UGANDA: Women's voices from the stricken north
Photo: IRIN Radio  | | This girl, Flossy, was sexually abused by a family member. She was interviewed by the IRIN Radio/Femrite project in a displacement camp in Pader district. |
GULU, 3 April 2008 (IRIN Radio) - A generation of widows, fatherless children, orphans and other innocent victims is the legacy of the long-running civil war in northern Uganda.
The rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has not spared women from combat either.
IRIN Radio has been recording the stories of some of the thousands of ordinary Ugandan women, whose lives have been torn apart by extraordinary levels of suffering.
In this unique project, IRIN has been working with members of the Uganda Women Writers' Association, FEMRITE, to ensure that the suffering of northern Ugandan women is widely heard and may be remembered.
FEMRITE members have been trained in radio skills by IRIN, enabling them to capture the testimonies of women war survivors in the districts of Lira, Apac, Gulu and Kitgum.
These intimate testimonies illustrate the courage and determination of women to put an end to the violence and inhumanity that has scarred the lives of so many in Uganda. The public sharing of the stories is also an attempt to counter the silence and stigma normally associated with abductees and ordinary people, who witnessed atrocities they were in no position to prevent.
Women in this special radio series tell of being raped, assaulted, made homeless, shunned, and left to look after children alone.
The programmes, jointly produced by IRIN and FEMRITE, will be broadcast on local radio stations in Uganda and made available on this website.
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