The Lugot tribe is a group of people descending from the Acholi tribe. Lugot means "People of the Mountain".
They live in the Imatong Mountains, in the foothills of Upper Talanga (4000-6000m) of South Sudan. There are 7 villages that make up Isore Pyam. The total population is approximately 4,700 people.
They are isolated and the nearest place to buy goods is a 12 hour mountainous walk away. This is a people group on the verge of extinction. They are merely survivors. There are no roads to the villages, no NGO work or development of any kind.
The Lugot men spend most of their time hunting for bush meat. If they have a very successful hunting trip, any excess meat can be carried to Agoro in northern Uganda and sold. The proceeds then go to buy salt, sugar, etc. Again, Agoro is a 12 hour walk over hilly terrain.
Although at how fertile the land was, the Lugot only grew very few crops.
The Lugot people have no tools for digging and no seeds for sowing...the few crops they grow are sorghum and cassava (used for brewing the local beer), maize and bananas. The rest of their diet consists of bush meat.
Historically, the Lugot have been victims of circumstance. Some years back, the notorious Ugandan rebel group...the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA)...hid in the hills of Upper Talanga and terrorized the Lugot people. The Ugandan army and the southern Sudan army teamed up to flush out the LRA from that area, and the Lugot were caught in the crossfire. They were blamed for aiding and supporting the LRA, even though the LRA were in fact killing the Lugot. When the LRA attacked the Langi tribe in southern Sudan, the Langis retaliated against the Lugot. The Lugot people had nowhere to turn, with enemies on every side. It’s not surprising they turned to drugs and alcohol.
Witchcraft and animism are practiced in Isore.
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