Destiny House, Gulu

Ann Wilkings and I visited Destiny House in Gulu - a ministry set up by Hedwig Lee, the widow of Colin Lee, a Bermudian who was murdered by the LRA.

Destiny House currently houses four young ladies who were either abducted and abused by the LRA or raped in their villages. Hedwig’s desire is to bring healing to their lives through teaching and ministry and also to train them in practical ways for a new life.

The ladies are housed for three months and during this time their physical needs are provided for such as medical, clothing, food etc. One of the ladies has a small child with her who was actually born in the bush, his father being a member of the LRA. The children are provided for during the three month period also.

Hedwig’s heart is to train the ladies so that they can then go out and lead other into healing through Christ. On a practical level the ladies are being taught baking, sewing on a machine and stitching, those who cannot read and write are also helped in those areas.

Financial needs and support

One of the immediate needs for the Home is the purchase of items that will enable the ladies to be self sufficient when they leave the house. Some ideas on that line were to buy them a sewing machine and some cloth to begin a sewing business or a clay oven so that they can begin to make bread for sale.

As more ladies go through the programme Hedwig will be looking for other ideas that the ladies can adopt for their future ‘businesses’.

Another ongoing need is the costs involved in running the ministry which, including rent, is approximately US$1400 a month.

Visit to IDP Camp

There are approximately 600 camps with numbers in the camps varying from 600 to 46,000 in the largest camp.

The camp we visited was an off shoot of a larger camp so was more organized and held around 600 people. Most of the people are now ready to venture outside the camp during the day to ‘dig’ the land. The Acholi people are farmers and live off the land. However everyone returns to the safety of the camp at night fall.

When we asked the leader of the camp the most pressing needs he said farming tools - like rakes and hoes and bore holes for clean water in the villages.

The camps have bore holes for water but if the people are to relocate they need fresh water in the villages where they came from.

Visit to school for children abducted by LRA

The school is run by the Ugandan Government and built by the Government of Belgium.

The school has children from approximately 3 years old to 18 years.

All have been scarred either physically or emotionally by the LRA.

Although the school is non Christian they are completely open to the Gospel being shared. I accompanied two young men from KPC Church who have permission to do a weekly Bible study with the 10 to 13 year olds.

The physical needs of the children are obviously being met but I would say they need more ministry for their emotions and also continued teaching from the Word of God.

The children requested to have their own Bibles to bring to the study and to read in their own time.

Children orphaned by the LRA attacks

Obviously one of the greatest needs in the area will be to provide care for those children whose parents have either been abducted by the LRA or were killed in the attacks on villages.

I met one such boy on the streets of Gulu looking after his young sibling. His name was Geoffrey and he had a beautiful smile and spoke English very well. When I asked if he learnt English at school he said yes but he no longer can go to school. I asked him why - where were his parents? He looked to the ground and I said “Have they been killed”, he sadly answered yes.

These children need somewhere safe to live, clothing, food, and education and above all LOVE!! With the hope that eventually they will be placed, if possible, with kind, loving Christian foster parents.

Submitted by:

Christine Atcheson
July 2008

Click here for pictures of the trip. Find out here how you can give a gift to these young women and orphans.