July 17, 2008

Dear Friends,

Debbie leading discussion group at session for parents and teachers.

Several weeks ago I was asked by Wycliffe/SIL to help lead a trauma healing workshop in Gulu, Northern Uganda, for 56 children who had been affected by the very brutal war waged by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a group known for its human rights violations targeting children. We were testing a children’s edition of “Healing the Wounds of Trauma,” a book used extensively by RECONCILE.  I had the privilege of working closely with eight lovely 13- and 14-year-old girls, most of whom attended the local Anglican, Catholic, and Orthodox churches. After a couple of days I got to know and love them all, but from the very first day one girl, whom I’ll call Rose, stood out. She seemed more confident than the other girls. She was usually the first one to answer discussion questions. She was very intelligent and talked freely about the importance of prayer in her life. She was also very winsome and expressive, with a quick smile compared to the other girls, most of whom showed some degree of emotional “flatness,”  a typical sign of traumatization. Within a couple of days I found out that Rose was the only one in my group who had not lost her mother or father in the war, in addition to siblings. “Aha,” I thought to myself, “this explains why she radiates such confidence and seems so full of joy. She has been spared much of the pain that the other girls have experienced.” Little did I know ….

Debbie and Jackie's group of girls at Gulu Children's Trauma Healing Workshop.

The last day of our workshop, when I was leading a session with parents and teachers of the children, one of the mothers told me that her daughter had been abducted during the war. She seemed to be a very confident, caring, intelligent woman who was evidently very aggressive in getting her child the help she needed. She said her daughter received counseling and although she still had problems, she was much better. As staff, we were surprised to learn this because our intention was to work with children from Gulu who had not been abducted. We didn’t feel we could handle a group of child soldiers and wanted to pilot the material with children who had experienced the “normal” trauma of war. So we were surprised to find out we had an abducted child in our midst!

When I had the chance, I approached the mother and asked the name of her child, thinking she must be in one of the other seven groups, as none of the girls I was working with seemed to have experienced anything so serious. How surprised I was when she said it was Rose – the shining star of my group! There was no time for extended conversation, but my mind was racing. What horrors had sweet little Rose faced at the hands of the Lord’s Resistance Army? Had she been forced to be a sex slave, as many were? How long was her captivity? How was she released? I will never know the answer to those questions.

This experience really brought home the fact that, in terms of recovery, it is not so much the degree of trauma that a child has experienced that matters, it is the kind of supportive care they receive after the incident. It was evident that Rose’s mom was a loving, caring woman who made sure her daughter received intensive counseling. It was also clear that Rose was raised in a Christian home and taught to rely on God in her pain, and certainly she must have also had a high degree of inner resilience. I am sure that Rose’s wounds are still healing. She may still be having nightmares and other difficulties that weren’t evident. But it was comforting to see that with the right kind of care, and faith in God, there really is hope for children who have experienced so much undeserved pain. I am grateful to have been part of creating resources that will be used by RECONCILE to help children and their parents to heal, and for the immediate assistance that we were able to give to the children of Gulu.

I also want to thank you for praying for the peacebuilding work that RECONCILE has been doing between the Murle and Dinka Bor peoples, who have experienced serious interethnic conflicts. The workshop in Pibor was very successful, and it paved the way for the exchange visits between Murle and Dinka Bor church leaders taking place now. Please keep these church leaders in your prayers.

 If you would like to receive the report of the Pibor workshop and/or be added to the list to receive prayer requests and ministry updates by email please drop us a line at debbie@reconcile-int.org.

In Christ,

Debbie and Del

The 2008 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 10