A New Resource: Uganda: “Today You Will Understand” – Women’s War Stories From Northern Uganda: An IRIN Booklet And Audio CD
“Today you will understand” is a unique collection of 16 true stories related viaradio interviews conducted jointly by IRIN’s radio project in northern Uganda andmembers of FEMRITE, the Uganda Women Writers’ Association.
The women and girls tell of being raped, shot, disabled, displaced, abused and enslaved, of witnessing their loved ones being killed in front of them, and being burdened with the responsibility of raising their children alone in abject poverty.
Rose describes being gang-raped by LRA rebels when she was pregnant and later givingbirth alone under a tree. She tied the baby’s umbilical cord using a thread fromher hair braids. “My heart got hardened on realizing that it was a boy. I wantedto throw it away. But God touched my heart and I decided to just carry it sincethe child was innocent. You cannot run away from what is yours.”
Transcribed from the audio testimonies, the women’s voices in this booklet comethrough with the starkness and intimacy they carried in the original radio interviews.
IRIN has worked in northern Uganda for the past year, seeking to provide humanitarianinformation in support of the peace process to local communities and at the sametime to enable the voices of local people to be heard by as wide an audience aspossible.
FEMRITE coordinator Hilda Twongyeirwe, said: “Sharing and publishing these storiesis one way of raising awareness about the atrocities of war and making the worldreflect more closely on what happens in armed conflict.”
For further information (and to access this resource), please visit http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79306