I’m a little shock and awed to
be at our ministry contact this month. It is with an organization named Child
Voice who work to rehabilitate women/girls who have been used as child soldiers
by the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army). My limited knowledge of what’s been going
on in Northern Uganda first started while watching the original Invisible
Children documentary in 2005. There has been war here for 23 years, during
which conservative estimates say that 24,000 – 38,000 children have been
abducted. Of these abductees, it was common be forced to witness a killing,
sometimes to perform one, to steal or raid, to be tied up, raped, or severely
beaten. This whole part of the nation has been affected by this war.
This organization focuses on
girls that have come out of these situations. All of the girls/women (ranging
in age from 15- 26) at the center are child mothers, thus Child Voice can
affect 2 generations in one act. The program the girls go through here includes
personalized counseling, trade skills, basic educational classes, conflict
resolution, and basic care for them and their children. The girls can attend
classes on salooning (salon- braiding, pleating); tailoring; farming; baking;
drama/music/dance; and basic reading, writing, and math.
The girls are here for a total
of about 18 months during which they set personalized goals for themselves
(e.g., saving a certain amount of money, going a month without nightmares). The
leaders say that of the 32 girls that have rejoined society from this center,
26 of them are doing very well (including one graduate that bakes for a nearby
compound and another that has her own hair braiding business).
My team’s opportunities here
are widespread. We can join the girls in their classes, teach or play worship
at chapel, have them teach us how to braid hair, join with the bead project
women, help in the kitchen, go with the girls to draw water, jump into some of
the physical activities, and at the very least (and probably in the kingdom,
the very greatest) there are always, always children to hold.
For more information about
Child Voice:
http://www.childvoiceintl.org/
For more of a picture of what
life may have looked like for these girls:
http://womennewsnetwork.net/2009/01/13/ugandagirlsoldier809/
