An appeal from our District's Peace Scholar - Francesca Del Mese

As raised at the Dist. Foundation Rally, 14 Nov 2007

How you can support in the education of victims of abduction in N. Uganda - just £400 to £600 can help rehabilitate one person.

Dear Friends,
 
......... Thank you for making me feel so welcome when I came to speak to you at the Rotary meeting last week. It was wonderful to meet you all.
 

As you are aware, I have started an education sponsorship project in Gulu, Uganda, which will enable former abductees the chance to pick their lives up again after experiencing the traumas of war. This project came about because the Rotary Peace Scholarship allowed me to develop my research into children affected by war, specifically those forced to fight and those enslaved for sexual exploitation purposes, focusing specifically on Sub-Saharan Africa.  Recently I went to Northern Uganda with Baroness Cox in an advisory capacity in my role as a barrister, and met with local groups made up of Ugandans who are trying to encourage peace building efforts, as well as visit the internal displacement camps. .

After having interviewed a number of young adults who were themselves abducted by rebels, forced to fight and sometimes orphaned by the same people who captured them, I was so horrified that these young people have returned to lives of poverty that I have set up an education assistance programme. I stress that this is a new project and is not a project already being run by the NGO I have been involved with, they have kindly offered to help without any costs. I asked a local group called the 'concerned parents association' to choose several young people who have had the most formative years of their lives torn away, and who now really would like the chance to gain an education, or return to secondary school in order to finish their basic education. Some of these young people were very good students before they were abducted and are now the main breadwinners of their families, engaging in jobs such as picking up litter to earn a living as well as look after orphaned siblings.
 
The young people shown in the attached document are the result of the volunteers spending a lot of time and effort going out into the most vulnerable areas surrounding Gulu, which was one of the worst hit areas in the war. I said that I wanted young people who are quite specific about what they would like to do, and have a real desire to either learn a trade or gain a better education.
 
Given that this project in its infancy, the best idea is for the recipients of this email to have a look at the list and then inform me which of the young people they would like to sponsor, if at all, so that I can then give the Ugandans the good news and start the ball rolling. When considering sponsorship please bear the following in mind:-

1) You are radically changing someone's life for the better and you may never know how much your contribution has blessed the recipient!

2) Please only commit to assisting one of these young people if you are prepared either alone, with your Rotary club or with your friends to see it through so that the recipient can finish their education, specified in the attached document. The most devastating thing would be for the recipient to be left hanging mid-course with no way of continuing.
 
3) I will endeavour to obtain receipts etc for you as I strongly wish for the money to go straight to the education institution concerned. This is why this project is such a unique opportunity; your money is not going to a big pot where much of the funding will go to admin costs. Here there are no admin costs as myself and the CPA are coordinating this. If in future they request a small admin fee I will acquiesce to this, although at present all the funding will go direct to the recipient's education.
 
4) It is up to you how frequently you wish to pay. Some people prefer to pay by year, so this gives impetus for the student to do well and keep studying. The minimum I would like you pay is per term, with the understanding that you are prepared to continue.
 
5) Please specify if you would like your student to keep in touch with you, and for you to receive periodical reports about how they are progressing in their chosen institution. They were keen to be involved with their donors, and I suggest that this is a great opportunity to engage with wonderful Ugandans.
 
 
NEXT STEPS:-

Please have a look at the attached document and let me know which young person you would like to sponsor. If that young person has already been chosen by another donor I will of course let you know so that you can choose an alternative one. If you do not mind which young person you choose, then I will allocate one for you. When you respond please let me know

a) who you are
b) which young person you would like to sponsor
c) How often you would like to make payments
d) Whether you would like to have contact with the young person concerned.
 
For more background information on the war in Uganda read the following:-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/crossing_continents/1003463.stm
http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/intcam/tunion/1999/uganda.htm
 
Please get back to me if there are any questions you wish to ask!
Warm regards,
Francesca Del Mese

francescadelmese@hotmail.com

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