6/12/14
Days like today remind me exactly why we do the work we do. This is an area that was heavily under siege by Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army. It is where it all started and where he is from. The people were all forced to leave their land and live in internally displaced persons camps near the town (this is the term for camps where people are refugees within their own country) in order to be safe from slaughter and/or abduction by the LRA. After years in the camps, they returned to homes where everything was destroyed and had to begin rebuilding their lives all over again.
We started the day by meeting with potential new partners on another Rice Farmer cooperative. Benedict, Moses and their team escorted us to the field where we met one group of farmers under a beautiful, huge tree. There was food growing everywhere, rice, corn, sunflowers and the list goes on. The farmers have desire to be trained in new farming technology and to have the capacity to process and store their rice until they are able to get a good market value, selling in bulk. This is exactly what we are already doing with our rice farmers in western Uganda and we were very impressed not only with the farmer group, but also with the potential partner. Tomorrow we will continue discussions on how we could work together.
In the afternoon, we picked up Jane, our Honey Farmer partner and her visitor from Australia, Phoebe and we made visits to three beneficiaries in their homes. The beneficiaries have their hives, but the hives are in the process of populating, so they are not yet producing any income.
First, we met with Charles, a handsome 16 year old, and his four little brothers. Charles is the head of his household, because both of their parents were abducted by the LRA and once they escaped, both were severely traumatized and were mentally unstable. Their mother left and the father is incapable of taking care of either himself or them. He told us that he and two brothers cannot go to school for lack of school fees and that the two youngest have never been to school. He also said they had eaten cabbage for lunch and nothing else today with no plans to have food for dinner. He told us that he has dreams of being a doctor and hopes his hives will afford him the opportunity to go to school. The reality is that the hives will help to afford him to feed his family and hopefully send his brothers to school. He is extremely hard working and takes excellent care of his garden. To see children left completely on their own and to see a boy who so bravely accepts the responsibility of his siblings is both heartbreaking and humbling.
Next we visited siblings Cissy, Paska and Walter and their mother Lucy. Lucy and her husband and two sons were abducted by the LRA, one son killed. Her husband died soon after escaping. She also suffers from severe psychological trauma and on top of that she has a shoulder that was broken and never set that makes it hard for her to work AND she broke her back when a tree fell on her. Her children are two teens and 20 year old and they all worked very hard to prepare the hives and the garden for the hives. The girls are able to go to school most of the time, but Walter has not been able.
Lastly, we visited with Grace, who has 6 children. She and her husband and son were also abducted. Her husband was killed and her son kept in captivity as a soldier. She was pregnant when captured and severely beaten and tortured, causing her to become blind in one eye. She suffered a complete mental breakdown that left her incapable of functioning or taking care of the family. She would wander away from home, not able to communicate, which made her children resort to tying her to a tree when they went to school to be sure she would not be lost. Her hand was severely burned, but she cannot remember how and it did not heal properly. She needs surgery that will correct her inability to straighten the fingers and grasp things, like a garden hoe. Recently, Grace was put on medication that is really helping her mental state and she is focused on keeping her kids in school. Her garden where the hives are kept is extremely well planted with the flowers, fruits and other things that are key to having bees colonize.
Tomorrow we will continue visiting with Honey Farmer beneficiaries. We are working with people who have so very little and have so much hardship, but the strength of their spirits is undeniable and makes me feel so full of hope for their futures.
