NEW TERRITORY | PhD candidate Christine Mbabazi, 32, and her eleven-month old daughter Ruth. “War should not involve children,” says Mbabazi who is researching the role of religion in the reintegration of female child ex-soldiers.
Eleven-month-old Ruth does not know it yet, but her first trip out of her native Uganda could radically change the lives of female child ex-soldiers in her homeland. Her mother, 32-year-old PhD student Christine Mbabazi, is spending the autumn semester in Stavanger at the School of Mission and Theology (MHS), where she investigates how religion can help the reintegration of female child soldiers in Ugandan society. Mbabazi focuses in particular on the use of traditional and Christian rituals of initiation, expiation and reconciliation in the reintegration process of female child soldiers in their communities. Her work is part of a collaboration between MHS and the department of religious studies at Makerere University in Kampala.
Forced to fight
Mbabazi is one of three PhD candidates at MHS studying this problem, which can be found throughout Africa but is hitting Uganda especially hard. For the past 21 years the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a guerrilla movement located in the north of the country, has abducted an estimated 25,000 children, including thousands of young girls who are forced to become soldiers and sex slaves for the LRA’s commanders – which makes the return to their communities even more complicated.
“In Africa women never went to battle before, so it is new for us to have female child soldiers,” explains Mbabazi. “In February I will go to northern Uganda to do my fieldwork. I plan to interview eight female child ex-soldiers, community volunteer workers, aid workers and other professionals who follow the girls.” Female child ex-soldiers tend to divide into two categories: those who have fought and returned home alone and those who returned with children of their own.
At MHS, Professor Bård Mæland leads the Norwegian side of the research project. He used to be a priest in the Norwegian Army, now he researches military ethics. “We want to find out whether religion can benefit these children, what role religion plays for them and whether religious rituals help them get back into their local community or whether it stigmatises them,” he explains. He adds that the role of religion in rehabilitation has never been investigated before, even though many organisations have been working with child soldiers.
In addition, “Uganda is a society where religion plays an important part, which is something that can be difficult to comprehend for us Westerners. It will be very interesting to see how churches can enhance the reintegration of child soldiers,” says Mæland, adding that he hopes the research will have practical use. “By drawing upon religious traditions, we may be able to find new ways for religious communities to reintegrate female ex-soldiers.”
Empowering rituals
Alongside Mbabazi, a second PhD candidate is looking into the gender perspectives the LRA uses in its religious rhetoric - the movement’s leaders know how to use religious language to brainwash the children – while the third PhD student researches the moral challenges of reintegration.
IN CHARGE | Professor Bård Mæland at the School of Mission and Theology. A former military priest, he heads the Norwegian side of the research project.
Ancient rituals seem to be the solution when it comes to helping the children back into their communities and helping the latter forgive the horrible acts the kids have often committed. “It is traditional in Uganda to step on an egg in front of witnesses to show that a conflict has been solved,” explains Mbabazi. “We also use a bitter herb drink called mato oput as an old reconciliation ritual.”
Guerrilla leaders also use ancient rituals for their own ends. “There is a story about 139 girls who were abducted from a school in Uganda,” recalls Mbabazi. “When they arrived in the bush, the commander came with an egg and made them hand it around. This was a clear use of traditional rituals.”
Mbabazi believes that the more we find out about these traditions, the more empowered we will be to help the girls back into society.
For MHS, taking part in this project furthers its long involvement in issues affecting Africa. “We have 150 years of experience with cooperation with the continent,” says Mæland. “This is a straightforward development of higher academic standards in Uganda, especially when it comes to educating women, who are needed in top universities positions. We also want to recruit students at master’s level to write about this topic. And we have an exchange agreement with Makerere University.”
Once the three PhD students complete their research, a book will be published and distributed to people who work with child ex-soldiers. “We will also attend a national conference in Canada on this issue,” explains Mæland. “But this is just a minor part of the project. The important thing is that religion plays a crucial part in Uganda and we want to know how it can be used to help these children.”
Hope for change
Female child ex-soldiers have been abducted and forced to kill and steal. Often they have also been raped and abused. Many of them even return to the bush because they feel shame for what they have done. Some are also rejected by their communities, so the guerrilla is the only place where they can get food, security and status, by carrying a weapon.
“There has been too much suffering,” says Mbabazi. “I really hope that a deeper understanding of these rituals can help people who have been traumatised and that these girls, who are often under 18, can become normal citizens again. I hope too that this project can give a voice to the underprivileged.”
Mbabazi wants to follow a number of girls over time to see what will happen with their lives. “I want to go back in ten years to see what has happened to them. The settling down process can vary from girl to girl. It would be fantastic to know how their destinies have unveiled.”
Being from Uganda herself, Mbabazi sometimes finds it hard to believe what is going on in the northern areas of her country.
“It is very painful for me. I cry sometimes. But it is my hope that the wounds of my country can be healed,” she says.
Sometimes the subject of her PhD haunts her. “If I were living up north, would Ruth to be taken from me? Would my two-year-old son David be abducted? It is almost impossible to comprehend. I hope my research can make a statement about children in war and show that girls are very important to the community. Maybe we will understand better who these children after this project. I hope so.”