Adventures in Family Tracing
When James and I do family tracing we compile all the information we have about the child and then take off on our motorbike. Normally this information includes: the village the child was reunited to, the guardian’s name, the owner of the household and the names of the child’s parents. We go to the area’s trading centre and ask people we meet whether or not they know the child we are looking for. When we find someone who knows the child or the owner of the household, they get on the bike with us and take us to their home. Believe it or not, this family tracing is done without computers or technology. Just a cellphone, hand-written records, face-to-face talking and good old trial and error.
Today, we decided to head out for a second attempt at finding Rick. We attempted to find Rick last week but due to a lack of information we were unable to find him. Since then we had gained more information so we decided to take another shot at it.
We left at about noon and on the way, we stopped off at the home of Erin and Alice’s Grandmother to meet the extended family and assess whether this would be a good place for them to spend their vacations. We were received by a large number of relatives and were happy to see them all happy, healthy and living well. Erin and Alice were on their way to their Grandmother’s house while we were there because they will be spending their holiday there digging and relaxing with their family. We explained our thoughts to the extended family and promised to be back later to discuss the options with them and the Aunt primarily responsible for Alice and Erin.
We then headed the 7kms to the village where Rick resides. We first stopped and asked a couple of women if they knew the Aunt that had taken custody of Rick. We provide them with as much information as possible, including the fact that the child passed through GUSCO, when they came home, who they were reunited with, who their mother is and who their father is.
The first two women we met were unfamiliar with the child, but they sent us in the direction of someone who might know the person we are looking for. James and I pulled up to a family home where four men were sitting around talking. After talking to them for awhile, we discovered that one of them worked for a local NGO and knew of a lady who had also returned from Captivity and might be able to assist us. James and the man went in search of the lady and I was left to sit with the family.
What followed was a half hour discussion with a 60 year old man while the rest of the family sat around laughing and telling him to stop disturbing the poor white girl. In uncertain situations, I give only one name and normally a fake one. In keeping with this, I told this man that I only had one name, Ali, which led to a long discussion about why I did not have a second name. Was I an orphan? Did I not have a father? Had I not breast-fed from my mother? The conversation lasted so long that I began to regret my initial decision to pretend I only had one name, but it was too late to turn back now.
From there we progressed to the topic of children and whether or not I had any. I told him that I was too young and therefore had no children. (Thankfully, I look quite young and can tell people I am 19 or 20 instead of my real 27yrs. This decreases the marriage and baby pressure). Hearing this, the man told me that he would give me two children if I came to see him. When I refused he got upset and demanded to know why. I responded that I could tell that he had a number of children and a beautiful wife. This led to a discussion about how I should marry his son because he needed his son to marry a white woman. He said that he would take my name and phone number and then myself and his son could talk. The family kept assuring me he was only joking. After what was an interesting half hour, James returned and I was temporarily saved from the discussion.
James had not gotten any more information from the Child Mother, but apparently an organization had taken a list of all the children abducted from this village and their particulars. The group we were talking with nominated a representative (the man that had gone with James) to talk with this man on our behalf as it was getting late. We provided this man with all the information we had and he agreed to talk with the man and then get back to us. James and I said our goodbyes and thanks and left. On the way back we were laughing because the family had jokingly asked James to leave me behind to marry their son (to which he agreed) and while in town the man had apparently been going around telling everyone there was a white woman at his house sponsoring kids. The joys of family tracing!
We headed back to Gulu, stopping along the way to visit with Erin and Alice who had arrived at the home of their Grandmother. They are obviously happy when they are there and we discussed Erin’s medical needs and the children’s education needs with the extended family. We didn’t reach a concrete agreement, but some progress was made and so we returned home to Gulu.