World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - (Page 19)

HeiFer in uganda to be shared equally. And we want to be in the cabinet. And we want to be an important people.” “So sometimes when they say this, you can see the reason for fighting. And sometimes you can feel hope.” The streets were dark when I went out early the next morning. The people of Gulu were sleeping well during this tentative peace. It was early in the morning, and I had to catch an early bus back to Kampala. The stalls were empty. The cars and trucks that normally choked the streets were locked behind their gates. Here and there a dog picked through the trash. I could also hear music: a group from the capital called the Obsession Girls had been playing all night long. At 2:30 in the morning I climbed on the bus, thinking it would leave at 3 a.m. But 3 came and went, as did 4 and 5. I drifted in and out of sleep, and my thoughts came back to the carpet seller and his question: Isn’t it a little in their system? H The questions “Who are we?” and “Who are they?” lie at the heart of many conflicts across Africa and the world. War may indeed be in their system, but it is only because the system is still being built. Its foundations are still settling. Its lines are still being drawn. Its cake is still being cut up even as it’s baked. But even today, many of the recent conflicts have subsided and something like hope has taken root in places like Gulu, southern Sudan, Liberia, Angola and other places. The United Nations reported a 6 percent decrease in the number of refugees in Africa in 2007, and the continent as a whole posted five consecutive years of higher-than-expected economic growth. Finally, hours late, our bus roared to life and we lurched out of town, past the shops that were opening, the goats that were grazing, the refugee camps that seemed mostly empty, and finally out onto the open road. But the road from Gulu to Kampala is never an easy journey, and there were many hardships along the way: Our bus hit a pothole so big two people cracked their heads on the luggage rack above. A window shattered and blew all over the face of the schoolgirl sitting next to it. Our brakes went out and we had to wait for another bus to come along. Finally, as we sped along there was a loud Crack! from the back of the bus as one of our back right tires blew out. I waited for the bus to stop, but the driver kept his foot on the accelerator. The tire rubbed on the underside of the bus: whoom! whoom! whoom! Looking around, no one seemed to be bothered. Then, after about half an hour, the tire fell off and all was quiet again as the bus kept rolling on. Together, we all kept our eyes ahead, not knowing what else might slow us down, but also knowing that no matter how long it took, someday we would get there. Frank Bures is an award-winning journalist who writes frequently about Africa. He currently lives in Minneapolis. Find more of his work at www.frankbures.com. www.heifer.org eifer International began work in Uganda in 1982, after civil wars left the economy in ruins. The country program helped to reintegrate soldiers and their families into civilian life and provide them with options for sustainable economic improvement. Heifer Uganda has maintained a presence in northern Uganda despite the region’s 20-year insurgency by the Lord’s Resistance Army. More than 1,300 families here have received dairy cows from Heifer Uganda and have been able to improve their livelihoods amid the chaos. The main goal of Heifer Uganda is to alleviate human suffering by improving food security and nutrition, and to increase household incomes of marginalized people. A total of 15,159 households have benefited directly from Heifer Uganda support, and almost a million people have benefited indirectly through training, breeding services and marketing services. To learn more about Heifer’s work, visit www.heifer.org. Mary Nalwadda, 75, of Kigo, Uganda, received a goat from Heifer Uganda’s Kitenga Goat Project. She is the guardian for her four orphaned grandchildren. Photo by Darcy Kiefel November/December 2008 | WORLD ARK 19 http://www.heifer.org http://www.frankbures.com http://www.heifer.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008

World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 Contents Letters For the Record The Good Life Asked and Answered Finding Peace in Africa Sierra Leone on the Mend The Roma: A People Apart Mixed Media Heifer Bulletin Heifer Spirit Calendar First Person

World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008

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