Kimberly Pavelich at the Laroo Rock Quarry in Gulu District. (Photo by Apiyo Eunice Abari)
Kimberly Pavelich, BA’08, is a second-year master’s student at the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies. Last year, she travelled to Gulu, Uganda to research the reintegration of women returning from the Lord’s Resistance Army into their communities. She conducted focus groups and spoke to more than 45 women who have returned from the fighting force.
What is Gulu like?
Once a “do not travel to” area, Uganda (particularly in the north) is now shedding its war-torn image. With help from international dollars coming from the plethora of non-governmental organizations, missionaries and curious backpackers in Gulu, the city is now a far cry from the image of a community ravaged by rebels prowling the streets.
In Gulu you can try to speak Acholi, eat bor (a peanut paste cooked in oil with bitter greens) and take a boda (motorcycle) ride through the green countryside. You feel like a celebrity as children follow you everywhere shouting “Mzungu how are you I am fine” in one single breath (“mzungu” is any white foreigner). As for food, if you like spice you will not find it here, but that being said, I never once dined where the local chili sauce was not available.
Why did you choose Uganda for your research?
Northern Uganda, more specifically Acholiland, has been plagued by conflict and fear from the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) since 1987. The LRA, led by Joseph Kony, gained fame for its use of terror tactics on civilians and the abduction of children to be used within army ranks. The indiscriminate nature of the atrocities committed by the LRA and the lack of international attention given to the conflict was my initial lure to northern Uganda. However, when I learned that many of the women and girls in the LRA have been trained in combat but are disregarded as combatants when they return home, I decided to travel to Gulu to find out why.
What was the focus of your research?
Initially, I studied the reintegration of female ex-combatants back into their civil community and the challenges these females faced. From focus groups I held, it surfaced that one particular challenge is that females are not recognized as combatants (particularly in the cultural context). This results in women and girls missing out on key reintegration services and support.
Vast efforts are being made by non-governmental and governmental agencies to help in the reintegration of combatants due to the potential security threat posed by frustrated ex-combatants drifting back into crime, or renewed conflict. However, through talking to women I discovered that not only do some women speak of returning to the bush (the colloquial term for returning to the LRA) in part due to the of lack of support from their community, but they also want to be treated as equals to their male counterparts in the reintegration and justice process.
After hearing this, I decided to shift my research from reintegration to the consequences to the community of ignoring females as active participants in the LRA post-conflict.
What did you learn?
Most of the women I spoke to want to be recognized equally with their male counterparts from the LRA. They want to be granted the same opportunities in the process of justice and reintegration, because at present many of the participants from the focus group discussions feel neglected from those processes.
What were some of the results of your work?
In the end, the most valuable aspect of my research was my connection to the community, which I was able to gain through work with a Ugandan grassroots organization. With this organization, I spent the first of my three months in Gulu helping develop programs in reproductive health. By the second month I became a familiar face in the community, which allowed me to contact community leaders about holding focus groups.
The leaders would not only organize a group of women for me to meet, but would also provide a safe and comfortable spot for the discussions to be held. Ultimately, it was this connection that allowed me to be welcomed by community leaders, which in turn opened up a window on culture, war, displacement and regrowth.
