Acholi Cultural leaders say they are faced with a huge task of reviving their culture after decades of the Lord’s Resistance Army rebellion.
The LRA war may have ended and more than a million displaced people finally resettled in their homes but for the cultural leaders the real task is just beginning.
The leaders say the collapse of their traditional practices gave rise to emergence and development of new practices like child headed families and prostitution that are now threatening to overshadow the customs.
Okema Lazech Santo, a traditional leader at the Acholi cultural institution, Ker Kwaro Acholi, says that they are moving to restore Wang Oo in every home. Wang Oo is a Luo phrase for bon fire where every member of the family is expected to assemble every evening to share ideas. He says that the forum provided families with the opportunity to bond, learn new values, impart and receive instructions as well as take stock for the day in order to plan for the next day.
He explained that it was also during the Wang Oo that heads of families disciplined errant children. He said the practice is gradually getting restored following the resettlement of the population and the local chiefs.
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He added that they also hope to restore the use of relations as further traditional disciplinary mechanism. He said in the past maternal and paternal aunties and uncles were used to correct undisciplined daughters and sons respectively, a practice, which has since died out due to the long period of the war.
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He, however, admitted that the biggest challenge lies with the growing level of child prostitutes who are mainly in the semi urban centers and towns. It is a common sight to find young girls lined up in selected areas of Gulu town to practice commercial sex. But Okema explained that they are developing a new approach to target the children in the suburbs, some of whom, are involved in prostitution due to peer influence and exposure for pornographic materials.
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A case study done by Reflecting on Peace Practice Project that was directed by the Collaborative for Development said the LRA war in Northern Uganda caused a breakdown in normal social support systems and traditional forms of conflict management. It said the life in displaced camps was socially and culturally destructive due to the high level of vices like domestic violence, alcoholism, lawlessness and welfare dependency among others.
Okema emphasized that the Acholi cultural institution has designed a plan to address the effects.
