Posted in
04-Uganda by Laura Meyers on 1/12/2009
This month we are in Northern Uganda partnering with an orgazation called Child Voice International. We have only been here for a week and I have fallen in love with the ministry! Child Voice was establised to help restore children effected by the war in Northern Uganda. Here is some background information (taken from the Child Voice website):
It is difficult to imagine a nightmare worse than the reality that
has been endured by the children and families of northern Uganda. For
the Acholi people in that part of the country, simple agrarian life was
lost to fear and bloodshed more than 20 years ago when a rebellion led
by Joseph Kony began wreaking havoc on the land. What started as an
attempt to overthrow the national government in Kampala morphed into a
decades-long reign of terror with indeterminate intent and devastating
effect. Over the years, the group has abducted more than 65,000
children from their homes and forced them to be the mules, foot
soldiers and sex slaves for Kony's cult-like group of increasingly
depraved commanders.
Very few families in northern Uganda have been spared; nearly
everyone has lost a relative to death or abduction. Over 80% of the
people in northern Uganda are interned in camps (Internally Displaced
Person camps, or IDP) by the government, living in atrociously squalid
conditions.
The imperative of the ChildVoice village is to renew Uganda's hope
for a bright future. In restoring children broken by war, ChildVoice
will be developing the leaders and workers of tomorrow. A country
shaken by a long-running rebel war cannot emerge from its dark past
free of scars; yet those scars need not be debilitating. Investment in
the healing and teaching of children damaged by war will produce a
foundation of young adults equipped with the skills and competencies to
lead Uganda toward a new era of peace and economic stability.
www.childvoiceintl.org
So, as you read you can tell that the need is great here. There are many people who are hurting. RIght now, people in the the IDP camps, about 80% of the population in Northern Uganda, are expected to move back to their villages by March. People are afraid to move back to their homes. People are afraid of the pain from the war; they lost everything. For most of the people here all they have known has been war.
We have been going into the IDP camps to meet with people and pray with people. The Lord is at work here in so many ways and His light is shining through the darkness. Continue to pray for Northern Uganda and the Acholi people. Please pray for us as we interact with them; that we would have discernment and that we would listen to the Lord's voice.
Hope you are doing very fine,miss you big,may God be with you all the time and thanks for the job well done hear in Eldoret Kenya.
Later
Pam
Add Your comments:
Use this form only to comment on the article that you just read.
If you have a question, please click here to use the Contact form instead. Thanks!