Four members of Africa Radio Active, Chris, Celly, Robin and Ben traveled up to the North East of Uganda to visit a remote tribe called the Ik. With us we had 40 hand-cranked tape players, plus 3 hours of Gospel-based stories in the Ik language. These had been translated by one of the only educated Ik tribesman, John Mark, and recorded in our RadioActive Studios in Kampala. It was the first time the Ik language had been recorded on tape. It was also one of the first projects in our newly equipped audio studio, thanks to a generous grant from the Family Care Foundation.

The Ik tribesmen were thrilled with the tapes and the recorders. It was the first time outsiders had visited them in many years. For a thousand years, the Ik have been living in an area dominated by warring tribes of Karimojong, who continually raid each other’s cattle. Whereas they used to be armed with spears, bows and arrows, the Karimojong warriors now carry AK 47s. The Ik tribe, who are peaceful agriculturalists, are often set upon by their feuding Karimojong neighbors and their settlements burned, food stolen and tribesmen killed.

When we arrived in the area, we were told that a few days previously there had been a major cattle raid by the Dodoth against the Kenyan Turkana tribe. Many Turkana had been killed. The area where we planned to visit was right in the middle of the two tribes, and one of the Ik villages had been burned. We prayed for confirmation that we should continue our mission in light of the security situation in the area. In fact in the whole vast Karamoja region remains largely outside Government control.

We reached the Ik at a desperate time. There had no been rain for seven months, and the ground was parched. Water and food were very sparse. We visited three different locations where the Ik have settled. Runners were sent to the various villages in the surrounding mountains to announce our arrival. In each locality we held a prayer meeting with whoever was able to attend. The tape-recorders were demonstrated and presented to representatives from the surrounding Ik villages. Over 3 days all 40 tape players were distributed.

A Jesuit priest evangelized the Ik some 60 years ago, so they practice a simple form of Catholicism. Then in 1996 an American missionary visited them and helped to develop a written language for the Ik and, with the help of a ministry in the U.S., oversaw the translation of Gospel-based stories into the Ik language. Looking for a studio to record the tapes in Uganda, they located us through the FCF website, which was how we first became involved with the project.

• For over two years, our syndicated radio show has played weekly on Radio Paidha, which reaches the whole troubled area of Northern Uganda, as well as parts of Eastern Congo & Sudan. In recent months, thousands of refugees have fled to Paidha from Bunia, where the Hema & Lendu tribes have been engaged in Rwanda-style massacres in recent months. Despite the seriousness of this conflict, it has only recently caught the attention of the world media. And the U.N. has at last sent a French-led peacekeeping force. However, whether they will be able to do much to stop this seemingly unbreakable cycle of revenge killings remains to be seen. For thousands who have already been brutally hacked to pieces, it is already too late. We recently visited this up-country station to host some live radio programs, as well as make personal contact with listeners who had been writing us from these areas. Paidha is a place where very few foreigners venture. Click here to read full story.

• This month we traveled to Masindi, about 3 hours from Kampala, where Christopher did a 3 hour Saturday morning show on with the local DJ, followed by 2 consecutive 3-hour-shows on Sunday morning. After each show we got to meet our listeners –some who had already written and others who had not. Here are a couple examples of the letters we received from listeners:

I enjoyed reading through the letter and magazine that you sent in response to my letter. It had all our answers to the best issues I had thought of. Sometimes we face some hardships and turmoil and problems that make us to despair and we ask ourselves that question – who will roll away the stone.
--Annette, Masindi Academy

I would like to thank NuBeat for the contribution they have put forward my life. It was during a NuBeat Show I started realizing that some of the things that I was doing were bad. Then I asked Jesus in my heart and nowadays I am very fine because I know how good kindness and loving is. The only problem is our land where we could settle is occupied by rebels and so we have to rent within the town areas so we could be safe from them. I have seen people in the villages really suffering, who have spent their nights in the bush. --Oyoo Denis Peter, Bweyale, Masindi

P.S. Enclosed is a poem I wrote entitled “City of Love”.
Living together in the coolest place of all,
A place of light
A place of love
A place full of the color of love
A place of no trouble
A place where life costs you nothing
A place that lasts forever

Oh, when will I reach that place?
When will I swim in the pool of love?
When will I receive real love in my heart?

Oh! Love, may you lift me to your city
The city that lasts forever
The city that hates no one

Oh! Love lift me to your city
The city that loves the poor
The city that provides them with shelter
The city that provides them with food to eat

Dear love, help them forever.
For they have suffered for a long time.

I need so much to reach the city
I need so much to live in the city
But the city is very far and out of my reach
Dear love, help me to reach your city.
For with you nothing is impossible
May you live in union with me forever and ever.