(A small glimpse of the IDP camp of Lukodi with the hill in the background where the government troops are stationed)

Because of the brutally long 20 year insurgency between the Lords Resistance Army and the United Peoples Defense Force (UPDF – Ugandan Army), thousands upon thousands of northern Ugandan citizens have been displaced from their homes, most of them living in the harsh conditions of overcrowded Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps. Peace talks are currently underway between the conflicting groups, however, due to continuous delays of a confirmed resolution, most IDP’s are unable or unwilling to return home to their original villages out of fear that the rebels may re-attack.

Throughout this last month of my stay in Northern Uganda, Acen Brittany and I have had the opportunity to visit many IDP camps. It is either directly in, or very near these camps where we are conducting these interviews of formerly abducted child-mothers. Already we have interviewed over 200 young women in the villages of Lacoe, Layibi, Unyama and Lukodi, in addition to Gulu town where we are based.

While visiting the village of Lukodi for the first time two Sundays ago, (May 20, 2007) the village (camp) director shared with us a very disturbing current situation some of the members of this IDP community face. As we walked through this camp of over 300 huts – each with approximately 8-10 people living per hut, Simon shared with us that of the 300 + huts in this camp, 31 homes do not have actual doors in place to protect themselves, or their homes. Because of the dire situations in these IDP camps, there are very few sources of income for families, resulting in an inability to obtain these necessary means of protection. As a result, nearly every evening, the UPDF who are stationed on a hill overlooking the city of Lukodi, retreat down the hill into the camp and enter into every hut that does not have a door. These army men, whose job is to deploy every evening to surround the village of Lukodi to prevent potential outside attacks, often spend their evenings taking advantage of the many young women who live in these ‘door-less’ huts. Every one of the 31 huts without doors is a home to at least one, but often times more then one child mother.


(A very young child mother from Lukoti Camp)

These young women (and families) live in a continuous state of fear. They cannot help but wonder if once again that evening, they will be used, abused and then left to wonder if they are pregnant again, or perhaps infected with HIV/AIDS or some other form of sexually transmitted disease. Because the UPDF is considered their source of ‘protection’, these women fear to let this situation be known to any type of law enforcements. Many women have shared with me that the army men tell them that if they tell anyone that they are raping the women, both themselves and their families will be killed.

Because so many of you have been such a huge blessing in my life by providing your prayers and financial support I have been able to be here in Gulu, Uganda to hear first hand the stories of these young women. Some of these child mothers I speak with are only 16 and 17 years old, some were conceived, born and raised in the bush, indoctrinated with the LRA’s philosophies throughout their lives, impregnated and delivered their own children in the bush, and finally after 15-18 years in the bush managed to escape, some with and others without their own children making it out alive with them. Others were never abducted, but still witnessed the atrocious attacks carried out on their family members, friends and neighbors, were threatened with death and many times raped and ended up pregnant.

Whether they were born in the midst of this war, or before the war began, the people of Northern Uganda and specifically the child mothers I am working with, have known nothing but physical, sexual, emotional and spiritual abuse, death of multiple family members, friends and neighbors, destruction of personal property and lived a life filled with trauma and fear.

Acen Brittany and I, having the desire to assist in this situation, have prayed and discussed this situation in the Lukodi IDP camp. Project Director for ChildVoice International – Richard, assisted us in the investigation process by walking literally, door to door, of every single hut in the camp. He gathered the names of those who do not have doors on their homes and took down any relevant information. This is how we came up with the figure of the 31 homes out of 300 huts that need doors for protection of themselves and belongings.

Ironically, God designed yet another divine appointment where we met a man, the brother of the father of the household Acen and I slept at overnight in one of our previous blog entries. This man, also named Richard, owns a construction company called Bench Mark Construction Company. Richard is a 31 year-old very hard working individual with a sincere passion to assist the people of his own country begin to re-establish themselves back to their home villages etc. Upon obtaining the necessary amount of money for the costs of these doors, Richard will be able to begin working immediately to buy the materials needed (iron sheets, hinges etc.) and begin the construction of the doors. It is also our desire to buy pad locks for each one of these doors as an extra means of protection for these families.

Below is the cost breakdown of the doors and the padlocks.

25,000 Ugandan Shillings per door
31 doors
775,000 Ugandan Shillings or $466.87

7,000 Ugandan Shillings per Padlock
31 Padlocks
217,000 shillings or $130.72 US

The approximate exchange rate (which fluctuates frequently) is 1660 shillings per 1 US dollar.

Transportation of the completed doors to the IDP Camp – 55,000 shillings
Machine Costs – 45,000
Labor Costs – 127,500

The total cost of this project is $734.64 US

If you desire to contribute financially to this project with any amount of money, in order to assist these young women and their families obtain doors and padlocks for their homes to provide protection for themselves and their families, you can! By writing a check out to ChildVoice International with a note in the envelope stating that this money is for the construction of the doors in the Lukodi IDP camp headed up by Acen Brittany and Apiyo Rebekah and sending it to the address below, you will receive a receipt from ChildVoice International for a tax write off. ChildVoice International is a recognized NGO.

Even if you are unable to or do not desire to contribute at this time, your prayers are very valued amongst these women. I have had a few women ask me specifically to “ask the people in America to pray for us”.

Please know that these women/families are not any different then you or I. They all have dreams that they could one day live in a safe home, attend school to learn to read and write, or learn a trade such as catering, salon work, learn about business or computers, yet due to the war as well as a lack of funds to pay for school fees, many of them have never made it past the American equivalent of 3rd grade. By taking one step at a time, placing one foot in front of the other, I believe we can begin by providing for the physical safety of these women and progress to working with them to develop spiritually, emotionally/mentally and intellectually – allowing them a deeper understanding of what the love of Jesus really means.

The address for ChildVoice International is :

ChildVoice International
174 Gile Road, Suite 10
Nottingham, NH 03290

(603) 842-0132

www.childvoiceintl.org

Thank you very much for taking the time out to read through this request as you have. These women have few advocating on their behalf, therefore, in any way that we can expose the darkness of their lives to light – enabling the healing process to begin, we want to do. If you have any ideas, suggestions etc. let us know! Thank you again.

Apiyo Rebekah and Acen Brittany