015.
A man speaks during a community dialogue in Abia, Aleptong district as part of JRP’s regional reconciliation project, 6 June 2015.

 

In order to make total peace possible in this post conflict period, forgiveness and reconciliation are two things that needs to be emphasized. Having been hurt and violated immensely during the conflict, many individuals, communities and groups still point fingers and blame one another for making them suffer as individuals, community or as an ethnic group.

Since the introduction of regional reconciliation project in Lango and Acholi sub regions, there has been overwhelming positive responses and support from local government leaders, cultural and religious leaders and the community members to contribute to addressing the legacy of war in northern Uganda to avoid re-occurrence of further conflict. In Atiak sub-county, Amuru district, the sub-county Community Development Officer (CDO) expressed with deep sorrow the bitter relationship that exist between the Acholi people of Atiak sub county and the neighbouring Madi of west Nile that escalated due the LRA war. This has affected trade and intermarriages between the two communities. To him the reconciliation process is desperately needed in northern Uganda. While in Abia sub-county, Alebtong District, victims and survivors of war bitterly expressed their anger for bearing the consequence of the war and for not being repaired for the atrocities committed to them. However, they showed the heart to forgive and reconcile and to cooperate with other stakeholders in the social reconstruction process.

The willingness and active participation of various stakeholders in this project is a big boost to the project success and in enhancing sustainability of reconciliation process in northern Uganda. For example, CDOs, Sub- County Chiefs and LC III’s are far playing lead roles in mobilizing for reconciliation processes in each district while traditional and religious leaders are providing technical support to achieve reconciliation within communities and at regional level. Mobilization efforts and technical skills being provided by CSOs in facilitating capacity building workshops on reconciliation themes is also acknowledged in contributing to the success of regional reconciliation.

It is our hope that when this collaboration is enhanced, regional reconciliation will definitely be achieved on a silver plate.

Grace Acan is a Project Assistant with the Justice and Reconciliation Project’s Community Mobilisation department.