Girls who were abducted during the peak of the northern Uganda insurgency and spent years in Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel captivity have turned to skills training courses after missing out on formal education.
Some were forcefully turned into sex slaves and porters at a tender age and are now mothers with huge responsibilities after mothering children with rebel commanders.
Milly Akello, now 35 was abducted after the car she was travelling in entered a deadly ambush set up by a group of LRA fighters along Gulu- Kitgum road in 1998.
After escaping from Got Ogili in Kitgum district in 2002 with three children, Akello received psychosocial support but later found herself sandwiched between poverty and illiteracy.
Akello says with her eldest son 11 and in P3, she has been earning through selling charcoal but with the high cost of living, she wanted something much better.
When an opportunity presented itself late last year, Akello did not hesitate to enroll for a nine months training course in tailoring.
She said, “My major plan will be to acquire a piece of land for my fatherless children when I graduate on Thursday with a brand new sewing machine that will be given to me.”
With the new skills in garment cutting and tailoring, she says her fortunate may change for the better.
Another former abductee, Ms Jackline Lanyero who completed a nine months training in body beauty and salon says she is excited to become self reliant.
Lanyero says despite having a skill in bakery, it has been very difficult for her to exploit it due to lack of capital.
She however said with the growing market for body beauty service, she is hopeful that all will change.
According to Lanyero, “My major priority will be to give education to my two children. me and their father separated because he was abusive.”
Apostle Alex Mitala , the Director Back to the Bible Truth Ministry which has set up Good Samaritan Jua Kali Vocational School in Gulu says their major aim is to equip the disadvantaged youth in the region with technical skills so that they become self sustaining.
Apostle Mitala noted that, “If these young people become self-reliant, they will be able to create jobs and take care of members of their families.”
The cleric also called on the government to overhaul the current education system which does not prepare learners for the current competitive job market.
While addressing graduates at Gulu Clinical School in Gulu recently, the Education Minister Jessica Alupo said plans are underway to focus more on equipping students with skills that will make them employable.
Alupo said, “”Skills deficiency in the schools has been responsible for students heading into the workplace without the skills they need at work.”
She said her Ministry intends to reverse that immediately through our ‘Skilling Uganda’ programme.
