When the children have been re-united with their families, they often end up in so-called Internally Displaced Persons Camps. In some districts, like Pader, most people have fled to such IDP camps. Their scattered villages were constantly attacked by the L.R.A. and could no longer be protected by the government army. These camps have grown into dismal settlements where thousands and sometimes even tens of thousands of people are packed together. People are afraid to leave the camps and work the land. Consequently they have become dependent of the World Food Programme. In these camps there are no real schools. The government has provided for so-called "education centres", but, for obvious reasons, the infrastructure is less than basic. Teachers often do not turn up, because they are too afraid to stay in the camps.
In 2005 our NGO Childsoldiers decided to build a boarding school in Lira. In the summer of 2005 the first part of "Rachele Comprehensive School" was completed. This secondary school will mainly concentrate on vocational education like agricultrue and forestry. However, since we aim at rehabilitating and re-integrating former childsoldiers into mainstream society, our school focuses on war affected children in general: war orphans, internally displaced children, etc.
On 13 February 2006 our school opended with over 240 children enrolled in secondary 1 and 2. Gradually, Rachele Comprehensive school will be able to offer a complete secondary school programme, with over 600 students. Building, equipping and running a secondary school is a costly business, however: that's why we urgently need more funds.
Below, you can read Els De Temmerman's impressions on the first school day of Rachele Comprehensive.
After many months of hard work, the opening day of our school for war affected children has finally arrived. Rachele Comprehensive Secondary School has enrolled over 260 students for Secondary 1 and 2. Since our school is generally considered to be the best equipped school in the district, we were flooded with applications for enrolment. Unfortuantely we had to turn down many applicants.
The majority of students are former child soldiers. We have taken on 17 teachers. Apart from general subjects we will also be teaching vocational courses, such as agriculture, forestry, metal works, carpentry, business, sewing, computer etc.
Els De Temmerman, 13 February 2006