Day 1 with CPA

11/12/07 Blog

“Munu, Munu!!” is what I heard being called after me most of today (Monday). I started my field research today. I met with my contact at Concerned Parents’ Association this morning and we laid out a “program” for the week. I also met with Stephen, the man who will be translating for me. Then we rode on a motorbike (aka motorcycle) out to 2 IDP camps to meet with the CPA contacts there. The motorbike ride took about an hour to get to the first camp. The children flocked around us, screaming, “Hi Munu!” The camp was quite large and very cramped. It was kind of like stepping into the pages of a National Geographic. Small children running around naked. Women carrying water, baskets and firewood on their heads. Mud walls and thatched grass roofs for homes. Stephen commented that life in the camps is very hard. The people rely on outside food aid because there is nowhere for them to farm. Everyone is hoping that the peace talks, which are going on currently will bring permanent peace to the North so that everyone can return to their homelands and begin sustaining themselves again. They hope that peace will also bring better schools back into the North and that children will be safe to go to school again.

At the next camp, we had to stop at the sub-county office to get permission to be in the camp, but this was not a problem. The CPA contact at this camp seemed excited about the work being done. He agreed to help with our work and to bring a group a girls on Thursday when we are scheduled to return to that camp. We drove through the camp site so that I could see what it is like. I felt a little like I was on display. Not only were we on a motorbike in the middle of a place where more people don’t have any mode of transportation besides walking, but I am also white….or “munu” as they call us. Most people smiled and waved. The children ran after us, smiling and waving and yelling things in Lwo at the ‘munu” that I could not understand.

It’s been a good first day. Thank you for your prayers about all this. It looks as though the interviews are going to come through, after all! Pray for the women who will be interviewed – that they will be willing to share and that I will have wisdom in knowing how to care for them during our time together. I think that Stephen will be a good translator and comrade on this journey this week. Pray that he has the right words to say also. I am excited about the next few days and what they will hold and will do my best to keep you all on the other side of “the pond” (aka the Atlantic) informed as best as I can. Thank you so much for all of your support and prayers. I can both feel and see them working, even as I type this. Blessings and peace to you.