We Begin

...with Atanga IDP Camp





Located in Pader District, close to the border with Kitgum and Gulu, this camp is led by camp commander, Odwar Orech. He can be reached by cellphone - the only form of communication some people are able to use. Cellphones are not what they seem to the American in the States. Cellphones in Uganda are usually relatively inexpensive to purchase, but once bought, talk time must be purchased by minute. "Airtime" is thus quite expensive - since people constantly buy cards to 'fill' their time allotment. Here is his number, as one would dial from the US: 011-256-47139024. I give this number to you, trusting that those reading this site (my few trusted family members and friends) might be moved to contact people in the camps and let them know you are thinking of them, and praying for their well-being.

Crazy-sounding, possibly - but as noted below an in earlier entry, I think people in the camps really appreciate CONTACT with the outside world and acknowledgment of their situation. One of the main problems with these camps is their utter isolation.

Atanga, by way of background, was established in March of 1997. I believe it now has about 1,200 people in the camps. People make some small money growing maize and potatoes, sugar cane and some fruit and selling them to passengers on local buses passing from between Gulu and Kitgum districts.

My bus from Kitgum to Gulu happened to breakdown because of a flat tire. The bus was forced to stop for several hours and I decided to unload my things and interview people in the camp. It took a number of hours before the next bus arrived, but it was well worth the stopover, as unexpected as it was.

(Well, not so unexpected. Atanga was the last camp that I visited before I departed from northern Uganda to head south. I remember praying that I would somehow have the opportunity to visit a camp in Pader - the one district still lacking representation in my visit to the north - and boom! the bus broke down. It was a bit surreal. I had actually pictured or asked myself, well, what if the bus just stopped or broke down in the middle of an IDP camp on the way to Gulu? Then I could stop and visit the people in the camps and hop on the same bus or a different one...and then it happened. Weird and wonderful at the same time.)