By Steven Enatu
SOROTI
Suspected Karimojong warriors invaded Kapelebyong and Katakwi districts, forcing hundreds of terrified locals to flee their homes with their livestock seeking refuge in centers.
In these areas, just like in any other conflicts, the most affected are women, children and older people. When the warriors invade, they don’t only steal animals, shoot people, kill people but also loot other properties.
It is against this background that the Tour operator, Joseph Ojatum and his friends under the Teso Emergency Agenda mobilized themselves to openly speak about this asking the government to deploy enough security to man the affected areas.
The Teso Emergency Agenda was set up on the 3rd April 2022. The idea came to Ojatum while he was watching NBS news at 9pm and it was showing people running up and down in Kapelebyong as a result of cattle raids and attacks.
Having lived in the camp during the past insurgencies in Teso, Ojatum felt touched with the clips and started mobilizing his like-minded youth both at school and outside to look for support and relief for the victims.
“I felt I should be a voice to the voiceless together with my friends because our leaders were quiet. So we organized ourselves. Our agenda was to let the government and the world know that we need help; we needed security deployment to safeguard our people and their properties. I was touched seeing the elderly, children and women running to the camps again,” he said.
“Government did respond but it’s not to our satisfaction, the deployment was done but many people are hungry,” he added.
The group did not only talk, they walked the talk by mobilizing funds and resources to help the most affected victims of cattle theft and killings with food, clothing and medical care.
“The aid we took was not really enough, people need seeds for planting, and others still need food in their hundreds,” he said.
For Instance a team picked a 12 year old girl shot by suspected Karamojong warriors and left her intestine out. The young girl was abandoned in the village since her parents couldn’t afford her medical care.
“This was so sad to see, we rushed to the rescue and picked her and brought her to Soroti regional referral hospital where she was operated on successfully,” he said.
By the time of this interview, the team was also preparing to help an old mama shot by suspected Karamojong warriors and left wounded with a broken leg at the hospital for two months now.
“Our target is to see that our people get help and return to their homes peacefully, this is a reason why the Teso Emergency Agenda is there and we call on our brothers and sisters from Karamoja to come together and develop the two regions,” he said.
Ojatum together with his team of Teso Emergency Agenda have been moving around the affected areas in Teso and Karamoja with aid. A fortnight ago, the team delivered food items to the displaced families in Kapelebyong.
The kindness has so far left a positive impression and big plastic smiles on many faces in Kapelebyong, Katakwi and Uganda as a whole.
Joseph Ojatum is a very humble and down-to-earth man who loves to see everyone around him happy.
“I grew up with my grandmother who raised me up teaching me the act of sharing with others, I grew up that way and also the scripture itself tells us that we should love our neighbors as we love ourselves. This makes me passionate about charity works,” he narrated.
He appeals to well-wishers to reach them as Teso Emergency Agenda for any kind support towards bettering the lives of the affected communities.
“Let us create a world of peace and unity. I call upon all leaders, religious, political and cultural to come together and forge ways of co-existing in a peaceful way. As the young people we are trying our best, let’s stop the act of segregation, let’s stop cattle raids, let’s stop killing one another and rather come together on a round table and discuss how to develop the two regions as Ateker,” he said.
