Stories from the Field: Late June

A host participant with the fruit of ilinga, a local medicine, and a grass known as yabi for tying firewood

Dear All,

I hope this finds you well! I regret that I have missed posting for a few weeks. We have been working long, hot days in the field with little extra time. This weekend, however, I am taking three days off to to rest up and catch up on the blog and other work. In this post I will share a few stories from our recent firewood walks on both the refugee and host sides.

Refugee Side: Challenging Social Dynamics in Zone 2

First off, I want to introduce Alex, who is now assisting with translation on the refugee side as Josephine left this week to begin nursing school. Alex has a background in social work which is a real asset for engaging participants in a sensitive and attentive manner. I am grateful to have found another great team member.

Alex assisting a participant tie her firewood bundle (left), and learning about a medicinal tree use (right)

During the past few weeks we have been working with participants in Zone 2 of Imvepi. We are finding that each of Imvepi's zones and villages have distinct firewood collection patterns. Our walks from this area have been marked by frequent reports among refugees of being yelled at or chased away as they try to collect wood. In this zone, we have had two refugee participants draw instances of conflict into their firewood collection sketch maps (maps drawn by all participants before we walk to collect firewood). In the sketch below, the participant drew a host (right) holding a stick and threatening a refugee carrying firewood from the bush.

A refugee sketch of conflict during firewood collection

We had a taste of these challenging social dynamics on Josephine's last day, when Alex was also joining us in the field for the first time. On that day, we worked with a participant I will call "Seema," a South Sudanese refugee. After completing our interview with Seema, she grabbed her machete and tying ropes and we set off across the barren, rocky landscape towards firewood, along with Seema's neighbor who also wanted to collect firewood. Seema indicated during her interview that she collects firewood nearby her rental land. In her sketch map, she drew herself (far right) collecting firewood near her rental land (the large rectangle), as she has an established relationship with the hosts from whom she rents land. Despite this relationship, however, she still reported fear of being threatened to leave by two hosts who are known to chase refugees away from firewood collection in the bush (the two figures in the center of the map).

Seema's sketch map of her rental land, firewood collection, and fear of threatening hosts

We walked about 2.5 miles to Seema's rental land. She showed us an area where stray host cattle cleared about a quarter of her planted maize, another significant point of tension between refugees and hosts. We continued to the home of the host landlord, who she said has been a friend to both her and her husband. We sat down with the landlord, his brothers, and wife as Seema tried to ask in her few words of Lugbara for permission to cut firewood around her rental land. Josephine and Alex ended up helping to translate her request from Kakwa to English, highlighting the language barriers that can stand in the way of firewood negotiations between Kakwa-speaking refugee and Lugbara-speaking hosts. The landlord granted access and accompanied us to the area for Seema and her neighbor to cut wood.

Once reaching the bush, Seema started to cut firewood as Alex, Josephine, and I sat in the shade. The landlord stayed with us for some time but then left us to take his cattle for grazing. Just as he passed out of view, we heard two men approaching. Hearing the sound of Seema cutting firewood, they began calling out "Who is there? Who gave you permission to cut firewood?" Sure enough, these were the two hosts whom our participant drew in her firewood sketch map, known to cause conflict even on land which they do not own.

The men seemed ready to chase away Seema and her friend, who would have dropped their firewood and left. But first they encountered Josephine, Alex and I and began asking us our purpose in the bush. We explained our research project and one of the men spoke at length about the environmental degradation that he has perceived due to refugees clearing trees for firewood. When I explained that we spend 50% of our time also studying host access to firewood, and started identifying some of the local trees in the host language of Lugbara, the men visibly lightened up. They became quite friendly and we had a candid conversation with them about challenges and solutions to local deforestation. I gave them both small bags of toasted groundnuts from my backpack and they continued on their way, leaving Seema and her neighbor to finish collecting firewood.

This episode resolved peacefully, but could have been quite different had we not accompanied Seema to the bush. Seema and her neighbor tied up their firewood bundles and we proceeded out of the bush. As we passed the host landlord's home, I was touched that his wife came out with cups of water for Seema and her neighbor to drink. As a whole, our walk with Seema demonstrated that the social dynamics around firewood collection can be highly unpredictable: Some hosts seem friendly and willing to grant access, while others are aggressive and seek to scare refugees away from collecting. Participants navigate all of these social dynamics as they simply try to find wood to cook daily meals.

A host pours water for Seema and her neighbor before their 2.5 mile walk home

Host Side: Stories from Onai Village

On most days I work with one refugee participant in the morning and then shift to work with one host participant in the afternoon. During the middle of the day, Robilert (my driver and host translator) and I stop at the Point J marketplace, where Robilert gets his lunch at a local restaurant while I roam the market for groundnuts and mangoes. Lately Robilert has been enjoying the seasonal dish of beans cooked with groundnut paste and white ants, eaten with a hearty serving of boiled cassava flour.

Robilert's lunch: Pasted beans cooked with white ants and cassava bread

After lunch we proceed onto villages located just beyond Imvepi's northwest boundary. During the past two weeks we have worked in the village of Onai. An important first step when we begin working in a new village is to meet with the locally-elected village chairperson to introduce ourselves and explain the purpose of our project, before we start engaging participants. In Onai we were warmly received by the local vice-chairperson and security officer (pictured below). It is crucial to follow and respect local customs and protocols in order to mobilize communities and locate our participants.

Meeting with local officials in Onai before proceeding with data collection

One of our most memorable interviews from Onai was with a nearly deaf older gentleman. The interview took quite some time as it required three levels of translation: first I spoke to Robilert in English, then Robilert translated to the participant's daughter in Lugbara, and then the participant's daughter yelled the translation into her father's ear so that he could understand. I was particularly pleased, however, to see that our visual photo sorting exercise was completely feasible and well understood by the participant, despite hearing challenges.

Robilert asking interview questions and explaining photo sorting to our hard of hearing participant

We have also seen inspiring examples of applied permaculture and energy conservation in Onai. One is the production of charcoal briquettes by an older female participant. Briquettes mix charcoal dust with organic material such as soil, extending the productivity of charcoal. Another individual is using mango leaves to make pots for planting vegetable seedlings, which can be directly transplanted into the garden. He also built a small shade structure out of cassava stalks to protect the seedlings before they are eventually transplanted.

A participant shows charcoal briquettes she has made for home use and sale

Eggplant seedlings wrapped in mango leaves (left) and a cassava stalk shade structure (right)

That's all for this week, and I will leave you with a photo Robilert caught when I took a quick nap on a rock in the bush while waiting for a participant to collect firewood. This long weekend was much needed! Thanks very much for reading and I look forward to sharing more soon.

A nap in the bush