For those who have been checking our site with regularity we (Gavin) apologize for our lack of meaningful updates.

The second phase of our program in northern Uganda is well under way.  We are working in partnership with the Youth Coalition for Peace (YCP), a local community-based organization.  We are also working with the Kids League Gulu, many primary schools, soccer clubs, Gulu United (a men’s team), the Gulu District Sports Office and many other local and regional stakeholders.

Here are some of the key 2010 highlights of the program we call Gum Marom (”Equal Opportunity” in Acholi).

April

5-day workshop for 43 youth leaders that covered topics related to peacebuilding, soccer coaching, community leadership, and sexual and gender based violence.

May

3 Soccer Camps for Peace for 240 war-affected children, led by the leaders trained and supervised by the Youth Coalition for Peace (two in Gulu Town and one in Anaka Town)

June

Launch of inaugural Soccer League for Peace with 192 war-affected children and 16 coaches for 16 teams (8 girls and 8 boys). The league lasted 9 weeks ( 7 games, 1 parents days, and 1 community tournament)

July

Continuation / completion of the first Soccer League for Peace in Gulu, Town

Initiation of construction at two community soccer field sites (one in Gulu Town and one in Anaka Town) with a combined reach, or usage, of well over 3,000

August

Continuation of construction work at both field sites

5-day workshop for 36 coaches and leaders on same topics as in April (half of those in attendance were also from April)

Equipment distribution to 48 partner schools, teams and peace clubs

September to December

Completion of construction work at both field sites

Gum Marom Kids League (bigger Soccer League for Peace) for 400 war-affected children and youth in Gulu

Youth Leadership and Cultural Revival Program for youth too old for the league but too young to coach (40 participants)

A detailed report on everything is being compiled so that you can see pictures, read about the impact and the challenges, know how funds were allocated and find out what is next in the works for the program.

Sends us an email if you won’t find out more and can’t wait for the report.

And, as always, if you like the program please consider donating $5 to help maintain and expand it (search for OA Projects).

Apwoyo,

Gavin

Good Afternoon (or Irye Maber in Luo),

We’ve been absolutely terrible at posting information about what has been happening here.

There has been a ton of amazing things that have gone on here and we want to share all of it with you. There is also some exciting news about some of our films and we’ve had a healthy surge of volunteers organizing Play Soccer So They Can events in the US and Canada.

In the coming days, we will properly end our Radio Silence and start to bring you all back in the loop.

Until then, enjoy the start of the World Cup!

Apwoyo matek

Gavin

By Erin Hunt

Our 1 for 1 organic tee stock has finally been temporarily filled. We are sorry for the delay but things have been busy for our small team.

The shirts are available only online for the next 3 weeks and we have a limited number (140 or so). The popular fire tree design is available in the usual colors as well as in a new purple (or ultraviolet) shade and in women’s sizes. The polaroid design is also back and in the popular black version of it.

Last year, during our pilot project in Gulu, we purchased 210 balls (see below for pics) for the local soccer-based peacebuilding framework that we are supporting. This was partly due to the fact that 160 1 for 1 tees were purchased before the project started (The Charity Pot of LUSH Cosmetics made up the rest!).  We are hoping to sell all of the 140 shirts before the end of the 3 weeks to guarantee the minimum amount of balls that we need to buy in Uganda this year.  If you guys blow us away with your efforts and it gets to the point  where we don’t need any more soccer balls for this year, then the funds will be used to buy other important equipment (e.g., local first aid kits for each team).

Shirts are available here: 1 FOR 1 and we get enough interest we will order more.  Thanks for your continued support of the youth in northern Uganda.

New balls bought in Gulu, Uganda - June 09 — with funds from sales of 1 for 1 tees

By Erin Hunt

I’ve been a little busy lately but I’m getting back to writing about changes that I noticed in Gulu when I returned in 2009, with OA. To get back on track (and ease myself into it), I thought I’d talk about everyone’s favourite topic – food!

In Gulu Town there are a few ‘grocery’ stores which I can most relate to you as sort of like the average corner store but most of your fresh food you buy at the market or “owino.” Actually almost anything you want could be bought at the market but the centre (physically) of the market is the food area. There’s the meat section, the fish section (which I tend to avoid), the fruit and vegetable ladies (including a second section that is almost entirely bananas) and the dry goods ladies selling things like millet, soghrum, rice and beans etc etc.

Now when I first arrived in Uganda, the market was intimidation personified but once you sort of figure out how much stuff should cost and what the layout is, it’s fine. There was one restaurant that made western food but I preferred to cook for myself. Since I could rarely find ‘western’ food in Gulu back then, and I didn’t know how to cook local food, I made frequent trips to the market for rice, vegetables, and fruit (including delicious pineapple and passion fruit). I also frequented the one bakery that sold “salty” bread, which I prefer to the more popular sweet bread to combine with staples I’d bring up from Kampala like pasta sauce or once a box of Special K.

Fast forward to last spring (2009), the market layout remained pretty much the same, though the fish section had moved, but what I did notice is that there were a lot more food available in the market. It seemed like there were more variety in the types of food available in all sections of the market, which I thought might be a sign of increasing agriculture in the area as people return home. Costs had risen dramatically but that might be a topic for a later post.

The biggest food change I noticed, though, was the increase in restaurants in town. Where before I knew of only a couple places that made any non-local food, all of a sudden there were at least half a dozen of places that made western inspired food, or Asian food. Although we tended to stick to our local dinners of rice and beans, sometimes with boo in sim sim paste (greens in nut sauce), I couldn’t believe the options for those nights when that just wasn’t going to cut it. Still though nothing could beat going to the market buying a pineapple and just cutting right into it when you get home. (Ok I better stop writing this – all I can think about now is market fresh pineapple with some passion fruit juice!)

What do these changes tell me? That people are secure enough in the current peace to invest their money in new businesses and that farmers feel safe enough to expand and diversify their production. I’d say those are two good signs in the overall rebuilding of northern Uganda.

By Erin Hunt

This week I want to share an informative online radio piece I found about women and peace in northern Uganda. The first half of IRIN Talks’ Bulletin 5 (from Nov 12, 2009) includes conversations with Betty Begombe and Santa Okot about women’s involvement in the peace process in northern Uganda.

While it will give you some background on the two women who they interview, here’s what I know. Betty Begombe was a Ugandan MP and Minister from Gulu when she headed up failed peace talks with the LRA in 1993/1994. She also participated in later peace talks in 2004-2005. Santa Okot was a negotiator in the Juba peace talks for the LRA. The LRA approached her to represent them at the negotiations.

Now I’m not quite fancy enough to link this posting to the actual file so you’ll have to find it on the IRIN Talks web site or for free via iTunes - it’s “IRIN Radio” under podcasts. It’s Bulletin 5 from November 12, 2009.

I find it interesting to hear about the experiences of these women at the negotiation table. We’ve been working at the grassroots level to support the inclusion of female youth in grassroots peacebuilding activities. To have strong role models like these two women is very helpful in demonstrating that women are essential participants in peace talks and mediations.

Anyone have additional information to contribute to this conversation?

By Erin Hunt

I’ve been talking about the changes in northern Uganda between when I first arrived in 2006 and when I went back this year with OA, but this post is going to be a bit different – a bit more personal.

By Erin Hunt

(post #4 of Looking back into northern Uganda with OA).

We’ve been talking about the changes I saw in northern Uganda between when I first visited in 2006 and when I went as part of OA’s team last spring. One thing that the conflict was known for were the night commuters. During the height of conflict, the Lord’s Resistance Army was abducting children so frequently that many children would walk each night into the major towns to sleep on the street because it was relatively safer than sleeping at home.

Oddly enough this is not something I knew that much about when I first arrived in Gulu in August 2006. I had heard vaguely about night commuters but hadn’t given it a second thought. I noticed that every evening a steady stream of children walked up the road in front of the compound and a lot of covered up people sleeping on the street (it took me a week or so to realize that all the people sleeping on the street were children). I slowly learned that the children were night commuters and there was a shelter for them across the street from where I was living.

Every trip up north after that I was conscious of the children sleeping on the street, in the shelters and everywhere else. Being conscious of that meant I noticed that as the ceasefire took hold and the security situation improved fewer and fewer children were sleeping on the street. By the time I left in 2007, there was only a trickle of night commuters – mainly children who were fleeing violence at home not the possibility of abduction.

Flash forward to this spring. The security situation has improved even more and OA and the Youth Coalition for Peace have selected the field at Laliya Primary School, which is a few minutes north of Gulu Town for rehabilitation. I don’t know if the rest of the OA team realized at that time but they had selected a school where most of the students would have been night commuters. Three years ago they would have been hurrying into town after school to find some shelter and hopefully some safety instead of playing soccer with their friends on a rehabilitated field.

I think that is part of why I love what I do with OA – I’m constantly shown that children, youth and communities are unbelievably resilient.

Here is a quick note sent to us today from Stephen, of the Youth National Council in Masaka.

“…These ends we are fine, children and youth have  started holidays  and  we are arranging some football and other games  competition so that they enjoy the holidays ,and the field and trees are looking health . youth enjoy the field because its  very flat and green…”

The Masaka Sector of Kigali is where the community soccer field that we rehabilitated is located. The re-construction was completed in September, 2008.