25 May 2009
Kampala — Many parents reject former LRA child abductees, especially those who come with children, seeing them as a problem and have called upon us to put up an institution for them," says Gulu district Gender Focal Person, Christine Okot.
Okot says they have rejected the proposal of a separate institution, fearing the former child abductees may face further isolation.
Other than their parents, there are recent cases where men reject child- mothers with children from captivity. Instead, Okot says, they take advantage of the situation and give them more children.
According to Okot, some of the mothers are also violent. They suspect everyone's intentions and get violent at the slightest tease.
Grace Anene, a 24-year-old former fighter abducted by the rebels at the age of 12, says when she returned from captivity, her parents had been killed, but relatives who offered to take her in rejected her three children. Unable to take the the rejection, she moved out.
Anena was lucky to acquire skills in tailoring and is now self-employed, making sweaters for schools.
Although not yet married, Anene says she will never get married because of the gruesome rape she endured at the hands of a man old enough to be her grandfather.
Okot's office has helped some of the child-mothers to re-unite with their parents.
"We initiate mediation and dialogue between the child-mother and her parents. Many parents have accepted some back home," says Okot.
Some of the children have been absorbed into school or technical institutions to equip them with life skills.
Others have been taken up by different NGOs like World Vision International and are being trained to acquire computer, baking, home- care and catering skills.
Despite all the efforts, the numbers are overwhelming and everyday a new category of child-mothers emerges.
Some are not former LRA abductees. They get pregnant at a young age and are sent away by their parents.
Although it is an emerging problem, organisations like Okot's are creating awareness in the community geared at advising children not to engage in early sex, instead of sending them away.
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