Pages

Monday, April 11, 2011

Restoration of Voices

A few weekends ago, a group of 14 travelled by van to Gulu, a district in northern Uganda.  Many of us Americans associate Northern Uganda with what Invisible Children has taught us: themes running along the lines of child soldiers, war, Joseph Kony, HIV/AIDS, and others...  all of these things are aspects of the history of the North, but solely individual facts which, in reality, are woven together with feelings of defeat and hope, suffering and life, deep pain and powerful joy- God's presence in it all. This group visited an organization called Child Voice International. Words I would use to describe the 2 generations of women affected by the war in this place: raw, beautiful, strong, family-focused, pain, life, freedom, fight.  The perseverance of these 13 women and their children, whose voices at one time seemed silenced and forgotten, are surely being strengthened through the power of Our faithful God!!

"By that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all... Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy." -Hebrews 10: 10, 13-14
Here is some background on the organization from the ChildVoice website:


ChildVoice International was born in April 2006 after visits to Uganda revealed the hidden horrors of a long-running war. The Lord’s Resistance Army has staged a 20-year rebellion during which it has sustained its forces by kidnapping children and forcing them to become soldiers, forcing them to march through the bush and carry out acts of brutality on villagers across Northern Uganda. An estimated 30,000 children have been abducted since the war’s start. Many have escaped and found their way back to their home communities – many of them shadows of their former selves. These children face innumerable hardships, from post-traumatic stress disorder to lack of education.
By 2005, with internally displaced persons (IDP) camps swelling and the incidents of sexual assaults and disease increasing, non-governmental organizations (NGO) were working in the region to provide short-term solutions for returning abductees and displaced villagers. But it was clear that more help was needed. After spending a year researching the issues, developing on-the-ground contacts, and working with experienced NGO managers, Conrad Mandsager developed the concept of a long-term rehabilitation center for child victims of war. The program model would address not only the mental health and educational needs of individual victims, but also the health and reconciliation needs of communities torn apart by war.

When we arrived at Child Voice, we were greeted by the ululations and dancing of the women under the black sky and sparkling stars. IEIEIEIIEIEIEIIEIEIIEEIEI!!!!! Wow. This is going to be an amazing weekend.  These women have such different backgrounds from us. How will we connect? We got out of the dusty van after about 7 hours of driving to be shown to our huts and hammocks that we would be sleeping in!!! :)  What will tomorrow hold?


The next day, we met a man named Nicolas who is a Social Worker, Councilor, and in the process of getting His Masters of Divinity, and had planted himself in Gulu throughout the war.  He also helped design the counseling program at Child Voice.  This man was incredible.  He testified to God's faithfulness and presence throughout the war, as one whose cousin had been abducted twelve years, and is still with Kony's army who is now in the Congo.

Throughout the weekend, we were able to see glimpses of the girls lives... it was such a beautiful picture of God's reconciliation and faithfulness.  Through the 18 months in the program, the girls received psychological and spiritual counseling, learned life skills such as conflict management and how to work together as a community, and did skills training in cooking, hair solon, bead business and more..  IT IS AWESOME!!  There is such restoration that happens as the girls gain back confidence and understand the value they have in being children of the awesome God... Satan is crushed every day, and these girls' lives are testimonies to there being "no fear in love, but perfect love casting out fear" (1 John 4:18).
some of the beautiful ladies who taught me some dance moves one night under the stars :)!

I have been thinking more lately about what fears have a hold on me in my life... and how really, they are all insignificant.  The fear of failure.  The fear of insignificance. The fear of conformity. The fear of death. All are made void in Christ.... spend some time thinking about that today :).

"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful... But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved." -Hebrews 10:23, 39

No comments:

Post a Comment