Total Impact House

The past four weeks…

Pauline, our Ugandan Social Worker/Director, has been house hunting in Gulu for the last month. She recently toured an impressive property located less than a kilometer outside of the city. I believe an American Professor or researcher was staying there for the last couple years. Friday morning Pauline met with a broker to discuss the leasing terms and discovered two other western non-profits were interested in the same place, so we may have to wait a few more days to see if we can, in fact, have it. It’s an uncommonly nice home for Gulu. Taking girls off the streets and moving them into a residence of that caliber would bless their socks off! So pray, keep your fingers crossed, rub your rabbit’s foot—whatever you do, please do it!

The past twenty years…

This is an overview of what’s transpired in this area over the last twenty years and why such an alarming number of kids have been commercially exploited.
1. Poverty is the most visible cause of the vulnerability of children to sex trafficking. (In any country.) Destitute parents or guardians are vulnerable to persuasion to hire out or sell their children because they lack adequate resources to provide for their family. Girls are most vulnerable to this form of exploitation. It can literally come down to: hire out one child or let them all starve.
2. Armed conflict in Northern Uganda has destroyed livelihoods, crippled the economy and caused mass population movements. Gorilla-type warfare has ravaged Gulu for the past two decades. It has only been recently that the region has experienced any type of peace.

For nearly eighteen years the insurgency of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), led by Joseph Kony, (an exceptionally evil lunatic) has produced great suffering in the North. UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland recently termed the situation “Among the worst humanitarian disasters in the world.”

The conflict has four main characteristics. First, it is a struggle between the government and the LRA. Secondly, it is between the predominantly Acholi LRA and the wider Acholi population, who have bore the brunt of violence that included indiscriminate killings and the abduction of children to become fighters, auxiliaries, and sex slaves. Thirdly, it is fuelled by animosity between Uganda and Sudan, who support rebellions on each other’s territory. Finally, it continues the North-South conflict that has marked Ugandan politics and society since independence.

There have been many international attempts at peace and ending the abduction of children in Uganda. All of them failed to subdue Kony and stop the abductions, rape, child soldiers, child sex slavery, and civilian casualties. The reason for peace in Northern Uganda is because Kony moved his troops to different locations ranging from South Sudan to Democratic Republic of Congo, with the Central African Republic mixed into that equation.

Peace has existed in Northern Uganda for the last two years, but the incalculable scars of war still remain from the 20 years of anger and violence. Over 30,000 children were abducted from their villages and schools, brainwashed, trained to kill, rape, and torture—even their own family members. Rage and fear ruled this area for many years. Two and a half million people were refugees in their own country, living in squalid camps, cramped housing, with little subsistence, fresh water, medical attention or hope. The vast majority of the Northern population has been crippled by the genocide with children being the ones who have suffered the most.

Thankfully, hope can prevail as now is a time of rebuilding. Purse of Hope and Total Attorneys have the amazing opportunity of empowering a generation of young people that have never before known what it means to follow their dreams towards a better future. Think about that. Imagine your entire childhood being spent fearing for your life and moving from refugee camp to refugee camp. These kids never gleaned from their elders basic skills such as farming, food preparation (food was supplied through large relief organizations), or business—people thriving in a normal community setting.

That is why we’re doing what we’re doing. We are investing in these broken girls so they can then invest in rebuilding their broken community. We are taking the most marginalized, girls that would not otherwise get a second chance, and poising them for leadership, business opportunities and the study of larger commerce…and we’ll simply do this one house at a time—twenty girls at a time!
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Because there’s a lot of information, I will create our own TI/POH glossary of terms and add people and places as they are introduced. In case you need to be reminded who’s who and what’s what. I do occasionally, and I know everyone!

Kristen

This entry was posted on Friday, August 7th, 2009 at 1:43 pm by Kristen Hendricks . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.