I spent the weekend and part of my week curled up on a couch, drinking litres of citrus juice and eating the peculiar things one eats when one is too sick to assemble reasonable sustenance for oneself: a fifth of a canister of Belgian-made “Texas Barbecue” Pringles, an apple, week-old bread. To occupy myself as I recover from this cold (a strangely titled affliction, given that it’s 85 degrees (29 Celsius) outside), I’ve been noveling and reading Emma’s War, the true story of a young, passionate British aid worker who married Sudanese warlord Riek Machar in 1991.

I admit that I know very little about Africa — I’ve spent a combined total of less than three months on the continent, all within five hours of Kampala. Other than the content of the handful of books I’ve read and a couple of courses I took in college, the little I do know comes from discussions with other students and activists, my own research and interactions with Ugandans. Most of this knowledge is limited to the Great Lakes region and filtered through the lens of the LRA conflict in northern Uganda.

I’ve spent the last eighteen months seeing the Sudan People’s Liberation Army as a single, unified movement in southern Sudan, fighting against the cruel, genocidal Islamic government and battling LRA rebels who cross the border to obtain supplies from Khartoum. I’ve heard that “Museveni backs the SPLA and al-Bashir backs the LRA” and accepted the alarmingly prevalent (among college-aged activists) logic that because the LRA are obviously the “bad rebels,” the SPLA must be the “good rebels.” The recent peace talks in Juba, coordinated by Machar himself, have served as even further proof that the SPLA is “on our side.”

Eeep.

I know that no single book should be taken as a definitive source for information, but to author Deborah Scroggins I say: wow. I’m ashamed that, despite recognizing the complexity of the conflict(s) in Uganda and having worked for organizations that acknowledge and are wrestling with the problem of developing a comprehensive, holistic approach to national reconciliation and rebuilding in such a fractured social, political and economic environment, I have been so persistently, unquestioningly, ridiculously naïve.

I won’t attempt to explain the multiple political, religious, ethnic and economic conflicts that have been torturing Sudan over the last several decades here, nor will I try to describe the influence of international actors ranging from Chevron to the UN to Osama bin-Laden — such an effort would require much more space than I have and is beyond my capacity and authority. I will say that this weekend has been an invaluable lesson in the need to constantly re-evaluate my perceptions of what’s going on in the world around me and to strive to seek out and examine the complexities of not only the particular issue on which I focus but of the surrounding conflicts and regions and of both local and international actors. I realize I may be preaching to the choir, and for those of you who started with Texas Barbecue Pringles and ended here and feel like that’s seven minutes of your life you’ll never get back, I apologize. Still, I wanted to offer up what I’ve learned, if only to remind myself that there is still so much about this place I don’t know.

Posted in conflict, northern uganda | 1 Comment

I admit it: I haven’t been paying much attention to U.S. politics since I left the States (I even had to steal this entry’s title from my friend Jack; the other choice was “Fade to Purple” from my local paper). That said, I’m exceedingly proud that Kansas (my staunchly conservative, heart-of-the-heartland home state) voted resoundingly Democrat in this week’s midterm elections. In celebration of this and of the Dem takeover of both the House and the Senate, I thought I’d avoid any sort of political commentary and post a series of romantically compromising pictures of George Bush instead. Isn’t he just loveable?

Bush and Condi

Bush and Kofi

Bush and Pelosi

Bush and Putin

Bush and Al (Sharpton, not Gore…in case you’re in need of clarification)

Posted in u.s. politics | Leave a comment

On Tuesday I wrote about the upcoming closing of IDP camps in northern Uganda. The Uganda Conflict Action Network has since reported that “leaving the camps by the end of the year will be encouraged, but ‘voluntary.’”

Posted in conflict, northern uganda, ugandan politics | Leave a comment

Oh, well, that’s just fabulous.

Posted in u.s. politics | Leave a comment

It’s a horrifically crass thing to joke about, but here at Jackfruity we’re all about crassness (not to mention ending clauses with dangling prepositions), so I’ll go ahead and say it: if I had 100 shillings for every time I’ve been asked to take a Ugandan child back to the States with me, I’d be able to…well, I’d be able to take a Ugandan child back to the States with me.

It’s a request that makes me even more squirmy and uncomfortable than Jay-Z dressed up as a Maasai warrior, and each time I hear it I retreat a little further into my shell of paranoid mzungu-ness, wanting desperately for my skin color not to scream look at me, I’m a FOREIGNER!

Madonna, as you already know if you’ve peeked out from your hermit cave once in the last month, seems to have no qualms about it. Her adoption of a Malawi “orphan” is one of the most-discussed celebrity events of October. Of all the comments I’ve read about this much-debated attempt at charity, Mad Kenyan Woman’s is by far the funniest:

While I don’t come down as harshly on Madonna as she does (the pop star’s also contributing $4 million to a Child Center and other development projects in the country), I do think her criticism of the adoption is worth a read just for the writing. Another good piece on the same topic, written from the point of view of a Malawian, is at Afrika-Aphurika (via Global Voices).

Posted in afrobloggers | Leave a comment