Interview with Mr. Tom Fred Obonyo
by Julie Ng
RE-zine: How long have you been working for the ACDA?
Mr. Obonyo: I have worked for the ACDA for two years and seven months up to date.
ACDA was founded in Agoro, Northern Uganda on the 27th of August 2001. Soon after its formation, the Association began to explore and develop contacts with charity organizations and NGOs (Non Government Organization) such as RESPECT International. Currently ACDA acts as coordinator for RESPECT in Northern Uganda.
RE-zine: Have things changed over the period of time you have been working at ACDA?
Mr. Obonyo: There is not much change in the region, the number of displacements have not lowered but keeps increasing. Therefore the situation remains pretty much the same.
However, the amnesty bill expired last year December but was extended for another three months. With this extension the communities that are still living in their villages have been told to leave as they have been threatened to get killed after the bill expires again.
People cannot move a long distance from the camp to look for land for cultivation, gathering firewood with fear that they can easily be killed or abducted by the rebels.
RE-zine: Could you please describe the living situation in the camp you are working in?
Mr. Obonyo: The living situation in Agoro IDPs camps is very poor. Camps are not a place people should live in.
Living in camps has developed many problems in this region. The camps face many problems that have to be dealt with every day:
- Lack of privacy results in shameful situations where parents conduct sexual intercourse in front of their children simply because of lack of room. Such behavior was not acceptable among the Acholi community culture. The people start to forget their norms and values.
- Lack of Education. Many parents cannot afford school fees or scholastics materials to put their children in school. This is most often the case for secondary schools where fees are required. However, since primary school charges no such fee, more children are able to be educated at the most basic level. Nevertheless the drop out rate keeps climbing due to a lack of teachers. There is one teacher for every 100 students.
- Poor healthcare services. Many children suffer from yellow fever, malaria, diarrhea, and worst of all is AIDS/HIV. In addition many children are orphans because they have lost their parents to the HIV virus.
- Other forms of living in the camps are, laziness, early marriage, under the influence, separation of families, poisoning, lack of food, poor bedding, poor shelter and the lost of respect and culture. Living in camps has made many become very lazy. There is not enough work.
- Camp life has increased the number of AIDS/HIV victims. Due to poverty many young girls look for an easy way to earn money by selling their bodies. This most often then not results in being infected with the deadly virus.
RE-zine: What is the range of incoming refugees you deal with every day?
Mr. Obonyo: The range of incoming refugees is around 50 to 150. Sometimes it rises above 150, this depending on how active the killings are by the rebels on the road.
RE-zine: Could you please describe your tasks at ACDA?
Mr. Obonyo: "When will Internal displacement End?"
My main tasks are to promote human rights, create awareness of internal displace persons, education, and health. Most of the communities, do not know their rights as a displaced person. They are being taught their rights of being arbitrarily displaced from his or her home or place of habitual residence. And their rights of protection during displacement. A displaced person has the right to be protected from:
- Genocide
- Murder
- Summary or battery execution
- enforced disappearance, including abduction or unacknowledged detention, threats or death.
RE-zine: What is your view on the global aid system for refugees? Do you think there is enough awareness?
Mr. Obonyo: The suffering of the people in the Acholi region has been neglected internationally. For example, the US government has been putting pressure on the leaders of countries like Sudan, DRC and Rwanda to improve the living situations, but has simply forgotten about Uganda. Does this mean that the Acholi are not human beings? A lot of money is wasted on firearms, but these guns have never been able to put an end on the suffering of the people in the region.
"WHEN WILL INTERNAL DISPLACEMENT END?" When the international community continues providing funds to the wrong governments not only do they support the rebels but do they also contribute to the continuous suffering of the Acholi people. The Global Aid system is not enough to support the living of the community.
RE-zine: What are the most prominent needs of the refugees?
Mr. Obonyo: They want to go home. Camp is not a place were people should stay, and we are not used to relief food, we also want to go back home. There is a saying in Acholi, that if the food you have given to children and they finish without any leftovers; it means they are not satisfied or the food was not enough. There is not enough to go round for every one. "People want to go back home, home is home, though food is scarce but it is home."
In addition, other needs are, bedding and shelter which are the most important part of life.
RE-zine: What kind of improvements is in urgent need?
Mr. Obonyo: Food supplies, the food supplied by the World Food Program is not nearly enough to feed every one and every day new displaced persons enter the camps.
Health care, health of the communities in the camps is very poor. Many NGOs are not focusing enough on this area. There is not enough clothing, especially for the children, which results in sickness.
Shelter and bedding, most of the communities in the camps use plastic sheets to cover themselves.
These are but several points that need urgent improvements part of a day-to-day living.