Projects

Brickmaking

Groups made up of former child soldiers and members of the local community build brick ovens and make bricks for local schools and small businesses. They use the profits for developing micro-finance projects, sending their children to school, and forming local dance groups.

Example of a project: "Prevention is Better than Cure" or "Gengo Loyo Cango" (Opit)

  • 16 members, 5 ex-combatants, 10 female members
  • Making and selling over 5,000 bricks together has brought a strong spirit of reconciliation to Opit: “We will continue to partake in these group activities, as they help us deal with the past in a healthy way... we act as a one, as a united community," said Esther, a former girl child soldier.

    • Community farming

    Teams of around 25 ex-combatants and local residents work together to farm peanuts, cassava, and other local produce. They reinvest profits back into the community for education and seeds for future farms.

    Example of a project: "Poverty Needs Unity" or "Can Mito Ribbe" (Teetugu)

  • 26 members, 16 ex-combatants, 9 female members
  • Seven group members have started their own vegetable selling businesses from the revenues from the first round of projects. These members are taking positive initiative beyond the original GRG farming projects, and are now able to pay for school fees for their children and other domestic supplies.

    • Trauma counseling

    Local leaders and former combatants are trained by expert psychiatrists in trauma counseling. The new GRG counselors then work in the community to help afflicted people and build hope.

    Example of a project: “Stigmatization is Bad” or “Cimo Tok Rac” (Koch Goma)

  • 12 volunteer counselors, trained by senior psychiatrists in Uganda
  • The establishment of the counseling center has enabled over 60 formerly abducted persons and community members to receive counseling. One such returnee who received counseling recalled, “We were urged to forget the past and imagine the different positions we were all in. I’m overall much better in relating to the community.”