Even Female Dogs Hunt

No woman had ever divorced her husband to pursue an idea no one had ever heard of in Akurukwe Village.

The village is located 16 kilometers north of Gulu town and twice the size of Paico and Akonyibedo villages.

By the time Okwera married Lamwaka, Akurukwe village was a reputable food basket for the greater part of northern Uganda.

Unlike other villages, they had pioneered commercial agriculture at a time when other villages were still into subsistence farming for domestic consumption.

The village is surrounded by Unyama Hills and Amuru hot springs that gave the village a beauty that every village girl treasured marrying from the village.

Most parents preferred that their daughters married in this village because during dry spells and terrible harvests, Akurukwe village always had surplus to share with their in-laws.

While marrying from this village offered every family a lot of pride and bragging rights, Lamwaka had promised his mother that she would study until University then decide to get married to a man of her choice.

Her mother always spoke against arranged marriages and promised never to allow any man arrange any marriage with her daughter until she was done with school. She always lamented that if it was not because of her parents arranged marriage, they would not live in the poverty that now defined their lives.

Her only dream was for Lamwaka to at least complete her studies to break the jink of poverty in the family.

Unfortunately, she passed on from the two-decade war between the Lakwena rebels and government of Uganda while Lamwaka was still in Primary four.

A year after her death, Lamwaka's father would marry her off at 12 years to a man 20 years older after failing to fend for her education.

She would then bear for her husband, Okwera a daughter named Maa meaning Love and her excited in- laws renamed Lamwaka, Min Maa to literally mean the mother of Maa.

Min Maa, was a light skinned tall girl like her mother with a broad waist that made her fit well in her dress made of African fabric.

Her teeth were white and uniquely organized like the rows of maize on its cob with a gap right in between the two incisors that gave her an impressive smile.

Her daughter Maa, was a young tinny sickler, and every time she visited the only clinic in the village, she became more indebted and had to sell her meagre household belongings to finance her daughters medical bill.

Maa was born a sickler and regularly suffered from what the doctors called sickle cell; an ailment her youthful mother barely knew nor understood. All she understood was that her sickness could only be regulated but won't cure. If she has to live, Maa had to be taken regularly for medical attention as and when she gets an attack with a lot of pain in her body.

This time round, she had nothing more to sell and the clinic had refused to treat her daughter unless she was able to finance her medical bill.

Okwera, her husband had woken up and joined his friends in a nearby local bar, where he spent most of his time with his rascal friends.

While others, woke up to go to their garden, Okwera and his friends either met at the boda boda stage under the only Mango tree by the main road to Kitgum for idle talk or resumed drinking alcohol from last nights' unfinished stock.

Alcohol was all they lived and worked for and the villagers knew that, other than eating and sleeping; their presence at home had no purpose.

Okwera had taken so much alcohol in his life, so much that his body begun to swell and his skin complexion had become lighter and browner.

In many ways, he looked like an albino with plain skin texture on the fingers that showed veins in the arm that seem to lack enough blood.

His presence invited a foul stench of a mixture of fermented yeast and rotting flesh that accompanied him wherever he went.

The sight of Okwera was of a skinny frail tall man who walked with difficulty carrying unkempt hair and beard. His pot-bellied stomach looked like one suffering from kwashiorkor and he had to support himself whenever he has to stand on his feet.

It was the fifth year since the two-decade war ended, the war had taken its toll on the social fabric of the society.

Consumption of alcohol was the major preoccupation of most youths at the trading centers as opposed to a work culture.

Most women were widows after the death of their husbands and most men had multiple wives and concubines that they sexually starved with impunity.

The war had displaced thousands of residents who now lived in the slumps of the city while those who remained in the internally displaced camps set up by government to protect them during the war remained to live in the more commercial centers chose a life of unemployment with no livelihood skill instead of returning home to start farming.

Many of them turned to alcoholism and the few that had jobs sold family land to buy boda boda bikes to work as commercial riders for a fee like taxis.

A few had the humility of returning home to salvage the remains of their shuttered lives and destroyed homes and to begin life afresh, opening land and building new huts for their families.

Most of those who returned forfeited their education since there were few schools except around the abandoned internally displaced camps but those who returned to their original homesteads had no schools or far away schools.

That is why Min Maa's father sacrificed her education and married her off to a much older man to save him the responsibility of looking after her mother's death.

Attending to school meant he had to save money for her schooling needs like fees and school requirements for years to come. He chose the shorter path to marry her off when she still had dowry value instead of waiting for her to attend college and lose value in the village.

Most girls who had college education and university education ended up unemployed and unmarried since the local men preferred local women who had unquestionable loyalty and respect; while the educated asked too many questions and were so opinionated to give them respect. Since they earned money, their loyalty was questionable and they never lived in the village but kept moving from one place to another and never had time for their husbands.

The White Women

The first two white women to set their feet on Akururkwe soil were Kate Anderson and Becky McCain.

Kate was tall with a broad chest, brown long hair dropping to her back. She looked older and more superior as she regularly instructed the much younger skinny and much shorter Becky with thick black curled hair that regularly dropped to her face as she pushed it aside to gain sight.

Kate had worked for Women First in 3 different African Countries as Country Manager and Technical Advisor. All the 3 African countries; Angola, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe were countries recovering in the aftermath of long national conflicts.

Prior to her work in Africa, she was a divorced lawyer who made a name representing Lesbians and Gay rights in California.

Her role as a human rights defender introduced her to development work in Africa after a fellowship, she attended in Ghana introduced her to the plight of poor women in Africa.

Kate believes, as along as women depend on their men for their livelihood, they will never be free. So, she has over the years championed the cause, women for women solidarity movement so that women don't have to depend on men for their own survival but themselves.

Becky, was a fresh University graduate whose only experience in Africa was that she was fortunate to be a student intern with a Catholic project in Liberia and got introduced to women savings and investment groups through the catholic project.

After completing her studies, she returned to the catholic project until she landed on this new project in Uganda, East Africa.

Min Maa met these white women as she nursed her daughter at the only clinic in the village.

The two white women had visited the clinic for a project base line survey to investigate how the only clinic in the village was financed. As researchers, they wondered why other clinics could not be established in the village that seemed in need of better access to health services.

The two white women also questioned how the locals financed their medical bill and what happened if they had no money.

It's then, that Acii, a Nursing Assistant working at the clinic introduced them to Min Maa, as a person who was too poor to afford their health services and always paid by instalment.

This time round, she had been denied medical services because she is unable to pay prior costs incurred when her daughter was sick.

The two white women walked over to her as they talked in low tones as if they were whispering to each other.

"Hello Mum, how are you?" asked Kate.

"Fiinye" answered Min Maa with a moody twist on her face, rolling the pupil of her eyes up and down.

"What is your name?" asked the tall white lady with long brown hair

"Ana Min Maa" she answered, still moody and looking at them with strange inquiring eyes in the local language but guessed correctly as asked.

"Why are you here?" asked Kate

Min Maa turned away looking distraught and minding her own business. All in her mind was, what to sell to afford the clinic's dues.

"She can't understand your English" answered Acii.

'Ask her, what she is doing here with her child?" asked Kate

"Mego, I have been asked by this white woman why you are here" said Acii

"Was it not you who refused to treat my daughter because I don't have money? Leave me alone with my daughter" replied Min Maa.

"She has asked that we leave her alone since I refused to treat her daughter," replied Acii turning uncomfortably as she rubbed her elbow.

Acii explained to the White Women, why this time round she is unable to treat her daughter. She explained that she has not paid her previous bill when they treated her daughter. Acii explained further that if she serves her again, the doctor will deduct it from her salary.

"Tell her we are sorry to disturb her but as researchers, they are carrying out a baseline survey to find out what women like her do when they are unable to afford medical fees for their sick child?" said Kate.

"Min Maa, am sorry to bother you, I understand how you feel but this white woman says, they are here to talk to women like you who can't afford medical fees. She is asking what you are going to do now that you can not afford medical fees for your daughter" said Acii.

"Don't you come from this village? Why are you asking questions like a fool? You know very well that those who can't afford your fees go to Min Aber, the witch. Sometimes she helps but sometimes she doesn't. Even then, she will ask for a hen which I don't have."

Acii turned to the white women and her words failed her. Realizing that the white women were consulting each other, Acii ignored them and pretended like Min Maa had said nothing.

"Why are you acting strange?" asked Kate

"Nothing" replied Acii as she scratches her head uncertain whether to open up or not.

"Look, you have to be honest, I need to know what she said. I can tell she said something important," said Kate

"She said, she will visit a witchdoctor since she can not pay for her daughters medical bill," replied Acii holding her waist as she kicked red dust at the entrance of the clinic using her left foot feeling embarrassed.

Kate and Becky consulted each other and reached consensus. Both of them turned to Min Maa smiling.

Kate taped Min Maa on her shoulder to face her and said, "Sorry about your daughter. We will pay your daughters medical bill"

Min Maa jumped to her feet celebrating the news and ululated loudly with a sharp piercing voice to the ear forcing others in the clinic to rush out anxious to find out what had happened.

She rapidly spoke to herself throwing her fingers towards the sky and matching forward and backwards, thanking the God of her ancestors as she jumped up and down dropping her kikoyo from around her waist.

Acii picked it up and handed over her kikoyo with rings of tears in her eyes as she smiled at Min Maa.

"So, she understands English," Kate asked Acii.

Before Acii could answer, Min Maa replied," Small Small," She said. "I speak Engilis small small," repeated Min Maa smiling as she exposed her white teeth and broad smile.

After Min Maa's daughter had received treatment, she returned to thank the white women who had by them been speaking to other women by the Kituba tree opposite the entrance of the clinic.

Kate and Becky were enjoying a conversation with the women who sat on the red dusty soil to listen to them while others sat on logs supported by the Kituba tree trunks.

There was a broken bench leg supported by a big stone that Becky and Kate sat on as they conversed with the local women who had visited the clinic. Kate sat from the uphand side and Becky sat from the sloppy side that was supported by a stone.

"Senkyu Senkyu very many" said Min Maa to a broad smile by Becky and Kate accompanied by the local women who already knew her plight.

Unlike in the past when her needy situation bothered her; this time she knelt down and thanked them before the village women. Her village mates giggled and tapped on each other to signal the dramatic nature of Min Maa gratitude and her effort to speak English with their visitor.

After Min Maa was done with her gratitude, Kate asked the local women to form a semi-circle so that they could share with them an idea.

When the local women gathered in a semi-circle, Kate and Becky then introduced them to forming savings and investment groups with the intention to start their own businesses.

This is how Min Ma got introduced to the Village Savings and Lending Association that they later named Bolicup in the local language to simulate the sound the coins they saved would make when it dropped in their savings boxes.

The Association besides training women to save and invest their incomes, also offered adult literacy education for its members.

It's this idea of adult literacy that Min Maa deeply fell in love with, to restore her dream to be literate and learn how to read and write.

Besides, this experience opened her eyes that if ever she is to keep her daughter safe and alive, then she should be able to depend on herself, save her own money and invest to fight poverty in her family.

This was her mother's wish. So, she promised herself never to die in poverty nor ignorance of how to speak and write in English. Min Maa dreamt of a day she would be able to speak and write in English like her daughter Maa.

Sadly, after her mother's death in the war2, Min Maa was married off one year after she died at 12 years old and had Maa, her daughter subsequently.

The circumstance that Min Maa lived through made her mature up instantly as a mother and a strong-willed woman with a mind of her own. She was determined to pursue her dream to go back to school and never die in poverty.

She was aware that one thing was clear; if she is to ever realize her dream, one thing stood along her way. And that is, her traditional marriage to Okwera. But if being marriage to Okwera meant being married to his alcoholic lifestyle, then it made no difference; she was better off only with her daughter Maa and herself against the whole world.

If need be, she would rather divorce her husband, Okwera and face banishment but be ready to fend for her sickly daughter to ensure that she can afford her medical bills as and when she fell sick instead of holding the community tag of a married woman when all the man does is drink himself silly and hope to come home and find food ready on the table.

Besides, in her mind, her mother's only wish before she died was to see her educated and able to read and write so as to secure a good job and not live a life in poverty like her. If it means taking lifetime scars and potential death from the beatings of her husband, it is a dream she was determined to pursue to the end in memory of her mother.