A Saturday in July

A Saturday in July

Otim is running for MP (Member of Parliament), it is similar to running as a representative of a district. On Saturday we went to a village near where he grew up in in Amoro district. This is near Keyo Secondary School, one of the Invisible Children schools. He was going to hear the village's concerns and state what he would do about them if elected.

I met Otim at school and found out he had been trying to arrange a car to take us out to the village (he usually just rides his motorbike), I thought that was so sweet. He was unsuccessful but it was the thought that counted. I sat side saddle on the back of the bike he was driving for 30 minutes as we maneuvered through some rocky terrain. Needless to say my hands hurt at the end of the ride as I clung on for dear life!

We get to a fork in the road and there are 2 teenage boys and about 5 little children waiting for us to guide us from main road into the vilage. We pass by huts and cows and as we approach we hear the women yelling a greeting. As we pull up the young women and men are waiting to perform a dance for us. We park the bike and are guided to the only two plastic chairs in the village. We seat as the dancing begins and the whole village is comig out to join us. There are mats being pulled under the biggest tree so the women can seat and the men dring out wooden chairs to seat upon. I LOVE to dance so as they are dancing I am bopping in my seat. One of the elders in the clan notices and takes me out to the dancing circle. I am elated! I take off my sandals and join the young women with the dancing. Otim is laughing and gets up to take photos with his phone. Once the dancing is over we go back to seating.

Then the real meeting begins .... in Luo. The person in charge has an agenda written out in a notebook and begins the meeting by sharing the agenda. First there are 30 minutes of introductions, they introduce all the elders, then the dance/culture society, then the business people, then the boda bodas, then Otim introduces himself and he asks me to say a few words. Ugh! I hate public speaking and although a large part of my job includes talking to a large group I have never gotten over the fear of speaking to my peers or elders. I say something to the effect of thanks for having me here, I look forward to meeting and speaking with you after the meeting.

Then the meeting starts with people voicing their concerns, three people are allowed to voice their concerns, each person being allotted 10 – 15 minutes. Then Otim addresses each of their concerns for 30 – 45 minutes. Did I mention this is all in Luo? This cycle goes on for 5 hours. I have no idea what anyone is saying but when Otim speaks everyone is riveted, even the babies stop crying and stare at him. While I didn't understand the concerns or the answers, I thoroughly enjoyed the fact that this is such an auditory culture. People listen to each other. This village has a meeting once a week on Saturdays and they allowed Otim to have a large part of that meeting this Saturday, but this is usually what they do. They meet and discuss issues in the village and how to resolve them. They work together, they listen to each other and try to reach a consensus. There was a dance break an hour before Otim and I departed to re-energize everyone (it certainly helped me wake up). Before we left the meeting, there were concluding remarks made by Otim and he asked me to say a few last words. Again, flabbergasted I thanked them for letting me be a part of their beautiful culture, for letting me dance with them, and that i hoped I got to play with some babies before leaving. As Otim gave his concluding remarks (another 30 minutes), a woman brings me a baby to hold. He was so cute, very chubby and did not cry at all (although he did pee on me!). I played with him until he started hiccuping, I guess he was hungry.

Otim and I get up to leave and the meeting continues. We motorbike to the main road and Otim pulls over to make a call. He tells me he is so impressed with me. In Acoli culture if a visitor asks to hold a baby the while village will love them because children are the most treasured of possessions. He also thought it was brave of me to dance.

I had so much fun! I would love to stay in a village for an extended period of time to see what the day to day is like.