I Live Again Uganda is an organization that
I first came across in Acholi Quarters in Kampala, and is now one of the CRED
Partners.
It specifically serves the Acholi people
who suffered so much at the hands of the Lords Resistance Army between 1980’s
and 2006, and does that both in Kampala, and also in the northern homelands of
the tribe, in the area around the town of Gulu.
The work it does is predominantly trauma
counseling, both relating to pain left over from the experiences of the
insurgency, and more current issues (although many of them have their
deep-seated roots in unresolved pain experienced at the hands of the LRA) and,
where possible and when requested, resettlement of families from Kampala back
to the north
This week, I am up in Gulu with two friends
from church who are both professional counselors. Liz and Elizabeth are running
3 days of training to upskill the counseling team here, and so build their
capacity to cope with the ever-increasing demand for their services.
We arrived in Gulu yesterday, and today, to
help with understanding the local context of ILA’s work more, we went out to a
village where the team have been doing 2 weeks of outreach, to meet with the
local folks, and take part in the final session of their programme addressing
issues relating to trauma, pain, letting go and moving on, community support,
individual support, and faith-related questions.
What an absolute joy the day was!
ILA is very much a Christian-based
organization, and the final session in the 2 week programme addresses the
questions so often asked by those who suffered so much: ‘where was God in the
suffering?’, ‘how can I believe in a God who let so much badness happen?’.
Joel, the team member who heads up the community programmes, gave a fabulous
talk, speaking from his own experiences and undergirding it with Bible
references and prayer, and at the end a significant number of people raised
their hands for prayer and to make a commitment to a new faith – praise the Lord
for that!
A break for refreshment followed – sweet
black tea and cassava, before the highly relished football match between an ILA
side, and a team of locals. It was held on the local school field during the
children’s lunch break, so the spectators were many, and the event was much
enjoyed by all.
To enable sub-narratives of inclusion and
gender equality, and to give everyone something to laugh about, Liz, Elizabeth
and myself were asked to take part, albeit later in the game when the guys had
run out of energy a bit! Obviously we couldn’t decline, so we donned our
shirts, took to the pitch, and avoided the ball as much as possible, but
without making our strategy too clear!! Happy to say that despite us, ILA won
1-0, but we still let the locals keep the ball at the end.
The rest of the afternoon included Liz and
Elizabeth each doing a 1-1 counselling session with one of the locals, a time
of testimonies to share about what impact the last two weeks have had, and then
much hilarity during some team games.
The testimonies included reference to
forgiveness, healing, new hope, letting go of past issues, improved
relationships with family members, and a deepening of faith – very encouraging
to hear, and confirmation of all the good that the ILA team are doing when they
go out to the villages, and how much healing from past pain they are helping to
initiate
The games that followed were much enjoyed
by all – a balloon game whereby 10 older men and 10 older ladies raced against
each other to ‘waddle’ with balloon between legs across to a chair where they
then had to pop the balloon. The onlookers and participants were beside
themselves with laughter, and it was so wonderful to see everyone having such a
joy-filled time. There was an underlying message about the game, in that the
balloon represented all their pain, and by popping it they were letting it all
go, but by and large the main aspect was the huge community spirit being shown.
The other game involved married couples
holding a piece of string between their mouths and working their way to the
sweet suspended in the middle of the string. I was told that for many of the
couples, especially the older ones, that would have been the first time for a
long time that they actually looked each other in the eyes, and came close physically
– another hilarious game with a deeper backdrop.
As a storm rumbled in the distance, the
afternoon finished with a shared meal of beans, beef soup, rice and posho,
before we bade our farewells.
It was a real privilege to be part of the events
today, and I give thanks for all that ILA are doing to change lives and
communities one by one for the better, and to help them move forwards from places
of pain to hope for the future.
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