Visiting Northern Uganda
When the civil war ended two years ago in Northern Uganda, it increased the opportunity for the youth to carry out their dreams. This is both a privilege and a challenge. The Danish Red Cross Youth and Uganda Red Cross Society joined together in a project, where the focus is to help the youth construct their belief in themselves and their abilities to take control of their own lives. We went to visit the participants.
By Semine Brorson, March 2010
“Before, I minded my own business but now I have learned to mix with others.” This was said by one of the participants in the evaluation of the project in Northern Uganda. Members from the Northern Uganda Group in Danish Red Cross Youth and from the Kampala Headquarter of Uganda Red Cross Society are visiting one of the projects youth groups in a camp for internal refugees near the Sudanese border.
It is a warm day in January in the middle of the drought and we are all sitting in small circles trying to catch the shadow from the mango tree. We are surrounded by mud-built huts and people have gathered large piles of grass to make some new roofs. And we are underneath the exact same mango tree which, for the last couple of months, has set the scene for a pilot project for youths who, for the first time in their life, are facing a normal life and trying to implement their new gained skills.
Seeing yourself as a resource
We are meeting the youth volunteers who have been trained in passing on Life Planning Skills to their peers. The volunteers and 30 participants have been meeting for sessions once a week since October. These sessions covered subjects like puberty and sex as well as discussions on how to handle challenges and reaching their dreams.
This meeting with the youth volunteers is concerning how to jointly continue the project. Lots of ideas are thrown in the air, among others passing on knowledge about HIV/Aids to the local community, making money by growing a kitchen garden, creating joy and community spirit among the local youth by having a dance contest or football tournament. One of the boys enthusiastically exclaims “or both!”
While we are talking, we can sense that we are dealing with a group of young people who are starting to see themselves as a resource in their own live and to others. A feeling of community, friendship and trust has arisen in this group – and this is new in this fragile society.
We left Uganda with our bags filled with recommendations, ideas and mappings of needs, which will be used in the new project. In the Northern Uganda group, we are looking forward to supporting these young peers to make their dreams come true.
