Fact or Acholi Legend…You Decide!

When we first arrived in Pabbo, we heard about the first missionary to Acholi land who when he stood on a mountain made of rock, his feet sunk into the rock and left permanent footprints. Being the adventurers that we are we asked our friend, Pastor John Bosco if he would take us to see this site. He agreed and our exploration began.

According to Acholi belief, Sir Samuel Baker was the first missionary to the Acholi region. He built his home in 1872 in Patiko, Uganda which is located in the Gulu district. He arrived in 1872 and stayed until 1888. He was the man credited with the cessation of the buying and selling of slaves in East Africa. He convinced the Acholi clan leaders that if they worked together they could overpower the Arabs and put a stop to the slave trade.  The slave trade involved the East African nations including Kenya, Southern Sudan, Uganda, and Congo.  

I did a little internet research to check for facts and found that John Spekes a British explorer arriving before Baker spoke these words, “Slavery begets slavery. To catch slaves is the first thought of every chief in the interior, hence fights and slavery impoverish the land and that is the reason both why Africa does not improve, and why we find men of all tribes and tongues on the coast.” He had been preceded by Arab ivory and slave traders some years earlier.

Shortly after John Speke’s departure Sir Samuel Baker working for Egypt entered Uganda from the north. He eventually became the British Governor-General to the Equatorial Nile Basin which today is Southern Sudan and Northern Uganda and served from April 1869-1873. The goal of the British was to bring civilization to the area, stop the slave trade in East Africa and the ivory poachers, and eventually colonize the region. He spoke this comment, “Acholi chief, Rwot Ochama of Payera had determined to offer his allegiance and he and all adjacent countries will serve the government faithfully, in return for protection and justice. Eventually even though for some Acholi chiefs alliance with the Arab traders might have been profitable, for others and certainly the general run of the people this was then the worst calamity; therefore, they offered their allegiance to the British mainly for protection from the predatory slave traders and cattle hunters.”

Pastor Bosco, Pastor Bill, Christine, Aloysious, and I took motorcycles and arrived in Patiko. Out first stop was at the district headquarters to get permission to visit the site. Oh course, we were charged a generous fee but we thought the experience would be well worth the price.

We were given a guide from the headquarters who took us to the fortress in Patiko which was known to be built by the Arabs. Here the slaves were held in captivity until they could be transported to Egypt and other Arab nations. We were shown the three brick rooms that were built to temporarily house the slaves. My imagination tried to picture the atrocity that had taken place there. We were next shown a cave made of a natural rock formation. This is what they called the “Women’s Prison”. The women would have had to crawl on their bellies to enter this dark, cold place.

Across from the Women’s Prison was the court. The court was like a gully made of rock. It was dark, wet, and cold. It looked as if it could be the home of any sort of snake or wild creature. The people that were found “guilty” were held in it until a trial could take place. When asked what the people could be found guilty of, we were told that some tried to escape. Those that were found guilty were executed as an example to the other slaves.

It was very sobering to think of the horrible conditions these innocent people had to endure. I could only appreciate this man, Samuel Baker for his part in stopping slavery in Eastern Africa. Unfortunately slavery still exists today among children and women in Africa.

Next we were taken to the rock to view the imbedded footprints of Sir Samuel Baker. The guide, pastor, and the team began to cover the mountain looking for the famous footprints. Finally when everyone was exhausted from all the uphill climbing, we sat down to rest. Soon we heard the guide and the pastor calling to us to inform us that they had found the footprints. At this point, no one was really expecting to actually see the footprints. Curiosity got the best of me and I went down the mountain to join the guide and the pastor. The rock was too steep for me, and the guide took me down a different route and into the bush where I was concerned about snakes. We then had to climb back up to mountain to the location where the prints had been spotted. What I saw surprised me. You be the judge by looking at the picture for yourself. Fact or Acholi Legend…you decide!

We are enjoying many adventures in the kingdom of our Lord. Please keep us in your prayers. Two American missionaries were killed in Uganda this week. Travel is dangerous. We hope that you are keeping up with our blogs.

Blessings to you,

Pastor Bill and Linda Campbell