Uganda (MNN) — Uganda has been troubled and devastated by 18 years of conflict and war. The rebel Lord’s Resistance Army has ruthlessly abducted children to be used as child soldiers and sex slaves.
But in the midst of the painful conflict, World Vision is celebrating a milestone of success in Uganda. Their Children of War Rehabilitation Center has helped reunite children and families.
Rory Anderson, senior policy advisor for World Vision-Africa, says, “In the past ten years World Vision has helped to rehabilitate ten thousand, five hundred children who managed to escape from the LRA, or the Lord’s Resistance Army, and so when World Vision gets them we go through a series of counseling or rehabilitation because you can imagine, these children have gone through great trauma.”
Serving in the love of Jesus, World Vision has reached out to protect and care for those whose lives have been devastated. Anderson says, “We have had success, we have managed to reunite children, heal children, help them to understand and feel the forgiveness and love of God, in spite of the difficult atrocities that they’ve been forced to commit against, oftentimes, their own communities. Because of this forgiveness, they are able to then be reconciled with their families.”
Anderson continues, “And so we just celebrate the fact that we have managed to help and show the love of Christ to so many families for the past ten years, particularly in this center, and also throughout Uganda for the past 20 years through different programs.”
Anderson encourages you to help by, first of all, praying that the conflict would end and praying for the children in the crisis, because she says, “Prayer is a very important part of helping to heal these children and deliver them from the pain and the difficulties.”
Secondly, Anderson says you can contact your government leaders and encourage them to recognize the conflict and take action, and third, by supporting the work of World Vision. If you would like to help, contact World Vision by calling 1.888.511.6598 or go to their website www.WorldVision.org.
