Vocational skills rescue ex-LRA abductee

Twenty three-year-old Median Akello recalls her childhood years with a lot of pain. Unlike most children, hers was characterised by brutalities and in fact, she was taught how to use guns for violence at a young age.

Akello was born in South Sudan in 1995 while her mother was in the captivity of the Lord’s Resistance Army [LRA] rebels. Her mother had been abducted at a tender age from their ancestral home in Patiko Sub-county, Gulu District, and forced to become a wife to one of the LRA commanders.

For five years while in LRA captivity, Akello lived a life of a child soldier which deprived her of her childhood.
“I do not remember clearly most of the things that happened in captivity, but I recall being taught how to use an AK47 assault rifle. I also remember on numerous occasions we escaped attacks launched by government troops,” Akello said.

In 2000, after her father died in a battle, Akello and her mother escaped and surrendered to the Uganda People’s Defence Forces [UPDF]. “My mother told me that my father did not want us to return home. So when he was shot dead, it was an opportunity for us to escape,” Akello said.

Rehabilitation
Upon reaching Uganda in 2000, Akello and her mother were sent for rehabilitation at the defunct Gulu Support the Children Organisation [GUSCO], where they underwent psychosocial support and counselling for a year before being reintegrated at their home.

In the first year out of captivity, Akello says she never encountered any hardship because her mother was always beside her.

In 2001, she was enrolled for primary education at Mary Immaculate Primary School in Gulu District, beginning a journey that would later change her life for the better. “I was so happy to start school; it was what I had wanted to do from the time we returned home,” Akello recounted.

After Primary Seven, Akello joined Kasubi Army Senior Secondary School in 2007 before transferring to Rakele Comprehensive in Lira District where she was being sponsored by a non-governmental organisation along with other former female abductees.

Facing stigma
Unlike in primary school, Akello faced stigma in secondary school from girls who used to refer to her as a former LRA child soldier.
“We were a group of more than 20 girls who were formerly captives. Often, when our donors come to school to visit us, the whole school would know they had come to check on former LRA abductees. Back in the dormitories, we were always referred to as Kony’s children,” Akello says.

But in 2013 while in Senior Three, Akello became pregnant and dropped out of school. After delivering her baby girl in 2014, she lived with her boyfriend for two years before he started bartering her and she called it quits.

Getting back on course
When Akello returned to her home in 2016, she was enrolled for a one year hairdressing course at Gulu War Affected Training Centre.
“After the course, I started working in people’s salons in Gulu Town to perfect my skills and also earn money to take care of my daughter. But I evaluated myself and thought I could use my experience and instead impart knowledge to under-priviledged girls,” Akello says.

In late 2017, she told her step father about her ambition to help youth through giving them vocational skills. With his support, in February 2018, Akello started Noah’s Ark Multi-Skill Training Centre, a vocational school in Lacor Trading Centre in Gulu.

Akello, who is the director and a teacher at school, says at the start, 80 students enrolled which was an indication that majority of the youth in the area needed vocational skills. “I share a similar background with most of the youth in the area. I felt giving them affordable vocational education would empower them and give them a bright future,” Akello says.

To-date, she says, they have 90 students who are learning hairdressing skills, computer literacy, mechanics and tailoring. She is also currently employing four permanent teachers at the school. Each of the students pays Shs50,000 a term and because of their poor background, they are allowed to pay in installments.

Challenges
Akello says the major challenges the school faces currently are high rent for the school premises, inadequate tailoring machines, salon equipment and mechanical tools. She noted that they only have 11 sewing machines which are not enough for the more than 40 students pursuing certificate courses in tailoring. For those pursuing mechanics, Akello says, they are forced to teach students from garages on many occasions.

Asked what her plan for the future is, Akello says she wants to register the school with the Education ministry and upgrade it to start offering accredited courses as well as buy land for expansion since they spend a lot of money on rent.