BACKGROUND
Between 1986 and 2006, 2 million Acholi people were displaced by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in Northern Uganda. Thousands of people were maimed or massacred. Survivors spent most of this time in camps for internally displaced people.
Today, there is peace in the region. The survivors suffering from post-traumatic stress, have struggled to return to their war torn villages but now are left with no access to education, skills training or livestock.
We have focused on girls eduction since 2011
Children in an IDP camp, Northern Uganda 2008
ABOUT US
Forgotten Peoples Projects was registered as a charity, in England, in 2011 (1143184) with the goal to help the people of Northern Uganda rebuild their lives and become independent and prosperous through training and support.
We run community projects in three villages - Nge Kidi, Paibwo and Potuke.
Our Mission:
To involve people in a collective effort so that they gain confidence and new abilities
To work with marginalised people of any and no faith Northern Uganda
To work with people who share social and economic disadvantages. The groups who share that disadvantage by virtue of living in the same geographical area (a ‘geographical community’), or other common factors, such as a disability or membership of a particular ethnic group (a ‘community of interest’)
To provide opportunities for people to learn through experience
To encourage people in a community through collective effort to take part and develop their own potential
ABOUT OUR FOUNDER - Alex Latim
I was lucky to come to the UK in 1991, when a friend sponsored my airfare. I didn’t know that it would lead to over 15 years separation from my family caused by the war between the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) and the Ugandan Government Forces. The LRA is a rebel sectarian guerrilla army that, since 1987, has been engaged in armed rebellion against the Ugandan government in what is now one of Africa's longest- running conflicts. The LRA is accused of widespread human rights violations, including murder, abduction, mutilation, sexual enslavement of women and children, and forcing children to participate in hostilities.
In 2006 I finally went home to visit my family. I found most of my mother`s relatives living in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps. My father’s relatives were also living in another camp, which was dangerous and difficult to reach.
I was shocked and disturbed by what I found in the camps and vowed to do something to support my family and the wider community as they struggled to survive and contemplate their future.
I returned to the camps in 2009 to discover that most had been closed and the people had returned to their homesteads. Going home was not easy as their houses had been destroyed and there was nothing to go home to. The food handouts from the UN had stopped and people could not even feed their own families.
I met with my family members and the local community to identify their immediate needs and how I could help them. They said that they needed education for the children, skills for the youth and support with farming to feed their families.