Returnees, children born in captivity fighting stigma

Government has enhanced troop levels and combat capabilities in Karamoja to combat cattle theft.  Disarmament operations, code named “Operation Usalama Kwa Wote”  remain on course. A total of 125 guns with 1,323 rounds of ammunition have been recovered since January. Similarly, an estimated 4,771 stolen livestock were recovered and handed over to the rightful owners.

At 22, Ms Peace Yonah Lanyero, now aged 25, knew she was already on a tough journey when she conceived and had her first child with a man who had abandoned her before weaning the baby.
Every daybreak, she reminded herself of the daunting task of providing food and care for her child before setting off to the streets to help her mother at a tailoring workshop at Kinene Village, Unyama Sub-county in Gulu District.

Ms Lanyero, who is almost weaning her second born, grew up in the raunchy slums of Queens Parish in Gulu City before her mother Ms Margaret Piloya secured their new home.
 Aware that she needed to brace for tougher times and beat more odds to raise her two children as a young single mother of two, Ms Lanyero kept figuring out what to do until early 2022 when she enrolled for a vocational skill course in fashion designing with Terra-Renaissance, a local NGO in Gulu City.
“I was pregnant when I joined and initially, I got discouraged because concentrating in class to learn with my condition was tough but the instructors at school kept encouraging me. I completed the course recently, “she said.

Ms Lanyero told  Daily Monitor that she was motivated to go for fashion designing training because she knew there was a life (money) in hand skills.
In 2005, Ms Lanyero’s mother returned from captivity (by the Lord’s Resistance Army) with her and her younger sibling but was instantly rebuked by her father for bringing into the family ‘rebels’ (her children), whose tribe or clan origin could not be traced.

In an earlier interview, Ms Piloya said, “Besides the children, my dad said I returned when ugly beyond what he knew and threatened to kill me since the land that he had remained with was not even enough for himself.”
She added:“I was forced to return to the streets to seek survival for my three daughters by vending food. But in 2008, working at a local restaurant in town spared me for some months since I booked crumbs and leftovers from the restaurant to feed my children.”

But in January 2009, she felt feeding her children on leftovers was unsustainable. This made her quit the restaurant job to enroll in business enterprise training with Terra-Renaissance, until November 2009 when she graduated.

“From Terra, I was given a new sewing machine to start something on my own and now I have five sewing machines and run my workshop where I now train other vulnerable girls. Providing for my family is easy and I just finished building my home last year,” Ms Piloya said.
Besides being disowned by her family for bringing into the family children whose origins are unknown, she says there is a lot of stigma in society against them.

“I and my children today face an identity crisis in the community and it traumatised me more but we never gave up,” she said, adding that  she also gained from the Terra-Rennaissance training.
Ms Lanyero says over the years, she has progressively moved over her past to focus on building a new life based on hope and hard work.
“After putting myself together after serious counselling, I discovered that I have value in life and today I work and advocate for children born of war.”

She added: “I have gone through a lot of counselling, I tried to commit suicide several times because I considered myself useless because sometimes the way the society would treat me made me feel I was nobody and made life much unbearable.”
Ms Pamela Abalo, 20, a resident of St. Mauritz in Gulu City is also an LRA war victim born from captivity.  She says her dream is to seek self-reliance and be able to change the lives of the people in the society around her.

“Whereas some people will accept you while others reject you, I have learnt to deal with what works, and since I accepted my past on who I am, my life has a sudden swift change, I have realised who I am and I’m a voice for the voiceless,” she said.

  Ms Abalo added: “I understand my family background so well and it is me to change my family status and that of my siblings if I work hard, and that is what motivated me, I always want to focus and be positive in life and help others because my background should never bar me from achieving what I dream in life.”

To Mr John Okidi, a resident of Paimol Trading Centre, Paimol Sub County, Agago district, the adversity he underwent since returning home from captivity in 2006 opened his eyes to success amid challenges.
“Despite my complex personal history, the community was filled with dysfunctional families but I consoled myself to possess a disciplined focus on my goals to be self-reliant.”

 However, just like Ms Lanyero and Ms Abalo, Mr Okidi who says his wife divorced him due to his inability to fend for the family, is among the hundreds of former captives and children born from captivity who have successfully trained in vocational skills.

Mr Okidi said he was abducted and conscripted into the LRA as a child soldier and lived in captivity for six years, “I was abducted aged 9 from Paimol Primary School in 2000 and I returned in 2006. Life has not been easy since our return. When I returned, I went through hardships. Once the items I returned with got finished, the family disowned me.”

Shimmering hope
Last week, up to 212 people who were born in captivity and LRA child mothers graduated in vocational and technical skills upon finishing a two-year training at the Terra Renaissance premises in Gulu City.
The training kicked off in early 2021 but was severely interfered with by the Covid-19 lockdown.

Mr Raymond Otim, another returnee from Lamwo District who graduated in carpentry hopes to start a workshop and train other youth in his area with the same skills.
“The training is significant because it enables some of us from very poor backgrounds to get self-reliant and survive on our own, using the tools I receive, I will be able to train other colleagues,” Mr Otim said.
Ms Jacky Auma, a single mother of two and also a former captive and street child describes her training as a game-changer considering her background, “I am overwhelmed with gratitude, surviving on the streets from hand to mouth was a terrible thing before I enrolled for this training nearly two years ago.”

  Mr Jimmy Otema, the organisation’s team leader for the northern region, said while they have made strides in rebuilding the lives of children born in captivity and former captives, thousands of victims remain in solitude and have not been reintegrated into their communities.
“In terms of figures, it is estimated that between 4,000 and 6,000 children have never been reintegrated and are living in isolation. It is unsustainable and difficult to get the population out of poverty due to the life of deprivation and suffering,” Mr Otema said recently.
Mr Okidi lauds the organisation, saying after he enrolled in carpentry training,  he has been able to fend for himself.

 “The organisation promised us startup capital and tools but I saved Shs300,000 and bought materials to make some furniture at school during the course, it collectively earned me at least Shs1 million and I have purchased more tools to start my workshop in the village and trained other youth,” he said.
Mr Shingo Ogawa, Terra Renaissance’s head of operations, said the organisation picked interest in supporting children in captivity considering the deplorable lives they continue to live in communities across the sub-region.

“The numbers of such children born in captivity who are now adults, are many in the communities across the Acholi Sub-region and continue to suffer daily because their parents are either dead or unable to provide for them and many are turning into criminals,” Mr Ogawa said.

Of the 212 male and female learners who graduated, 75 percent are returnees while a few include former street children and child mothers whom we consider to be vulnerable members of this society.
To select the beneficiaries, Mr Ogawa said they relied on data from the Amnesty Commission, World Vision, and child protection units of districts to generate a list of such beneficiaries.

“We get records of mothers who returned from captivity with children, using those records, we then trace and identify them. Once admitted for studies, we provide them coupons that can enable them to access food, medical care and pay rent for the entire period they are training.”
Last year, the organisation conducted a random assessment on 79 of its beneficiaries (female former abductees) who underwent vocational skills training between 2018 and 2019, which indicated that their income levels significantly improved and were able to sustain their families.

“At the time of their intake upon returning from captivity in 2006, they could earn Shs4,397 in a month but in 2019 when they completed the training they earned Shs145,753, and to date, they can get Shs255,135 per month from the work they do,” the assessment report read in part.
The report also indicated that the beneficiaries earned more income month lythan the other residents since they were involved in gainful businesses.