Thursday 14 January.
It is great to be in Gulu, a place we had only heard and read about. However it was completely different from what I (Heinzey) expected. The town had been at war for twenty years and there was very little physical damage to the buildings only years of neglect and no maintenance. The war was fought mainly in the bush and was a more guerrilla type operation with small weapons. The main effect however is psychological and the trauma of being captured and forced to be child soldier’s slaves and “wives” of the rebels is still felt as has the rounding up of the entire local population by the Ugandan Army and placing them into displaced persons camps “for their own safety”.
However Gulu had a good positive feel to it with the war being over for two years now. The rebels moved (forced) out of Northern Uganda and Southern Sudan to raise havoc in the Congo now. There is lots of building going on and it is a bustling market town with a laid back feel.
We started our day by walking to a building that was used by the “night commuters” as a refuge. The building was adjacent to an army/ government building and therefore able to be protected from the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) the rebel force who was kidnapping children for their army. About 1000 children slept here every night for 5 years and stayed safe. There were thousands of children kidnapped by the rebels.
Adjacent to this building is a soccer field which is part of a school. It turns out that this field was used by Idi Amin in the 1980’s as a Slaughter field where he would helicopter in, shoot people and fly out while the bodies were carried away for disposal. It is ironic that the two places are adjacent to each other one being the site of some of the worst atrocities in Amin reign of terror and next door a place where thousands of children’s lives were saved.
We then walked to “Living Hope” one of Watoto’s latest projects. It was set up for women of whom the vast majority are HIV positive as they were also children soldiers or their “wives”. As part of the enrolment in Living Hope all of their children were tested (by an Amercian team) for HIV and only 2% are positive. The results were so amazing that they tested again & got the same result. When many of these women were diagnosed with HIV, they could’nt afford medicines & generally gave up, hoping to die. They also irrationally thought if they had another child it would give them some self respect but it just added to the tragic cycle all
over again. The women here are taught that they have a life and should have hope and treat the disease like any other chronic disease (like diabetes or heart problems) and mange the disease. They are also taught life skills and have counselling and when they complete the 2 yr programme they should have a fulfilling life and be self supporting. They are also taught business skills & various skills like tailoring, bee keeping, Jewellery making, manufacturing peanut butter etc which are at presently sold thru Watoto. When the women leave they will have the choice of selling their crafts to the local market. When they leave each lady has the choice of a gift such as a bee hive or treadle sewing machine so they hit the ground running. They are also investigating other products such as biofuel bricks made from rubbish to replace charcoal. Also they are investigating how to manufacture sanitary pads made of papyrus as this is far cheaper than the usual ones available.
There is also a nursery / crèche and medical centre. They hope to expand into the land next door and double the size of the project.
At present they have 900 women enrolled in Gulu and 1200 in Kampala and with all Watoto projects have a huge goal of 3000 women.
The Living hope complex has been give to Watoto “rent free” by the local council with the building being used by night commuters during the war. The local council is very supportive of Watoto, but it is a pity that central government is not. The council also gave a substantial building to Watoto who has converted it to a hospital and American plastic surgeons are coming here to operate on people mutilated in the war. One of the things done by the rebels was cutting off noses, ears and lips. The first operation happened last week.
Watoto Church Gulu was our next stop. It was originally a hotel complex that Watoto took over in August 2007 when the first service was held. Started with about 300 people and now get 1300 people each Sunday. It has now out grown the site and Watoto have brought 13 acres of land (as a result of a single donation) closer to the town centre where they will relocate when finance is available to build a 2500 seat Auditorium. Also currently being built on this new site is “Bulrushes’ Gulu” with a starting capacity for 170 babies.
Watoto Gulu also run outreach programmes for Child soldiers returning from the bush and other displaced people. These programmes are so successful that they are training more people to run these.
The next stop was a school that was built and paid for by the Belgium Government and was up to recently run by the local government. They have formed as partnership with Watoto to run. This is a trauma centre where child soldiers could be sent and counselled given some education and rebuilt their self esteem before being put back into the wider community either as a Watoto orphan or with their family. The complex was self contained with school, medical centre and dormitories for all 450 children.
We then went to Watoto Gulu Village which is about 45 to 60 minutes out of the actual town. The land was available straight away and totals 160 acres. We stopped on the way at LaBone displaced persons camp. This is the last active camp and has currently about 500 People living there down from a total peak population of 10000 All on about 100 acres. Image the entire population of Greymouth living in mud huts on the Rec ground. The camp is to close next month and all huts bulldozed and the people taken home by the Army.
The Watoto Gulu village has a nice feel to it and in a couple of years it will be a magic spot. Very quiet and peaceful with only the noise of children playing. There is about 12 houses occupied and a further 12 almost complete as well as a primary school and teacher houses. Not bad for the land was only purchased a year ago. It was great talking to the “mothers” who are all local women who are passionate about the project and their love for the orphan children is immense. It is intended to have about 100 houses and 800 orphan children.
The night finished after tea with Jack Hines saying he was off to bed to read but instead went to Gilbert our Watoto Host room to watch the African Cup soccer match. Braydon was locked out of the room. Thinking Jack was asleep we after some animated discussion with the hotel staff able to get a key for the next room and Kate “MacGyver” Hines climbed over the balcony 2 stories up to break into the room only to find Jack was missing (?? Taken by the LRA).Jack was found a bit later in Gilbert’s room totally surprised by all the drama.
We are now back in Kampala at the guest House. A number of the party are acting like lost souls because their contact with the outside world via Vodaphone network is erratically unreliable and after 2 week in Africa they still don’t realise “That this is Africa and thing happen in Africa Time”.
Cheers Heinzey
Thursday 14 January.
It is great to be in Gulu, a place we had only heard and read about. However it was completely different from what I (Heinzey) expected. The town had been at war for twenty years and there was very little physical damage to the buildings only years of neglect and no maintenance. The war was fought mainly in the bush and was a more guerrilla type operation with small weapons. The main effect however is psychological and the trauma of being captured and forced to be child soldier’s slaves and “wives” of the rebels is still felt as has the rounding up of the entire local population by the Ugandan Army and placing them into displaced persons camps “for their own safety”.
However Gulu had a good positive feel to it with the war being over for two years now. The rebels moved (forced) out of Northern Uganda and Southern Sudan to raise havoc in the Congo now. There is lots of building going on and it is a bustling market town with a laid back feel.
We started our day by walking to a building that was used by the “night commuters” as a refuge. The building was adjacent to an army/ government building and therefore able to be protected from the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) the rebel force who was kidnapping children for their army. About 1000 children slept here every night for 5 years and stayed safe. There were thousands of children kidnapped by the rebels.
Adjacent to this building is a soccer field which is part of a school. It turns out that this field was used by Idi Amin in the 1980’s as a Slaughter field where he would helicopter in, shoot people and fly out while the bodies were carried away for disposal. It is ironic that the two places are adjacent to each other one being the site of some of the worst atrocities in Amin reign of terror and next door a place where thousands of children’s lives were saved.
We then walked to “Living Hope” one of Watoto’s latest projects. It was set up for women of whom the vast majority are HIV positive as they were also children soldiers or their “wives”. As part of the enrolment in Living Hope all of their children were tested (by an Amercian team) for HIV and only 2% are positive. The results were so amazing that they tested again & got the same result. When many of these women were diagnosed with HIV, they could’nt afford medicines & generally gave up, hoping to die. They also irrationally thought if they had another child it would give them some self respect but it just added to the tragic cycle all
over again. The women here are taught that they have a life and should have hope and treat the disease like any other chronic disease (like diabetes or heart problems) and mange the disease. They are also taught life skills and have counselling and when they complete the 2 yr programme they should have a fulfilling life and be self supporting. They are also taught business skills & various skills like tailoring, bee keeping, Jewellery making, manufacturing peanut butter etc which are at presently sold thru Watoto. When the women leave they will have the choice of selling their crafts to the local market. When they leave each lady has the choice of a gift such as a bee hive or treadle sewing machine so they hit the ground running. They are also investigating other products such as biofuel bricks made from rubbish to replace charcoal. Also they are investigating how to manufacture sanitary pads made of papyrus as this is far cheaper than the usual ones available.
There is also a nursery / crèche and medical centre. They hope to expand into the land next door and double the size of the project.
At present they have 900 women enrolled in Gulu and 1200 in Kampala and with all Watoto projects have a huge goal of 3000 women.
The Living hope complex has been give to Watoto “rent free” by the local council with the building being used by night commuters during the war. The local council is very supportive of Watoto, but it is a pity that central government is not. The council also gave a substantial building to Watoto who has converted it to a hospital and American plastic surgeons are coming here to operate on people mutilated in the war. One of the things done by the rebels was cutting off noses, ears and lips. The first operation happened last week.
Watoto Church Gulu was our next stop. It was originally a hotel complex that Watoto took over in August 2007 when the first service was held. Started with about 300 people and now get 1300 people each Sunday. It has now out grown the site and Watoto have brought 13 acres of land (as a result of a single donation) closer to the town centre where they will relocate when finance is available to build a 2500 seat Auditorium. Also currently being built on this new site is “Bulrushes’ Gulu” with a starting capacity for 170 babies.
Watoto Gulu also run outreach programmes for Child soldiers returning from the bush and other displaced people. These programmes are so successful that they are training more people to run these.
The next stop was a school that was built and paid for by the Belgium Government and was up to recently run by the local government. They have formed as partnership with Watoto to run. This is a trauma centre where child soldiers could be sent and counselled given some education and rebuilt their self esteem before being put back into the wider community either as a Watoto orphan or with their family. The complex was self contained with school, medical centre and dormitories for all 450 children.
We then went to Watoto Gulu Village which is about 45 to 60 minutes out of the actual town. The land was available straight away and totals 160 acres. We stopped on the way at LaBone displaced persons camp. This is the last active camp and has currently about 500 People living there down from a total peak population of 10000 All on about 100 acres. Image the entire population of Greymouth living in mud huts on the Rec ground. The camp is to close next month and all huts bulldozed and the people taken home by the Army.
The Watoto Gulu village has a nice feel to it and in a couple of years it will be a magic spot. Very quiet and peaceful with only the noise of children playing. There is about 12 houses occupied and a further 12 almost complete as well as a primary school and teacher houses. Not bad for the land was only purchased a year ago. It was great talking to the “mothers” who are all local women who are passionate about the project and their love for the orphan children is immense. It is intended to have about 100 houses and 800 orphan children.
The night finished after tea with Jack Hines saying he was off to bed to read but instead went to Gilbert our Watoto Host room to watch the African Cup soccer match. Braydon was locked out of the room. Thinking Jack was asleep we after some animated discussion with the hotel staff able to get a key for the next room and Kate “MacGyver” Hines climbed over the balcony 2 stories up to break into the room only to find Jack was missing (?? Taken by the LRA).Jack was found a bit later in Gilbert’s room totally surprised by all the drama.
We are now back in Kampala at the guest House. A number of the party are acting like lost souls because their contact with the outside world via Vodaphone network is erratically unreliable and after 2 week in Africa they still don’t realise “That this is Africa and thing happen in Africa Time”.
Cheers Heinzey
Thursday 14 January.
It is great to be in Gulu, a place we had only heard and read about. However it was completely different from what I (Heinzey) expected. The town had been at war for twenty years and there was very little physical damage to the buildings only years of neglect and no maintenance. The war was fought mainly in the bush and was a more guerrilla type operation with small weapons. The main effect however is psychological and the trauma of being captured and forced to be child soldier’s slaves and “wives” of the rebels is still felt as has the rounding up of the entire local population by the Ugandan Army and placing them into displaced persons camps “for their own safety”.
However Gulu had a good positive feel to it with the war being over for two years now. The rebels moved (forced) out of Northern Uganda and Southern Sudan to raise havoc in the Congo now. There is lots of building going on and it is a bustling market town with a laid back feel.
We started our day by walking to a building that was used by the “night commuters” as a refuge. The building was adjacent to an army/ government building and therefore able to be protected from the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) the rebel force who was kidnapping children for their army. About 1000 children slept here every night for 5 years and stayed safe. There were thousands of children kidnapped by the rebels.
Adjacent to this building is a soccer field which is part of a school. It turns out that this field was used by Idi Amin in the 1980’s as a Slaughter field where he would helicopter in, shoot people and fly out while the bodies were carried away for disposal. It is ironic that the two places are adjacent to each other one being the site of some of the worst atrocities in Amin reign of terror and next door a place where thousands of children’s lives were saved.
We then walked to “Living Hope” one of Watoto’s latest projects. It was set up for women of whom the vast majority are HIV positive as they were also children soldiers or their “wives”. As part of the enrolment in Living Hope all of their children were tested (by an Amercian team) for HIV and only 2% are positive. The results were so amazing that they tested again & got the same result. When many of these women were diagnosed with HIV, they could’nt afford medicines & generally gave up, hoping to die. They also irrationally thought if they had another child it would give them some self respect but it just added to the tragic cycle all
over again. The women here are taught that they have a life and should have hope and treat the disease like any other chronic disease (like diabetes or heart problems) and mange the disease. They are also taught life skills and have counselling and when they complete the 2 yr programme they should have a fulfilling life and be self supporting. They are also taught business skills & various skills like tailoring, bee keeping, Jewellery making, manufacturing peanut butter etc which are at presently sold thru Watoto. When the women leave they will have the choice of selling their crafts to the local market. When they leave each lady has the choice of a gift such as a bee hive or treadle sewing machine so they hit the ground running. They are also investigating other products such as biofuel bricks made from rubbish to replace charcoal. Also they are investigating how to manufacture sanitary pads made of papyrus as this is far cheaper than the usual ones available.
There is also a nursery / crèche and medical centre. They hope to expand into the land next door and double the size of the project.
At present they have 900 women enrolled in Gulu and 1200 in Kampala and with all Watoto projects have a huge goal of 3000 women.
The Living hope complex has been give to Watoto “rent free” by the local council with the building being used by night commuters during the war. The local council is very supportive of Watoto, but it is a pity that central government is not. The council also gave a substantial building to Watoto who has converted it to a hospital and American plastic surgeons are coming here to operate on people mutilated in the war. One of the things done by the rebels was cutting off noses, ears and lips. The first operation happened last week.
Watoto Church Gulu was our next stop. It was originally a hotel complex that Watoto took over in August 2007 when the first service was held. Started with about 300 people and now get 1300 people each Sunday. It has now out grown the site and Watoto have brought 13 acres of land (as a result of a single donation) closer to the town centre where they will relocate when finance is available to build a 2500 seat Auditorium. Also currently being built on this new site is “Bulrushes’ Gulu” with a starting capacity for 170 babies.
Watoto Gulu also run outreach programmes for Child soldiers returning from the bush and other displaced people. These programmes are so successful that they are training more people to run these.
The next stop was a school that was built and paid for by the Belgium Government and was up to recently run by the local government. They have formed as partnership with Watoto to run. This is a trauma centre where child soldiers could be sent and counselled given some education and rebuilt their self esteem before being put back into the wider community either as a Watoto orphan or with their family. The complex was self contained with school, medical centre and dormitories for all 450 children.
We then went to Watoto Gulu Village which is about 45 to 60 minutes out of the actual town. The land was available straight away and totals 160 acres. We stopped on the way at LaBone displaced persons camp. This is the last active camp and has currently about 500 People living there down from a total peak population of 10000 All on about 100 acres. Image the entire population of Greymouth living in mud huts on the Rec ground. The camp is to close next month and all huts bulldozed and the people taken home by the Army.
The Watoto Gulu village has a nice feel to it and in a couple of years it will be a magic spot. Very quiet and peaceful with only the noise of children playing. There is about 12 houses occupied and a further 12 almost complete as well as a primary school and teacher houses. Not bad for the land was only purchased a year ago. It was great talking to the “mothers” who are all local women who are passionate about the project and their love for the orphan children is immense. It is intended to have about 100 houses and 800 orphan children.
The night finished after tea with Jack Hines saying he was off to bed to read but instead went to Gilbert our Watoto Host room to watch the African Cup soccer match. Braydon was locked out of the room. Thinking Jack was asleep we after some animated discussion with the hotel staff able to get a key for the next room and Kate “MacGyver” Hines climbed over the balcony 2 stories up to break into the room only to find Jack was missing (?? Taken by the LRA).Jack was found a bit later in Gilbert’s room totally surprised by all the drama.
We are now back in Kampala at the guest House. A number of the party are acting like lost souls because their contact with the outside world via Vodaphone network is erratically unreliable and after 2 week in Africa they still don’t realise “That this is Africa and thing happen in Africa Time”.
Cheers Heinzey
Thursday 14 January.
It is great to be in Gulu, a place we had only heard and read about. However it was completely different from what I (Heinzey) expected. The town had been at war for twenty years and there was very little physical damage to the buildings only years of neglect and no maintenance. The war was fought mainly in the bush and was a more guerrilla type operation with small weapons. The main effect however is psychological and the trauma of being captured and forced to be child soldier’s slaves and “wives” of the rebels is still felt as has the rounding up of the entire local population by the Ugandan Army and placing them into displaced persons camps “for their own safety”.
However Gulu had a good positive feel to it with the war being over for two years now. The rebels moved (forced) out of Northern Uganda and Southern Sudan to raise havoc in the Congo now. There is lots of building going on and it is a bustling market town with a laid back feel.
We started our day by walking to a building that was used by the “night commuters” as a refuge. The building was adjacent to an army/ government building and therefore able to be protected from the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) the rebel force who was kidnapping children for their army. About 1000 children slept here every night for 5 years and stayed safe. There were thousands of children kidnapped by the rebels.
Adjacent to this building is a soccer field which is part of a school. It turns out that this field was used by Idi Amin in the 1980’s as a Slaughter field where he would helicopter in, shoot people and fly out while the bodies were carried away for disposal. It is ironic that the two places are adjacent to each other one being the site of some of the worst atrocities in Amin reign of terror and next door a place where thousands of children’s lives were saved.
We then walked to “Living Hope” one of Watoto’s latest projects. It was set up for women of whom the vast majority are HIV positive as they were also children soldiers or their “wives”. As part of the enrolment in Living Hope all of their children were tested (by an Amercian team) for HIV and only 2% are positive. The results were so amazing that they tested again & got the same result. When many of these women were diagnosed with HIV, they could’nt afford medicines & generally gave up, hoping to die. They also irrationally thought if they had another child it would give them some self respect but it just added to the tragic cycle all
over again. The women here are taught that they have a life and should have hope and treat the disease like any other chronic disease (like diabetes or heart problems) and mange the disease. They are also taught life skills and have counselling and when they complete the 2 yr programme they should have a fulfilling life and be self supporting. They are also taught business skills & various skills like tailoring, bee keeping, Jewellery making, manufacturing peanut butter etc which are at presently sold thru Watoto. When the women leave they will have the choice of selling their crafts to the local market. When they leave each lady has the choice of a gift such as a bee hive or treadle sewing machine so they hit the ground running. They are also investigating other products such as biofuel bricks made from rubbish to replace charcoal. Also they are investigating how to manufacture sanitary pads made of papyrus as this is far cheaper than the usual ones available.
There is also a nursery / crèche and medical centre. They hope to expand into the land next door and double the size of the project.
At present they have 900 women enrolled in Gulu and 1200 in Kampala and with all Watoto projects have a huge goal of 3000 women.
The Living hope complex has been give to Watoto “rent free” by the local council with the building being used by night commuters during the war. The local council is very supportive of Watoto, but it is a pity that central government is not. The council also gave a substantial building to Watoto who has converted it to a hospital and American plastic surgeons are coming here to operate on people mutilated in the war. One of the things done by the rebels was cutting off noses, ears and lips. The first operation happened last week.
Watoto Church Gulu was our next stop. It was originally a hotel complex that Watoto took over in August 2007 when the first service was held. Started with about 300 people and now get 1300 people each Sunday. It has now out grown the site and Watoto have brought 13 acres of land (as a result of a single donation) closer to the town centre where they will relocate when finance is available to build a 2500 seat Auditorium. Also currently being built on this new site is “Bulrushes’ Gulu” with a starting capacity for 170 babies.
Watoto Gulu also run outreach programmes for Child soldiers returning from the bush and other displaced people. These programmes are so successful that they are training more people to run these.
The next stop was a school that was built and paid for by the Belgium Government and was up to recently run by the local government. They have formed as partnership with Watoto to run. This is a trauma centre where child soldiers could be sent and counselled given some education and rebuilt their self esteem before being put back into the wider community either as a Watoto orphan or with their family. The complex was self contained with school, medical centre and dormitories for all 450 children.
We then went to Watoto Gulu Village which is about 45 to 60 minutes out of the actual town. The land was available straight away and totals 160 acres. We stopped on the way at LaBone displaced persons camp. This is the last active camp and has currently about 500 People living there down from a total peak population of 10000 All on about 100 acres. Image the entire population of Greymouth living in mud huts on the Rec ground. The camp is to close next month and all huts bulldozed and the people taken home by the Army.
The Watoto Gulu village has a nice feel to it and in a couple of years it will be a magic spot. Very quiet and peaceful with only the noise of children playing. There is about 12 houses occupied and a further 12 almost complete as well as a primary school and teacher houses. Not bad for the land was only purchased a year ago. It was great talking to the “mothers” who are all local women who are passionate about the project and their love for the orphan children is immense. It is intended to have about 100 houses and 800 orphan children.
The night finished after tea with Jack Hines saying he was off to bed to read but instead went to Gilbert our Watoto Host room to watch the African Cup soccer match. Braydon was locked out of the room. Thinking Jack was asleep we after some animated discussion with the hotel staff able to get a key for the next room and Kate “MacGyver” Hines climbed over the balcony 2 stories up to break into the room only to find Jack was missing (?? Taken by the LRA).Jack was found a bit later in Gilbert’s room totally surprised by all the drama.
We are now back in Kampala at the guest House. A number of the party are acting like lost souls because their contact with the outside world via Vodaphone network is erratically unreliable and after 2 week in Africa they still don’t realise “That this is Africa and thing happen in Africa Time”.
Cheer s Heinzey
This is prety good Amanda’s Mum and Dad Updated twice in two Days