Uganda’s northern districts of Gulu, Kit- gum, and Pader are just over 200 kilometers from the country’s bustling international capital of Kampala. The majority of the 800,000 inhabitants of these districts are ethnic Acholi, who make up 4 percent of Uganda’s total population. Traveling north out of Kampala is to experience the divide between rich and poor. The capital’s paved streets lined with air-conditioned shops turn into long stretches of deteriorating roads dotted with thatched huts and corrugated tin roofs. Traffic jams give way to streams
of bicycles laden with harvested grass and sorghum. Women and girls sling baskets of fruit over their shoulders, balancing con- tainers of water on their heads while infants cling to their backs. The landscape is a bril- liant mix of burnt orange earth and vibrant green trees, of rich arable land and apparent tranquility.