HISTORY

For the last 23 years, the people of northern Uganda have been caught in a brutal war between the Government of Uganda and the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). The LRA has terrorized the local population as a means of challenging the government and sustaining itself. Conservative estimates say the LRA has abducted more than 25,000 children to be used as soldiers and sex slaves. Tens of thousands have been wounded, maimed and killed in LRA attacks.

Stability and relative peace seems to be on the horizon in northern Uganda since the Juba peace talks were initiated between the Government of Uganda (GoU) and the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) rebels of Joseph Kony in August 2006.

There is now a desperate need to rebuild civil institutions in the region. As we learnt during a field visit in 2006 and an extensive visit in 2008, building basic institutions like schools must become top priority in northern Uganda.

Our most inspiring finding from our needs assessment is that the children and their parents and guardians dream of the opportunity to become educated. There is a real awareness of the importance of education; many people of northern Uganda consider it to be their only assurance of finding a way to make a better life for themselves.