The youth in Northern Uganda suffered terribly for two decades due to the conflict and abduction of boys to be child soldiers and girls to support them. Initially they abducted older youth, but over time they took younger and younger children. Those who were taken were forced to commit atrocities on their neighbors, burning villages and killing people. Others were forced to flee their homes at night to safe havens to hide from the rebels. Nearly all lost family members and everyone suffered incredible traumas. Many were left widows with numerous children orphaned. The education of the children was interrupted and delayed, stealing not only their present lives, but also their future.
In 2006, following the peace accords the Society of Jesus started a new high school—Ocer Campion Jesuit College (OCJC) in Gulu as a means of helping with the healing and reconciliation of the people. Hear is the voice of one student,
“I grew up in violence because I was born at the time of the civil war of the Lord’s Resistance Army. I spent most of my life witnessing brutal acts conducted by the rebels in our areas, killings, burning down of schools, people’s homes and more. These memories are still fresh in my mind, but I am glad I am at {Ocer Campion} school participating in activities that help me to take away my thoughts.” Lilian, Senior 4
Ocer Campion Jesuit College is special because it offers an extra preparatory year to enable students to address their learning gaps and properly prepare them for a rigorous high school curriculum. In December 2014 they graduated their first class. Their O-level scores were ranked highest for the region demonstrating the power of this model. The vision of the Jesuits is to continue to increase the quality of the education at Ocer Campion by leveraging the expertise of international volunteers, which benefits both the staff and students.
Pope Francis echoes Jesus and the scriptures calling us with his message to be a light in the darkness, to be hope for the hopeless, to heal our world!!
In response to this great invitation, we as a faith community have embarked on an ambitious goal to raise $100,000 for the school. These funds will be used to build a two-story house on the school campus for international volunteer teachers, counselors, coaches, medical, and spiritual professionals. In this way we will enable others to give generously of their time and talents to help improve the quality of the education and life for the students and their families.
Please won’t you join us and help these students to rise from the ashes of their childhood, gain a quality education and become fully the young adults that God intended?
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb17speKsZg]