Shakespeare in the Ugandan bush

A conversation in a car in Northern Uganda wanders off to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Then the old Italian love story leads to a discussion about feudal fights and reconciliation. A decade after the raids by the Lord's Resistance Army on the villages we pass, people are still struggling with the aftermath of that war. Victims and perpetrators are living together and try to pick up ordinary life. Traditional ways of forgiving and reconciliation have become urgent concerns today. The next day I reread Shakespeare's play and discover that it teaches the same lesson: the need for reconciliation.