Karamoja: A Place to Go

Carlos OLAAKA  Children of Karamoja In my nature, I like challenges and I am a bit adventurous. At church, different mission trips have been organized to Kabale, Luwero Island (Mukono District), Kasese…but I did not join. When it came to Karamoja, I said:” This is the place where I have to go.” When he left Kampala, Carlos (29 years old) , Systems Engineer and Tour Operator by profession, had on his mind to take the gospel to the people in Karamoja. He had heard about Karamoja before, but being there in real, seeing the extreme poverty challenged him: people have no food, have few clothes (1 or 2) … hence as it is said in Mathew 6: 25 –26, “…not to worry about what to eat, drink, wear…the birds in the air do not sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns, yet our heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?” At one hand, even if they have almost nothing, the people we visited were contented with the little they have; while, us, we are quite the opposite: when you have UGX 10,000 (Ugandan Shillings), you want UGX 50, 000. If you have a bicycle you want a boda boda (motor bike in Luganda), when you have a boda boda you want a car… and so on.   Cattle, Kaabong On the other hand, Karamajong people are still yearning for more, if one has five cows, he wants more and steal them from his neigbours. In order to bring peace in Karamoja, the government carried on disarmament in the region, starting from the North in Kaabong where the Dodoth tribe (cattle keepers) live. Their neighbours, the Gher tribe from the South, in Kotido, (they are also cattle keepers) take that advantage to attack them and steal their cows, because some of them are still armed. I found the whole situation very alarming, what are they fighting for? Those animals they are fighting to have no grass, no water, they are so skinny!   The other facet of Karamoja Friendly face   From the perceptions we had, I was expecting to see naked people, intimidating, very dangerous. But people around towns were dressed, (I guess in some areas may be there are some tribes who are naked) they are very nice and friendly. Particularly, I was impressed by the Ik tribe. They are about 1 ,500 people and live in the hills of Timu. Their land is green, they have rain, they live by cultivating, hunting and sometimes they get aid from the WFP, World Food Program. They are not concerned about cattle, their philosophy being that animals/cattle are the source of trouble, better not to keep them and live in peace. Besides, they are morally well behaved; one man is married to one wife for the rest of his life; which is not always the case in other areas of Karamoja. Telling people about Jesus, seeing them come to Him, was a great joy   Kaabong, 2009   Poverty in Kaabong is so severe. People have no food, no water; they walk for long distances from a place to another, to search for water, to go to church or to school. For instance at Moronguli Primary School, where children are aged from 4 years to 15 years old, they were sharing porridge poured in dirty small jerry cans! It is for this reason parents send their children to school, to make sure that they get at least a meal of porridge.   Old jerrican are useful in Karamoja In the face of that poverty, I learnt to trust God more, I learnt to share something else than material things: the Gospel. I was very touched to see these people, who live in such harsh conditions, and accepting God as their Lord and Saviour, being aware that it was not going to be easy. I was not alone, we were in a team with other Calvary Chapel members and among 80 people who gathered around that day, 60 accepted Jesus! It was overwhelming. There is also a young guy that touched me in a special way. Originally, he is not from Karamoja, he works in that region for an NGO. I had a chat with him, told him about salvation and he told me that he is a good man, does no harm, behaves well, briefly he tried to convince me that he was not a sinner and hence does not need Jesus in his life. Our conversation turned in this” question-answer” approach: Me: young man, have you ever stolen sugar when you were a child? Young man: yes, there is no child that never did it. Me: let’s just focus on you and not others. Have you ever committed adultery? Young man: No Me: the Bible says, one that has lust, has already committed adultery Young man: then if you put it that way, I think I have committed adultery more than once. Me: have you ever committed murder? Young man: oh no! Never, it has never crossed my mind. Me: the Bible says, if you hate your brother/neigbour, you have already committed murder Young man: then I think I did. Me: it means that you have admitted that you are an adulterous thief and a murderer. Are you fine with that person inside you? Young man: No not at all, and I realize that I am not that clean, I am a sinner     Later on, the young man accepted Jesus into his life and invited us to his home to talk to his housemates and colleagues. Two of his colleagues were Christians, who basically had backslidden. We talked to them, and they understood that they can hide on the face (continue to go to church, saying that they are Christians), but cannot hide in their hearts. We left them with books, advised them to start reading the Bible and pray together.   Living in Karamoja Karamoja has stolen my heart, and that is the reason why I will not miss the next mission there in September, and I would like to go back and visit people we met, people we shared the Gospel with and see how they are dealing with their new life in Jesus Christ.