Two days ago I went to ChildVoice International. It all happened quickly. On Sunday afternoon I met Lowna and Diandria. My first impression of the two of them was positive. Knowing that organizations are their personnel I was curious to find out more about their organization. I called Lowna on Monday and asked what her organization was and if I could visit and have a tour. She called me back and said sorry this is short notice, the only good day would be Tuesday, which is tomorrow. So I rearranged my schedule and went to the ChildVoice International office on Tuesday morning to drive out to the site of their program which is roughly a 40 minute drive outside of Gulu on the edge of the Lukodi Internally Displaced People (IDP) camp. The place is for formerly abducted child mothers. Their program is to provide these mothers, roughly 30, and their children with all their needs. The girls and their children live on this compound of ChildVoice International (CVI) and CVI provides them with housing, food, education, health care, and other rehabilitative services.
Apr 12 2008: The midway point
1. Abe and Myself 2. Auze, Deborah, Me, Lamwaka, Becky
Here are a few pictures of the 12 children I have been spending time with. The first picture is of me and Abe, pronounced Ah-Beh. I like all the kids, but it has been easy to get to know and spend time with Abe. She is one of the older kids at the house, she is a girl, her English is good and she uses it, and we have free time that overlaps. I like her very much. Her and Auma are both in Primary 7. They are both apprehensive about these test results that they will found out maybe on Monday of whether or not they will take their Primary Level Exam (PLE) from their school, Uper Nile Institute for Apropriate Technology (UNIFAT), or from another school. There are 99 Primary 7 age children at UNIFAT and only 90 of them will sit the PLE from UNIFAT, 9 of them can either choose to repeat Primary 7 at UNIFAT or they can take their PLE from another school. Both Abe and Auma are stressed about this. In fact it is important. They both say though that if they are not selected to sit at UNIFAT they will take the test through another school rather than do the whole year over again. In the second picture is Auze, Deborah, myself, Lamwaka (Santa Lamwaka), and Becky (Abitimo Rebecca Odongkara, the exact same name as her grandmother, the woman I am living with). (The thing is, they have the same name, and the same birthday). In this picture you can see Deborah and Becky the two girls I sleep with each night.
The Indonesia Initiative of Friends Peace Teams is overjoyed to announce that Indonesians have done the first Alternatives to Violence basic workshop on their own without any facilitators from the outside!
The team that conducted this latest workshop was comprised of facilitators from both sides of a life-long armed conflict. They conducted the workshop in East Aceh, an Acehnese nationalist strong-hold, where Javanese farmers were born, raised and run out of. The participants were from Peureulak, East Aceh, considered the "heart of the war" that has a very hard, fishermen’s culture in which people are easily suspicious and hateful of outsiders.
This was the first time perpetrators were brought together to participate equally with victims of the war. One of the Acehnese facilitators told a story about experiencing transforming power on a night he was certain he would be killed. It turned out that two perpetrators of the violence that night were in the workshop! He says it was really powerful to sit in the room and share what was going on for each of them that night. The Javanese were able to see that they were not the only ones who felt like they might die that night. The meditation at the end of the workshop was amazing.
The team that conducted this latest workshop was comprised of facilitators from both sides of a life-long armed conflict. They conducted the workshop in East Aceh, an Acehnese nationalist strong-hold, where Javanese farmers were born, raised and run out of. The participants were from Peureulak, East Aceh, considered the "heart of the war" that has a very hard, fishermen’s culture in which people are easily suspicious and hateful of outsiders.
This was the first time perpetrators were brought together to participate equally with victims of the war. One of the Acehnese facilitators told a story about experiencing transforming power on a night he was certain he would be killed. It turned out that two perpetrators of the violence that night were in the workshop! He says it was really powerful to sit in the room and share what was going on for each of them that night. The Javanese were able to see that they were not the only ones who felt like they might die that night. The meditation at the end of the workshop was amazing.
Apr 03 2008: Listening Efectively to Children in Uganda
I have been reading Listening Efectively to Children by Patty Wipfler a publication of the Re-evaluation Counseling Communities.
The thing that struck me was the section on healing Children’s Fears. This is a paragraph from that section: "When a child feels frightened, she has difficulty staying in close contact with her loved ones. She can’t hold your gaze for long, and will either be slow to experiment and to trust people, or will be constantly “on the go,” unable to slow down and enjoy your presence in a relaxed way. Fear also makes children edgy and hard to please: things have to be “just so” or the frightened child flares with impatience or anger. Life does not roll easily from one sunny pastime to the next for the young child who is afraid."
The thing that struck me was the section on healing Children’s Fears. This is a paragraph from that section: "When a child feels frightened, she has difficulty staying in close contact with her loved ones. She can’t hold your gaze for long, and will either be slow to experiment and to trust people, or will be constantly “on the go,” unable to slow down and enjoy your presence in a relaxed way. Fear also makes children edgy and hard to please: things have to be “just so” or the frightened child flares with impatience or anger. Life does not roll easily from one sunny pastime to the next for the young child who is afraid."
Apr 02 2008: UNIFAT School in N Uganda
Yesterday I attended the Primary School Athletics Compition. I do not know if it was nation wide or just the district. The stadium was just a large area closed off by the concrete wall surrounding it. The track was just a circle of worn out dirt and grass. There was nodifinitive line between the watchers who circled the track and the track itself. There were dull black lines about two feet wide to show the starting point for each person. I watched relay racing, and there were four places on each corner of the track where the starting places were staggered, that is why they used the black lines. The crowd was around the track watching. Each school had a tent connected to the outer wall, not a tent, but a large piece of plastic connected to the outer wall and then connected to two large sticks or poles stuck into the ground away from the wall. This provided shade and a designated area for different schools. The crowd was detirmened by these tents. The viewing students from each school sat roughly in front of their school tent expanding or contracting depending on the number of students at that school and the neighboring schools. I watched relay racing and javelin throwing.
Mar 25 2008: Gulu, Uganda
So much has happened. I have come to Uganda. I am living with Abitimo Odongkara and the many relatives and orphans that she supports. The school, Upper Nile Institute for Appropriate Technology (UNIFAT), is not 1,500 orphans as I had thought, but somewhere around 1,300 or 1,400 children, some of whom are orphans or returning child soldiers. The returning child soldiers may or may not also be orphans. Abitimo and I arranged for me to lead an art time during the schools midday break and after school. This has not started yet but hopefully will begin on Tuesday after Easter. The times of the art class will be from 1:30 to 2:15 and 4:00 to 4:45 Monday to Friday.
Living here at the compound with me are 11 primary school age children and one three year old. I have been playing and working with them. This morning I spent and hour and a half shelling peanuts with three of the older ones: two girls, Auma and Abe, and one boy, Auze. There were two kinds of peanuts. The two girls and I were shelling one kind of peanut and the boy another.
Living here at the compound with me are 11 primary school age children and one three year old. I have been playing and working with them. This morning I spent and hour and a half shelling peanuts with three of the older ones: two girls, Auma and Abe, and one boy, Auze. There were two kinds of peanuts. The two girls and I were shelling one kind of peanut and the boy another.
Feb 23 2008: Kigali, Rwanda
Due to limited time, I will upload pictures now and add stories later.
Left: smoke from coal making, Right:the computer room where I am right now.
Left:George Fox School, Right: A meal
Left: houses on a hill driving to Cyangugu Right: John Damascene (I'm not sure on the spelling)
Left: smoke from coal making, Right:the computer room where I am right now.
Left:George Fox School, Right: A meal
Left: houses on a hill driving to Cyangugu Right: John Damascene (I'm not sure on the spelling)
Feb 17 2008: Kigali, Rwanda
I have added pictures to the two older posts in the extended sections.
Here are some new pictures:
I have been spending time in the kitchen. (sorry the two pictures on the right are too small, I will get better at knowing what size to make them.) Tatiana on the left, the one you can't see, is roughly my age. Like me not yet married and without children. She is here at the Church where we are staying to help do the work involved with hosting us. She has been teaching me some Kinyarwanda. today she taught me 4 through 10. 1 through 3 I learned yesterday. Monika on the right, is somewhere in the middle age region. Her one child is 14 years old. I have yet to ask what her place is with the church but I think she has a permanent role.
Yesterday I spent half an hour with Theoneste, the coordinator of Healing and Rebuilding Our Communities workshop in Rwanda.
Here are some new pictures:
I have been spending time in the kitchen. (sorry the two pictures on the right are too small, I will get better at knowing what size to make them.) Tatiana on the left, the one you can't see, is roughly my age. Like me not yet married and without children. She is here at the Church where we are staying to help do the work involved with hosting us. She has been teaching me some Kinyarwanda. today she taught me 4 through 10. 1 through 3 I learned yesterday. Monika on the right, is somewhere in the middle age region. Her one child is 14 years old. I have yet to ask what her place is with the church but I think she has a permanent role.
Yesterday I spent half an hour with Theoneste, the coordinator of Healing and Rebuilding Our Communities workshop in Rwanda.
Feb 15 2008: Kigali Rwanda
I am having a wonderful time. People here do not stare/hassle/try to sell things. It is much different from Indonesia in that regard. I have met wonderful people. This morning we met with at the Friends Peace House here in Kigali, I met Joyce (I don't know her last name) who does AVP here in Rwanda. I have not yet had a chance to talk with her. I also met the people doing the Healing and Rebuilding Our Communities (HROC) workshop. I did not have time to chat with them either, though I'm not sure how their english is, but I did get their phone numbers and told them I would like to come back to Rwanda to do a HROC workshop. At the House we also met Ceaser who is the coordinator. He spoke about their programs. They have programs with trauma and helping ethnically different people live with one another, a program with street children, and some others. After we went there we went to the Friends Church where I am staying and met with the Clerk, (who is Antoine, also the head of the George Fox School) and somebody else important, but I'm not sure what is his official position.
Feb 14 2008: Kigali, Rwanda
Well I have already posted today, but then the electricity went out. Yesterday I arrived. It is hot and breezy here. At night it is cool. at four am this morning there was an earthquake. It woke me up, then I couldn't go back to bed. So I woke up and "talked" if you can call it that to the two security guards and the gardener. The gardener knew some English but not much. Yesterday when I arrived I went to the church where I am staying and took a cold shower. Then me and Antoine, the head of the George Fox School went shopping.
Here are some of the pictures from the road.
Click on Read more to see more pictures.
Here are some of the pictures from the road.
Click on Read more to see more pictures.