spoken by Aber Betty (name changed) and transcribed by ILA staff
I am 42 years old. My mother died when I was 2 years old and I was left under the care of my grandmother. She took me to Acholi Quarter in the year 1987 when I was only 5 years old. I remember on the day we were going to Kampala, my grandmother carried me on her back as we walked from Kitgum to Gulu. On our way, we entered into an ambush of the Lord’s Resistance Army (rebels) and they started firing bullets, so as we were running, I was on my grandmother’s back and she also held my cousin’s hand. Unfortunately, a stray bullet hit him and he fell down and died instantly. My grandmother left his hand and we continued running, that trauma never left me.
We went on with the journey and until we reached Kampala. There was no proper housing, we used to sleep 6 people in a small box house, life was hard. Amidst the hardship, I grew up and decided to get married, thinking that life would be better but it was the beginning of another phase of pain in my life. My marriage lasted for only a few years and my husband died in the year 2013 from cancer and left me with 3 children. I had nothing to sustain the family, I felt stuck and wanted to kill myself because life seemed worthless. I even questioned the existence of God at some point when the house collapsed on my children when I had gone to the market, luckily no one died. I was already going through a lot and again I was the same person who didn’t have shelter.
I became desperate and again decided to remarry and gave birth to 2 more children. Life worsened because this time my husband deserted me with all the children. Taking care of 5 children single handedly was breaking me apart, so I went to live at the house which my grandmother built before she died, my other relatives also lived there. This was where I heard about ILA Uganda program starting, I went and attended their Empower program and learned a lot from it. I thought I was the only one who was going through hard times but during the program, I learnt that my situation was much better compared to others and that changed my perception about life. I learnt about forgiveness, prayers, hope, and planning and working hard to achieve the plans. These has helped me and it’s still helping me.
I now take care of my children well and do the best I can do for their education, hoping tomorrow will be better. When I had about the Resettlement program, I thought that would be the best opportunity for me and my children and so I registered for it and went through all the formalities. I thank God that I am looking forward for my resettlement with excitement joining my first born son who already went ahead. I am grateful for all the things ILA Uganda has done for me.
