Riots
on Thea's Blog (Uganda), 17/Sep/2009 12:02, 34 days ago
I am pleased to say that I can now add riots to the catalogue of new experiences I am gathering in Uganda. Actually, that would be a little misleading. While for three days last week Kampala burned, shops were looted and 21 Ugandans were killed, I was holed up in the quiet, leafy, middle-class suburb of Muyenga wandering happily between the VSO office and a spotlessly clean hotel with an ensuite bath the size of a swimming pool. In my sheltered haven of luxury it was hard to imagine the mayhem being unleashed only a few miles down the road, particularly because there was something of a news blackout as TV and radio stations were taken off air for inciting violence. Perhaps it was a subconscious reaction to a subliminal fear, but I took the odd decision to have a pedicure (never done so in my life before) in the middle of all this chaos. Kampala’s streets might be covered in the black stains of burned out vehicles, but I have now got rid of the 2 months of dirt encrusted on my feet and have gleaming, peachy toenails.The reasons for the riots are bizarre but have sinister undertones. Superficially it was a reaction by the Bugandans against the government who had prevented the Kibaka, the Bugandan king, from attending some youth day celebrations in a particular district. The government said it was for the Kibaka’s protection as another ethnic group in the district, the Banyala, did not want the king to attend and had threatened violence. The Bugandans saw through this and took out their anger against the government’s heavy-handedness on the police and – more scarily – on anyone with a straight nosewho looked like they came from Museveni’s part of Uganda. This kind of violence hasn’t been seen in Uganda for a long time but there is a fear that it will increase as Museveni’s deliberate stirring of ethnic tensions mounts in direct proportion to his waning popularity.Meanwhile back at RFPJ, things have taken a turn for the worse. Vickie has decided to cut her hours to three or four a day so there is no longer much pretense that I actually have anyone to work with. The Chair, a priest and a schools inspector, was arrested and temporarily imprisoned last week for defiling a 16 year old. (I was also lucky enough to be on the receiving end of his attentions when I first arrived, but I managed to dampen his enthusiasm with a few firm text messages). Unfortunately, he is pretty much the only Board member who turns up for anything. I have written a 5-page tirade to VSO offering some thinly veiled‘constructive criticism’ of the flawed rationale behind my placement. While this might all sound a bit bleak, I haven't yet lost all hope for salvaging something good from my placement. Time will tell whether this can be realised. On the positive side, I am very happy to be back in the calming green countryside and my strawberry plants are coming on very well.