Children of the Earth - ACHOLILAND, Northern Uganda

Perspective: The Global Alliance began in October 2005 in London, at the First People’s Summit for Departments of Peace, which was attended by forty people from a dozen countries. The Global Alliance convened its Second People’s Summit eight months later in Victoria, British Columbia. The Victoria Summit was attended by 60 people from 18 countries, including Peter Lukwiya from Uganda. This summit was concluded with the First World Peace Forum, a series of workshops to connect and facilitate worldwide efforts for the establishment of national ministries of peace. The Global Alliance’s Third Summit was held September, 2007, in Kisarazu, Japan, also with Peter participating. The Fourth Summit was held in Costa Rica, September 2009. It was the first to be hosted by a national government. Corina Simon, a member of WSYC, chaired the MDoP Gobal Summit’s Youth Exchange. For more info, link to: www.globalalliance.org

Peter Lukwiya distributes Children-of-the-Earth / Youth-to-Youth Teddy Bear Hugs

Children living in IDP camps were sent Vermont Teddy Bears with personal messages from children of Pulaski Middle School, New Britain, Connecticut; Colchester Schools, Colchester, Vermont; and Champlain Valley Union High School, Hinesburg, Vermont

Click here for more about the Youth-to-Youth program.

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Children-of-the-Earth UGANDA

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This small outline map of Africa shows the location of Uganda.

The enlarged map at the left highlights Gulu, Kitgum, Pader and other districts in Uganda most severely affected by the conflict with the LRA.

Beekkeeping Project

.....promoting community participation in the sustainable conservation of Palabek-Kal forest reserve

.....assisting the survival of the honeybee, a world-wide necessity for food production

.....providing a source of income, a necessity for women with children in rural villages of Northern Uganda

With support from the Orskov Foundation, Peter was able to help a group of poor women in one of the villages in Kitgum to start beekeeping activities. About 100 hives thrived, producing honey and other bee products, and providing income to the women, thus improving thier livelihoods and the livelihoods of their children. A plan is underway to continue and expand this project to other villages, and start a revolving funding scheme.

Team inspecting Oryang Ojuma Apiary,

Peter Lukwiya in cap at right

New local hives from Oryang Ojuma about to be hanged

2009 Beekkeeping Project Update

More groups have been added and the project continues to grow and develop according to plan. The Foundation for Purposeful Living, an all-volunteer service organization in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, known for its innovative approaches to addressing social needs, donated US$500. This money was used to purchase beehives for local community groups.

International Rescue Committee Increases Efforts to Reduce Child Labor in Northern Uganda

05 Mar 2010

Source: International Rescue Committee (IRC) Website: http://www.theIRC.org

“Peace but no prosperity”

http: //www.theeastafrican.co.ke/magazine/-/434746/673534/-/item/0/-/13je5hx/-/index.html

Author: MALINGHA DOYA

Published by The East African Magazine, Monday, October 19, 2009

How climate change impacts on Uganda

http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/13/703468

Author: RAYMOND BAGUMA

“The New Vision” is an English language Newspaper/Website

established in Uganda in 1986. http: //www.newvision.co.ug/

“Invisible Children, Fighting an Adult War”

http: //www.thewestgeorgian.com/invisible-children-fighting-an-adult-war-1.777755

Author: GIOVANNI WHALEY

Published by The West Georgian Press,student newspaper of University of West Georgia, Carrollton, GA, USA, Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Uganda Updates

http: //www.reliefweb.int/rw/dbc.nsf/doc104?OpenForm&rc=1&cc= uga

Photo: MORGAN MBABAZI

“An aerial view of Gulu town in northern Uganda. Note the spectacular plains and fertile black soils begging for crops to grow in them.”

The East African Magazine

If you have questions or comments about this page, please send an e-message to: chapter.support@children-of-the-earth.org (Subject COE-Uganda)

Affiliated Organizations:

UGANDA PEACE FOUNDATION INITIATIVE

Leader: Peter Lukwiya

REGIONAL BACKGROUND by Peter Lukwiya

Uganda is a country in East Africa, bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by Tanzania. The southern part of the country includes a substantial portion of Lake Victoria, within which it shares borders with Kenya and Tanzania. Uganda takes its name from the Buganda kingdom, which encompasses a portion of the south of the country including the capital Kampala. It has an estimated total population of about 27,616,000 people.

For almost 20 years in northern Uganda, a cult-like rebel group called the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has been waging war against the government and local Acholi people, launching horrific attacks on villages, towns and camps for the internally displaced. The group has abducted more than 20,000 children, forcing them to fight, carry ammunition and supplies and to serve as sex slaves for LRA commanders.

Many have been forced to perform terrible atrocities - including killing their families and other children - or face death themselves. Child soldiers have been estimated to make up 80 percent of the LRA's manpower; their experience is marked by kidnapping, rape, killings, ransacking and unimaginable war crimes as well as battling government forces. The rebels have targeted their own Acholi ethnic group, who are their main victims. About 90 percent (2 Million) of people in Acholiland (Gulu, Kitgum and Pader districts) live crowded into squalid settlements (Internally Displaced People’s camps) out of fear of the rebels, and the other half were forced into the camps by Ugandan soldiers where they lack food and clean water, are vulnerable to disease and LRA attacks that killed about 1,000 people a week. The United Nations calls it as one of the world's most neglected humanitarian crises.

It’s against such background that I stepped out among the many Uganda youths and volunteered my time and resources in bringing a culture of peace and ending the violent conflicts. I mobilized the young people in 15 secondary schools in the two districts of Kitgum and Gulu, to take part in bringing peace to the region. Among other things, we are now also calling the government of Uganda to establish a ministry of peace, a ministry that will in addition to other functions foster a culture of peace through education and promote sustainable economic and social development.

In order to improve the lives of millions of children living in IDP camps in northern Uganda, we are planning to establish two social rehabilitation centers with adequate psychosocial support and counselling services to enable war traumatized children in Kitgum district, Northern Uganda, to develop self confidence, self respect and hope for the future. Recreational activities in games and sports will be provided to help develop social cohesion with other children, happiness and wealth, brain development, as well as to acquire and improve talents in game and sports for the children who are in and out of school.

CHILDREN-OF-THE-EARTH UGANDA