The first to arrive was a convoy of 5 buses from North Eastern and Eastern Uganda with a message of Peace and Co-existence between cattle keeping and cattle rustling communities from that part of the country. They converged in the eastern town of Mbale and staged a peaceful demonstration to deliver their messages and get more people on board.

The second to arrive was from Northern Uganda where Kony and his rebel group the Lords Resistance Amy have been raking havoc for the past 15 years but now with peace talks underway there is a ray of hope and optimism. The caravan is carrying a message of Peace and reconciliation which will climax in the celebration of the International Peace Day on 21st September at the Social Forum. The convoy stopped in Luweero district which was the area of similar suffering in the early 80s and where people said the still suffer from psycho-social trauma.

The last to arrive will be the Western Caravan which doesn’t arrive until 20th Sept. because they are still engaging the population from town to town in that region. The last we had from this convoy was that the region was being "set on fire".

Clearly the idea of convoys and the level of enthusiasm with which it has been received and executed has exceeded the expectations and imaginations of the organizers. We are expecting to be joined by participants from Tanzania, Kenya, as we discuss the regional dimensions of Peace.

Lastly one of the important events that will take place at the Social Forum will be the launching "Our Code of Honour", which is the NGO Quality Assurance Certification Mechanism by which NGOs have agreed to abide by in order to promote and protect their credibility and integrity. It will be launched in the full public eye by the Minister of Internal Affairs under which NGOs are registered.