TEN YEARS OF PEACE!!!

Can you believe that it's been 10+ years since we started our Peace Ministry!  God has done so much in that time.

We are now preparing a 10 year Celebration of Peace in Nakayot Peace Village. It will be a 3 day event, beginning with a Peace Trek from Lomoruchubai to the Nakayot, the journey we took to open the road to peace building. Then we will have a Celebration meal together, then an overnight Prayer and Praise time around the open fire. We expect 800 people to join us on these activities.

The next day will be the actual Ceremony of Celebration with the community and the local offficials. This will end in a huge meal, feeding, we expect, over 2000! An audio-visual historical presentation will go through the process that God did in getting the Pian and Bokora to settle together in Peace.

The final day, we will have a Peace Church Service, led by our Bishop Abura. This will be a time to worship together and praise God for what He has done.

We hope that many from the US will also come for these celebrations! God has done miracles in the lives of the Karamojong, and we would love to celebrate His Power and Love with you! Pray, Come, or Give to help it happen!

Write to us at africavet@yahoo.com to get more information.

Peace be With You!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Giving Peace a Chance

The Karamojong are a cattle-based culture and cattle rustling has been a common tradition for generations. Traditionally, stealing of cattle was done on a lower level under the guidance of village elders, specifically to replace herds that had died from drought or epidemics or were stolen.  Bows and arrows and spears were the main weapons and rarely did anyone get killed.  In the 1970’s, young men gained access to AK-47’s following the overthrow of Obote. With such fire power, the youth could now bypass the village elders and raid neighboring villages on their own, often seeking animals for dowry and prestige.  At that time the bride price escalated from 15 cows to around a 100.  In those first years of the gun, the Karamojong raided neighboring tribes (Turkana, Teso, Pokot, Sabiny, Acholi and Langi), but when the Ugandan Army intervened in these inter-tribal conflicts, Karamojong warriors turned on other Karamojong sub-tribes.   Tens of thousands of Karamojong have been killed since that time.  As the death toll increased, anger and bitterness precipitated revenge attacks between the sub-tribes.

Since 1996, Dr. Val Shean, a veterinary missionary and her team with CLIDE Consultancy (Community Livestock Integrated Development Consultancy), have been developing a rapport with the Karamojong herdsmen and traditional healers by treating their livestock, training them in livestock health, as well as assisting them in developing their traditional herbal veterinary medicines into modern medicines among other activities.   The CLIDE team is comprised of 11 members from 3 of the sub-tribes of the Karamojong and two neighboring tribes which have often been the victims of raiding (Teso and Kumam).   During the last decade, members of CLIDE Consultancy trained 100’s of herdsmen and traditional healers in sustainable livestock development.  This set the stage for deeper relationships of trust, and allowed CLIDE to open the dialogue to peace.

Peace Building Strategy:

In 2007, after 11 years gaining their trust, CLIDE Consultancy came together with the Church of Uganda: Karamoja Diocese to meet with the raiding communities and consult them on the roadmap that they envisioned to peace.  Following discussions on both sides of the conflict, it was decided to embark upon a community based peace resettlement programme, based on a 3-part strategy:

1. Social Work.  Caring for victims of war and poverty

2. Capacity Building.  Training in peacemaking and alternative livelihoods to reduce war and poverty.

3. Psycho-social Transformation.    Empowering tribal elders and warriors to bring community based peace to their people.

Following a brief baseline survey, strategic community-based interventions were planned by CLIDE and COU: Karamoja, in the major raiding corridors of Bokora County (“no-man’s lands”), in an effort to breakdown the largest pockets of insecurity, and empower the local people to mitigate the conflicts.  In this way, the conflicting Bokora and Pian warriors would be physically blocked from passing through the corridors, and discouraged by the local people who would have an interest in benefitting from the strategic interventions in the “no-man’s lands”.

Plans:

CLIDE plans to continue monitoring and working with the people of Nakayot, Nabwal and the new peace village between Nakayot and Lotome, in order to maintain the peaceful settlements and promote unity and harmony as the sites expand.  The activities that would be necessary include:

1. Peace Meetings and Training with peace builders from each village.  
2. Community dialogues on pressing issues. 
3. Community forums twice a year for the community at large.
4. Monitoring the peace villages. 
5. Improved communications and mobility of Peace Builders
6. Food for Work/ Food for Assets

Read some Stories of Peace Building