My first week in Dungu by Sarah Katz-Lavigne

World, we are very excited to introduce you to a new member of our team. We’ve recently hired a new project coordinator to help facilitate our programs from Dungu in the D.R.C. and her name is Sarah Katz-Lavigne. Some of you might recognize her from her previous work with Interactive Radio for Justice and Human Rights Watch, just to mention a few.

She’s spent some time in our Dungu office and has recently sent us a quick update about seeing the Rehabilitation centre for the first time. Check back to hear more about her experiences from the field. -NS

On my very first day in Dungu, I visited the rehabilitation centre that Invisible Children is currently constructing with its local partner, the Commission diocésaine de justice et paix (CDJP). The centre, when it is fully built, will house boys and girls who have high levels of trauma as a result of exposure to the terrible abuses of the Lord’s Resistance Army.

I was still rather jet-lagged when I arrived at the centre for the first time, but it was really exciting to see it all the same. What struck me right away about the centre is what a hive of activity it was. People were working all around the site, busily climbing ladders and laying mortar. It then occurred to me that this is a genuinely community-led effort: local workers, including a CDJP engineer, are an integral part of the construction process. The centre, which will be run by CDJP, is truly community-based from the start.

It was amazing to walk around the site. Upon entering the rehabilitation centre, which is still empty of furniture at the moment, I could already imagine kids of all shapes and sizes walking around the spacious rooms. They will be engaging in diverse activities and – most importantly – feeling like they have finally found a place where they can be safe. It was a really inspiring image, and one that made me thankful that I’ll be there when it becomes a reality.

One year later, Obama administration reports on the accomplishments of the strategy to help stop LRA attrocities

Today is the one year anniversary of the release of the strategy to help stop the atrocities being perpetrated by the LRA. As required, the Obama administration released an updated report on the accomplishments that have occurred since then, which just goes to show that thanks to Invisible Children supporters’ hard work, we were the only NGO mentioned by name in the entire report.  Read the update from the Resolve office below. -NS

One year ago – after acknowledging the “hundreds of thousands of Americans who have mobilized to respond to this unique crisis of conscience” – President Obama issued a landmark White House strategy to help stop atrocities being perpetrated by the Lord’s Resistance Army and support the communities in central Africa being targeted by the violence. Today, as required by law, his Administration released a formal report documenting what has been accomplished since.

You can read the five-page report in full here. Its contents include plenty of reason to be encouraged. As it says, “The United States remains committed to pursuing the multi-year, comprehensive strategy submitted to Congress last year.” It also underscores a number of key challenges – such as limited funding – that Resolve is dedicated to help address moving forward.

Some of the other highlights:

* As expected, the President’s recent announcement that he is deploying 100 advisers to help regional governments stop LRA atrocities plays prominently.

* The State Department is asking Congress to authorize payment of financial rewards to anyone who shares information that leads to the arrest of Joseph Kony and two other LRA commanders indicted by the International Criminal Court.

* The U.S. is funding the expansion of communications technology in LRA-affected areas to help provide early warning to communities at risk of attack and to help LRA abductees escape and return home; similar programs run by our friends at Invisible Children are notably commended.

* Since the LRA moved out of Uganda in 2006, U.S. investment has helped reduce the poverty rate there from over 60% to 46%, helping people overcome decades of violent conflict.

All in all, these are some amazing accomplishments. But more remains to be done. Yesterday, Resolve joined with partner groups to release the third LRA Strategy Report Card, providing our assessment of what President Obama has done in the past year, and highlighting the steps that need to be taken next.

Congress mandated both the White House strategy and today’s one-year implementation report in last year’s LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act, and the release of today’s report fulfills the final provision from that Act. But the fight to see it fully implemented will continue.

- Michael

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Source

Rehabilitation Center nears completion

When we got this picture in an email from Adam there was an tangible silence in the room. For many months, we have been toiling relentlessly, trying to raise the funds in order to take this idea from paper and make it a reality. Well, it seems that our efforts and nearly complete.

For the first time ever, the children who have surrendered from the LRA in the D.R. Congo have a place to safe haven to retreat to to receive treatment before they can go home. Here’s an official update from Adam Finck, Director of Programs who is currently in the field. -NS

-Adam Finck

Contributors:

Breaking news: 30 women and children have reportedly defected from the LRA since the beginning of October

Frontline Summary:

Breaking news:

Over the course of the past few months, Invisible Children has seen much progress on the ground in Democratic Republic of Congo. Because of your generous support, Invisible Children and other NGOs on the ground are able to directly communicate with the LRA. Using fliers created by Invisible Children’s Art Department and FM radio transmissions broadcast throughout the region, several organizations on the ground have flooded LRA-affected areas with defection information. The support you have provided has allowed Invisible Children, in turn, to support defection efforts on the ground.

These are the details that we know so far:

17 defections:

-On October 9th, the LRA released 17 women and children just north of Duru, DRC.

-7 were women, 10 were children.

-3 out of the 7 women were pregnant.

-The youngest child was 7 months old and the oldest was 5 years old.

13 defections:

-On November 2^nd, 13 people were released from the LRA near Bangadi, DRC.

-6 were women, 7 were children.

-The women were from multiple backgrounds – Ugandan, South Sudanese, and Congolese.

-Several of the women had been abducted over ten years ago.

-The Early Warning Radio Network broke the news for these defections. These reports served as a support to help mobilize NGOs which  facilitate the return process for returnees.

An LRA survivor speaks out to Rush Limbaugh…

This is very powerful. No-one speaks to the truth of the LRA’s atrocities like the victims.

A 22-year old survivor, abducted by the LRA while a child, tells the conservative radio host he is wrong about the group.

Dear Mr. Limbaugh: Evelyn’s Appeal from Strongheart on Vimeo.

Evelyn Apoko is 22 years old, but she was only a child when the Lord’s Resistance Army came into her home late one night and dragged her out into the jungle. The LRA, a bizarre and violent cult that emerged out of Uganda’s 1986 civil war, enslaved Evelyn as they had the 66,000 children that came before and after her.

Most children who are abducted by the LRA are forced to either fight, aid in fighting, or serve as concubines. Evelyn does not say what happened during her years of enslavement with the LRA, but, one day, a bomb went off near her during one of the battles that are a regular part of the group’s life. She attempted to protect an infant that was with the group, in the process exposing her face to the blast, which disfigured her. Denied medical care and fearing that she would be killed for her unattractive appearance, Evelyn escaped, miraculously making it through the jungle on foot and alone.

Today she works for a Liberia-based non-profit called the Strongheart Fellowship Program, which rehabilitates young people from what it calls “extremely challenging circumstances.” Last year, she was honored on the floor of the Canadian parliament for her work.

This morning, Evelyn recorded a video responding to comments by Rush Limbaugh, who criticized President Obama’s decision to send 100 U.S. troops to aid governments fighting the LRA. In a segment titled “Obama Invades Uganda, Targets Christians,” Limbaugh defended the group. “They are fighting the Muslims in Sudan. And Obama has sent troops, United States troops, to remove them from the battlefield, which means kill them. So that’s a new war, a hundred troops to wipe out Christians in Sudan, Uganda,” he said, going on to praise the group’s stated objective “To remove dictatorship and stop the oppression of our people.”

Limbaugh’s comments attracted immediate controversy in the U.S. and, apparently, in Africa as well.

“My heart breaks when I hear your message about the LRA. I experienced first-hand the pain and hatred of humanity in the LRA,” Evelyn says into the camera. “I have witnessed the spirit of Joseph Kony and it is not from God. Abducting young people from their home and forcing them to become something that is not meant to be.”

“Brainwashing children and murdering innocent people,” she says. “The LRA is not Christian.”

Evelyn pleaded for the world to see the LRA as it is and to help Central Africa’s struggle against the group that now operates out of South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Central African Republican. She says of the child soldier and slaves still held by the group, “Who is going to help them if we don’t raise our voices against the LRA? It had been long enough. The world needs to open their eyes.”

“I don’t want any more children to go through what I went through,” she says through tears. “Please help to save their lives. I know that they cannot do without you.”

From: The Atlantic.

Frontline Summary- Updates from the ground

Now that the Invisible Children + Resolve LRA Crisis tracker has been launched, you can stay up-to-date on LRA attacks taking place in Central Africa.

Continue to check back here for a summary of the week’s top stories and regional news from the Invisible Children Mission Department.

Coming to you every week: The Frontline Summary.

LRA Attack Central African Republic Community

September 21st, Barraoua, CAR – A civilian recently reported that LRA forces killed three people in Barraoua, DRC. Security forces clashed with the LRA which resulted in the death of several LRA as well as the release of six abducted civilians. This report was made possible through the LRA Crisis Tracker – with the site up and running, a local source on the ground was able to email reports of the incident through the LRA Crisis Tracker account. Source: LRA Crisis Tracker Database
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Introducing: A new Peace and Conflict feature

Peace and Conflict: LRA Attack Reported through Early Warning Radio Network

On my last trip to Congo a few months ago, we traveled to remote communities in a district called Bas Uele to research the expansion of Invisible Children’s Early Warning Radio Network. We piloted the expansion of the network by installing a high frequency radio in a remote and hard-hit community. (We won’t mention the name for security reasons.) It offered them the opportunity for the first time to receive news on LRA movement and report to others when their community was attacked.

A few days ago, this community reported into the central high frequency radio hub with this news.

A group of LRA attacked [our community] yesterday evening. They were so many. With guns. During the attack, [a man] who didn’t want to allow those elements to get into his house stood behind his door trying to stop them from entering into his house. They shot him through the door on his left thigh, crossing to his right thigh too. Now he is at the hospital…

Seven people from this community were abducted during the attack and have not yet been heard from. The report goes on to detail fighting between the FARDC (Congolese army) and the LRA, noting that two boys in the LRA were among those shot and wounded.

(more…)

Oxfam: 90 percent of people in LRA areas of Congo still live in fear

Photo courtesy of Oxfam

As we continue our work in the Democratic Republic of Congo, it’s studies like this one from Oxfam that confirm the sense of urgency we feel to protect those who are living in constant fear of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

Residents of eastern provinces left feeling abandoned, isolated and vulnerable

Kinshasa (MMD Newswire) August 2, 2011 – - In a new protection survey undertaken by Oxfam in areas affected by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the majority of people said they feel less safe in 2011 than they did last year.

This is Oxfam’s fifth such annual protection assessment in eastern Congo since 2007, but the first time that such a comprehensive survey has been conducted in the areas affected by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

In the region of Haut-Uélé in Province Orientale near the border with South Sudan, 62 per cent feel less secure, 28 per cent feel security threats remain the same, and only 10 per cent feel that their security has improved.

The communities surveyed painted a grim picture of a continuing cycle of poverty and violence. People said that they feel completely abandoned and believe that neither their government nor UN peacekeepers care about their security. In seven out of nine communities surveyed in LRA areas, UN peacekeepers were said to be not patrolling enough in the most important places, such as in fields and roads to markets.

A person interviewed in Haut-Uélé said: “Our future is dark. We are scared all the time. The LRA continue to kill us and burn our houses down. We have a family that has been staying with us for a week, after they fled Doruma, where the LRA have been abducting day and night. We are not safe here.”

Read the entire article here.

Find out more about Invisible Children’s plan to protect the people of eastern Congo here.

Peace and Conflict: The Packing List

Mission Department Director, Adam Finck, recently returned from the Congo. Before he left we had the chance to get “The Packing List”. Here’s an inside look, inside his bag:

1. First Aid Kit- Just in case.

2. French to English Dictionary

3. Moleskin- Holds a trip’s worth of field notes.

4. Outlet adapter

5. Cliff Bar- On the go meal replacements.

6. Camelhide Messenger

7. Kindle- A month-long battery and countless books will turn any ebook skeptic into Kindle convert.

8. Cipro – When the going gets rough..

9. ID tag

10/11. International cell phone and charger- Useful for cross border SIM-swapping.

12. French-translated IC media

13. Canon 5D with 50mm 1.2 lens – lightweight and great in low light.

14. Business cards

15. 1TB External hardrive – For media assets from the field.

16. RayBans – keep the dust out

17. Passport and DRC Visa – No passport/visa, no trip.

18. Water purification tablets – to avoid item #8

19. Satellite phone- the only way to reach home base in remote areas.

20. One-hand Trekker Swiss Army knife- Useful in life

21. Regional Maps- no google maps makes hard copies crucial.

22. MacBook Pro & Incase pocket

23. Saddleback passport wallet- Holds passport, credit card, currencies, and ID

24. Official papers- Ordre de Mission, travel itineraries, flight maps, and other useful documents