Eighty-four percent of the population of Uganda are rural subsistence farmers. They are resisting both rampant land grabbing and US ally General Yoweri Museveni’s attempt to rule for life. I spoke to Phil Wilmot, an American-born activist who now lives in rural Uganda.

Ann Garrison: Could you tell us how you came to live in northern Uganda?

Phil Wilmot: In 2009, I started studying at Uganda Christian University and I fell in love with another student there, Suzan Abong, who is now my wife Suzan Abong Wilmot, and she comes from northern Uganda. We got married and settled in Lira, a major town in Lango region, and had two children. I not only became an in-law in the community but also adopted its traditional way of sustaining life. We farm the typical crops you find in Lango like groundnuts, simsim, fruits, sweet potatoes, etc.