“I pray for self-employment from the skills I'm learning, and working hard for the future of my child and siblings. And I hope to go back to Congo someday.” - Flavia
Given what she has been through, it might seem somewhat surprising that Flavia can speak positively about her dreams for her future. By the time Flavia made the decision to flee escalating violence the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC or “Congo”), her world had already descended into chaos. But her refusal to give in to despair speaks to the spiritual strength she has displayed ever since her arrival at ChildVoice’s Lukome Center.
When Flavia was born in 2000, Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) had already expanded beyond Uganda’s borders into South Sudan and the DRC, bringing violence, terror, and death to thousands of civilians in both countries. Flavia never knew her father; he was abducted by the LRA and never heard from again. Flavia’s mother was left to raise Flavia and her three younger sisters alone – a situation that all but guaranteed economic hardship for her family.
Flavia was able to remain in school until she completed her secondary (middle-level) education at the age of sixteen, but it wasn’t easy. She and her family farmed, growing maize, beans, and potatoes, and she sold the produce in the local market of her village of Zollo. Because school tuition was so expensive in Congo, she would travel over four miles daily into Uganda to study there instead, using money she earned in the market. She managed to complete her Secondary 4 (middle school) education this way, and she dreamed of going on to university to study nursing, as a mentor teacher of hers had encouraged her to do.
But on her way home from the market one day Flavia’s life—already disrupted once by violence—was turned upside down and her dreams snatched from her. She was abducted and locked up in the house of a complete stranger. She now found herself in the grip of a forced marriage*.
After three days, the man who now considered himself her husband let Flavia out of the room she’d been locked in, only to sexually assault her. Flavia had no idea where she was or where to turn for help. She had little choice but to remain where she was for the time being. Her captor would leave her with his mother to get work elsewhere, returning home once a month. Alone, and now pregnant, Flavia was desperate to get word to her family. One day, she encountered a family friend by chance — a man who knew her mother. Flavia tried reaching out to her through him, but was rebuked.
“My mother believed I had left of my own free will,” Flavia explained.
Months passed. Her child, Lucky, was delivered by C-section — a procedure paid for by her family friend. But because she now lacked any financial resources, she was forced to endure weeks of post-partum agony because she had no way to get to a hospital for post-operative care, and had no money. Her child’s father refused to pay for any of her medical treatment. Eventually, Flavia’s family friend helped her reconnect with her grandmother, with whom she stayed after running away from the home of her captor.
Then in 2020, a fresh wave of armed conflict erupted in the DRC. Amid the escalating violence, Flavia decided it was time to flee to Uganda. It took her three days to make her way with Lucky to the Ugandan border.
“When I was running from Congo to Uganda, I came with two children that I found on the way who were also fleeing,” said Flavia. “We stayed together, but feeding them along with myself and my child was hard. They are now with a foster mother [in Imvepi].”
After Flavia arrived in Uganda, she languished at the border for weeks before United Nations relief workers (UNHCR) came.
“By the time UNHCR came the first time and gave us some help, it took like three months before they came,” she said, explaining that she and Lucky were moved temporarily to two camps before being brought to Imvepi Refugee Settlement.
But life there was also hard. Flavia had no money. Few people spoke her language. And due to a lack of adequate relief supplies, she and her baby often went to bed hungry.
“Life is hard being a refugee in a different country,” Flavia said. “The language barrier is a big problem; most other people [in Imvepi] spoke a different language from me. Getting food and water was the hardest thing.”
Thankfully, after eight months in the camp, Flavia learned from a local village leader that ChildVoice would be conducting interviews for candidates to go to the Lukome Center. There, she could receive intensive psychosocial counseling and vocational skills training in a safe and nurturing environment. It didn’t take long for her to recognize the blessing being offered to her.
“I felt so happy because during the interview [with ChildVoice] we were told that we are coming for skills training,” Flavia recounted. “In my mind I expected a better life. I had to do something—to change something—or I would not make it much longer.”
Flavia has flourished since coming to the center. But it hasn’t always been easy, especially with the specter of the COVID-19 pandemic still looming over Uganda. When the latest lockdown in Uganda was announced, students at the Lukome Center were allowed to remain on campus, although with some restrictions, Nevertheless, Flavia became very worried, she explained.
“In Congo, they used to tell us that [COVID-19] is a Ugandan disease so we were not bothered at all. We were more affected by Ebola, which killed many in my village. COVID hadn’t arrived there yet. I felt so bad [when the lockdown was announced]. I started thinking of going back to Imvepi. I was thinking of where to get food and how I would survive. I never slept well because I thought we were going to be sent home the next day. But God helped us and we are here. I'm so thankful we were able to stay at the center.”
Flavia isn’t the only one whose life has improved. Her son Lucky is beginning to recover from trauma as well.
“He's now getting used to people because when we came here, he wasn't used to the people and could not speak,” Flavia said, explaining that now, he’s not only speaking, but playing with other children as well.
Flavia is an intelligent young mother who is more than eager to learn and develop profitable skills like catering, knitting, and bakery. And she wants to heal mentally and spiritually from her ordeal. But for her, that’s just the beginning. She still dreams of attending university in Congo in the future to study nursing – if she can save enough money to do so.
“I don't know yet,” Flavia said when asked about her dreams of becoming a nurse. “I wish I can go [to university] but if I cannot, I'll ask for help.”
*According to UNHCR data, Child marriage is commonplace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with some 37 per cent of girls married by age 18. Humanitarian aid workers in the country provide assistance to some 30,000 survivors of gender-based violence per year.