The Background:

Northern Uganda, specifically areas in and around Gulu and Attiak (Amuru District) which is about 65km north-west of Gulu, has been hit hard by the 22 year conflict with the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). Attiak sub-county is located at the border with Sudan and Adjumani district. The sub-county was used by the LRA, led by Joseph Kony, as its entry point from and to Sudan. Kony believes he is possessed by a spirit and is instructed to start a new movement to ‘liberate humans from disease and suffering’. He believes himself to be a good Christian but his story and background are sketchy and changeable. During the past two decades of conflict, the unspeakable horrors LRA rebels inflicted on villages are many:  individuals with ears, lips, or noses hacked off to stop them from talking; families literally set aflame, bludgeoned or boiled alive; countless people disfigured and mutilated by having arms cut off at the elbows or legs severed above the knee.  Most notably Kony is known for his atrocious practice of abducting children and turning them into soldiers. Night after night, the LRA would raid a village, kidnap the children and order them to kill or maim their own family or neighbours to sever their ties with them and make them afraid of coming home. Abducted children were also forced to participate in the killing of other children who had attempted to escape. Over the last 20 years, the LRA has abducted well over 30,000 boys and girls, training them to be highly mobile and extremely proficient in brutal guerrilla tactics. The girls were used as sex slaves, porters, and wives for commanders and officers. Kony is said to have somewhere between 40 to 50 wives and fathered several hundred children. The most tragic massacre in the region was in 1995 where the LRA killed over 300 people in a single night. This massacre and other subsequent extreme acts of violence by the LRA have devastated the region, leaving hundreds of orphans, single parents, and child-headed families in the community.
 
Today, over one million people live in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps with some of the worst living conditions in the world. Although they want to “go home”, there’s nothing to go to. Being an agricultural community, a decade of life in IDP Camps means that people have not been able to engage in any meaningful agriculture due to insecurity and limited access to farming land. People have lost all traditional sources of incomes which include livestock rearing. This has greatly aggravated the poverty level in the region. They lack food security, education, clean water, and health.  Most of the refugees are understandably reluctant to trust the assurances of safety in the region.

The devastation created by LRA conflict has left women especially vulnerable. There are three key issues: child mothers, widows and women living with HIV/AIDS.
 

Child Mothers

Although the ex-child soldiers have now “come home” – freed from the LRA, there is a large number of child mothers in the region. These girls and young women were not only abducted by the rebels, they were not only forced to be soldiers and kill their own, suffer the ongoing and systematic forms of torture, but were sexually enslaved - repeatedly raped by leaders of the army. Now these children and their children have come home but the community, including the local leaders, aren’t doing anything to support them. Their babies/children are not recognized nor accepted by the community as they are “part enemy”. There are other child mothers who were never abducted but ended up living a life of dread in IDP camps with men constantly preying on them. These girls are raped by uncles, fathers, cousins, neighbours. Some are bribed with the promise of food, security, even a cell phone for the exchange of sex. Some are just forced upon against their will as there are many who believe having intercourse with a virgin will cure you of HIV/AIDS.  These girls, regardless of whether they were a child soldier or assaulted in an refugee camp, share the same dilemma and stigmatization. These child mothers lack skills to earn an income, lack basic needs like healthcare, housing, education, food, and clothing. Their childhood and a chance at an education and a future was taken away from them, so now they are left vulnerable, with children, jobless, and in a community that will not acknowledge them.
 

Widows

Attiak has a number of widows not only as a result of LRA activity but due to HIV/AIDS. The 1995 massacre of over 300 people in a single night has attributed to a number of widows and orphaned children.  To date, there is no agency targeting these widows and orphans specifically in their programs. The Widows, much like child mothers, do not have a stable means of earning an income yet the burden of sustaining the family remains largely on them. They cannot adequately meet the basic needs of their family, therefore future programs targeting widows should focus on empowering them with adequate resources for income generation so that they too can become self reliant members of the community.
 

Persons Living With AIDS (PLWA)

There’s a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Northern Uganda which, like most of Africa, leaves the women particularly vulnerable. Equal human rights and women in Africa generally do not run in the same sentence.
 
According to the recent report from the Ministry of Heath, the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in Northern Uganda is 12%, which is twice the national rate. The epidemic has left hundreds of children orphaned in Attiak while many more are living with AIDS. Because parents – most of which are widows - living with AIDS are too weak to work in economically viable activities like farming, they are not able to provide basic needs for their children. Sadly many orphaned children have dropped out of school to engage in child labour to a earn living.
 
The number of persons living with AIDS in Attiak is high. According to the local leaders, in a World Vision Uganda test, out of 100 people tested, 35 were found HIV positive. World Vision testing and support ended abruptly in 2004 and the PLWA had nowhere to turn. No organization is working with or supporting them. They are not receiving counselling and treatment for their illness. There’s one tragic story, confirmed by local leaders, that people woke up one morning to find that a man in the village had pinned up names of numerous women on trees claiming that he is HIV positive (leaving himself anonymous of course) and he had sexual intercourse with all the women listed. One lady committed suicide and another woman, as the locals put it “developed mental problems” and broke down, wandering the streets naked as a result. Not only does the disease itself require treatment, but the stigma and attitude toward PLWA needs to be addressed. To commit suicide or have an extreme mental breakdown in the streets of your village is by no means indicating a strong support for these individuals and a positive awareness of their illness.
 
Some of the problems faced by PLWA in Attiak

• Many PLWA die of poor eating. Plain and simple. World Vision, once upon a time, was supporting them and now they depend on food from the World Food Programme (WFP) which, unfortunately, is not able to provide food that is tailored to the specific nutritional needs of their illness.
• There is no Income Generation Activities (IGA) for PLWA. They are far too weak to practice farming yet this is the only possible source of income to date in the region. A group of PLWA tried to raise some limited money to start up a small business initiative but failed because some members could not get the required amount needed as contribution.
• Stigmatization of victims both in private and public settings has been noted in Attiak. It’s common for people to avoid talking to or living with PLWA for fear that they will infect them. There is little to no sensitization and a lack of HIV/AIDS education in Attiak. Many infected persons are afraid to disclose their health voluntarily due to retributions by family, friends, and society as a whole.
• Medical centres are not adequately stocked with the medication required for treatment – as is the case across many countries in Africa.  They often just don’t have the drugs they need. The cost is too high for many.
• The children living with AIDS are also facing serious problems. Just like the adults, they don’t receive the proper – if any – support from the community. They fall sick frequently and the parents cannot afford proper treatment or proper nourishment. This has made a number of children living with AIDS die much sooner than need be.

The women are trained and paid as proper employees with fair wages by Caleb’s Hope to make the paper beads jewellery. Payment is based on the amount of necklaces made per day.
 
The women, now with an income, will be able to open a bank account. This may seem like no big deal over here – but it is a great achievement in a developing nation, in a war-torn region no less, and finally as an African woman.  The program gives these women a sustainable income, empowerment, a means to take care of their family, and be a contributing and respected member of their community.  Part of each woman's paycheque goes into the group's very own village bank.  The women receive training on group dynamics, small business, how to save with a bank account, and good nutrition for them and their children (especially important for PLWA).  As the program grows we can offer assistance with school fees and even goats for each woman and her family.