A well-supported family group or a family traumatised by violence and death? Photo: Mike Watson
Empowering hands, uplifting spirits
Description of an experience with a determined group of Ugandan women
Empowering Hands are an award-winning group of young women, who were formerly abducted by the Lord’s Resistance army. They have since trained as counsellors and go out to rural areas every week to work with individuals and groups, who were initially traumatised by their experiences of the twenty-five-year conflict. Their other activities include economic empowerment and peace-building.
A tiny non-governmental organisation run on a shoestring, they have a simple office in Gulu, a computer and a printer and the counsellors are paid a minimal ‘safari allowance’. I have been out on visits with them five times now using local minibuses (matatus) as they have no vehicles. Groups of five go to four different locations up to three times each week.
What were my first impressions? Does the photograph (above) show a well-supported family group or a family traumatised by violence and death? A woman who feels secure or who can never forgive herself for what she was made to do as a child soldier? A happy, playful child or one craving for attention? You decide, but I will say that, thanks to Empowering Hands, individuals and groups do recover and are re-integrated into their communities. Empowering Hands respects their culture and values and works with healers providing ‘traditional cleansing’. The first stage is often individual or family counselling.
Soon clients are able to work in groups because there are often fifty clients or more. They start to share their experiences and problems with both the counsellor and each other. The formation of peer-support groups is encouraged. They do role-plays and my impression was that much of the material was real to the ‘client’. A counsellor is always on hand to help with individual needs or provide support. There are interactive sessions where the clients define what counselling is and show how a good and bad counsellor may act. Eventually individuals are experienced enough to provide support in their own communities. That is when Empowering Hands’ major contribution comes to an end. They move on to the next community.
The groups span the whole age range from babes in arms to elders and grandparents, the ‘Mzees’ and ‘Mamas’ of the community. There are many young men, learning to dig and grow for the first time. The Internally Displaced People’s camps produced a dependence culture for a whole generation. Counsellors are often asked to help financially or provide answers or solutions. All they can give is empathy, respect, time and confidentiality and try to work in a safe way to earn trust. Some villages are very isolated.
There is laughter and fun, ice-breakers and energisers. There may be singing and dancing at the end. All I know is that this is just a snapshot of a huge problem in Northern Uganda.
