NYARA Project

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Imagine your sister, daughter, niece kidnapped and raped. Repeatedly. Tortured repeatedly. Maimed and horrifically disfigured. Sexually enslaved and defiled. As a result, she is now HIV/AIDS positive and a mother, but at15 years of age she’s still a child herself. She’s a child mother.“Children and women represent 80% of internally displaced persons (IDP), and have been the direct targets of attacks, sexual violence and abductions perpetuated by the LRA. Women and girls in particular are exposed to gender based violence.” - Konye Keni Women Group, Gulu, Northern Uganda.Countless editorials and documentaries have reached our papers, magazines, and television screens chronicling the 22 year war between rebels and government-controlled forces in Northern Uganda. Most of us who take an interest beyond our own bubble have heard about the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) led by Joseph Kony who believes he is possessed by a holy spirit and instructed to “liberate humans from disease and suffering”. The unspeakable horrors LRA rebels inflicted on villages they attacked for supplies and recruits are many: victims with lips, noses or ears hacked off to stop them from talking; families burned, bludgeoned or boiled alive; countless people maimed by having arms cut off at the elbows or legs severed above the knee. Children are not exempt from these acts. Mr. Kony is most known for his atrocious practice of abducting children and turning them into soldiers.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 and “wives” for commanders and officers. Kony is said to have 40 or 50 wives and fathered several hundred children.

The days of night commuting and raids are over. For the first time in 20 years, people are trying to move forward and communities are doing their best to focus on rebuilding despite the staggering number of displaced persons reaching over one million. Although the child soldiers have now “come home” and efforts are being made to get them back to school and back to some form of normalcy, the girls and women are left standing on the outside. The devastation created by LRA conflict has left them especially vulnerable. They are scarred permanently physically, mentally, and emotionally by their horrendous experiences of sexual abuse. They are vulnerable to sexually transmitted infections; many are HIV/AIDS positive. These women and child mothers are jobless; with children that face severe malnutrition, skin infections, and illnesses; in a community that will not acknowledge them. They lack skills to earn an income; lack healthcare, housing, education, food, and clothing. They need a solution and quick.

Caleb’s Hope NYARA Project involves vulnerable women and girls that have been affected by war. They all live in an IDP camp as refugees in their own country. Nya means “daughter” and “plentiful” in Acholi, the native language of Gulu and means “purpose” in Kiswahili. CH has launched a campaign – much like the (RED) campaign –with actors, musicians, Olympic athletes, yogis, and families participating in a photo shoot to promote NYARA. Back in Gulu, NYARA Project gives these women training, a job, a sustainable income with fair wages, empowerment, a means to take care of their family, and be a contributing and respected member of their community. Profit generated from the selling of beads goes directly back into the project, helping it grow, hire more women, provide school fees for their children and also community HIV/AIDS programs.

Working in tandem with our projects, our documentary film will act as the personal diary of the Caleb’s Hope NYA Project both in Gulu and in North America. We want to chronicle the birth and progress of this project. This film is a tool for social awareness: we want to give these women a voice beyond their borders. We want the world to know they exist. With this film we want to boost the profile and recognition of Caleb’s Hope so these newly launched projects can continue to grow and flourish successfully. The end result is simple: inform people, get them out of the comfort zone of their bubble, and try to make a difference.

The people of Northern Uganda are hopeful for peace and they need our help right now. We’re a self-proclaimed “global village”. It’s imperative for this to not merely be a statement of convenience – when it suits our western world needs. It must be an unconditional understanding; an accepted fact and it is the responsibility of each and every one of us to act accordingly. So…what are you going to do?