Glenna Gordon
10 October 2007
Karamoja — The more they travel with their cattle for water, the more likely they are to enter their neighbours' territories
"I drank water this morning from the lake," said Nakong, a small Karamojong boy who didn't know his age. He wore nothing but a dirty raincoat with tears, snapped once around the belly button and oft-repaired black slippers.
With a strip of goat hide tied around his neck, Nakong points to a small Euro1000 man-made lake just a few meters away, surrounded opportunistically by shrubs and trees.
Other boreholes, he says, are far, and he might not have had any water for the day had it not been for the lake.
Each borehole can serve between 300 to 700 people, and can be spaced many kilometers away. Lakes like this are rare and less frequent, as are naturally occurring bodies of water. Neither Nakong nor the group of thirsty cattle wandered by would have had anything to drink had it not been for the small lake.
Pastoralists by nature, the Karamojong often walk long distances in search of water for themselves and the cattle they depend on for barter, milk, and meat.
The arid landscape, drought prone, makes agriculture difficult and leaves cattle farming as the way of life.
The problem is, the more they travel with their cattle, the more likely they are to enter their neighbors' territories. Conflict often ensues as many Karamojong are armed, despite efforts by the Ugandan Army (UPDF) to take away their guns.
The Karamojong are a minority group in the remote northeastern corner of Uganda, bordering Sudan and Kenya, who have historically been marginalised by the colonialist and independent government regimes in Uganda. Development has skipped the region, making it one of the most malnourished places in Uganda - with the lowest school enrollment and worst development indicators.
While the rest of Africa is struggling with floods that are destroying crops and displacing countless families, in Karamoja, more rains now than there have been in ages, doesn't mean drought isn't coming, but it does mean some rest for now.
"There is always a struggle for water," said Paul Lochen, standing around with his friends Pili Nayiro and Zachary Lobur, who seemed to agree with his every word. The three men stood on the banks of a creek bed, usually dry but now with a meager stream, in Moroto town. "We fight. There are times we quarrel, but when it rains like this, we don't fight because the water is flowing."
The struggle for water is fundamental in the usually arid region, which is why some groups are doing everything they can to prepare for the inevitable.
"If it doesn't rain for even two days, the rivers will be dry," said Michael Kuskus, the director of Karamoja Agro-Pastoralists Development Project (KADP), an NGO funded partially by the European Commission for Humanitarian Aid (ECHO) which tries to prepare for droughts and develop the region.
"When a cow crosses from one village to another, it causes conflict," said Mr Kuskus. "Different people and livestock water collection leads to fights at borehole sites. During the rains, there isn't so much conflict."
"The idea is to prepare for a drought which is likely to come," said Rikke Holm, Regional Programme Officer with DAN Church Aid, an ECHO and KADP affiliate.
NAPD and ECHO are busy preparing for the future as the climate continues to change and further cycles of drought and floods continue.
The idea is that violence could be on the decrease if there were enough water stocked up for the dry period to prevent people from having to move long distances to fetch it, and therefore fight with their neighbours.
But violence is likely to continue as long as the Karimojong are still armed.
Whatever drought preparedness measures are taken are not enough to ensure that future droughts are not adequately prepared for.
Unicef Program Coordinator Jeremy England put it simply when he said: "The whole development process there has gone bust. They've not benefited from the improvements of the rest of the country. But the Karimojong are not some difficult wild savage beasts and never were.
They need good sensitisation and access and they'll pick up like anyone else. It's about commitment and doing the basics. Things can be changed." Glenna Gordon.
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