Tepeth Waters, A Glitch to Survival and Communication

Communities, wait for river at Loyaraboth to slow speed down

Chichi Naoya is a breed winner at their homestead in Alamai village of Loyaraboth parish, Tapac Sub County, Moroto district. Her two parents are already helpless in their old age. Her mother is blind and crippled; while Mzee who has three wives is permanently packed under tree shade at his third wives’ home and can offer nothing more or less than an empty tummy to his dependants.

Lonyilik trading centre 15 km away from this mountaintop settlement is the place to get foodstuff and other basic needs. Naoya takes chicken, grains and occasionally honey for sale to Lonyilik so she can buy some beans, salt... for the family. “My family has spent two nights without having anything cooked at home to eat because of this river,” the 14 year old Tepeth girl tells her friends who are also waiting at the river bank.

The women and girls cannot access market because the river is flooded following two days of nonstop rainfall on top of mount Moroto. Naoya is heading to the grinding mill with some 30 kgs of maize. “I also want some beans from the centre if I can reach and get the balance of my money for the honey I sold last week to Lokiru”.

One of the biggest challenges that this community hassle with is the poor state of transport and communication. Government through the Second Northern Uganda Social Action Fund (NUSAF 2) is funding the creation of community access roads in this part of Karamoja but the work is done with very limited technical support. A mountainous place like Tapac Sub County would require full engagement of engineers and motorized technology but as the Sub County Community Development Officer, Moses Loru explains “everything is done basically by the community”.

“Most roads in this Sub County were opened up by the community themselves. They simply need tools like hoes, pangas, axe and maybe something to eat” Loru explained. Indeed under the current NUSAF 2 program, the Tepeth community preferred food for work instead of cash. Several roads have been created to access different locations in the Sub County. However, the challenge of planning and the absence of graders have rendered most of these roads almost useless.

“When there is heavy downpour, running water from the mountain follows this roads and block people from accessing other locations” Lomorumoe Lobeyo, a resident of Loyaraboth explains. Several families in three parishes of Loyaraboth, Nakwanga and Natumkale are cut off from access to services at the only trading centre based in Lonyilik. A group of mothers and young girls have camped at the river bank for days feeding on raw sorghum and maize as they pray and wait for the speed of water to come down.

Along one more route leading to Moroto town, an NGO worker survived the wrath of river Kalokutakori. This fast flowing seasonal stream sweeps big stones, fallen trees and other loads from the mountain top. Anthony, a field based worker with Concern Worldwide, an international NGO based in Moroto did not know this secret has he cruised heading to the Sub County head quarters on Friday morning.

“I thought since the water level looked low, I could manoeuvre through, but the big stones and other loads shifted the tyre of my bike and it put me down in the middle of the stream.” Anthony’s exhaust pipe sucked water and the engine went off. The boy was rescued by another driver of another Japanese crap - a Toyota Land-Cruser machine who gave him a hand to pull the two wheeled automobile out of the brook.

Apart from the vagaries of weather, getting transport means from Tapac Sub County to Moroto and vice-versa is also a game. The distant is about 50 kilometres, but the security threat is about unpredictable. However, travelling here on a vehicle is safe due to the strong UPDF patrols and the impact created by the disarmament thing. But business vehicles are not operating on this route because of the thousands of pot holes and rock holes available.

Modern or telecommunication services are also a gamble in this Sub County. The only network that is spotted is MTN and its obvious weaknesses. Thanks to Safaricom of Kenya because the Tepeth phone owners in Uganda use the Safaricom network flying all the way from Kibaki’s republic. The major challenge that should be said is that caused by the MTN business. Airtime of Ugsh500/= goes for Ugsh1000/= in Tapac. Wait, even in Moroto-a one star City; MTN dealers make subscribers part with an extra sh100/= on top of the authenticated price printed on the voucher cards...the country should work hard, very hard against this yellow business.