It is safe to say that the trajectory of our trip has already far surpassed my expectations. From the moment we landed in Entebbe, the influx of new sights, smells, sounds, and movement has ceased only in the fleeting hours where we pause to sleep. Culture shock, and an intense awareness that I am a Mzungu, or foreigner, have been inevitable.

Though our journey has already brought us into contact with many amazing sights and no dearth of new experiences, perhaps the most unique aspect thus far has been the opportunity for our group to meet some remarkable people. A particular highlight transpired when we toured the Ugandan Parliament in Kampala. "Tour," however, does not adequately describe or encapsulate the experience. Through Dr. Hackett's previous connection and friendship with an incredible man, Mr. George Piwang-Jalobo, we were fortunate enough to meet several important parliamentary members, and to listen as they brilliantly spoke on issues specifically relevant to the complex conflict and current social and cultural dynamics in Northern Uganda, even engaging them with our own questions and dialogues.

Because of this incredible opportunity, and with profound acknowledgment to George, who continuously extends unprecedented kindness to GSSAP, we were ultimately allowed to meet the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Honorable Jacob Oulanya, who is himself from Gulu. To merely shake hands with this man would have been a unique and fortuitous opportunity, much less to gather around a table and hear him speak for nearly an hour. He shared with us his personal involvement with Betty Bigombe, a renowned former government minister, with peace negotiations to end the insurgency of the LRA.

Deputy Speaker Oulanya conversed openly, illuminating some of the complex challenges that Northern Uganda now faces. In the wake of two decades of protracted war, displacement, atrocity, and suffering, Acholi communities have changed in manifold ways. Mr. Oulanya commented on the way that language, especially among youth and the younger generation has changed; how it has been “militarized.” He lamented the ways in which NGOs and countless aid organizations have wrought debilitating changes in local homes and communities, cultivating a culture of dependency while remaining largely ignorant of the broader historical and political complexities of the conflict and of Acholi culture. He contended that the conflict has eroded many traditional moral values, resulting in a situation of moral disengagement where formally held values no longer hold. And finally, he shared with us his own thoughts concering the tension that exists between traditional justice and transitional justice.

I will conclude with two quotes by Mr. Oulanya. Though they may have merely been passing comments, I found these words particularly striking and profound:

“Post-conflict transitional justice has to coin an appropriate justice mechanism that allows for both justice and reconciliation, traditional and transitional. We must take both sides and construct a larger structure of justice”

“We are trying to transform the effects of the war. Or as my favorite verse says, to bend swords into plowshares.”