Economic Growth Uganda Project #48609

Reintegration for former child soldiers in Uganda

by Terra Renaissance

Reintegration for former child soldiers in Uganda

Project Report | Dec 7, 2021
Working with the UNDP to improve the resilience of the most vulnerable people in DRC.

By Shingo Ogawa | Project Leader

The people of Democratic Republic of the Congo face countless risks and hardships: conflict, natural disasters, poverty, COVID-19, malaria, Ebola, and so on. In Congo, the impact of COVID-19, which is considered to be a global crisis, seems to be a small problem. This is because there are many other hardships that cause many lives to be killed every day. The death count from malaria alone is nearly 90 times higher than the death count from COVID-19 infections.

In particular, the people living in the conflict-affected South Kivu and Central Kasai provinces face poor conditions. In September this year, Terra Renaissance launched a project in partnership with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to improve the resilience of vulnerable populations in both regions.

We are working to improve community infrastructures such as clinics, schools, and bridges that have been destroyed, not only by the conflict but also by the floods. We are also providing technical training and livelihood support to help vulnerable people improve and maintain their livelihoods even in the face of risks and difficulties.

The attached photo shows the construction of a seawall and a bridge in a conflict- and flood-affected area in South Kivu Province. We are providing job opportunities to over 400 local people and hope that they will be able to rebuild their communities despite their vulnerable situation.

In this region, many people have not only suffered a direct loss of their families and homes due to conflicts and floods but also have not been able to escape from poverty. As a result, many children are still in a situation where they cannot receive adequate nutrition and many are still dying from preventable and treatable diseases and infections.

As we have been working on this project so far, we feel that the local people are eager to make their community as good as possible. In order to respond to this passion, Terra Renaissance would like to continue its work in the Republic of Congo.

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Sep 30, 2021
Moving forward to be self-reliant despite the many challenges

By Shingo Ogawa | Project Leader

Susan (alias), with her children

Today we would like to share with you the story of a former girl soldier, Susan (alias), who learned tailoring and dress designing skills at Terra Renaissance.

She was abducted as a teenager and held by the armed forces for 10 years. During that time, she was forced to cook food for the soldiers, suffered violence from the soldiers, or faced the danger of being shot, and escaped from the army with her children amid fierce fighting.

After coming back from the armed forces, she described her situation at the time as follows.

"When I started my vocational training at Terra Renaissance, I was full of anxiety. I was already 30 years old and my husband had been killed in the war. Many people also said there was no way I could study when I had to raise five children on my own."

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The following message was what she told about her situation in the midst of the training period. You may know her mind had been changing little by little.

"After being held by the armed forces for 10 years I didn't even know how to hold a pen, so I am very happy that I can study here.

My goal now is working as a dressmaker with a good reputation in the town, and I want to give my five children an education so that they can have a bright future."

How encouraging it is to see her trying to move forward despite the many challenges she faces. Not only her, but all the beneficiaries are working hard to change their lives, even though they have various difficulties.

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Finally, at the end of August, our current beneficiaries including Susan graduated from our vocational training. From now on, they start running their own business with the skills they learned.

We would really appreciate it if you support us for graduate trainees in following up their business, and also for accepting more former child soldiers who really need our support.

Best regards,

Terra Renaissance

Her concentration was to get skills

Our vocational centre for tailoring class

Current beneficiaries will start business!

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Sep 27, 2021
Overcoming the Covid-19 crisis with the skills she learned

By Shingo Ogawa | Project Leader

Making masks to overcome the Covid-19 crisis

Yulin (alias) was abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army (armed group: LRA) at the age of 13. She was forced to fight as a girl soldier for 6 years.

When she returned to her village, her parents were already dead. She had no relatives. Even worse, she could not be accepted by the people in the village and became the target of discrimination and prejudice.

Four years after her return, she began attending our vocational training, acquired skills in dressmaking and small business, and was able to graduate. Her first salary after becoming self-reliant was about $100.

She continued to work hard at her sewing business, using the skills she had acquired to make bags and work in a workshop. However, in April 2020, it became impossible to do any jobs she had been able to do at all, because the city was shut down to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

She thought, "Even if I can't do dressmaking, I might be able to earn money with a small business!" So she started a grocery retail business, but that did not work out either, and her income dropped to zero.

Since the beginning of May 2020, we, Terra Renaissance, had been asking the graduates of our vocational training to help make masks. Yulin was one of the people we called for.

We urged them to make more and more masks, because we received many requests from the Ugandan government to distribute masks, but her hard work really surprised us. She produced the most masks out of all the graduates who made masks for us.

She struggled to get out of the painful experience of a child soldier, achieved her self-reliance, overcame the desperation of this COVID-19 catastrophe flexibly, and made her dream come true. Her life tells us how strong the fundamental power inside human beings is.

As Yulin is doing well, many former child soldiers are struggling to be self-reliant. In ordet to continue supporting them, kindly we request you to support us, especially at this time.

Thank you for your continued support.

Best regards,

Shingo Ogawa

With our director (Mr) Shingo Ogawa

Masks made by them are helping Ugandan people

Links:

Our project introduction featured in NHK WORLD, Japanese Media

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