Modern warriors in Karamoja fight faceless, limitless and seemingly insurmountable modern enemies — and they do so without spear or gun. Instead of bringing in more rustled cattle and loot, they help give education to children and water sources to villages. With pen and keypad, they inform Uganda and the wider world about Karamoja and attempt to give balance to centuries of misunderstandings and prejudices.
They are unsung heroes who combat poverty, environmental degradation, instability, hunger, hatred, ignorance and persecution. They are the educated few and elite Karimojong who have returned to their communities to educate and to lead, knowing that they must maintain the edgy balance between cultural sensitivity and iron-willed resolve, between tradition and radical reformation.
As the Karimojong are at a crossroads in their history, the growing need for such leaders is too great to fathom. Nevertheless, there are many who have made a considerable difference given their scant resources. In Karamoja.com’s first exclusive articles, a cross-section of three Karimojong modern warriors speak about the pressing issues in Karamoja and their visions for peace, stability, sustainable development and conservation in the region.
Even though they are all Karimojong, the three come from vastly different backgrounds and disciplines, representing UNICEF, Uganda Wildlife Authority and the independent press among them. Phillips Limlim Lomma, Daniel Aleper and Sylvester Onyang could each fill up his own book with his personal stories and reflections on Karimojong culture and heritage. For now, they have been kind enough to answer a few questions and send in their dispatches from northern Uganda.
Co-author of Karamoja; Uganda’s Land of Warrior Nomads, Jeremy O’Kasick, conducted the interviews.
Philips Limlim Lomma
Philips Limlim Lomma has an everyday vision of the future of Karamoja as a regional project officer for United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF). He has also served as a district planner, monitoring and evaluating all local government programmes in Moroto District. He grew up in Lorukumo Village in Moroto District and went on to attend Moroto High School, Makerere University in Kampala, and the Canadian Christian Medical Institute, where he received multiple academic awards. As an operations consultant, Lomma has worked exhaustively for the welfare and education of children in Karamoja.
Co-author of Karamoja; Uganda’s Land of Warrior Nomads, Jeremy O’Kasick, conducted the interview with Mr Lomma.
O’Kasick: What kind of work does UNICEF do in Karamoja, and what are the challenges in advocating for Karimojong children in Uganda?
Lomma: I have been working with UNICEF for four years as a project officer in the conflict-affected northern region of Uganda. I am working on the education campaign that was launched in Kotido District in February of 2007. It is intended to mobilise children to go to school, explore retention strategies and have them complete primary education. Last year, UNICEF Uganda established a regional zone office in Moroto to closely monitor and maintain a constant dialogue with the children service providers in the attainment of children’s and women’s rights. In particular, UNICEF has stepped up its protective programming in Karamoja, and has been involved now in resettlement of the Karimojong children from the streets of Kampala.
One thing that needs to be understood by decision makers in this process is the long
protracted marginalisation of the Karimojong people. This marginalisation has been built and socialised from generation to generation to the extent that even when young generations have reached the decision-making echelon in one way or another they have no commitment to seriously pull out Karamoja from what it is today.
O’Kasick: What are the most pressing issues for children in Karamoja, and what are the barriers for children receiving education in Karamoja?
Lomma: First, in the short term, survival, food, health and protection against harm and, secondly, is having a vast majority of the children come to school (currently just about 25 percent of them are in school), retain them and have them complete primary cycle of education. Education in Karamoja needs to be understood in the context of household survival mechanism—I like to call it household survival equilibrium—as in every member of the household including children from the age of 6 are involved on daily basis in some activity to have the family survive or simply have them have something to eat: boys look after animals; girls fetch water, grind cereals; the father does the planning for what is next and ensures security; the mother does the supervision and household chores. Hence, removing one part of the system will destabilise the equilibrium.
In addition to these analyses, there are other complementing bottlenecks to children accessing education in Karamoja: (a) Relevance of the curriculum and distance to school. (Can a 6-year-old walk 14 kilometres a day to and fro?) (b) To some extent, there is complacency and lack of "real" commitment on the part of duty bearers (government, donors, etc) in most cases for fear of costs. (c) To convince the local community, which must place immediate survival over the long term, benefits of education, to comprehend the benefits of education in the immediate. But instead even those who have gone and
completed primary school still come back home bare-handed. (d) It is even worse for girls who are seen by society as a source of survival and wealth.
O’Kasick: So is this preventing the Karimojong from realising any of the benefits of development in Uganda whatsoever?
Lomma: Not a majority of the Karimojong have assimilated into the modern culture, given that very few go to school, which is a vehicle to modern culture. Even for, let’s say, 1 percent of them who assimilated there is no clear evidence of total change in culture. They still marry traditionally, initiate to become men, and girls are married for more or less the same "price" whether they have been to school or not.
O’Kasick: How has HIV/AIDS affected Karamoja?
Lomma: Overall, Karamoja still has a low prevalence of HIV. The sentinel site surveillance based on pregnant women as a proxy and the prevalence survey showed Karamoja had a low prevalence of HIV, with less than 1 percent and 4 percent, respectively. The prevalence survey included the Teso Region. However, the influx of young girls to towns, search for water and pasture in other communities, such as the Teso, Lango and Acholi, petty business trade in trading centres, are among the greatest potential risks for an increase in the incidence of HIV among the Karimojong, and they usually do not know their status.
O’Kasick: How have the Karimojong been persecuted and neglected in Uganda?
Lomma: Like many other pastoralist communities, the Karimojong have been neglected as a consequence from the colonial administration, which locked Karamoja out of the rest of the world for the protective excuse that it was a dangerous area to go. Yet the colonial government had a comfortable regional headquarters in Moroto. It was said to be a human zoo. So for the Kabaka (King) from Buganda, prime minister and subsequent leaders since colonialism, Karamoja was a “no go” area and a forgotten place. In effect,
many Ugandans today have not been exposed to the Karimojong culture to truly appreciate the good and even the bad.
has an everyday vision of the future of Karamoja as a regional project officer for United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF). He has also served as a district planner, monitoring and evaluating all local government programmes in Moroto District. He grew up in Lorukumo Village in Moroto District and went on to attend Moroto High School, Makerere University in Kampala, and the Canadian Christian Medical Institute, where he received multiple academic awards. As an operations consultant, Lomma has worked exhaustively for the welfare and education of children in Karamoja.
Co-author of Karamoja; Uganda’s Land of Warrior Nomads, Jeremy O’Kasick, conducted the interview with Mr Lomma.
O’Kasick: What kind of work does UNICEF do in Karamoja, and what are the challenges in advocating for Karimojong children in Uganda?
Lomma: I have been working with UNICEF for four years as a project officer in the conflict-affected northern region of Uganda. I am working on the education campaign that was launched in Kotido District in February of 2007. It is intended to mobilise children to go to school, explore retention strategies and have them complete primary education. Last year, UNICEF Uganda established a regional zone office in Moroto to closely monitor and maintain a constant dialogue with the children service providers in the attainment of children’s and women’s rights. In particular, UNICEF has stepped up its protective programming in Karamoja, and has been involved now in resettlement of the Karimojong children from the streets of Kampala.
One thing that needs to be understood by decision makers in this process is the long
protracted marginalisation of the Karimojong people. This marginalisation has been built and socialised from generation to generation to the extent that even when young generations have reached the decision-making echelon in one way or another they have no commitment to seriously pull out Karamoja from what it is today.
O’Kasick: What are the most pressing issues for children in Karamoja, and what are the barriers for children receiving education in Karamoja?
Lomma: First, in the short term, survival, food, health and protection against harm and, secondly, is having a vast majority of the children come to school (currently just about 25 percent of them are in school), retain them and have them complete primary cycle of education. Education in Karamoja needs to be understood in the context of household survival mechanism—I like to call it household survival equilibrium—as in every member of the household including children from the age of 6 are involved on daily basis in some activity to have the family survive or simply have them have something to eat: boys look after animals; girls fetch water, grind cereals; the father does the planning for what is next and ensures security; the mother does the supervision and household chores. Hence, removing one part of the system will destabilise the equilibrium.
In addition to these analyses, there are other complementing bottlenecks to children accessing education in Karamoja: (a) Relevance of the curriculum and distance to school. (Can a 6-year-old walk 14 kilometres a day to and fro?) (b) To some extent, there is complacency and lack of "real" commitment on the part of duty bearers (government, donors, etc) in most cases for fear of costs. (c) To convince the local community, which must place immediate survival over the long term, benefits of education, to comprehend the benefits of education in the immediate. But instead even those who have gone and
completed primary school still come back home bare-handed. (d) It is even worse for girls who are seen by society as a source of survival and wealth.
O’Kasick: So is this preventing the Karimojong from realising any of the benefits of development in Uganda whatsoever?
Lomma: Not a majority of the Karimojong have assimilated into the modern culture, given that very few go to school, which is a vehicle to modern culture. Even for, let’s say, 1 percent of them who assimilated there is no clear evidence of total change in culture. They still marry traditionally, initiate to become men, and girls are married for more or less the same "price" whether they have been to school or not.
O’Kasick: How has HIV/AIDS affected Karamoja?
Lomma: Overall, Karamoja still has a low prevalence of HIV. The sentinel site surveillance based on pregnant women as a proxy and the prevalence survey showed Karamoja had a low prevalence of HIV, with less than 1 percent and 4 percent, respectively. The prevalence survey included the Teso Region. However, the influx of young girls to towns, search for water and pasture in other communities, such as the Teso, Lango and Acholi, petty business trade in trading centres, are among the greatest potential risks for an increase in the incidence of HIV among the Karimojong, and they usually do not know their status.
O’Kasick: How have the Karimojong been persecuted and neglected in Uganda?
Lomma: Like many other pastoralist communities, the Karimojong have been neglected as a consequence from the colonial administration, which locked Karamoja out of the rest of the world for the protective excuse that it was a dangerous area to go. Yet the colonial government had a comfortable regional headquarters in Moroto. It was said to be a human zoo. So for the Kabaka (King) from Buganda, prime minister and subsequent leaders since colonialism, Karamoja was a “no go” area and a forgotten place. In effect,
many Ugandans today have not been exposed to the Karimojong culture to truly appreciate the good and even the bad.
