Because of the favor the Lord gives us, we found ourselves working side by side with an international aid organization named Child Voice International (www.childvoiceintl.org). Child Voice is diligently rehabilitating and empowering young women affected by the war that has ravaged the Ugandan population.
We met an American woman living and working with women who had led lives we can’t even begin to comprehend. D’Andrea is the acting program director at Child Voice and welcomed us to minister with them.
Child Voice occupies a local elementary school and has set up a campus that consists of a clinic, vocational school, chapel and a safe village for 29 women and their children.
We were lucky enough to be given mud huts to live in and safety provided for by round-the-clock guards. We lived on the grounds of Child Voice, but not within the confines of their campus. For the safety and peace of mind for the women they are careful to place limits of time and space for visitors. The women are in an intense counseling and recovery program that allows them to process the atrocities that have occurred in their lives and move forward in a healthy manner.
We were asked not to converse with the women about their personal stories, but were told that many had been raped hundreds of times, all had been abducted from their homes and families and one women had even been forced to kill her mother and eat her flesh. To say that we were overwhelmed was an understatement. We gathered water with these women, praised Jesus with these women and lived life alongside of them. The supposed “struggles” in my life didn’t even register as I watched the joy with which they learned and embraced each day.
Child Voice aims to rehabilitate the women and provide them with education and skills that will empower them for their future. Because of the violent nature of the LRA regime and the fear most families lived under, education was virtually non-existent in Uganda for most of the war. Child Voice provides basic education as well as training in tailoring, baking, catering, cosmetology (hair), and biblical studies. As the women are educated they are given hope for a successful future. Personal and group counseling is provided to each woman in order to provide healing for deep emotional wounds. The vision is to return the women to their villages healthy and with skills to provide for their families.
I call them “women”, but most participants are between the ages of 16-23 and have at least one child. Many of the children were fathered by soldiers in the army and are children of rape.
The respect that I have for Child Voice and each of the women deepens with each passing day. This is an organization birthed out of one man’s dream to do “something” for children of the war and he could not have known at the outset the impact that he is having on the people of Uganda. Many of us have heard stories or cried tears, but rarely have I met people who are on the ground actually providing a solution. The women are some of the hardest working and most joyful people that I have met and the staff is unwavering in their efforts to love and encourage each woman.
Many of you ask how you can be a part of this journey and partnering with Child Voice is something I would strongly encourage you to do. I can personally testify to their commitment, their vision and their integrity. They are being the hands and feet of Jesus to women and children affected by a war we can’t begin to imagine. Their website provides information on the organization, opportunities to serve them and their vision.
