Glimpse - Your Stories from Abroad

Acholi girls perform traditional dance during the Nyono Tong Gweno reconciliation ceremony for Opiyo Makasi, former senior operations commander for the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). On this day, the Gulu community formally welcomed Makasi and five senior LRA comrades in front of national and international media. In addition to the dance aspects shown here, returnees undergo a series of rituals that aim to cleanse them of past wrongdoing.

A lightning storm over Gulu.

A young woman watches military aircraft fly over Gulu’s deeply impoverished Cerileno neighborhood. Despite improvements in recent years, Cerileno’s reputation for prostitution, drug trade and other illegal activities persists.

Three kids in the industrial zone of Gulu town.

Two young girls in the Cerileno neighborhood of Gulu.

A young girl skips rope on a roof in Gulu. I ate dinner across from this scene a few times each week and took great enjoyment in watching her play.

An elderly man inside his grass-thatched hut in the Areaga area of Gulu.

Kids are one of the most prominent features of the rural landscape in Northern Uganda. A photographer cannot leave the house without droves of unsupervised children converging from all directions. Here, young boys fight for room in the frame in the Olwal IDP camp.

Sunset over Gulu.

Gulu Town, one of Northern Uganda’s largest population centers, remains a depot of war-affected people. Since a lull in fighting that began in 2006, the town struggles toward normality. The war crippled Gulu’s economy and increased communal tension. While live conflict is not currently part of the landscape, development challenges remain.

Local militia forces on patrol along the Sudanese border.

Dawn breaks over the Agago River, the dividing line between Gulu and Pader districts. The river is so beautiful, it's difficult to imagine it being the frequent site of LRA ambushes against government forces.

Three boys during a mine risk education seminar in the Unyama IDP camp.

A baby girl in her family's hut in Areaga.

Owing to a lack of polio vaccines in Uganda, many suffer from the debilitating condition. Charles lives in the remote Amuru district of Northern Uganda where dismal roads and a pervasive lack of wheelchair accessibility makes disabled life extremely difficult.  Here, he sits in the garage of the Gulu Disabled Persons Union where he receives advocacy training for those with disabilities.

Ugandan local militia patrol the mountains between Uganda and Sudan. During peak years of conflict, the mountains were used as a transit route for the Lord's Resistance Army as well as fighters from the Sudanese People's Liberation Army. The area remains littered with landmines and its few inhabitants are terrified of armed men. 

Two boys illustrate common reactions to foreigners in Gulu. The boy in front looks frightened and shy, while his brother is playful and outgoing.

The sun rises over Agoro, Uganda, a remote area along the border with Sudan.

A young boy stops to pose during a UN food distribution in the Pabo IDP camp in Amuru. Pabo is the largest IDP camp in the world.

Sunset over the streets of Gulu.

After a two year hiatus in a twenty-two year civil war, many of northern Uganda’s Internally Displaced Persons departed overcrowded camps for their native lands. In April 2008, this family returned to their remote, formerly vulnerable lands in Palenga, approximately 20 km from Gulu.

Night sky over Gulu.

She crawled out of a grass-thatched hut on all fours. She wore only a small cloth around her waist, her breasts exposed. Due to a fall six months ago, she suffered two dislocated hips, an injury that robbed her of mobility. While many of her neighbors in the Bobe IDP camp have returned home, her condition requires that she remain.