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By Leo P. Divinagracia

Leo P. Divinagracia is a former Mill Hill Missionary seminarian. Here he shares his mission experience in Karamoja, Uganda, a very dry place where sometimes there is no rain for almost the entire year. At Present he is an AMA Volunteer (Associate Missionaries of the Assumption) assigned in Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte as a CLE teacher in St. Vincent’s Academy. His students were both Christians and Muslims. A parish run by the Columban Missionaries for a number of years.

After two years of theological studies in Tangaza College, Nairobi, Kenya, I came home for a two-month break. When I was in Kenya, there were times I felt like going home. But when I arrived home, I felt like going back to Africa right away.

After my holiday, I started another journey. This time I had to leave the classroom for a real mission. I was assigned to Uganda, where I spent two years on mission experience with the Karamojong tribe, a group divided into five major sub-tribes. Each tribe has a different way of life. I was assigned to the Jie people, who are semi-nomadic and pastoralist. Their cows, goats, sheep and donkeys are their property, their treasure. They would offer their very lives for their animals.

A Karamojong village

The journey to the Karamoja region wasn’t easy but was exciting, I left the Ugandan capital, Kampala, at around 5:00am, having been given some instructions for the journey. The most difficult part of the journey was not knowing when it would end. It usually takes about 13 hours and there is only one bus that operates. According to some, the road wasn’t safe. From time to time you would hear of ambushes by warriors who stay most of the time in the forest where their animals graze. As we continued the journey we could see soldiers patrolling to ensure the safety of travellers.

A new day, a new life, a new beginning! As the morning sun rose over the dry ground of Karamoja, I was welcomed by the smiling faces of the people, speaking a very strange language. I had to learn basic terms such as ‘ejoka?’ that can mean ‘how are you?’ or ‘have you slept well?’ The response is ‘ejok! ejok nooi! ‘fine! very fine!’ ‘Alakara nooi!’ means ‘thank you very much’ and ‘lopae’ ‘my friend’. It is quite a challenge to be a stranger in a place like Karamoja. My color was different to that of the people there. In the Philippines I was dark, in Uganda white.

If sometimes in the Philippines we call Caucasian men ‘Joe’, in Kenya and Uganda a white man is ‘muzungu’. When I told them that I wasn’t a muzungu they called me ‘tsina’ instead, thinking I was Chinese. When I rejected that they called me ‘muhindi’, thinking I was Indian. I rejected all of these terms. Later when they knew that I was a missionary they called me ‘Pader’. They have no ‘F’ in their alphabet and find the sound difficult to pronounce. I kept telling them to just call me ‘Leo’. After a year or so they had got used to calling me by my name and some even gave my name to their children being baptized.

A newcomer is given a name based on the similarity of his color to that of a cow. They named me ‘Apangoli’, after a cow that is brown and white. They also give a name indicating how they see you relating to them. Many of the Karamojong people beg for money for food. I was advised that if I didn’t want visitors coming every day, better not to start giving. My response to those who came was ‘Moi!’ meaning ‘I will give what you ask for tomorrow’. So they called me ‘Apamoi’.

Most of the time the men go with their animals looking for pastures. To be a shepherd isn’t an easy task. As young as seven, a boy is already trained to be a shepherd. He must be able to count, to know colors and to recognize his own animals. Sometimes a shepherd or a warrior can take care of more than a hundred animals. The first time I met some shepherds I was afraid, they looked so dangerous. But as time went by, I became their friend, and learned their language. I found out that they are very gentle people who happened to be in a place where people have to struggle always to survive. They sometimes cross the border to the north into what is now South Sudan, and to the east to Kenya, looking for water and grass for their animals. Sometimes they steal the animals of other tribes. Along the way they may meet their enemies, which may result in meeting their end. That is the life of a warrior. They don’t know if they will still be breathing tomorrow.

In Karamoja, women and children have to struggle to survive, begging for money to buy food. Women are considered as property by many men. One time an elderly man came asking for help: his wife was sick. We knew that he had many animals. We suggested that he sell a cow so he could bring his wife to the hospital. A few days later we heard that she had died. He wasn’t going to sell a cow just for his wife.

Every day as I went out, all that people could say to me was that they needed help. At night I would be disturbed by gunshots from the village, as people tried to protect their animals from their enemies. Next day I would hear that a warrior had been killed by an enemy.

Whenever there was a cholera outbreak people would run to us for help. We couldn’t hide ourselves. We were there for them. But whether we were there or not, life continued. What we could give the people was a challenge, teach them how to survive despite all the difficulties in their lives. They should learn to plan for the future. Life continues, life is a gift that we need to take care of.

I left Africa with a heavy heart because I wasn’t sure if I would be back in that beautiful place again. But I am happy that Africa has taught me a lesson that will be with me until the end of my life. We are all missionaries in our own simple ways. Sometimes we think of doing extraordinary things in order to serve the people but in a very simple way we can change somebody. I did not change the lives of all the people in Karamoja but I’m sure I helped change a few, which was my mission there. I planted a seed in some. I challenged them. To nurture and let the spirit of love and service grow in others is the mission that each needs to take. Alakara Nooi!

You may email the author at leodivine@yahoo.com