WUNRN
Jennifer
Achora, 22, Milly Auma, 29, Nighty Acheng, 28, Sarah Ayero, 28, and Maurine
Akello, 18 were each kidnapped by Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). Now
they lead “Empowering Hands,” a non-governmental organization (NGO) based in
Gulu, Uganda. They work to reintegrate escaped and freed abductees soldiers
into their communities, and have helped at least 1,000 former child soldiers.
“I went to
the Lord’s Resistance Army and suffered there,” Ms. Akello said today at a
meeting with Rachel Mayanja, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Adviser on
Gender Issues and the Advancement of Women. “Then I came back home and,
fortunately, Empowering Hands came. I got a lot from the group – counselling
and friends to share experiences with.”
Empowering
Hands was doing an extremely important job on the ground, she said, but it
lacked the capacity to deal with the scale of the problem. Ms. Akello called on
the UN to help the NGO extend its programmes by providing training and funding.
“We have
gained a lot of hope from Empowering Hands and we hope others will gain in
their lives,” she said.
Ms. Achora
said Empowering Hands was unique. “We are very young women, but the kind of
work we are doing is enormous,” she said. “Other organizations have tried, but
failed to do this. One needs the right experience – to know the feelings of the
people who have been through such things to speak to them.”
The NGO
trains abductees to counsel others – both former soldiers and those in the
communities they return to – about their experiences. When women return home
they face stigmatization and rejection because of what they endured. They often
come back to find that their parents are gone and that they have
responsibility, not only for their own children, but for the brothers and
sisters that were left behind.
“You are now
role models for other girls in Uganda and for girls all over the world,” Ms.
Mayanja told the five. “What you have experienced in going to be with you for
the rest of your lives. But you have managed to turn your experiences into a
positive thing for others. Violence again women is a worldwide problem – it is
not just in Uganda. And we all have to join forces to fight this scourge."
“We should
listen to the girls; we shouldn’t dictate to them,” she said. “We should listen
to what to do about violence so that we may have peace.”
Nearly a
third of child soldiers in northern Uganda are female and women in conflict
zones face gender-specific issues, such as rape and torture. Empowering Hands
helps women who on average are aged between 20 and 25 and have been in the bush
for six years. Many are kidnapped when they are still at school, yet they
return to their communities with children of their own.
On 8
November, the five will meet with Radhika Coomaraswamy, the Secretary-General's
Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict.
The event
was sponsored by Glamour Magazine. To benefit their NGO, Glamour Magazine will
launch the Women of the Year Fund Initiative, which will allow the magazine’s
12 million readers to contribute to charities supported by the Fund. Empowering
Hands will be the Fund’s debut honouree.
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