Due to a 20-year-old insurgency or guerrilla war in the northern part of the country, the Gulu district has been one of the most disadvantaged districts in Uganda.  For over two decades now, those who suffer the most as a result of this ongoing conflict are girls, young women and boys who are abducted and taken into the bush by rebel soldiers, known as the Lord's Resistance Army ("LRA").  The LRA has become infamous for its brutality, cutting off of people's hands, feet, ears and noses as well as terrorizing much of northern Uganda.    But perhaps their worst acts are the large-scale abduction of young children.  Parents so fear their children's capture that they send the children to town centers where the government has troops to protect them.  These "night commuters" number in the thousands.  Abducted girls and women are usually forced to become wives of the rebels, if they survive.  Boys, on the other hand, are tortured and forced to join the rebels’ army against their will.  Both boys and girls may be forced to kill, even their own parents and siblings. 

A few of these unfortunate young people will actually manage to escape and find their way home while others are sometimes lucky enough to be released. Those who do make it home will most likely find that one or both of their parents are missing, either because they are displaced, abducted or even killed.  Often, these children fear going home because of what they were forced to do by the LRA.  Girls coming back with babies are even sometimes rejected by their families and are thus in a desperate condition.

Most of the young people who survive do so after having lost the opportunity to get any sort of basic education or formal training.  Many girls and young women will find themselves helpless as single mothers without any means of support.  This, coupled with the Luo culture which provides very little opportunity for girls to go to school or go on with their studies, makes the position of these girls and young women very vulnerable.

The St. Monica Girls’ Tailoring Centre (the Centre) is a vocational training school that was started by Italian Missionary Sisters in 1975. The purpose for establishing this institution was the promotion of disadvantaged girls and young women in the pursuit of self-fulfillment and social justice.  Today, the Centre is run by African nuns, part of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  Through home management and vocational training, the Centre attempts to provide disadvantaged girls and young women in Gulu with necessary life skills and training.  As Sister Rosemary, the Centre Director says, "We need to develop people so they can cope with the future.  Many of these girls are not accepted by their families when they return from the bush.  We want to give these girls a chance to survive and succeed as well as helping them to learn to love the babies they have been forced to have."

In its attempt to improve the lives of these girls and young women, the Centre is faced with a number of material and financial problems.  Only being able to offer tailoring and home management training does not provide enough opportunity for everyone who comes to the Centre.  Also, the Centre has not been able to become self-sustaining and relies heavily on volunteers and donations to operate.   

The Centre has recently started addressing these and several other concerns, but WE NEED YOUR HELP!  We are calling upon volunteers, donors and well-wishers, both locally and internationally to join together with us in our quest to improve the lives of disadvantaged girls and young women in Northern Uganda. Your support is greatly appreciated...