Light Force International, Interview Sessions and Learning about the Challenges of Learning.

On Saturday July 7^th we met with one of Babina’s contacts, Cathy, a Program Coordinator for Light Force International. She welcomed us to her home, which happens to be on the NGO grounds. She was extremely hospitable and friendly. She explained to us her background, personal story, the work that the NGO is carrying out and her experiences working with Light Force.

Light Force is an NGO that has been assisting and supporting underprivileged youths from the period of the LRA conflict in Northern Uganda, and continues doing this work, although it is facing more and more constraints. Assistance to children would range anywhere from covering education costs, to physiotherapy for handicapped youths and housing them whenever possible.

Cathy has adopted 6 children with families lost during the conflict herself. Having braved similar challenges, she can relate to these children and because of that is funding their education, with the hopes that she can provide them with brighter futures. She has a big heart to say the least. This is a photo of us with Cathy and two of her girls, Sophia and Proscovia.

This past week the team has been meeting people all over Lira, leading interviews to gather information about our research topic. We have involved all the persons we could think of, notably community leaders (deputy mayor and district chairmen), University students, high school students in 2 different schools, University administrators, faculty, staff, parents and community members that served as key informants. All of these sessions were very helpful and enlightening to say the least, we learned so much more about the Lira community, the value of higher education and applicable skills and the challenges faced by youths in the northern region of Uganda to attend University. The government of Uganda has a limited ability to sponsor students’ higher education, and they only do so for subjects related to sciences; so there is an uneven distribution of scholarships across subjects taught in university. University even in Uganda is very expensive to attend even in a middle class household. The point of creating Lira Integrated University is to provide an education to the disadvantaged youths of the north who have been in some way exposed to the violent past decade in the region and to create more opportunities for growth in this disregarded part of the country. We are already keeping in mind some recommendations (that we shall not yet reveal) for our final paper. Stay tuned, and thanks for reading!