Friends
Here is another study again done by individuals that believe that we have a serious violence problem in Uganda. Let me remind you that this study does not say anywhere that NRA commited these crimes it says LRA committed them. And that is what I am trying to point out here that if an Acholi can treat his fellow Acholi this way, how about you on a road block in Kawempe? This study was made by Martha Bragin, MD and Taaka Jennipher, MA as the principle investigators. They were financed by The Austrian Development corporation, under the Care umbrella. The topic of the study is called “Conflict-Affected Women’s perceptions of Psychosocial Well-Being in The Acholi sub –region of Northern Uganda” Friends Austrians do not hate Acholi and they are not out there to plant tribe hate they ae simply using the data they found in Acholi-land to get this concerned. We are posting from page 25 The Psychological and Social Situation of Formerly Abducted Girls Both girls and boys held captive by the LRA experienced extreme hardship that included their forced participation in atrocities as combatants (Akello, 2006; Betancourt, 2008; Blattman & Annan, 2007; Bolton et al., 2007; Kryger, 2011; Kryger & Lindgren, 2011; Machel, 2000; Omona & Matheson, 1998; McCarthy & Marks, 2010; Mendelsohn, 1998; Pedersen, 2002; Pham et al., 2007; Stichick, 2001; Wessells, 2004). They equally lacked shelter, food, accessibility to medical care and education (Akello, 2006; Annan et al., 2010; Barton & Mutiti, 1998; Blattman & Annan, 2007; Machel, 2000; MacMullin & Loughry, 2004). However, girls’ experiences were particularly calamitous due to gender-based violence (Amnesty International, 2007; Annan et al., 2008; Fox, 2004; McKay & Mazurana, 2004; Orach, 2009). Girls were often subjected to sexual abuse by multiple perpetrators (Mazurana & McKay, 2003; Wood, 2009). They were also forcibly “married” to captors who had many wives and pregnancy could exacerbate violence. Girl mothers would often carry their babies on their backs during warfare. A common practice was to drug the babies, in order to sedate them during the fighting. While many girls died during pregnancy and childbirth due to lack of medical care and difficult circumstances under which they were living, others self-induced abortions to spare their children the suffering into which they would be born. (Annan et al., 2008, in press; Baines, 2008; Pham et al., 2007; McKay, 2004; McKay & Mazurana, 2004). Girls, who eventually escaped or were rescued from their captivity in the bush, often did not go through the official UN protocol of disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) (McKay, 2004; Mazurana et al., 2002; McKay & Mazurana, 2004). This process entails demobilizing soldiers, removing their guns, and providing psychological and material assistance to ex-combatants to help them return to their civilian way of life (Baines, 2008; Betancourt, 2009; McKay, 2004). Although girls and boys were equally entitled to DDR by law, many girls were not afforded the benefits of this formal process. Instead, they simply returned to impoverished communities without any intervening support. With few resources or support available to them, these girls often relocate to locations where family members and friends live, or they move to urban areas where they are at a much higher risk of being forced into prostitution, experience sexual assault, and contract sexually transmitted diseases, such as HIV (Amnesty International, 2007; Baines, 2008; McKay, 2005). Additional difficulties ensue, even when young, formerly abducted girls and women attempt to participate in formal demobilization programs (Amnesty International, 2007; Baines, 2008; Mazurana et al., 2002; McKay & Mazurana, 2004). DDR in many war-torn regions has targeted boys and men while disregarding the roles girls and women have played as combatants in fighting forces. McKay and Mazurana (2004) note that there is a gender-discriminatory framework at play, which perpetuates the view that girls and women only served as “sex slaves,” “wives,” and “camp followers” while in the bush. They are therefore not eligible for the skills training and schooling made available to male ex-combatants, as part of the DDR process, despite evidence that they had in fact fought alongside men and boys who committed the same acts (McKay & Mazurana, 2004). This parallels similar difficulties among other girls in the region, and should not be seen as an isolated problem. Even when the rigorous use of traditional ceremonies are designed to promote community acceptance, girls and young women continue to be viewed suspiciously, and with contempt, by their family members and neighbors (Akello, 2006; Amnesty International, 2007; Annan et al., 2008; Baines, 2008; Mazurana & McKay, 2004; UNICEF, 2005). The literature also indicates that girl mothers face particular challenges in providing for themselves and their children, due to a lack of education and resources (Annan et al., 2008; McKay & Mazurana, 2004). Again, despite participation in reintegration ceremonies, girl mothers in Northern Uganda face rejection by former husbands, and with their children are often threatened and abused by family and community members (Annan et al., 2008; Mazurana & McKay, 2004). In order to avoid threats and potential re-abduction by the LRA and their captor “husbands,” girl mothers often move to distant communities and avoid living or associating themselves with other girl mothers to avoid negative attention. Yet by living in isolation, these mothers are prone to depression and feelings of hopelessness (Annan et al., 2009; Betancourt & Khan, 2008). Other studies indicate that formerly abducted girls and women exhibit difficulty in abiding by the cultural norms and gender-specific roles of their communities after having lived as combatants in the bush for extended periods of time. Some may then be prone to violent outbursts. These psychological symptoms are also cited as a source of difficulty in achieving acceptance as members within their communities (Annan et al., 2008; Baines, 2008; Kryger, 2011; Mazurana et al., 2002; McKay, 2004; McKay & Mazurana, 2004; Vinck et al., 2007). A recently published study focusing exclusively on women and girls returning from LRA captivity however challenged these notions in the years following the amnesty and return of the population from the IDP camps (Annan et al., 2011). The study noted the tendency toward psychosocial resilience among these women and girls, especially amongst those who returned as mothers, specifically contradicting earlier findings. The study points out that one factor not studied or considered, is that those who were unable to find correlates to resilience, may have died or been killed in captivity and that the capacity for survival itself should be understood. Still that does not explain the relatively positive coping shown by the populations in the intervening years between 2008 and the present study. Participants of the study were asked to define economic well-being as well as psychological and social difficulties. The study did not look at the effectiveness of the various psychosocial programs in which the formerly abducted may have participated and therefore stopped short of developing specific indicators for psychosocial well-being, leaving them for future studies such as this one. These may be significant as they may help to account for the relatively positive findings only four years after the more negative ones. Stay in the forum for Series fifty-one on the way ------> EM On the 49th Parallel Thé Mulindwas Communication Group "With Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja and Dr. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda is in anarchy" Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi "Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja na Dk. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda ni katika machafuko"
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