Palm Sunday

Lilly shakes palms and neem tree leaves during Palm Sunday service

Warm greetings to all! I hope this finds you well. I am writing again from Arua. I am spending one night here on my way to the city of Hoima where I will take a short vacation over Easter. It has been an intense 10 days of firewood walks, with only one day off on Palm Sunday. Between Monday – Thursday alone, we walked 32 miles searching for firewood with 8 refugee participants. A break is much needed for both myself and my incredible translators Tabita and Josephine, who are with me every step of the way.

I want to start this post by introducing Lilly, a South Sudanese refugee living in Imvepi, and a community-based agroforestry facilitator with CIFOR-ICRAF. We met in 2022 and worked closely to assess the adoption of agroforestry among CIFOR-ICRAF participants . Lilly and I deeply bonded that year and have become real sisters, to the extent that she offered to construct a small house on her family’s compound so I can stay with them when I come to Imvepi. I loved this idea but was told that the Office of the Prime Minister would never allow me to live outside of the security of basecamp. Regardless, I make a point to visit Lilly and her family regularly whenever I am here.

Lilly's son Godfrey, in front of their Baptist church

One of my favorite experiences in Imvepi in 2022 was to attend Lilly’s church for Palm Sunday. It was a festive and moving occasion, with the small brick church building adorned in palms and banana leaves. This year I knew I couldn’t miss the opportunity to return and join the small Baptist congregation for Palm Sunday 2024.

On Sunday morning I left early, around 7am, and set off on foot to Lilly’s home which is about 6 miles from where I stay in basecamp. It was a really enjoyable and familiar walk, as I used to walk that same route nearly every day in 2022 while interning with CIFOR-ICRAF. Walking through the main settlement roads I could see Imvepi residents starting to come out of their homes, brushing teeth, boiling water for tea. I walked past host nationals and refugees alike on their way to various churches, wearing suits and African print dresses (vitenge), carrying palms from Borassus aethiopum in their hands. When I arrived at Lilly’s compound, she was still in the church making preparations so I sat and chatted with her son Godfrey. Eventually Lilly returned and we drank delicious home-roasted black coffee.

Lilly and Godfrey showered and dressed, and we walked over to the church which is just across a small road from their home. Inside the church, a young man and woman were singing while the man played an adungu. It was soothing to hear. Neighbors began to filter in and sit on the mud/brick benches. Most of the adults were familiar to me from conducting interviews back in 2022 and there were lots of warm reunions up until the service began around 11am.

Clergy giving Palm Sunday sermon (left) and adungu played before the service began (right)

Godfrey and another clergy member primarily led the service which included reading of bible excerpts and a long sermon on the importance of attending church. The highlight for me is always the music, and Palm Sunday music was simply electric. The videos below give you a sense. The raw and uplifting expressions of human vitality are powerful and moving, particularly in a context of such hardship and suffering. I was so grateful to be present and sang, clap, even cried throughout. At some point in the service all were invited to share “testimony,” which included introductions from myself and another visitor, while others talked about hardships in their life or even nightmares they experienced in the previous week, seeking consolation.

After service, we slowly walked back to Lilly’s house where her daughter and niece served us a lunch of boiled cassava flour with chicken in groundnut paste. Lilly gave me a tour of the trees on the compound which are really thriving: a small woodlot of 2-year old neem for timber and medicine, boundary plantings of Markhamia lutea for timber, and bananas planted near annual crops. The bananas were just now ripening and Lilly proudly brought in a large plate to enjoy after our meal. I was really impressed by a hand washing station her family had built in the center of the compound with a foot lever—truly making the most of each and every resource. They maximize use of their plot by raising pigeons, chickens, and pigs for food and have a large, fenced kitchen garden for growing greens and onions in the rainy season. Very inspiring.

Bananas from agroforestry on Lilly's plot (left) and hand-washing station (right)

I walked home around 3pm. Lilly joined me for the first kilometer, the two of us laughing and holding hands as we walked slowly down the road. I got home by 5pm with enough time to wash some bucket laundry and organize for the coming work week. Thank you for reading, and I look forward to sharing more soon!