Heart of Compassion Trust was formed as a response to the humanitarian disaster and the suffering occurring in northern Uganda, due to almost two decades of civil unrest.

The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has waged a guerrilla war leading to acts of brutal violence and terror against the Acholi community of northern Uganda. It has forcibly recruited almost 20,000 children through child abduction to act as porters, child soldiers and sex slaves. This has torn holes in the Acholi community. Consequently, up to two million people (over 90% of the population of northern Uganda) have been uprooted from their villages, losing their livelihoods in the process, and have been forced to settle in Internally Displaced Peoples (IDP) camps, which lack basic infrastructure and have poor levels of sanitation.

© D. Payne, Heart of Compassion Trust

The overall effect has been a sense of desperation amongst the Acholi community. A whole generation of children are growing up in IDP camps, the majority of whom have lost a family member as a result of the conflict. A lack of trust within families and communities has developed as a result of the horrific practices employed by the LRA.

With livelihoods lost until the LRA’s terror subsides, many families exist on handouts and whatever small income they can get. The result of this is many children are unable to attend school since they cannot pay the school fees or maintenance fees that are stipulated. Due to the insecurity, many schools have had to abandon their premises and move to within easy reach of IDP camps, often at the expense of one set of school buildings housing two schools. The situation that remains is that either very few children attend school due to non-payment of fees, or the schools take on children without payment of fees and as a result are severely under funded. Out of each of these scenarios, serious issues arise, which need to be dealt with.

May 2010

Whilst the LRA still are not wreaking havoc in northern Uganda, their attacks continue in Central African Republic, the Congo and South Sudan.  For more information, see http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/africa/horn-of-africa/uganda/vircoulon-stopping-the-LRA-is-not-all-about-kony.aspx.