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Mercy Akongo

Founder, This Life Foundation

Newsletter

 

26th October 2015

 

I had the opportunity to work in Camps with Internally Displaced Persons in the War-torn Northern Uganda from 2007 - 2009, the experience which has left a mark in my life forever. While working in Northern Uganda, children and older people captured my heart because of their high level of vulnerability and suffering.  Between 2007 and 2009, I identified eighteen (18) critically vulnerable orphaned children from Child-headed families and I have been supporting them to attend schools and with other basic needs at home since 2007.

 

After completing my studies at UNSW, I started up This Life Foundation to continue supporting and empowering vulnerable children in the War-torn North and North-eastern Uganda especially supporting them to cope with life as the people of Northern Uganda are now resettling back into their homes and rebuilding their lives after the war. Whereas resettlement is a good thing for those who have land and can now utilise them to survive as they rebuild their lives, most families are not coping well with it. They have lost everything during the war and particularly children born in Camps do not even understand what it means since this has been their homes. They have now been disconnected from their friends, neighbours and the community they have known and belonged to for over two decade. The resettlement process has not only been harsh to child-headed families  but also to the elderly who cannot afford to move or have lost their land due to the rampant land grab in the region.

 

 

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