For environmentalists, trees signify good flood defences. Yet for hundreds of people in northern Uganda, the sight or mention of certain trees trigger a deluge of traumatising war-related memories. Northern Uganda has been the battleground on which thousands have lost their lives, been maimed or violated in insurgency-related activities. It is in northern Uganda, more than anywhere else in the small landlocked East African country that survivors of the liberation war waged by Lord Resistance Army (LRA) rebels have been grappling with mental disorders.
LRA, led by Joseph Kony have been active in northern Uganda for the last 20 years; committing crimes against humanity such as abduction and forced recruitment of under-aged combatants, rape and mutilation of body parts including lips and breasts according to a leading human rights watchdog.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder that usually develops after an individual has experienced trauma particularly one that has caused or threatened death or severe injury, according to mental health experts. Psychologists also say sufferers of PTSD show symptoms such as excessive aggression, avoidance, guilt, hyper arousal, hopelessness, depression, loss of interest in activities and life in general; and substance abuse. Substance abuse is prevalent throughout Acholi sub-regions: Gulu, Pader and Kitgum, which conflict experts say have been most affected by the LRA insurgency.
Northern Uganda has rich soils in which bushes and many types of trees including mangoes and shea butter trees thrive. This according to observers may be the single largest factor that bolstered the activities of rebel combatants who blended unrecognisably with the vegetation cover.
Tale-telling Trees
James Ezama, 39, lives with his family in Arua in the West Nile region of northern Uganda. He said "All the trees in the wider region of northern Uganda tell tales."
"These trees (he points at one along the Moyo- Arua road) have been here for decades. If they could talk there would be less trouble finding perpetrators of some of the war-related violations here. Nothing can erase the memory of what happened to me (he points to a specific tree along that same road). LRA combatants ambushed a village close to my home when I was nine years old. I fled when I realised what was happening ending up days later in Congo where I lived as a refugee for three years. Life was hard; I do not know how I survived but I did. Red Cross Society reunited me with my family when I was 12."
"This tree reminds me of despicable abominations. I was travelling to Kampala for my school holiday in a public bus with scores of other school children and a dozen nuns from a Coventry in Arua. I was 16. Suddenly a faction of LRA rebels appeared from a bush and started shooting at the bus. The rebels then ordered the bus driver to stop at this tree (he points at yet another tree along the Moyo –Arua road). We were ordered out at gunpoint. On disembarking we were herded around the tree, stripped naked and robbed of our belongings. We were then ordered to return to the bus; nude. You cannot imagine the shame we all felt long at each other. It was traumatising beyond words. We arrived n Kampala in this state; it seems like yesterday to me."
Ezama like hundreds others associate certain trees with trauma. Another man, 40-year old Robert, a chauffer with a local non-governmental organisation said LRA rebels murdered his sister near Acholi Bur on the Kitgum-Gulu road. As Acholi (the predominant community in Kitgum, Gulu and Pader regions of northern Uganda) folklore has it Acholi Bur is the hole from which the first Acholi emerged at the beginning of time.
"My sister died right here ten years ago," says Robert (drying his moist eyes) adding "I think about her and that event every time I drive along this road."
Mammoth task
Lilly Schumicky director of Restore Renew a Gulu-based non-governmental organisation says ‘the task of rebuilding the lives of the overwhelming number of war-tormented people in Gulu is mammoth.’ Schumicky believes the way forward lies in approaches that include psychological counselling and the development of new business skills. Hungary-funded Restore Renew was founded in 2007 to help formerly abducted child mothers and child fathers to rebuild their lives. PTDS affects individuals’ physical and mental health it reduces their quality of life. It also affects their ability to provide for themselves. This is why the one-score-participants, most of who have irreparable physical scars and bullet wounds sustained in the bush, receive psychological counselling and learn to craft paper beads and crocheted clothing accessories for the local and overseas markets. Proceeds go directly to the beneficiaries and their growing children. Crafting she says provides an outlet for raw emotions and creativity.
A recent study shows that northern Uganda has some of the highest PTSD sufferers worldwide. The joint study by London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Gulu University found "people living in conflict areas of northern Uganda have some of the highest rates of PTSD among internally displaced persons worldwide. Three-quarters of the 1 210 interviewed had witnessed the murder of a close family member or friend and 50 per cent had been harassed or tortured."
Fred Kigozi, a medical doctor says’ At least nine million Ugandans suffer some form of mental disorder including schizophrenia, depression, epilepsy and anxiety. He was speaking at an event to mark 2008 World Mental Health Day. According to the census 2007 Ugandan Population and Housing Census there are about 28.2 million Ugandans. Military combat, according to conflict experts, is the most common cause of PTSD in men; other major causes include catastrophic life experiences such as natural disasters, terrorist attacks and motor accidents.
New approaches
Another way of handling PTSD besides initiatives such as handy-crafting is exposure-based therapy. ‘Exposure-Based Therapy, in which recent trauma survivors are instructed to relive the troubling event(s) may be effective in preventing the progression of acute stress disorder to PTSD’, says Richard Byrant author of a Jne 2008 report on PTSD. Byrant says’ current findings suggest direct activation of memories is particularly useful in preventing PTSD symptoms in patients with acute stress disorder.’ Critics according to that report published by Science Daily say ‘exposure therapy…causes distress for recent survivors.’
Mental health experts say PTSD sufferers do not usually seek medical attention perhaps because they believe they can handle the problem themselves. Some sufferers avoid any mental interventions because of the strong emotions associated with events that first caused the condition.
Schimicky says more needs to be done, by governments and its private-sector partners and non-governmental organisations to address the mammoth problem of psychological ill health among local population in northern Uganda.
Romosh
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