The Farmhouse - a different perspective

Twice we were invited to the home of Tom and Rose O'lalobo.  Amy, the organizer of the trip met one of their sons during her planning trip and thought their story was fascinating.  She was right!  

Here's what I can remember - some of the details may be a bit off:

Tom grew up in Gulu.  He went to Sir Samuel Baker School (where I was taught this summer).  As a young adult, Tom was trained in the U.S. to be a pilot.  Later (maybe later 20's, early 30's) Tom moved to Tanzania to live in exile because of political turmoil - many of his family members who did not leave the country were killed.  It was here that he met Rose, they got married and started a family.  Inthe early 80's they returned to Gulu and began building a home.  When the war broke out the left again, this time to London where they raised their 7 children.  During the war Tom's mother and some other family members stayed behind, often using his home as a shelter from the LRA.  Because the home was fenced it served as a deterrent because the young men in the LRA did not want to get stuck/fenced in if 

they need to flee quickly.  He told stories of his mother and family members hovering in the dark while their were gun shots, at one point a neighbor tried to break into the house (thinking that no one was there) and at one point at Tom's mother at gunpoint.  Around 2007, Tom and Rose returned to Gulu.  Over the past couple of years they have fixed up their home and started many business ventures around town.  Rose runs the only bakery in town and you can get CHEESE! and cakes with frosting (delicious!).    [Again, some of these details, dates, etc. might be a bit off - I tried to leave out details if I wasn't sure if I remembered them correctly]

The invitation to visit their home 

was so greatly appreciated.  Aside from the delicious food and beautiful scenery, it was val

uable to see a different side of Uganda.  So often people draw this picture of Uganda being a poverty-ridden nation that depends on the rest of the world for help.  While Uganda does have a long way to go, I have found that this country is made of strong, beautiful, resilient, hardworking people that are ready for Uganda to turn things around.  I think Rose and Tom's move back to Uganda is evidence of the direction that Uganda is moving.  There has been so much economic development in the past two years and it continues to grow.