Just

I'm starting a poetry series which will by no means be on any sort of schedule. I plan to post poetry of my own and poetry from some Ugandan poets who I've managed to find, and then discuss inspirations, related topics, etc. Hopefully I'm getting up 2-3 poems per month along with posts on other things. Enjoy.

Just.

the world is really too big

and too small.

all our conflicts springing up

and being shot down,

blown up,

or otherwise imploding.

how can someone take it in?

when do you start caring?

500,000?

1,000,000?

when do you stop?

here it seems a fact of life

that conflict is like a

neighbor who is always

loud and frowning.

he is ever around the

corner,

just on the veranda,

just there in the

trading center,

just there.

Part of this comes from talking with my fellow college tutors about the border insecurities in the region where I live. There was some small skirmishes between Sudanese settlers who are living in Uganda indefinitely, and the native Ugandan population. One of my tutors was talking about the ministry sending police/army to the region to settle things down.

It made me think that, especially in the North, with the history of the Lord’s Resistance Army, they are both used to the conflict – the older population, who is the minority – and not used to it – the younger population, the majority of whom were born at the end of or after the war. Conflict is the same in the Northeastern region of Uganda, where tribes who are traditionally cattle herders pretty much ignore modern borders and occasionally steal cattle and fight with other Ugandan natives there.

I think growing up in America, I always had that feeling that large groups of people were not going to riot or cause violence (at least in Michigan, I know other areas of the country have their own problems). I had a sense of security. Living in Uganda gives me a whole new appreciation of national security in terms of border security and legislating with native populations. And Uganda is mostly peaceful. I’m not trying to say that I am in danger or that Uganda is a dangerous place, but the fact that is it part of the cultural conversation as a normal thing is something new to me.

There are still refugee camps in Uganda for those from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and for those from South Sudan. Some of them are near me, some are fairly new. Some were just completely emptied not long ago, and are now full again.