Tagebücher aus Uganda

Bei IRIN-News sind einige Artikel von Menschen aus dem Norden Ugandas zu finden (genannt „Uganda Diaries„), die über ihr Leben nach dem Krieg berichten. Jahrzehntelang war die Gegend geprägt von Angst und grausamster Gewalt durch die Rebellen der LRA. Nicht nur das Land und die Dörfer wurden verwüstet, auch viele Menschen, seelische wie körperliche Qualen und Ängste. HIV, Verstümmelungen, Hunger, Tod… -das sind die Erfahrungen vieler Tausend Menschen im Norden Ugandas.

Nun macht sich zögerlich doch hoffnungsvoll Frieden da oben breit, doch was machen die Menschen? Was prägt sie? Wie und wodurch schöpfen sie Hoffnung? IRIN hat ein paar Menschen begleitet und Beispiele genannt.

Monica Atto, was abducted by the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) as a child but escaped and now lives in a suburb of Gulu, northern Uganda, with her five children, eking out a living making paper beads.

October 2009
“ I no longer stay at the Child Protection Unit in Gulu town; I left last June after four years. I was told to leave by the army officer in charge, who said they could no longer accommodate me because my husband was no longer working at the unit.
I am now living in Gulu town. I am staying in a three-room house built by World Vision. They provided me with the shelter because I have nowhere to go with my children.
I am still struggling although I thank God I have a house. The biggest burden now is school fees for my children and how to feed the five orphans under my care since my sister passed away two years ago. […]

Eine andere Frau, Esther Lalam erzählt aus dem Jahr 2007:

HIV

My husband stayed with a nurse and she died. So I thought the worst and when I was giving birth to my last child I bled for two days. I knew there was something wrong, I was so weak.
And so I went for a test. Of course I was positive. My husband refused [a test] and died a short time later.
I was so weak. I could not walk much, not even in the school where I was teaching. I explained to the head-mistress after coming from the hospital. She was very understanding and reduced my workload so that I was just teaching 40 minutes a day for three years.
For three years it was getting really bad. I had so many complications like malaria and coughing. I was taken to hospital all the time. I thought I was dying and I told my mother, ‘I feel I’m so weak I will not be with you or the children for long’.

But in 2003 I started an anti-retroviral programme from the hospital in Kitgum town. People had tried to dissuade me, talking about the side effects, saying it would kill me but I found my courage. What did I have to lose?
My mother came to the clinic with me and had a lesson on how to help me through the difficult times. The night after I started I was in such a lot of pain I could barely breathe. My mother stayed with me and said if they kill you, let me die too. But after two weeks I started eating little by little. I started walking after one month. And in two months I was working again. It was really miraculous.

Though I am HIV positive now I feel as other people feel. I now have a real hope of living – more than I ever thought possible before.
Now I’m growing groundnuts and cassava and good food is something very important for people on ARVs with HIV.
I never thought that I would have a chance to dig my fields again but with the drugs and the peace it’s like I have my life back.
They’ve just started to distribute ARVs at the local health centre. Those who are getting the ARVs are still returning to the resettlement sites; it just means that you go for one day to the health centre. Most of the clients who need ARVs get them. People aren’t complaining that they are missing them.

But what would I say to the Health Minister if he was here? People who are getting ARVs are very discouraged when they hear there are problems of supplies and we hear that a lot. The drugs from the government are at risk of running out. But we need consistency, we need to know we can rely on the supply because for us it’s a matter of life and death. Without them we have no hope for life.

Es gibt noch viel zu tun in diesem Land. Doch es gibt Hoffnung. Es ist kein gottvergessenes Land und die Menschen haben einen starken Lebenswillen, trotz der harten Geschichte.

[Quellen: IRIN, wikipedia]