Home. The place we seek for comfort and support. The place we recognize as a constant, stable. The place we can always return. Home.

But only for some.

Of the estimated one million people living in northern Uganda’s IDP camps, roughly 548,000 had begun the process of returning home by the end of April 2008. On the one hand, this news is good news, but the struggle to return remains. With recent threats of increased LRA movement along the Ugandan border, the question of security remains the main inhibitor of reuniting the displaced with their homelands. For those who still wish to return, their situation is undoubtedly complex.

The Acholi people depend on the land for survival; a need the camps are unable to provide. Since 2005, only three camps have been permanently evacuated. Satellite camps have developed as a temporary solution to the returnee situation. These transit locations, typically found between IDP camps and rural villages, serve as stepping stones for the slow and difficult process of moving home. For the displaced that remain in the main camps, they have little choice but to commute daily to remote plots of land in order to provide for their families.

Both the government of Uganda and non-governmental organizations have encouraged the disestablishment of the displacement camps, using incentives such as the building of schools in villages or providing seeds for farming. Though these incentives have convinced many to return, with the stagnant nature of the peace talks, people are hesitant to move back to what they feel are unstable surroundings. For some, the choice to return to their homeland does not exist. Children born in an IDP camp know nothing else. Others have become so acclimated to living in the camps that they cannot picture returning to the villages. Many of the youth have come to prefer life in the towns and are not interested in moving back to villages where they do not have the same resources, such as internet, transportation and entertainment. The trend of urbanization has accompanied residency in the IDP camps, as many of the displaced have opened small businesses that provide a more steady income than farming in the villages.

Along with original homesteads, Acholi cultural processes have been ignored in the IDP camps. Akiyu Stella, a mentor for Invisible Children’s Visible Scholarship Program in Gulu, comments on the disappearance of culture at Anaka IDP camp:

“Mostly the aged and parents have gone back because they need land to farm on in order to feed their families. The women are more interested in returning as the men have run away from their former responsibilities. They feel many children have become less disciplined because of the new ways of life in the camps. Too much of the Acholi culture is lost. Because of the war, many different cultural groups have come to Gulu. Acholi culture has deteriorated so much”

The volatile security situation and recent cessation of the peace talks have given people increased fear that if they return to their villages, they will not be guaranteed the same safety they feel in the camps. With constant radio coverage of the recent updates concerning the LRA, the media reports have affected many peoples’ decision to move back. Odong Kizito, a VCSP mentor at the IC Pader office, has seen firsthand the hesitancy to move home in the families of the students he mentors in one of northern Uganda’s districts hit hardest by the war:

“People had very high hopes for the peace talks, but since they have not yet succeeded, many question the security situation. The news is scaring people. When people hear on the radio that the LRA rebels are moving toward Uganda, they fear that the situation will return to the way it was.”

Further complicating the return of the displaced are the mental and social backlashes resulting from the conditions of the displaced. Basic social services, such as schools and health clinics, are rarely found inside the camps. Recent studies have drawn attention to the high prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression in the IDP sites. The lack of proper medical care paired with the high exposure to trauma has created heightened distress. Many former abductees also fear returning to their homes because of the stigmatization they receive from community members. Former child soldiers and especially child mothers—young women who were abducted and impregnated in the bush—fear not only the social isolation, but re-abduction as well.

The combination of the facts and the stories reflect the complex returnee situation: many have returned but just as many still fear leaving the camps. If peace were established, more people would be able to return to the place they call home. This desire is unanimous: only peace will allow the displaced the freedom to choose to return home. Home.

-Erica D’Alessandro, PR Intern in Uganda
-Photos by Jessica Fairchild Conrad, Photography Intern in Uganda

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