There was a country in Africa where the sun shone, the rivers flowed and the green plants flourished; where a civilization had slowly grown from the days of the Queen of Sheba, absorbing different tribes and religions, and retaining its character through the colonial era and beyond; whose university was a light and whose doctors, scientists and teachers were among the best trained on the continent. This country was Uganda, 'the pearl of Africa'.
Today the sun still shines, the rivers still flow, and the green plants are being cultivated once more after two decades of home-grown violence had brought agriculture, as well as industry, to a virtual standstill. The present government fought its way to power, as had previous regimes. Its intention was to establish peace and liberty among a battered people. For the ordinary person, some of the load has been lifted: the army is no longer licensed to rob, loot and shoot civilians; goods are returning to the market stalls and shop shelves; electricity often works, letters get through and there are telephones in place.
It is too soon to know whether the government's goals of no corruption, no revenge and a united country will be reached. The pressures created by history and contemporary realities seem almost unmanageable. It takes time for tribes which have fought each other to learn to trust, for civil servants who have functioned under despots to regain their confidence, for mothers who have lost husband and home to rebuild their families, for children who have known only brutality to learn the ground-rules of humane living, for an inflation-ridden economy to settle into sanity. Difficult decisions, financial and political, have been taken. Some Ugandans are determined that the present government shall succeed, some are equally determined that it shall not. The outside world is similarly split.
The truth is that a civilization has been shattered, and is in need of rebuilding. This goes beyond the realms of politics and power. No leader, however enlightened, will be able to create a stable structure until new foundations have been laid. On two recent visits, I continually heard the phrase 'moral rehabilitation'. Some Ugandans went so far as to say that it was the prime need, even before material and social rehabilitation. Ugandans in all spheres are setting this process in motion.
There are myriad organizations housing, feeding and relocating the thousands of orphans, rescuing the teenage mothers, training youngsters in money-making skills. Schools, colleges and university are being manned by selfless educators who ignore disheartening conditions. Parents in the town donate money and time to rebuild schools in the devastated rural areas. Hospitals heal disease and wounds, and tend AIDS sufferers, gathering supplies from home and abroad. Churches and mosques steadily maintain worship, and their congregations undertake inter-communal social work.
The faith and courage of individual Ugandans puts more fortunate people to the blush. A great-grandfather, with 40 of his family around him, described how after a siege of his small house all four generations had fled to the bush. Then he added, 'But God has held us - isn't it wonderful?' A woman forced to watch her husband bleed to death told me that she had refused to identify the murderer: 'It would only have made another widow and more orphans.' A secretary decided not to marry but to bring up her five nieces and nephews, orphaned when three sisters were killed. She houses them and two other orphans in her single quarters in town, and to provide for them has added poultry-keeping and charcoal selling to her full-time job.
A young couple, recently married but with no jobs, decided neither to take bribes nor steal. They prayed, asking for direction. She took up crochet again, having never sold anything; customers appeared. She has trained others to be self-supporting in the same way. Both husband and wife are now in jobs, they have a nine-month-old daughter, live in a garage and hope for more spacious days. They are planning to set up a training centre to teach self-supporting skills and honesty.
A final-year student decided to forgive the relative who had killed her father, and gave herself courage for the conversation by rectifying a bitter relationship with an ex-boyfriend and returning the belongings which she had kept as revenge.
A student leader from Amen country said to group of fellow students, 'We from West Nile have been hated by every other tribe, and we have hated every other group. I want to apologize on behalf of my people. I want to give my peace of mind to people, so we can live together.' He and his friends from different regions of Uganda plan to apply this approach in rehabilitation work their own areas.
No corruption, no revenge, a united country such individual and collective courage is needed to make the vision a reality.
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