Lost Girl

Field Work:

Most often, when I come back from the field, I am too exhausted to stay in the office (and the mosquitoes don’t make it appealing either) to write an update. But, there are many important happenings which get lost by the wayside, washed “away” after a nights sleep and brushed over by another day of fieldwork. Midterm 2 is 3 days in, and I already feel like I have lived another lifetime. Three weeks remain! One of the stories from Midterm 1 never was published. I continue that story on Sunday, when I work with the girl on my day “off”. More on her another day. For now, here are these tidbits from the field.

Lost Girl

My team was leaving down Tapac Road on Monday, filled with energy as we embarked on Day One of the third round of research. The Tapac road is long, winding, and has many little rivers. It eventually leads you to Kenya. We got two of our young men to interview on the side of the road, so we left our 2 enumerators and sent the driver back to get them later as the rest of us went on to our final destination. When the driver and 2 enumerators returned I noticed a little pip-squeek in the car. She was no more than 7 years and had these ears too big for her head. Our driver explained they saw her on the road, alone, and when they asked her where she was going she said, “Iriri”. Ok people, that is the other direction, a main road, and takes 3 hours by car on a good day! They asked why, and she told them that she had been beaten badly that morning and ran away. She was trying to reconnect with her mom and dad in Iriri. They called a contact who she said she was staying with in Moroto to let them know she was safe and they had her. But, then, the questioning began. We needed to figure out a) did this kid get sold into child labor? (frequent practice, usually by knowing parents, but sometimes the parents don’t understand what they have done) b) was this kid in harm’s way at the house she was staying at c) did we need to go to the police. As we deliberated in the research village (ahem, meanwhile I am managing the field team and supervising/teaching our new Field Research Manager!) a woman came up to us and says she knows this kid, it’s a cousin’s kid (something like that!) She says the woman the kid stayed with in Moroto was notorious for beating kids and that there had been another child who ran away and had not yet been recovered! This sent fear through my body. There was no way this kid was going back to that house! The woman in the village asked if she could keep the girl, but we felt that wasn’t the best solution, as we couldn’t verify her identity either. So, when we reached town 4 hours later I took the girl to the police with one of our enumerators. We reported the incident to the Child Protection Unit. Because it was 4:30pm, they couldn’t do anything until morning. So . . . I had to find a place for the child to sleep! The cop said she could stay at the barracks. NO WAY! Can you imagine how scary? Plus he said it isn’t recommended because most of the kids just run away at night again. No kidding!?! So, with child in hand (she gripped my hand like a frightened little bird, with her clothes just falling off), I returned to the office and called an emergency meeting with Cormac and Jovin. I wasn’t thinking rationally, as my heart was so torn up over this whole debacle for this girl just bouncing around. They advised me to get in the car, start driving up and down visiting NGOs looking for one that lets people stay overnight. I began with what we all hoped would be the best bet, MFUMI. They were amazing. They are a pilot project in Karamoja, but have been working for over 10 years in Uganda, focusing on battered women and children. They let her stay overnight, with fresh new sheets, a place to bathe, and they gave her counseling (and me a bit in their reassuring manner!) I had to deliver dinner to her at 7pm. Then, returned at 7:00 am so we could report to the police. The girl had to try and show the police where it was she was staying so the police could begin their investigation. Unfortunately, it was not the way a traumatized child should be handled. Her and I boarded the police motorbike, and zoomed into a part of town which always has loads of people milling around, esp in the morning hours. They swarmed the bike and the girl, all asking her where she came from etc. Quickly realizing the girl was disoriented and didn’t stay in the village, we got the heck out of there and returned her to MFUMI. I went straight to the office, switched into Program Coordinator mode, and got in the vehicle for our 2 hour ride to the village for surveys. We reached, conducted 38 surveys, and returned by 4pm. During the day I was receiving texts and calls giving me updates on what was becoming a very complicated story! I had a 5:15 phone call and also had to check on the girl. Upon reaching MFUMI, they told me that they had convened a meeting between the woman who had gone to Iriri and picked up the girl from the parents, the woman who the girl was staying with and had beaten her, the 2 police officers, the MFUMI staff, and me and the driver and the girl. We met from 5:40-7pm. All in all, it came out that the girl was picked up from the village where her life situation was bad—the mom has fled to another village outside Karamoja and has 7 kids. The dad “took” his dead brother’s wife, who is now step-mom to the girl (also happens a lot) and she abuses the kids that aren’t hers. An in-law sent for the small girl to come to Moroto to help an ailing grandma. That grandmother moved about 6 months ago and since then, the girl has just been with grown cousins, minding their kids, doing housework, etc. The woman denies beatings. The police really laid into the family, and said they were NARROWLY missing getting charged with torture, negligence, and a lot of other things. The girl (previously in counseling) said she wanted to go and live with the woman who originally had picked her from Iriri. This woman is a government worker, and so is her husband- he is a big guy in Moroto!! They are both culpable in my book. We said OK as LONG as they are monitored closely by police and MFUMI.

I went to bed exhausted after 2 days of extra drama, emotional output, and $15 short—clothes and food for the kid, and oh yeah! Fuel for the police ride!

Never a normal day.