Update from BHW Uganda Partnership Facilitator

Recent Events

Education

The last year has not been at all good for HRC. All educational institutions in Uganda have largely been closed for the last year and it is only now that schools are starting to partially return. From 15th October 2020 schools were able to take back in the students who were sitting exams. This was P4, P7 and S6. The exams have however been delayed and the school terms have been changed. I have recently understood that the schools have now, from the second term of this year, fully reopened.

One of the real difficulties is that for those students who had previously paid for educational tuition (e.g. for a term or semester ahead) but had not received the education, those fees have been lost for those terms where education was not provided. No refunds are being given and there appears to be no redress whatsoever in the country for this. 

Tragedy

One of the big tragedies which struck HRC in 2020 was the death of Amos Agong in mid-February as Uganda was going into lockdown. This was a huge loss to HRC because he was one of the older of the children who were kidnapped by the Lord's Resistance Army. His story is very tragic, having lost his parents in the violence and also having been recruited to be a child soldier. Latterly he has become an inspiration to the other young people in HRC, having diligently trained first as a nurse, then a medical officer, and had become a lecturer at Lira University. He was about to start training as a doctor in 2020, sponsored by the university. The fact that he was able to redeem his life, with the support of Anna and Penninah, is an amazing testimony to their perseverance and resilience, and God’s grace. There is no other explanation for it.

We grieve with HRC, particularly as when Amos was killed in a motorcycle and truck accident it was not possible for him to have a full funeral. I understand that only a few of the children at HRC were able to attend the funeral because of the COVID-19 restrictions. 

Celebration

On a brighter note, one of the other young people, Isaac Ojok, who is now a qualified but unpaid lawyer, has become married. He is the first of the children who was rescued from the Lord’s Resistance Army to do so. This is delightful.

COVID-19

Bright Hope World has, from its COVID-19 fund, provided some additional financial assistance to HRC during the past year but every communication makes it hugely clear that it is excruciatingly difficult over there. It is highly likely that our support has not been enough.

I understand from Anna that during the lockdown people were effectively not allowed outside their homes except to organise for someone to obtain food. This means that all of the children were unable to attend school and had to stay in the compound every day. She had to send a boda boda (motorcycle taxi) rider to the market to get their food as they were not allowed out of the compound. From several other sources I understand that if people left their homes and did not respond with good reason, they were severely beaten by the police or soldiers and forcibly returned to their homes. We can only imagine how great the suffering was over this period of time. This may not have been the case for the whole of Lira as parts of the town are semi rural which has fared better during the pandemic. 

Plans for the Future

At the time of preparing this report I am still waiting on an updated list from Anna of the students and the study courses that they will be undertaking in 2021. I am also endeavouring to find out from her how much of the fees paid last year but not allocated are still available and possibly  retrievable.

We are presently looking at how to enable HRC to become self-sustaining. There is a nearly functioning mill which just requires a suitable three phase power connection. There is a budget for the mill which, if it starts, would enable HRC to become more self-sustaining and then Bright Hope  World could successively over time withdraw its support to HRC and it would become freestanding going forward. This is something that I strongly wish to see happen and think it is an important next step for our partners. It has been a very long journey and is now simply awaiting a final cash injection. There is approximately US$15–$16,000 required to enable this to happen.

Unfortunately, because the process has been mired in corruption and delays it has been very difficult to get a definite commitment from the power company to even prioritise the connection of the power that is required. Hopefully this issue will be able to be resolved this year. 

Current Issues and Challenges

It is quite difficult to determine what the effect of the pandemic has been on Uganda. My understanding is that there have not been that large a number of identified cases and only a relatively few deaths. At the same time testing and the medical system are not adequate for such an event.

Another complication for the whole of Uganda is that there has been a highly contested presidential election in January 2021. It is highly likely that the incumbent president was actually voted out but he has however retained his presidency and his opponent is sporadically facing jail time.

Comments

I will update this report when I have a list of the students and their study intentions for 2021, and the likely starting times of the courses. I understand that with the re-arranging of the school terms some of the classes have now started again, not just the exam classes. This means that some semblance of normality may have returned to the country.

There is not much more I can report at present. I cannot provide a lot of encouraging news but I am encouraged that Anna, Penninah and Simon are continuing in their ministry here and love the children. We are grateful for their perseverance and commitment.