Abalo Alice
Am an Acholi and was displaced from Gulu by the on going rebel activities in northern Uganda. My husband and I were forced by conditions to leave for Kampala where we settled in the Acholi quarter leaving our three children in the Internally Displaced Peoples camp. In the Acholi quarters Kampala, we managed to rent a house worth 20,000/=. My husband later secured a job in the stone quarry from which he earned living and managed to meet our basic needs and pay rent. Through out that time we didn’t see our children.
Later in 2003 my husband passed away and i was left in the struggle alone. In 2004 I went to gulu to see my children and thank God they were all alive apart from the last born who was also suffering from the epidemic disease AIDS. In the camp where my children live, life isn’t easy too. I left them there because I had no alternative. I really feel the pain in my heart of not living with my children. Besides I really feel my life is weak because am also positive too. The weakness is intensified due to the fact that I don’t have access to drugs, which are very expensive, and my last born too is not fine because she has no one to direct her daily on how to use the medicine. Sometimes she forgets which is very bad to her health.
In the acholi quartes, I make my living through making paper beads. Most times I make for other people who pay me peanuts or give maize flour and beans. When I make my own, still people buy them cheaply. In a month my total income from paper beads is 15,000/= and other ventures like fetching water and washing clothes for other people earns me 1000/= a day. In a month my total earning add up to 35,000/=. This I use to pay my rent fare, buying my needs and once in a while I visit my children. My dream is having my children by my side and getting a direct market for my paper beads.