YOLRED Hosts Annual Cultural Celebration to Promote Healing
By Geoffrey Omony, Goldin Global Fellow, Uganda
In Acholi, song and dance are fundamental parts of cultural heritage. They are used to retell important historical events as well as critique and pass on cultural knowledge from one generation to the next. With over 10 types of dances, the Acholi had a particular dance for almost every ceremony. They performed Bwola dance for the royals, Larakaraka and Ajere for courtship, Otole as war dance, and Myel Lyel for funerals. Other Acholi dances include Ayije, Dingidingi, Nanga, Acut, Okojo, Lacukucuku and Myel Jok. Apart from the dances, the Acholi also had a rich tradition of reconciliation (mato oput) which was widely used to settle misunderstandings and bring justice to the people.
However, this rich bank of cultural norms came to the verge of extinction due to the nearly two decades of insurgency in northern Uganda which disconnected families and limited space for cultural practices. The new generation of Acholi can barely sing, dance or perform any of the cultural norms, either because they don’t know how to do it or they have been caused to believe that those practices are evil and dirty.
But not all hope is lost as yet. Youth Leaders for Restoration and Development (YOLRED) is standing with the people to save their culture from extinction. Annually, YOLRED organises Community Festivals in which various groups of music, dance and drama artists gather to showcase their talents and compete for a prize. While these festivals are targeted at serving former victims of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) as a form of therapy, they also help as platforms for exhibition of cultural dances, practices and promotion.
On December 18, YOLRED held the third and 2019 Community Festival at the Palm Gardens and Restaurant in Gulu, northern Uganda. At least four groups participated in the event, where they exhibited Bwola, Myel Lyel, Dingi-dingi and Aguma (Ayije) dances, instrumentals and drama with messages advocating for peace, reconciliation and ending of domestic, gender-based violence.
As early as 8 O'Clock in the morning, sections of the participants had already started trickling in to the venue with their instruments. Travelling aboard trucks, the artists carried with them large saucepans, drums, calabashes, bow harps, thumb pianos, animal skins, beads, bird feathers, among other instruments and costumes for their performances.
Soon, Local Council members, religious leaders, journalists, adjudicators, the Acholi cultural institution representative and spectators joined. The event started with welcome speeches from the chairperson, Local Council One and YOLRED leaders before the performances.
And when the artists finally stormed the stage, cheers, ululations and immeasurable excitement characterised the crowd. From the drama, to the instrumentals and the dances, all the teams showed high level of competition. For some reason, the crowd seemed not to get enough of the performances. They went into wild ululations, asking for more at the end of every performance. When the teams finally concluded, speaker after speaker showered them with praises.
“I am so glad that you are giving our people the chance to see and feel what the true Acholi culture is like. From what I saw today, I am encouraged today that the Acholi culture is not yet extinct. When I die, I want the kind of dance I saw here to be performed at my funeral, not the music systems that have dominated our ceremonies today,” Mrs. Rosalva Oywa, a social activist said.
Mrs. Poline Lukwai, the deputy Mayor of Gulu Municipality, said she was extremely excited by the unity, organisation and problem solving messages in the plays.
“I am so proud of you, YOLRED for picking up our culture and bringing it forward. This is a great challenge to our cultural institution and I want to ask the representative of the Ker Kwaro Acholi to go back and tell the Paramount Chief and his cabinet that this event that YOLRED has started needs to be supported in order to bring more people on board from all corners of Acholi,” Mrs. Lukwai said.
She urged the artists and everyone else in attendance to take serious the messages passed in the songs, dances and drama, and use them to ensure that peace reigns in society starting with their individual households.
Sheik Musa Khelil, the YOLRED's Patron, said culture is very important because it sets uniqueness and create identity of a people.
“A person without culture is like a bird which wings have been plucked. I am therefore, so happy that this event is fronting the Acholi culture. If only donors knew, and if only they could come and witness this event, they would know that YOLRED is the right organisation to be supported,” Sheik Kelil said.
The adjudicators, represented by Ms. Grace Aber, said the event revealed how rich the Acholi culture was, and also reminded people of the need to guard against and preserve the culture.
Mr. Emmanuel Ochora Lagedo, the deputy Prime Minister at the Ker Kwaro Acholi who represented the cultural institution, said while YOLRED said the Community Festival was meant for restoration of the Acholi culture, he viewed it as cultural development and not just restoration. “This programme is developing our culture, not just restoring it,” Lagedo said.
He said everyone in attendance had learned a lot from what they saw and he hoped that they would return home and reflect on whatever they were not doing right as far as the Acholi culture was concerned.
Mr. Geoffrey Omony, the YOLRED Programme Director, said as an organization, they were moved to start the programme by the need they saw, resulting from the nearly two decades of insurgency in northern Uganda that devastated both the people and their culture.
Mr. Omony said through the festivals, they identify groups that they subsequently support to economically empower the members, irrespective of their academic and social backgrounds.
He said while YOLRED is interested in bringing more groups to the festival, it is incapacitated financially. But they were hopeful that more groups would be brought on board someday.
The 2019 festival was held under the theme: Performing Art Therapy for Community Transformation.
This article was written by YOLRED's Douglas Olum who was formerly abducted and forcibly conscripted into the Lord’s Resistance Army.
YOLRED shares its deep appreciation to Arigatou International and the Goldin Institute's global network of supporters, especially Board member Thomas Hinshaw, for providing the support to make this annual celebration possible.
It is Never Too Late to Learn
YOLRED Host Celebration for 12 Never Late Graduates
Like the famous Chinese Proverb states: “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” On July 20, 2019, at least 21 women and men who were formerly abducted and forcibly conscripted into the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel activities, started a journey to literacy when they enrolled for the “Never Late," adult literacy programme.
Under this five months, speedy learning programme, the learners, with the support of two volunteer primary school teachers, convened at Kirombe Primary School in Gulu Municipality, every Tuesday and Saturday to learn basic arithmetics, reading, writing and speaking skills.
While they yearned for arithmetical knowledge and admired people who spoke English Language near them, so little did they know that this journey would lead them to an equal height with their English speaking neighbours.
But five months down the road, they were in awe as they competently spoke and read in English.
It was all joy and excitement on December 18, 2019, when at least 11 women and a man, publicly unveiled their new learned skills at their graduation ceremony which also doubled as the YOLRED’s 2019 Community Festival day.
Donned in a T-shirt with the “Never Late Project” inscribed at the back, Oliver Grace Lanyero, in company of her colleagues, presented a poem in English titled, “War.”
War war war
I am the enemy of peace, security, education
War, where do you come from?
I come from nowhere
I am always there
When you are always there
You bring us suffering, poverty, famine, destruction, sickness and disease
Above all; violence to our rights
War war war
You made us to become uneducated
You destroy our lives and future
You make us hopeless, you make us homeless
You make us slaves of others
You make us medicine of sexual abuse
You make us child mothers
War war war
You go away
We don’t need you anymore
Enough is enough.
As they walked to the back stage, tears of joy rolled down some of their cheeks while they hugged each other in disbelief that they made it thus far.
“I now feel like a new person. This programme is very good because it has helped us to learn how to read and write. Such knowledge was something many of us did not have yet they are very important,” Lanyero said in an interview."
Mr. Francis Opobo, one of the volunteer teachers, said while many of the learners had no prior formal education background, he was so impressed by their level of commitment exhibited and ability to learn.
“Even while they had family commitments and many other individual challenges, they persistently attended the classes. It is true that some of them had to drop out due to reasons beyond their control. But I want to encourage that the training and learning should not stop here. There is so much that these people can still learn which will help them, their children and even the community they live in,” Mr. Opobo said.
Geoffrey Omony, the YOLRED Programme Director, said they came up with the “Never Late” project following requests from the former abductees to be equipped with such knowledge.
"Many times these people would go for public gatherings and when the registration form is brought, they had to look around for someone to help them write their names. This is a very sad and shaming experience for an adult person,” Omony said in an interview."
He said while the world could have thought that there was nothing good the former abductees could do, the December 18th graduation proved that these people were still capable of doing so much good to the world if given the chance and the right guidance.
The “Never Late” programme is a five months, rapid adult literacy project implemented by Youth Leaders for Restoration and Development (YOLRED) with support from Carlotta Ludovica Passerini, Arigatou International and the Goldin Institute.
This article was written by YOLRED's Douglas Olum who was formerly abducted and forcibly conscripted into the Lord’s Resistance Army.
Solving Tough Issues through Community Parliaments in Uganda
Warm greetings from Uganda!
On Saturday, April 20, Youth Leadership for Restoration and Development (YOLRED) organized a community dialogue, called a ‘Kabake,’ where the community was granted a platform to share their experiences and derive solutions. The dialogue was attended by, among others, local council leaders, the police, child rights activists, business men and women, and the general community.
In the Layibi Division of the Gulu Municipality, there had been an epidemic of rape, robbery and violent attacks, especially on women in Library Parish. The community was engulfed in fear and hopelessness. Women could not walk out of their houses past sun-set if they were to avoid rape and attacks. Those in business had their property and money robbed, even in broad daylight, by a known gang who threatened them with violence or murder. And yet both the police and local leaders could not help the situation.
Mrs. Beatrice Ayat, a member of the local council and secretary for community service and production who represented the division chairperson, said the situation in the area had gotten out of hand because the perpetrators of violent crimes who started as children and would only steal from people had grown up and gained confidence to attack directly.
Ayat said they openly robbed people and raped women, threatening to beat the victims or torch their houses if the crimes were reported.
[quote]“I am so thankful to YOLRED for organizing this dialogue. When we have a problem in our community and we meet and discuss, we can always find a solution,” Ayat said.[/quote]
The officer in charge of Layibi Division police station, Assistant Inspector of Police Wilbert Adekere, said as police, they have been aware of the insecurity in the area but could not take any action because no member of the community was opening up to tell them who the perpetrators were.
Assistant Inspector Adekere consequently invited members of the affected community to secretly walk into his office and tip him on any security problem.
The Honourable Rose Aparo, a member of the local council, said she was going to forward the people’s plight to the council for discussion. She expressed confidence that the council would arrive to a logical conclusion that would save the community.
Mr. Odong Walter (We-yoo), the Community Sensitization Officer, said he was going to meet with the area Local Councilor One and his executives to forge a lasting solution to the problem. Collins Chwa Kisembo, the Counsellor and Monitoring and Evaluation Officer at YOLRED, appreciated the community for attending the meeting in large numbers. T
The former child soldiers also had the opportunity to share their experiences and receive healing in what we called testimonial therapy, which aims to heal the traumas and symptoms of depression, low mood and PTSD within the vulnerable populations.
In addition to sharing news from our recent Community Parliament, we are pleased to provide an exciting update on the project for which we raised funds through Indiegogo: the construction of a community resource center to offer counselling, training and recreational services to the victims. Some days it feels impossible to get this up and running, but we remembered one thing that was also core during our GATHER class that "adaptive challenges require changes in values, beliefs and approaches to work."
To that end, we have set off with a group savings and loan plan with the hope of driving the group towards a self-reliant, participatory development that should be sustainable. "Start with what you have" is the principle we applied for the construction of the community resource center. The Indiegogo funds we raised during GATHER for this project was not enough to acquire the land by itself, but we are building on these donations from around the world with local support.
[quote] We are happy to report that together we were already able to secure a piece of land, where we plan to have a permanent headquarters for YOLRED![/quote]
My sincere thanks for the support the entire team at the Goldin Institute gave us during our GATHER course, especially with the Indiegogo campaign, which made all the above development possible. I will share additional updates as we progress on our services to the community and the development of our headquarters.
Best regards,
Geoffrey
Former Child Soldiers in Uganda take the Lead
by Jimmie Briggs, Goldin Institute Board of Advisors
For nearly three decades starting in the late 1980’s, over 60,000 girls and boys in Northern Uganda were forcibly conscripted into fighting a guerilla war against their government, under the brutal domination of the Lord’s Resistance Army. In war that displaced 1.5 million people mainly of the Acholi ethnic group from communities such as Gulu and Kitgum, as well as the areas surrounding them, children bore an overwhelming weight not only as combatants, but also in carrying a stigma which has typically left them marginalized and overlooked as young adults today.
YOLRED, or the “Youth Leaders for Restoration and Development,” aims to address the challenges endured by former combatants with a key distinction which separates it from other well-meaning NGOs (non-governmental organizations) both local and international: YOLRED was founded by formerly abducted child soldiers to serve other young adults with the same shared experience. It is the only group of its kind to be designed, founded and led by members of the community which it serves.
Its origins come out of mobilization of just under 200 former combatants from across Northern Uganda to capture and document oral testimony about their respective experiences in the civil war. Through a partnership with the Goldin Institute and local supporters, the core team of YOLRED led the effort to collect over 150 peer-to-peer interviews with former abductees about their experiences and insights.
Not unlike child soldiers in other countries who are undergoing the formal DDR (Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration) process without long-term support, many of those individuals who participated in the story collection project recounted being stigmatized, left homeless and struggling in poverty. The Goldin Institute in partnership with Arigatou International and Cartitas Counseling Training Institute worked with regional Ugandan leaders to support these child soldiers to assume agency and leadership over their own destinies.
Equipped with this knowledge and the sense of solidarity developed through the research process, these community researchers produced the “Alone and Frightened” report to restore these voices to the conversation about reintegration and laid the foundation for an organization dedicated to achieving the aspirations of former combatants.
In a ceremony attended by partners from the Goldin Institute and a wide range of local partners, YOLRED was officially launched on August 27, 2016 in Gulu after years of careful planning, listening and outreach. YOLRED’s five co-founders – Geoffrey, Charles, Janet, David and Collins -- seek to support all young people who were impacted by the civil war, including ex-child soldiers, abductees, the displaced, the children of former abductees and child mothers throughout Northern Uganda. Indicators of well-being including health, education, employment and livelihood, as well as peace and security. The team is actively restoring the communities that were torn apart by the conflict and taking steps to prevent the abduction of children into conflict in the future.
In preparing for the launch of YOLRED, the team partnered with the Goldin Institute, Arigatou International and Anorak who worked with YOLRED’s leadership to develop a five-year plan detailing its organizational structure and its primary initiatives including reconciliation, entrepreneurship and agriculture.
"I am happy for Youth Leaders for Restoration and Development, as a platform for former child soldiers. As a leader of the organization, I will [help] ensure that our problems and the solutions are implemented are locally. The output of this organization must be felt and seen in the communities." -- Geoffrey Omony, Co-Founder, YOLRED
Further, the credit union scheme is not only intended to provide low and no interest loans but also financial literacy for those without bank accounts nor a credit history. Grassoots entrepreneurs will be supported in their start-up efforts and encouraged to be peer mentors to others seeking to create businesses or authentic leadership in civil society and government. YOLRED will be critically evaluating all of its programming at key stages of its development.
Presently, the organization is applying for support from the IDEO Youth Empowerment Challenge, as well as Echoing Green for general operations as well as capacity building.
We invite you to learn more about YOLRED and how to get involved at www.yolred.org.
Follow Along as Former Child Soldiers Launch Reintegration Organization
August 27th Update:
I am pleased to announce that YOLRED, the first platform for Child soldier reintegration and rehabilitation in Africa that is owned and run by the former combatants themselves, is officially launched and up and running. Our work with the YOLRED team in Uganda ended with a public gathering to celebrate the official launch of the platform.
The team was able to share their vision with the public and was received with support from the community and different official stakeholders, NGO's and religious institutions. You can download the brochure that was distributed at the launch event here.
It has been an honour to see the fruit of over four years of hard work come to a big milestone, see the members of YOLRED rise and start to carry out a vision they have had on the inside for years. View our most up-to-date slideshow below:
[slide]
[img path="images/AnorakUganda010.jpg"]YOLRED Leaders Participate in Workshop on Strategic Planning[/img]
[img path="images/AnorakUganda011.jpg"]YOLRED Leaders Meet with Community Partners Throughout Gulu[/img]
[img path="images/AnorakUganda013.jpg"]YOLRED Leaders Participate in Workshop on Strategic Planning[/img]
[img path="images/AnorakUganda014.jpg"]YOLRED Leaders Participate in Workshop on Strategic Planning[/img]
[img path="images/AnorakUganda015.jpg"]YOLRED Leaders Meet with Community Partners Throughout Gulu[/img]
[img path="images/AnorakUganda016.jpg"]Anders from Team Anorak meets with Grassroots Community Leaders in Gulu[/img]
[img path="images/AnorakUganda017.jpg"]YOLRED Leaders Meet with Community Partners Throughout Gulu[/img]
[img path="images/Anorak_August2016/dianeG.jpg"]GI co-founder Diane Goldin meets with community leaders on the project[/img]
[img path="images/Anorak_August2016/w_danes.jpg"]YOLRED Leaders and ANORAK organizers, Morten and Anders enjoy casual moment for photo opportunity[/img]
[img path="images/Anorak_August2016/geoffery_work.jpg"]Team leader Geoffery meets with Grassroots Community Leaders in Gulu[/img]
[img path="images/Anorak_August2016/trav_trav.jpg"]GI Executive Director Travis Rejman with colleague Charles Okelo and family[/img]
[img path="images/Anorak_August2016/women_colors.jpg"]YOLRED participants display the local colors[/img]
[img path="images/Anorak_August2016/dianeG.jpg"]GI co-founder Diane Goldin meets with community leaders on the project[/img]
[img path="images/Anorak_August2016/w_danes.jpg"]YOLRED Leaders and ANORAK organizers, Morten and Anders enjoy casual moment for photo opportunity[/img]
[img path="images/Anorak_August2016/geoffery_work.jpg"]Team leader Geoffery meets with Grassroots Community Leaders in Gulu[/img]
[/slide]
Currently we are supporting the team in enacting their communications and outreach plan for both local and international supporters. In particular, we are providing some consultative support over the next two weeks to help them create their own website as an ongoing place of information and updates from YOLRED. Watch for an announcement in the next newsletter for the new website!
Now lies a lot of hard but exciting work for YOLRED, but with great support from the Goldin Institute, Arigatou International and wise partners on the ground, the team feels equipped and empowered, ready to reach out to their communities. We are very excited to follow the team’s progress in this coming period.
August 20th Update:
The Uganda team is working late hours these days with Team Anorak to be ready for the launch of YOLRED that will take place in only 6 days. The team is mobilising the community though many visits to local leaders and various sites in northern Uganda, they are also putting final touches on their leadership structure and preparing all the details for the launch next Saturday.
August 19th Update:
Along with my colleague Morten, I am pleased to share an update from our first week here in Gulu, Uganda with our partners from the emerging organization, Youth Leaders for Restoration and Development (YOLRED). We are inspired by the wisdom, creativity and passion that the former child soldiers of Uganda bring to the leadership of creating and managing their own organization. For the first time, former child soldiers themselves will determine their own strategies for reintegration and prevention.
To help finalize the organizational design, we have facilitated several workshops, helping the YOLRED team clarify and document the mission, vision and principles of this new organization.
We have also together made great progress in defining the organizational structure and plan to ensure that these young leaders will have the platform and support they need to acheive their ambitious mission.
These discussions with the YOLRED leaders have been informed by a wide range of key stakeholders including leading NGO’s, government offices, religious leaders and family members.
[block title="We can see the work over the past week has been crucial on two parallel levels" bg="#ce7019"]
First, through our conversations with community partners, we are raising awareness and enthusiasm among the stakeholders in the area. At the same time, this highly creative processes with the YOLRED team is designing solutuions to the missing pieces of their strategy and bringing a deep and inspiring cohesion and shared vision with the team.
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We look forward to keeping you updated as we move towards the public launch of YOLRED in the coming weeks.
If you have questions or suggestions, we're happy to hear for you.
Sincerely,
Anders and Morten, Team Anorak
