Goodwill Ambassador Mia Farrow in Uganda
Anne Lydia Sekandi and Roshan Khadivi, UNICEF
© UNICEF/NYHQ2010-1408/Hofer
UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Mia Farrow meets children at a traditional settlement in Kotid district, Uganda.
GULU and KOTIDO, Uganda, July 19 2010 — UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Mia Farrow made a round of visits to Uganda communities this week. The actress and advocate visited Gulu district in northern Uganda, where she met children affected by the conflict with the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebel group, and Kotido district in the country's north-eastern Karamoja sub-region, where she met children affected by inter-ethnic raids.
In Gulu, Ms. Farrow witnessed a poignant drama, as children at Laroo Primary School acted out a skit showing how a normal domestic scene was disrupted by LRA rebels who abducted all four of one family's children from their parents. In the skit, the children managed to escape captivity. However, the re-united family then had to flee their home for safety just as many traumatized families in Gulu had to do.
"Although peace has finally come in Gulu, it has not brought peace of mind to so many of the victims," said Ms. Farrow. "It will likely take a generation for people to rebuild their communities and their lives, and they will need continued help."
Laroo Primary School currently has 460 students, including 150 formerly abducted children. The UNICEF-supported school offers an academic and vocational training programme for children and young people affected by conflict as they try to resume normal lives.
12 years in captivity
© UNICEF/NYHQ2010-1410/Hofer
Goodwill Ambassador Mia Farrow meets with students at Laroo Primary School in Gulu district, northern Uganda, where some pupils were formerly abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army rebel group.
One of those young people, Miriam (not her real name), now 23, spent 12 years in LRA captivity before returning home in April. She told Ms. Farrow about her abduction, her subsequent "marriage" to an LRA commander at the age of 15, and how she endured three teenage pregnancies and a stillbirth in the bush without proper medical attention.
Miriam finally escaped from the LRA in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where Ugandan troops handed her over to UN peacekeepers. They, in turn, flew Miriam back to Uganda with her two children— a three-year-old daughter and a six-month-old baby boy. She spent three weeks at the GUSCO Reception Centre, which is supported by UNICEF and Save the Children, and received counselling and rehabilitation before reuniting with her family.
"I got very good support from my family" said Miriam, who has since returned to school and hopes to complete her primary education this year.
Raids and sexual abuse
In Kotido, Ms. Farrow visited a Manyatta, or traditional Karamoja settlement, as well as the Nabumbum Primary School, where she heard the testimony of children who had narrowly survived death during ethnic raids on cattle kraals.
"Children in Karamoja are often victims of raids, since they are trained to raid as soon as they are deemed to have become of age,” Kotido District Acting Chairperson Grace Oyuge said, referring to the cattle rustling that is part of a conflict among different ethnic groups in the sub-region.
"Boys are often wounded, while girls, some as young as 10 years, are sexually abused in the process," she added.
A forum for young voices
© Unicef Uganda/2010/Nakibuuka
Joyce Nakiya, a Ugandan youth delegate from Karamoja being interviewed by NTV journalist.
At the African Youth Forum, Ms. Farrow adressed young representatives from around the continent on the role of young people in Africa. Scheduled to take place a week before the 15th session of the African Union Summit, the Forum gave the 124 delegates, ranging in age from 16 to 29, the chance to share their views on development issues.
The youth delegates made strategic recommendations for a call for action from young Africans to their national leaders which will be presented to the Heads of State and Government at the AU Summit.
"The future belongs to the young," said Ms. Farrow. "It is important that they be thinking about what kind of world they want. The Forum is an opportunity for their voices to be heard."
