Bringers of hope

Step by step out of poverty

“Intellectual poverty is the biggest challenge in communities: it affects ones thinking capacity.” Ritah Biira, a young self-motivated lady makes it clear what poverty and hopelessness causes in communities today. “In our society, even a little girl feels that she is worthless. That way, women never get self-confident. They sometimes feel like they can never decide for themselves and hence need a man to grace their decision making.”

As social workers, Ritah and her colleague Rogers concentrate on talking to women from about 30 villages in the Southwest of Uganda, and if possible recruit them for skilling projects in weaving or reed plaiting (in order to make baskets and other hand crafts). “This helps women to earn some extra money hence improving self-esteem and reduce over dependency on their spouses. This also makes them feel more valuable in the family in the eyes of their spouses. This perhaps reduces domestic violence. Regardless of the household poverty, women are responsible for supporting their families and ensuring that their children achieve better standards of living. They however have to do much more to earn the husband’s respect yet even after working so hard to get that extra income, their husbands often use it to go to the local bars to catch up with fellow men.”

Nevertheless, the Anasi Farmers team continue to provide knowledge and skills on financial literacy and management and street businesses because a little extra money is urgently needed in the families to support their standards of living. In the 30 villages where Anasi Farmers operates, 45% of the children are malnourished. In 20 percent of the households there is serious violence against women yet the neighbours to these households often remain silent and look away increasing vulnerability and poor productivity of most women and in almost households/families the burden of poverty lies mainly with the women since they are mostly less empowered. Ritah would only dare to call 10 percent of the marriages ‘happy’. When they intend to operate in any community, they often work together with local leaders, who help them identify community gaps before any implementation of any activities. Rogers emphasizes talking to men from different families and Ritah focuses on the women and children. The aim is usually to keep the families together, in better relationships and with better understanding of one another. “When a woman gets divorced, she often has to leave. Yet most times she has nowhere to go. That’s how the system works here” Ritah narrates. Anasi Farmers also frequently trains both spouses to work together to have early maturing and highly nutritious vegetables from their gardens to ensure food security and also earn income from the sale of the surplus foods. “These are such small changes that create bigger impact especially with regard to promoting sustainable solutions in communities. Taking it a step further, supporting young mothers whose spouses are young fathers or have been ignored by their husbands is still too deep-rooted. Since it takes time to change mindset, we keep sharing skills and knowledge to ensure better future generation.” Ritah herself is a role model, and she hopes to be able to encourage others through her own choices. “My parents are proud of me for doing this work. I can inspire other girls and women from the wider community that it is possible to be an empowered woman.”

Next steps for a better future of young people

The tall, calm Dedi Isaac (27) organizes involvement and participation of young people in one of the refugee camps on the border with South Sudan, a two-day drive from the capital Kampala. He himself comes from South Sudan, born as the eldest son of a family with many children in the small village of Ronyi. Like millions of others, his family also fled across the Ugandan border as a result of the tensions in Sudan. Over the past 20 years, the family has moved back and forth across the border a few times, depending on the security situation in Sudan. Since his father died 12 years ago, Dedi Isaac fled with his mother and siblings. Dedi Isaac talks about the relatively relaxed coexistence of refugees and residents of three countries (Congo, South Sudan and Uganda) in this northern tip of Uganda. It is called ’three cornerstone country’ where people live peacefully with many mixed marriages. Although with different passports, due to the sometimes arbitrarily drawn borders of previous colonial regimes, but with the same age-old cultural roots.

During corona times, the ambitious Dedi Isaac, in his early twenties, started a small initiative in the Bidibidi refugee camp, where he also lives: ‘Youth Focus on Transforming Communities (YFTC). He helps young people in the settlement to amplify their voices through oratory debates and grass root advocacy. Moreover, he focuses on passing on and developing digital skills. During the lessons about the internet, he also tries to make young people aware of their situation. Within the camp, YFTC brings young people together every week to talk about their future. More than 2,000 young people have already participated in these conversations. These so-called ‘round tables’ often include influential people who want to care about the fate of young people.

Dedi Isaac has now trained around 500 young people through a longer digital course, and has also put some of them in touch with banks and other lenders to set up their own small business. Registrations for his classes are booming, and he has set up an independent committee of young people to make the selection for the coming courses. Skills to run a business are now also being learned. Isaac himself has taken many online (management) courses, and thus obtained his business administration diploma. And he is also a professional filmmaker. He is now trying to take the next steps towards economic independence with the young people.

Together you make dreams come true

He has a dream, and he is working very hard to achieve it. Avaga Emmanuel (29) from Koboko, in the far North of Uganda, has already worked for various social organisations, hoping that the voices of young people will finally be heard in his country. Young people want change, and they have plenty of ideas for it, is his firm belief. They just need a platform to be seen. That is why Emanuel founded his organisation ‘Masterseed’ last year, which focuses mainly on young people and women.

As the eldest of five brothers, Emmanuel had to help at home at an early age with cooking, washing and cleaning. At his free time, he cooks for his mother and girlfriend. Unusual for a young man in Uganda, but it has shaped him greatly. ‘Women know the solution to many problems, but they do not get the chance to go to school long enough’, he says. For a year of secondary school, parents have to pay hundreds of euros per child per year, and in this patriarchal country, it is often the girls who have to stay home after the age of 12.

Emmanuel works with other youth and women’s groups in his region to set up very simple learning systems. “We use a lot of drawings and photos because many young people have difficulty reading and writing. But they can make a drawing about their dreams. We always ask the students how they see their future and what solutions they know for their situations. This automatically starts the conversation about their future and the obstacles they see.” Masterseed also trains practical skills such as making soap: the market for this is good in the area around Koboko.

Emmanuel’s strength is his ability to connect people. He also works with quotas of people with different backgrounds in his groups to maintain balance. And he regularly brings his groups into contact with important local leaders to teach them how to exert influence. He also just wants to continue with his projects hard and fast. ‘There are so many young people ready to get started. “Now the elderly must make way!”

Women support each other: together we are strong!

Upendo, the women’s organization in Lira in Northern Uganda, saved her life. Dorcas Akello (34) was depressed and desperate: she did not know what to do anymore. She was a victim in a violent marriage. Her ex-husband became increasingly aggressive after it became apparent that there were no children. Further examination in a hospital revealed that he was infertile, not Dorcas. But he couldn’t accept that. Dorcas eventually fled the house and came into contact with Florence Angom, the charismatic chairman of the women’s organization Upendo, who offered her warmth and a listening ear. Upendo was set up 20 years earlier by Florence, when the brutal war with the rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army was still raged in the area around Lira. Florence focused on the many vulnerable women in the area, to help them, and to try to make a little money together by making and selling local art together. Upendo now also runs a small eatery in Lira, performs for a fee with a local dance group and sometimes organizes catering for hotels.  However, the most important thing remains the contact among each other as women, the conversations and the joint processing of traumas caused by poverty, lack of rights and (sexual) violence. 

Dorcas is now often taken to meetings by Florence to learn in practice how to run an organization. This also includes professional dealings with donors. Finding a paid job is very difficult for Dorcas, but at Upendo she can release her energy and give something back to others. She might want to become chairman soon! For the time being, she is looking for advice on how she can improve the marketing of the beautiful products that the women make together.

A go-getter, especially to help others

“Keep going, just keep going, don’t get stuck in the trauma for too long. And try to learn some (vocational) skills so you can earn your own money, and that the future becomes brighter.” A healing process in Uganda, after the long years of war and the ubiquitous (sexual) violence, mainly means looking forward. Get over it. Simon Ogwang (34) was present at the meeting with various leaders of Haella’s partner organizations in August 2024 in Lira, Uganda.  With his lively eyes, clear analyses and calm interventions, he is a natural leader. Until 2006, until the end of the terrible war in Northern Uganda, he was one of tens of thousands of child soldiers, kidnapped in 2002 by the rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

Simon, who came from a poor family in a village in northern Uganda, was not accepted by the area as a ‘son born out of a marriage’ and was placed with distant relatives, barely 12 years old. He was fetching water with his niece. They heard something in the bushes and then the guns were pointed at them. “Choose now whether you want to die or come with us.”  Simon wanted to do everything he could to prevent his niece from being raped – as is common in these kidnappings. They went with the rebels and ended up being child soldier where they were used as porters, tortured, cut with pangas, beaten and given all kind of mistreatment in the bush. He always stayed close to his niece, but also stood out to the army leaders because of his strength and stubbornness. In 2003 one a  female rebel army officer took their fate to heart and arranged for them to escape from the bush back home .  “We were instructed by her to go to the nearby market on Wednesday the market day , she would provide backing strategy in the battle line for us to escape out. And then at exactly 10 o’clock we reach the market where she fired gun up and ordered us to escape through the left route as we shall be taking the right route that would take us back home. From there we started to run but unfortunately she was shot and she fell down bleeding. I run back to save her but it was impossible as she was shouting for me to run and save my life and the one for my sister. Her life ended as I was turning my back; she died there. That was the hardest point for me some one dying for my life.”

The two children returned to their village through a rehabilitation camp, taken to radio station for amnesty announcement and later taken back to rehabilitation school to continue with their  education but they were frowned upon by fellow students. The stigmatization of the LRA, whether you were there voluntarily or coerced, made no distinction between perpetrators or victims. Stigmatization of victims is still a major problem in Uganda, whether it concerns kidnapping, rape and (sexual) violence.

However, Simon couldn’t keep up at school and decided to return to the camp as a 15-year-old. However, the atrocities were too much for him: he started fighting for justice for  other  when he had to watch young women being raped, sexually harassed. He was moved from one camp to the other each and every time he caused violence for justice. Ultimately, Warchild was able to take care of him and make medical training possible. And at the age of 19, he was reunited with his mother, with whom he was able to bond for the first time through long conversations about the past and her difficult choice to give him up. It gave him identity and peace.

Simon did not choose the money that a doctor can earn. He founded  an organization to give young people a future, called CEFARH: Centre for Adolescent Reproductive Health. His work has been  remarkable in changing more lives in northern Uganda. Recently the organisation started a formal vocational institute on rental and by bad act the land lord sold the premise bridging the contract and leaving Simon and the entire students stack with no alternative place to study. Simon had to surrender his residential home for the 39 students to study and went for rental room. This caused  his wife to leave out of Simon’s life because of his decision.

CEFARH started with the aim of helping young people affected by HIV/AIDS, reducing teenage pregnancy and decreasing child marriage. Activities and scope of the organization broadened during the years. Nowadays the activities also include vocational training. Over 535  of young people traumatized by violence and poverty have now been able to follow training courses at CEFARH. Stories are shared, but the transfer of skills is most important. Poverty is dire in Northern Uganda. “Only when you have food can you think.” Simon continues to choose to work, ‘under the tree, not in expensive offices’. He says that he does not want to have it on his conscience that young people linger on the street or have to continue with prostitution, for 1 euro at a time. “If I were to leave this region, I forget my past. That should never happen.”

CEFARH has been supported by several small international organizations and its network of friends. During the difficult period of Covid-19, the Italian Alessandra helped CEFARH with fundraising; unfortunately she passed away shortly afterwards.

At the moment Simon’s big dream is that through more support, CEFARH will be able to build their own school premise that will be the biggest vocational and innovation hub for all the youth in the whole entire northern Uganda and country as whole. They already acquired the land, and hope for funds to construct classroom and dormitories. But he already has a name for the school: “Alessandra technical and vocational institute”.