“We need help to survive”

A new IRIN "Hear Our Voices" feature...

(This is separate from the recent "Uganda Diaries" series. - EJM)

The Ugandan government is encouraging people displaced by two decades of civil war in the north to return to their villages, now that security has improved. Authorities have started dismantling internally displaced people's camps. The scars of war, however, linger. Samuel Okello, a 17-year-old orphan, has to fend for himself and two siblings:

"We came to the camp, and started getting food aid from WFP [UN World Food Programme]. We also used to work in the fields to earn money to supplement the food rations. Well-wishers used to help us. I decided to drop out of school, because if I continued, I would not have been able to help my younger brothers.

"We decided that they should continue with their education. We are still in the camp. We don’t know where the village is, but we have been told by our aunt that it is in Oliti. Our aunt too lost her husband, and she could not take us with her. In fact, she has since come back to the camp. We can't return to the village alone.

"I cook for my brothers who are in school. I have to buy clothes for them and myself. At school, they beg for money. I have to work in the fields [in order] to find money to pay for their education.

"I planted some beans, but after I harvested some, heavy rains started and the rest has since been destroyed by the floods. Some agencies like [Caritas] came and helped us with some items like mattresses and cooking utensils, but it was not enough.

"Our problem now is food. We are young so we cannot cultivate big portions of land [in order] to plant food. We have no ox-drawn ploughs. We can only use hand hoes to do all the digging.

"I wish [that] the government could construct a house for us and give us a plough and an ox. We need an income-generating activity to rebuild our life [in order] to survive.”