So, I have already kind of told you about my home at the Invisible Children compound, so I thought that I would tell you a bit about the town of Gulu. As soon as I walk outside the doors of the IC property, I’m in a completely different world! By American standards, Gulu is a very poor town. Most homes around the area are built with clay and have grass thatched roves. At present, you only really see a handful of these homes in small patches around the town; however, in the recent past you would have seen hundreds of homes like these packed tightly together in the form of IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camps. IDPs were essentially the government’s "solution" for families that lived in very rural areas, close to the bush, where it became too dangerous to live because of Kony’s rebel activity in those areas. While they may have provided a sense of safety, the close quarters brought with them poor hygiene, serious illness, and encouraged promiscuity, thus increasing the number of pregnancies and cases of HIV. Some IDP camps still exist, but they are much smaller, as most people have begun moving back home. Anyway, that was a really long way of describing grass-thatched homes. :) Other homes are a bit more sturdy, made of cement and brick, and usually intermingled with the grass-thatched huts. Most homes do not have electricity or running water. To get water for drinking, cleaning, bathing….whatever, 
women and children walk (sometimes miles) to the nearest bore hole with empty Jerry Cans which use to contain vegetable oil or motor oil, wait in line, then pump water into the Jerry Cans (probably 10 gallons) which the carry back on their HEADS, often also carrying babies on their backs at the same time.
Even with all of this perceived poverty, the people are so incredibly amazing. They have so much spirit and such a sense of community. As you walk down the street, you are greeted by almost everyone you come across, usually with this particular 3-part handshake and a good morning or hello. Sometimes they speak to me in English, testing their own English skills. Sometimes they speak to me in Luo, testing my knowledge of their language. In the two weeks that I have been here, I haven’t seen any beggars. I’ve had one person stop me, but even then he only asked for food. It’s so fascinating, the people here, though "poor," don’t look for any handouts and they don’t look for pity…I don’t think they even consider the fact that they could. Instead, everyone is selling something. Even if it’s just something small, they’re still earning their money in some way. In fact, we were specifically told when we got here NOT to give handouts and to be sure to barter for fair prices even if we can afford it, because ultimately all that does is hike up the prices for the locals who can’t afford those prices—it isn’t sustainable to just give away money. It is really weird though, arguing with a boda boda driver to drive you somewhere for 500 shillings ( ~ 25 cents) and not 1000 shillings (~ 50 cents) knowing that you are arguing over the equivalent of a quarter. Also, everyone here is SO incredibly resourceful. You need scaffolding to build a guard’s quarters (outside my house)? Make it out of bamboo. You need to staple 2 pieces of paper together (at my school)? Grab a piece of thread from some material and weave the two pieces of paper together. Once I needed a screwdriver to do a little surgery on my computer, and this worker at our house, Michael, just grabbed a piece of metal and filed it into a screwdriver….it did the trick…I would have gone to Sears. As another example, the students in class don’t have pencil sharpeners, so some of them actually use a razor blade and whittle the ends down until the pencil is pointy. Today, I was at the Gulu district track and field championship….think they went out and bought special Nike apparel and shoes? Nope. I’d say about 90% of them weren’t even wearing shoes as they ran the 100 meter race. Some of the girls were even wearing swim suits they found…not underarmor. It was fascinating.
women and children walk (sometimes miles) to the nearest bore hole with empty Jerry Cans which use to contain vegetable oil or motor oil, wait in line, then pump water into the Jerry Cans (probably 10 gallons) which the carry back on their HEADS, often also carrying babies on their backs at the same time.Even with all of this perceived poverty, the people are so incredibly amazing. They have so much spirit and such a sense of community. As you walk down the street, you are greeted by almost everyone you come across, usually with this particular 3-part handshake and a good morning or hello. Sometimes they speak to me in English, testing their own English skills. Sometimes they speak to me in Luo, testing my knowledge of their language. In the two weeks that I have been here, I haven’t seen any beggars. I’ve had one person stop me, but even then he only asked for food. It’s so fascinating, the people here, though "poor," don’t look for any handouts and they don’t look for pity…I don’t think they even consider the fact that they could. Instead, everyone is selling something. Even if it’s just something small, they’re still earning their money in some way. In fact, we were specifically told when we got here NOT to give handouts and to be sure to barter for fair prices even if we can afford it, because ultimately all that does is hike up the prices for the locals who can’t afford those prices—it isn’t sustainable to just give away money. It is really weird though, arguing with a boda boda driver to drive you somewhere for 500 shillings ( ~ 25 cents) and not 1000 shillings (~ 50 cents) knowing that you are arguing over the equivalent of a quarter. Also, everyone here is SO incredibly resourceful. You need scaffolding to build a guard’s quarters (outside my house)? Make it out of bamboo. You need to staple 2 pieces of paper together (at my school)? Grab a piece of thread from some material and weave the two pieces of paper together. Once I needed a screwdriver to do a little surgery on my computer, and this worker at our house, Michael, just grabbed a piece of metal and filed it into a screwdriver….it did the trick…I would have gone to Sears. As another example, the students in class don’t have pencil sharpeners, so some of them actually use a razor blade and whittle the ends down until the pencil is pointy. Today, I was at the Gulu district track and field championship….think they went out and bought special Nike apparel and shoes? Nope. I’d say about 90% of them weren’t even wearing shoes as they ran the 100 meter race. Some of the girls were even wearing swim suits they found…not underarmor. It was fascinating.
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