Heather Bellamy spoke with Gulu Mission about the devastating effect of the war in Northern Uganda, with child soldiers, extreme poverty and a lack of education and what they are doing to rebuild their community and give them hope.

Helen Lock and Phoebe Ochan

Gulu Mission Initiative is a charitable organisation working alongside disadvantaged communities in Northern Uganda; communities that have been affected by the long-running war, which continues now in Sudan and the DRC. The charity works in education, community growth and social action projects. Heather Bellamy spoke with director Helen Lock and Phoebe Ochan who works with Gulu mission in Uganda.

Heather: Helen, in 2007, you took a trip to the North of Uganda. What did you experience there?

Helen: I experienced extreme poverty. Everybody wanted to ask me for help. I felt that you need to be really focused on what you see and where you want to help, because so many people are asking you, "Can you please take me back to the United Kingdom for a better life? My life here is awful! I'm terribly poor." Or, "I'm being abused." We had a lot of that.

Heather: Tell us about the war in that region. Who was it between?

Phoebe: The war was between the Lord's Resistance Army, commanded by Joseph Kony and the Government of Uganda.

Heather: What is the situation with the war now?

Phoebe: The war has ended in Uganda, but Kony and his men are still terrorising people in the DRC.

Heather: Phoebe, what was your personal experience of that war?

Phoebe: It all started when I was just 10 years old and ended when I was an adult. During those many years we suffered a lot as a community. I was denied a childhood because I never got to play. I didn't have an education. I never really lived my childhood like a child should do. There was lots of suffering. We didn't have medical care. We didn't have schools to go to. The communities were confined in internally displaced people's slums that had poor shelters and lots of miserable life for that community.

Heather: What effect did that have on you as a person?

Phoebe: When I came through it and I survived, I became very resilient to make a change in my community, as a way of giving back, because it was too much for my community. The fact that I came through it and survived and in the middle of everything managed to get some sort of education, I knew there was no better way of paying back than to make a difference in my community.

Heather: What are living conditions like in your community now?

Phoebe: Things are beginning to change, but there are still lots of needs far beyond our resources. There are many needs for the reconstruction of my area. The Government is trying and other NGOs are trying, but our resources are simply not enough to meet the needs. We need to build more schools. We need to have more health centres. We need people to begin engaging in things that can improve their livelihoods, but these are not yet fully catered for.

Heather: Helen, why did Gulu Mission start?