Looking back: Insights into Northern Uganda with OA #2

By Erin Hunt

So last week I mentioned a  bit about the physical rebuilding that is going on in northern Uganda and some of the changes I saw between when I first arrived in Gulu back in 2006 and coming back this spring with OA.  There is another type of rebuilding that is going on in the Acholiland (the main tribe in Northern Uganda is the Acholi) but it is much harder to see than new buildings.  People are rebuilding themselves after traumatic events from the war.

Due to the nature of the conflict it took quite a toll on the mental health of some people.  I won’t get into the kind of atrocities that occurred here but you can check out the SWAY reports to learn more about the experiences of youth during the conflict, needless to say some people in Gulu are dealing with issues of trauma.

Our local partners, the Youth Coalition for Peace (YCFP) are all trained in peer to peer counselling to help provide support to others in their communities.  I’ve seen them in action and they can be very effective either as counsellors or as a referral to other mental health resources in the community.  This is one of the reasons I was really happy to be working with the YCFP again.  We didn’t know the background of the children who were coming to the camps so it was great to have mentors who also had experience counselling.   The links made at the soccer camps have given the children another adult who they can turn to if they need it.