Latest News - August 2007

Having recently returned home from Northern Uganda, Dr Robi shares with us his moving experiences in this interview below.

1. Robi, you have recently returned from a trip to Northern Uganda. What were your experiences?

We travelled out to a few of the 17 different IDP refugee camps in the Gulu district of Nth Uganda where EMPOWER has now been facilitated. In one IDP camp where the program had been facilitated 6 months prior, we arrived unannounced in afternoon. As soon as word had spread about our arrival, quite literally hundreds of refugees came out to greet us, each holding on to their EMPOWER trauma rehabilitation manual. We gathered under a large shelter and for the next few hours, sat and listened to testimony after testimony of healing from brutal torture and trauma, and how lives have been transformed through the power of forgiveness. It was unlike anything else I’ve experienced. It was so encouraging to see the people’s enthusiasm still so strong so many months after the program had been completed in the camp.

2. Has the war situation improved since your last trip to Uganda?

The peace-talks seem to be holding, and there is more optimism in the region than has been over the past 2 decades. People are moving around freely, the night commuter shelters for children have all but closed down, and IDP refugee camps are being decongested with people finding the courage to move back to their villages. The biggest difference however was seeing how many Masungus (white people) are now in Gulu. I remember the days when it was so strange to see a white person. Now it would seem that every humanitarian organisation and their offspring and setting up shot in town.

3. How have the people responded to the Empower Program?

The program has been more successful than we had anticipated. The depth to which the people have studied and embraced the trauma rehabilitation-education has been truly humbling. The volume and quality of recovery testimonies brought tears to my eyes, and the people are sharing the program with friends and family. There have been more than 5000 graduates of the EMPOWER trauma rehabilitation program. This is very exciting when we consider nothing like this has ever happened before in history. Griffith University are now independently processing the pre, post, 3-month, and 6-month follow-up trauma symptom evaluations to demonstrate the effectiveness and long-term validity of the EMPOWER trauma rehabilitation program.

4. What are we aiming to see happen in Northern Uganda through Empower over the next year?

We are now entering phase 4 of the project, where EMPOWER will expand to Kitgum and Lira districts. This is where things really get moving! While we were in Uganda on this last trip, we did two “train-the-trainer” training sessions for EMPOWER facilitators. As a result, we anticipate as many as 50,000 graduates of the EMPOWER program by the end of the year.

5. What urgent action is required by us on THE FRONTLINE?

Family Challenge Australia continues to receive requests for the EMPOWER trauma rehabilitation program from all over the world. While we would love to respond to as many people as possible who have been traumatised by natural disaster and war in different countries, we can only move as fast as funding becomes available. It would seem that it’s the Christian women of Australia who have particularly been moved by the plight of child-soldiers and trauma victims in recent months as we have seen a number of great fundraising initiatives put forward. Now is the time to run faster than ever. Don’t give up the good fight. Congratulations FRONTLINE members, the battle against “their trauma” and “our indifference” is slowly but surely being won!

VISIT THE FRONTLINE WEBSITE TO FIND OUT HOW YOU CAN BE INVOLVED IN MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN THE LIVES OF WAR CHILDREN IN NORTHERN UGANDA