If you drive north (ish) from Gulu for about 25 minutes, and you take the correct turn off the tarmac to follow the dirt roads for another 25 minutes (more if it’s rained I expect), then you reach an area of rural northern Uganda that is the location for ILA-Uganda’s flagship project ‘Potter’s House’.
Named after the Biblical reference to a Potters House in Jeremiah 18, this to be a place of healing and wholeness for all who visit. The vision is for it to offer a wide range of therapies alongside the provision of talking therapies – art, play, sport, gardening etc, and these will be available to all who need support. Local communities, refugees, people struggling with burnout, mental health challenges…. It will also be a place of training for other organisations to come and learn more about delivering the various types of support to their client bases. And it will be a place of retreat, to just come and be still.
Today I visited the location for the first time, and was completely blown away by it. The land is on the top of a rocky but big hill. On one side there are huge views over northern Uganda, on the other side there are views all the way to South Sudan.
The reception / gate house is in place, the road up is in place, and a portion the size of a football field has been flattened. This was no mean feat apparently – huge boulders had to be dug out as part of the land levelling process, and the road up was not the easiest for bulldozers etc. But the pitch is now ready for seeding, and the main structure of the two storey sports pavilion is in situ. Yes, there is still more to do for this first phase, but as I stood in the pavilion today, looking out over the pitch to the incredible view beyond, I had a real sense of the healing nature of the place.
The view across to South Sudan on the other side of the hill is incredibly significant. South Sudan (or that part of Sudan as it was then) is where abducted children were taken during the war with the Lords Resistance Army, to be broken, and moulded into child soldiers who were then made to come back and prove their ability to use a gun on their own communities. So for communities still traumatised by that war, that horizon is an important feature in the healing that they are seeking to receive.
South Sudan is also the place where many refugees are now entering Uganda from, and so again, for them to be able to receive healing support whilst looking out over the land that they call home, is very significant for them.
ILA has a long way to go before Potters House is complete, but it is wisely doing the work in stages that will allow for each stage to be used for programmes along the way rather than having to wait for everything to be finished. That also leaves room for changes to be made if and as God nudges new ideas and suggestions into the mix.
Visiting Potters House was a real treat. There was such a sense of stillness, and healing beauty to the place, and I look forward to continuing to journey with ILA-Uganda as they move forwards. If any of you want to join on that journey also, it’d be great to have you along!
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