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| Esther Photographer: Sidsel Lee Winthrop |
In January this year Esther, known from the Danish TV-campaign “Danmarks Indsamlingen” in 2009, had her big wish come true when she, her father, Lawrence Usege, and five siblings, could finally return to their village in Obalanga after six years in a refugee camp.
Many others in Esther’s village and nearby villages share the same story. They were forced to leave their land by the Lords Resistance Army and were put in camps for internally displaced persons (IDP). In the first years many were afraid to return, afraid of new attacks and facing an economic situation, which made it almost impossible for them to return. They had lost their houses, almost all of their belongings and the harvest when they fled from the Lord Resistance Army’s violence.
Support for homes, schools and agriculture
With the support of the Danish TV-Campaign broadcasted in 2009, DanChurchAid and their partners have now been able to help families return to their villages in Obalanga. The families have received support to build houses and children are now back in school. Most importantly, the families have received help and education in agriculture and the surrounding fields are now full of green harvest.
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All the families that have returned have also received assistance in the form of oxes and ox-ploughs, enabling them to prepare the fields for the harvest. The families have also planted fruit trees, such as mangos and oranges.
The flourishing fields mean that there is food enough for each family to enjoy two healthy meals a day.
Working together through challenges
The families work together using new agricultural methods and new types of crops. The resourceful families are coupled with families who have a lack of resources, which means that everyone is being supported and can enjoy the harvest.
Most recently, the families have been struggling with challenges from heavy rain that caused the crops to rot, especially cassava. Consequently, there has not been enough cassava to sell at the market as they had hoped. However, some households earned enough to open small shops selling milk, eggs, flour and sugar.
Now everyone hopes that the newly planted crops will make the next harvest and that the rain will fall to their advantage.
By Mai Gad