UGANDA

This landlocked country in East Africa has a tropical climate and encompasses a rich array of wildlife, including the endangered mountain gorilla. The official national language is English, although other ethnic languages are spoken such as Arabic, Acholi, Swahili, and Bantu. Much of rural Uganda is plagued by poverty, with people subsisting on whatever they can grow on small plots of land or raise as cash crops, such as coffee and tea.

ChildVoice got its start in the Lukodi region of northern Uganda in 2006, in direct response to the atrocities perpetrated against children by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). At that time, more than 30,000 children had been abducted by the LRA and forced to become child soldiers. Today the wounds of war have begun to heal, but many young children and their families continue to struggle from the effects of trauma and poverty.

At the Lukome Center, we work to transform the lives of the most vulnerable adolescent girls who have been caught in the crosshairs of war and poverty. Our sanctuary village setting provides these girls and their children with a safe place in which to build a brighter future as they receive love, education, counseling, and vocational skills--all with the goal of having them reintegrate within their communities as self-sufficient leaders and valued income-earners.

Currently, Uganda is trying to accommodate the influx of South Sudanese refugees who have poured over its northern border to escape their country’s civil conflict. Resources in northern Uganda’s refugee settlements are stretched to the limit, as nearly a million refugees tax the ability of local host communities to supply such basic needs as food, water, and healthcare. ChildVoice operates Girl Empowerment Centers in four zones within Imvepi Refugee Settlement outside the town of Arua. There, we continue bringing hope and healing to hundreds of violently displaced young refugees with our unique and proven approach to counseling and trauma care.