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TeamFocus: Uganda Hope 2008
Notes by Alana Rabe
The Beginning
In August 2006 I heard one man’s vision for change through the work of ChildVoice International. The
possibility for effecting change became tangible for me through the conversations with people at ChildVoice.
In the following months, I and others working and attending Brown University began dreaming about how
we could rally college students around a common desire to take part in the process of reconciliation in
northern Uganda. We envisioned a community of restoration and hope that would transform the lives of
college students and the people of northern Uganda. The vision eventually developed into Uganda Hope, a
year-long enrichment program for university students to serve and to learn from the war- torn communities of
northern Uganda with their time and their academic interests.
I helped to recruit students from Rhode Island and California and spent the spring learning about the culture
and history of Uganda, growing as a team and planning community projects to be implemented by students at
ChildVoice’s Lukodi Centre. During our four- week stay in Lukodi, projects ranged from creating an
inventory system for the bakery to building net ball courts for the primary school.
My Experience
During the months before our trip to Uganda, I thought a lot about what I hoped to do to serve the people of
northern Uganda. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I didn’t have any special knowledge offer
as a resource to them. I wasn’t a counselor, a pastor or a teacher. I couldn’t speak their language and I didn’t
know much about their culture. Really, I was quite unprepared and not qualified to make any sort of
quantifiable difference in their lives. I realized there was one thing I could do. I wanted to serve. I imagined
myself doing several things at the ChildVoice Centre in Lukodi; among them was bandaging people’s
injuries at the clinic.
Throughout the summer, I was able to serve by washing dishes, pumping water, preparing for the opening
celebration at the Centre and caring for sick children while their mothers helped to clear land donated to
ChildVoice.
There were moments of my time in Uganda that I realized peace amidst chaos, amidst uncertainty. For me, as
I watched the child mothers, there were moments that helped me to understand what it is to live with calm
when surrounded by conflict. The reality is that there is hardship and need-- but that is not all that northern
Uganda is. There are stories of hope everywhere I went. I had moments of hopelessness and wondering, but
then I also had moments of contentment as I watched lives of these people change before me.
The day before we left Lukodi, I came into contact with a man who had seriously injured his toe while
working in the fields. While gathering needed medical supplies, I offered to help. As I bandaged this man’s
foot, a small crowd of children began gathering. All around, small feet were thrust into the circle. The
children were showing us their scrapes and scratches. I spent the next half hour bandaging feet.
What does this say to the people of northern Uganda? This young white woman coming halfway across the
world to do… what? To bandage feet at the ChildVoice Centre in Lukodi.
I didn’t know what I could offer to the people of northern Uganda, but I did know I could serve. |
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