Sister Rosemary is high on the list of women I look up and aspire to be. A humbling, generous, compassionate woman, she is truly an idol. I would feel fulfilled in my life if I ever amounted to be even half of the woman she is.
The Conflict
For 25
years Joseph Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) terrorized Northern
Uganda and five countries in east and central Africa. for three decades . They
kidnapped children and forced them to commit atrocities against their own
families and communities. Girls as young as thirteen were degraded to sex
slaves for Kony's officers. The LRA has killed more than 100,000 people and
kidnapped at least 60,000 children.
The
LRA attacked whole villages at a time, killing the weak and the old with
machetes, swords or stones, and capturing those who can be useful to them,
including children strong enough to carry weapons. The captives are marched to
camps where they are violently persuaded to join their cause and turned into
soldiers (most often child soldiers), porters, cooks and sex slaves. Captives
are then forced to kill or rape their own family members to make it impossible
for them to think are returning to their homes. Those who do resist or try to
escape are tortured and killed. The LRA are notorious for cutting off limbs as
a form of punishment, and cut off body parts like people’s ears, lips and noses
to serve as a warning to others.
Children
have been the most affected by the conflict. Hundreds of thousands have been
displaced from their homes and are forced to live in camps with poor sanitation
and health facilities. Even those not directly in contact with the LRA suffer
the consequences of poor education due to schools being destroyed by rebels and
not being able to afford fees.
The child soldiers return to the very
communities they committed violent crimes against and suffer psychological
trauma and face huge problems reintegrating back into their communities. Girls
who were raped now bear the children of the soldiers. They lack the skills
needed to be able to provide for themselves and their children and have no
family to return to. Because they no longer have the support and help of their
families and communities, they have little chance of finding a decent
livelihood and are at grave risk of resorting to prostitution to provide for themselves
and their children.
Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe
Named
on of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in 2014, Sister Rosemary
Nyirumbe is a Catholic nun who has dedicated her life to helping women and
girls whose lives have been shattered by violence, rape and sexual exploitation
by the hands of Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army by teaching them valuable
skills, teaching them compassion and forgiveness for themselves and others, and
helping them overcome their emotional pain.
She
presides over Saint Monica's Vocational School in Gulu, Uganda, an all girls
vocational skills training school which aims to rebuild girls’ lives –
socially, academically and economically- and become change agents for peace and
prosperity. Saint Monica's offers comprehensive, nationally accredited courses
in the likes of tailoring, catering, secretarial studies and computer
applications. The program strengthens literacy and helps to empower young
mothers in the quest to gain self reliance through waged jobs. The school also
offers a day care center for children of the young mothers. This allows for
increased enrollment, retention and participation of the mothers in the skills
training courses.
"Through
vocational training, these young women gain independence. Through community
with their fellow students, they find forgiveness. Through the restoration of
their lost futures, they find hope." - Sewing Hope
Please consider purchasing Sewing Hope, the book. 100% of the net proceeds go to Pros For Africa to help support Sister Rosemary and her efforts.
Sewing Hope documentary trailer
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