I have officially met one of my heroes. Her name is Ms. Alice Achan and she is the
director of Christian Counseling Fellowship (CCF) here in Pader. CCF is a “community-based organization
committed to promote Christian Values and provide services to war affected
women and children”. They work in
education, child protection, health care, and livelihood.
The area that I have been able to be involved in the
most is the school that Alice opened, the Pader Girls’ Academy (PGA). Most of the girls in Alice’s school are child
mothers as young as 13 years old and were formerly abducted by the LRA. Girls in Pader are not allowed into public
school if they are pregnant or breastfeeding, if they lack the funds to pay for
school or if they are too old for their grade. At Alice’s school, there is a nursery and the girls are allowed to bring
their babies to class with them if they are breastfeeding, their age isn’t an
issue and donors from around the world help cover the cost of school fees. They are taught all of the subjects typically
taught in public school. There is also a
vocational program for the girls to learn skills such as catering, tailoring, baking
and making jewelry to help them get a job and make a living after school. These girls are not only given a chance at an
education, they are given a second chance at a future.
CCF does many other things such as give aid to
HIV/AIDS patients, provide medical support to women and children, give children
who were abducted by the LRA counseling and also help in reuniting them with
family members. CCF has been able to
serve approximately 2,500 people already.
I’ve been able to spend some time with Alice and I
can’t begin to explain to you how incredible this woman is. Alice herself has had a pretty traumatic life…she
was abducted by the LRA, her home was torched with her grandmother inside, many
of her family members have died and yet she never mentions any of this. Her focus is on the girls in her school, giving
them a future and showing God’s love to them. Her school has a church service every Sunday on campus that the girls
enrolled in PGA attend. She not only
stresses the importance of an education but also the importance of Christ
centered life. She is the reason that we
have internet access and she was so excited to be able to bless us in that way.
I never realized that God would put abducted,
orphaned, child mothers on my heart but He has. Seeing these girls with babies in their laps as they’re learning math
and science or hearing them praising God with this passion that I rarely see, has
really touched my heart. These girls
have had more trauma in their life than I will probably ever experience and yet
here they are, with smiles on their faces, so thankful for the education they
are receiving and the second chance they have been given. I pray that the vision of these girls, this
school, Alice and CCF never leave my mind.
If you want to learn more about CCF check out their website here.
