reality

When I was four years old, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) began kidnapping children in northern Uganda. When I was eight years old, thousands of families in northern Uganda were being relocated to internally displaced peoples camps (IDP camps). By the time I was eighteen, more than 95% of Pader's citizens had been forced from their land and into crowded IDP camps.

I am 23. The insurgency and terror in Northern Uganda lasted for as many years as I have been alive. People are talking about peace, development, and change now. Bravely, people are moving home in order to face their new realities living in a post-conflict region.

In a small way, I am also facing a new reality. I don't know anything about what public health or development or gender equality means in a post-conflict society. I don't know anything about what it means to live through 23 years of fear, challenge, or marginalization.

I hope I can learn.