Women

Women dressed up for a celebration (oh...and a man)

There's no way around saying this: women do most of the work, at least all that doesn't involve cattle. When taken in marriage, they're often more or less raped. A lot fewer girls go to school than boys. Their husbands can take other wives. I'm not trying to victimize them, but I would not like the life of Karamojong woman.

Many that I met were good friends to me, though. I've already mentioned Rose and Joyce several times, who I admire a lot. But there's more who tried to teach me things, who translated patiently for me, who I saw work hard every day but didn't hear grumbling about their lives (at least to me). They've trusted Yesu Christo through many troubles - famine, sick children, not the best husbands. I'm sure they've stumbled many times, but still I want to be like them!

And I do want to be sure I don't give men a bad name; there are great guys like Sam, who started a bicycle repair business and is one of the nicest people I know, or Ben the askari (guard) who is always genuinely friendly.

Note: I've only spent a total of about 12 weeks in Karamoja so I'm not exactly an expert! These are all my own conclusions based on talking with different people or what I observed. So this ain't a genuine ethnographic report...