Agriculture helps a family to pick up the pieces after the war

Because of the war, the once flourishing home of Mr John Obalo in Keyo Lelem Village, Amuru district, (north – east of Gulu town) was reduced to a bush and in 2001 was herded into the internally displaced people’s camp of Awere.

Life before the camps
The Obalos were subsistence farmers and reared local cows, goats and chicken. The food grown was mainly for their consumption. One day Patrick Aliker (now deceased) advised Betty to join Palema Chwal Diang Women’s Group which means Palema Send a Cow. “We hardly had enough food; milk was a rare commodity in this house. Our children didn’t have decent clothing, sanitation was poor. We did not have a decent pit latrine, washing hands after using the toilet was not our way. Disease was a regular visitor in our home. In this village, my husband and I were renowned for our regular fights,” confesses Betty. Apparently they fought all the time, even over petty things.

However, the fights between John and Betty ceased when she became a member of Palema Chwal Diang. “My mindset changed. I got to understand that I was the most stubborn among my husband’s three wives and lacked knowledge. I was trained in gender relations, sustainable organic agricultural practices and livestock management. Before long, I was given a pregnant cow and three months later, it produced a female calf,” Betty reveals.

The group’s rules says that you are compelled to pass on the first female offspring to another farmer. This she did and within a short time, she became one of the best farmers and was sent for further training in Lira and Soroti on exchange visits. When her co-wives saw the way she was transforming her homestead through agriculture, they also joined the group. She was commissioned as a farmer trainer and was given a bicycle to be able to visit all the farmers in her cluster. But her steady rise was interrupted when the rebels attacked the village. They were given 28 hours to abandon their home and go to Awere camp. She nearly lost all that she had achieved except for the cow.

Life in the camp
The family then started staying in Awere camp; just three kilometres from their home, During that time she was nursing a two-year -old baby – Brian Opio who is now 10 years. “Abandoning our home was the most difficult thing to do. We had granaries and our cows were doing well. I was getting 20 litres of milk per day from my heifer. My senior co-wife had also gotten a cow and she was getting about 18 litres a day while the younger co- wife was getting about 15 litres. We did not know what to do with the animals once in the camp,” she narrates.“We decided to just move with our animals. Interestingly, rebels would attack, burn the huts but our animals were never touched. Whereas the price for milk from our animals increased while in the camp, the milk dwindled because the animals were not getting proper feeding.”

Worse still, her son, Francis Akela who was 14 years was abducted in 2005 while her daughter Concy Aromorach got pregnant in 2008 at the age of 15 and her (Aromorach) husband died. While trying so hard to hold back tears she laments that, “The pain of losing your child to rebels is the last thing that should happen to a mother, I used to cry for him day and night hoping he would come back, but with support of other group members I was able to go through the challenge, but I am still waiting for him. I don’t know if he is still alive. I hope one day he will come back.” Though the Obalo’s home was nearby, they could not access the food in the gardens. Their food was rotting in the gardens as children slept hungry. Everyone was at the mercy of relief agencies. During that time, her children never went to school and that is why Obalo’s daughter got pregnant.

She says that, “We waited on death everyday. Rebels would strike at least three times in a week. It was very difficult to discipline children while in the camp. That is why today, they regard death to be normal and sex a casual thing. We were in a big prison. But with the grace of God, I got friends in the army who would help us get grass on the fringes of the camp to feed the animals. That is how my cow survived,” Betty also practiced some of the skills she had acquired earlier. For instance, most people were dying from diarrhoea because of poor sanitation and hygiene. She says her family members survived because she enforced home hygiene like washing hands after visiting the toilet among other things.

Life after the camp
It is now a year since the Obalos left the Awere camp. They are picking the pieces of the family’s broken pot, although piecing it together is a daunting task. The family’s friends, who did not abandon Betty while in the camp are still with her.“It is difficult to start all over again but what can we do? We are thankful to our friends who have started off from where we stopped in 2002. Since we left the camp, Send a Cow has been helping us restoring our hope. We are getting a lot of psycho-social support. Extension workers check on the group members thrice a week. I have been encouraged to redo the Lorena stove. I have revived my vegetable gardens and I am now involved with the community as a peer farmer. We have embarked on agriculture but more importantly, my husband and the rest of the family is busy trying to rebuild our home again,” Betty says. Today, she is involved in savings and credit, selling of pawpaws, onions, groundnuts and with her savings her children are now back in school and her husband has even given his life to God.

Biggest change
She is proud to say that she can have vegetables anytime and disease is something of the past. The various vegetable gardens supplement the family’s nutrition. She is involved in constructing Lorena energy saving stoves in various homes at a cost of Shs5,000. Though her cow has now reduced in milk production, she sells about 15 litres everyday which fetches her about Shs8,000 per day. Betty also constructs chairs from bricks and wattle at a cost of Shs5000 per two seats. She has an account in the bank which is improving every month so she plans to buy iron sheets. She wants children to study up to university. The family hopes to later engage ox-plough to increase production.

She enjoys the freedom that was denied while in the camps for a period of seven years. Her husband adds that now the family gathers together every evening, they light a fire and teach the young norms of the land and monthly income, she reveals is more than Shs400,000. Hers is a success story that has been made possible because of her commitment, hard work and determination.