UGANDA'S BLOODY HISTORY

Caution: This article contains information and images about the civil conflict in Uganda that some people may find disturbing.

This month, Americans came out in force to celebrate our country's adoption of the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain on July 4, 1776. It's a joyous occasion overflowing with barbeques and fireworks displays. We celebrate the birth of a nation that has been successful and powerful for more than 200 years. It's a good time to reflect upon what independence has meant for our fellow former British colony, Uganda. Uganda became an independent nation in 1962, following 100 years of colonial rule by the British.

Trouble began almost immediately, with power struggles plaguing national leadership. A division of the country by north/south identity led to leadership alternating between the north and south by bloody coup. The notorious Idi Amin seized power from then President Obote in 1971 and controlled the country for eight years with military rule. In that time, an estimated 300,000 Ugandans were murdered, and the economy was left in shambles. During the next decade, control of the country flip-flopped between regimes, making it hard for Ugandans to achieve any structured economic growth. Then in 1987, the sectarian religious and military group, the Lord’s Resistance Army, was formed. They have engaged in armed rebellion against the Ugandan government, which has resulted in one of Africa’s longest-running conflicts. This civil war is incredibly brutal, and today the LRA continues to kill, torture, maim, rape, and abduct civilians in neighboring countries. The threat of returning to Uganda is ever present.

In their pursuit of overthrowing the Ugandan government, the LRA has inflicted brutal violence on the civilian population of northern Uganda, slaughtering entire families and kidnapping children. They have captured countless children, and have the distinction of enslaving the youngest child soldier anywhere - a five-year-old boy was forced to engage in combat. The children are terrorized into murdering and maiming their own families as part of their initiation into the LRA. Many of the kids are brutally killed during the ritual to terrorize the others into doing what they are told. LRA forces also have targeted local government officials and employees and international humanitarian convoys and local NGO workers.

While the boys are forced to commit acts of violence, the LRA abducts little girls as sex and labor slaves. Other children, mainly girls, are reported to have been sold, traded, or given as gifts by the LRA to arms dealers in Sudan. While some later escaped or were rescued, the whereabouts of many children remain unknown. A number of the employees at the Teso Safe Motherhood Project were victims of LRA attacks. Their homes in the north were destroyed. They lost all their belongings. Their relatives were murdered, and their children were kidnapped. They, like an estimated two million others, became displaced in their own country.

As a result of the conflict and political insecurity, this small African nation has been unable to climb out of poverty. Tens of thousands of displaced people have overwhelmed townships while fleeing their devastated homelands in the north. In nearly 50 years of independence, Uganda has not become the stable, highly productive nation it could be. In 2006, IMA began a program in the town of Soroti to help answer the crushing need for medical care among the people displaced by the war. The men, women and children of Uganda live in continual social, political and economic insecurity, as highlighted by the recent terror attacks in Kampala. We bring a much needed hope and tenderness to their lives. We hope, as do the Ugandans we serve, that in the future independence will be brighter and more peaceful.

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TSMP STAFF MEMBER SPARED FROM TERROR ATTACK

TSMP's Finance Officer, Martin Oteger, was scheduled to travel to Kampala to buy clinic drugs on Friday, July 9. He planned to visit friends in Kampala and enjoy watching the World Cup final game at the Rugby Club. He needed to cash a check to buy the medicines, but the money IMA wired didn't arrive on Thursday or on Friday. It was wired from the U.S. on Tuesday the 6th, and it always, always takes 48 hours for the money to arrive. But this particular week, there was no money at Centenary Bank on Friday. So Martin decided to postpone his trip to Kampala until Monday. The Rugby Club was one of the locations targeted by suicide bombers on Sunday night. Monday morning the money was in the account, and Martin was still in Soroti, not at the Rugby Club watching the game when the bomb went off.

July 23, 2010

IMA AWARDED $7,500 BY THE MAIA FOUNDATION!

The MAIA Foundation, a philanthropic organization that funds programs in Uganda and Rwanda, will grant IMA $7,500 beginning August 20, 2010. These moneys will be used to substantially fund our newest program designed to increase the number of mothers giving birth at TSMP clinic. This past spring, we began paying the transport costs for mothers in labor to come to the clinic in response to an expressed community need. When we reached out to the local community to learn how we could encourage more mothers to come to our clinic to have their babies with skilled birth attendants, we learned that many laboring mothers cannot afford the small cost associated with hiring transport. To walk to the clinic is too arduous in labor. IMA and TSMP decided to remove this barrier to our birth center's utilization. So far, the numbers are very encouraging. In June alone, the number of births at TSMP nearly doubled! We hope to see these numbers continue to rise in the coming months. A huge thanks to the MAIA Foundation for helping fund this program for the next 12 months!

WHY ARE FEWER WOMEN DYING IN CHILDBIRTH?

Editorial by IMA's Executive Director, Jennifer Braun, LM, CPM

I began to get email from so many different people, quoting so many different sources, all reporting the same thing: the maternal mortality rate is down, significantly down. It was fascinating how many perspectives there were about the statistics. Many people, maybe most, were skeptical. They didn't trust the downturn. I was reading the email, trying to access the actual data with my slow Ugandan Internet connection, and I got an email from Marion. Marion Toepke is a midwife who goes to Soroti with IMA every January to help. She summed up my simple opinion so plainly. I loved it.

IMA is Rated a Top Women's Empowerment Organization!

Only 154 organizations qualified to be rated a Top Women's Empowerment Organization through Great Nonprofits this year, and IMA is one of them. Thanks to our supporters who reviewed our nonprofit, we are recognized for the work we do helping women and children who need it most! Please visit Great Nonprofits to read some of IMA's reviews.

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