In Adjumani, northern Uganda, MAF flights support the work of PEACE International, which runs a primary school for refugee children from South Sudan.
Their team noticed that traumatised pupils were passing on that same trauma to their teachers, which stopped students from learning.
“Every five minutes a child would be fighting,” said school teacher Stella Baru. “The children feared strangers. They said we looked like the people who hurt their families.”
Another teacher, Rebecca, admitted: “I almost left the job. When we tried to stop the children from fighting, they sometimes turned against us, I would arrange the classroom and find it totally disorganised with pupils either fighting or standing on the top of tables – it was total chaos.”
When she realised the problem, Rosemary Khamati, the founder of Peace International, quickly developed a solution.
“We brought a trauma healing expert from Kenya to train our teachers because every time I came, teachers were crying at the staff meetings. They had acquired the secondary trauma,” said Rosemary.
Flights by MAF from its base in Uganda’s capital Kampala to Adjumani help Peace International to deliver quality Christian-based education to more than 800 children and to bring in the support needed to deal with trauma from conflict.
“MAF has helped us to travel easily – and faster – when there’s work to do here,” said Rosemary.
“The first time I came, it took me nine hours to travel from Kampala to this place. Even with a better road now, it still takes seven hours.
“With MAF, I need only one and a half hours – and I’m able to work on a travel day.”
Rosemary’s colleague, Dorothy, is a primary four teacher at the Peace International school who has witnessed the impact of trauma in her students.
“I had five learners in my class who, when they were annoyed, would faint. Sometimes they could not recover until a drip was administered,” said Dorothy.
“Rebecca added, “That training helped us learn how to manage the children. It’s now difficult to find a case of a child fighting. They are very happy children.”
The fruit of this training is also evident in the school’s performance. Last year, the school was among the best performers in the district.
The next step was to bring harmony among the two warring South Sudan refugee tribes, the Nuer and Dinka.
Trauma healing training was extended to community leaders, where Pastor Simon Garang was a beneficiary.
“We were taught that traumatised people traumatise others,” said Simon, who is now preaching reconciliation to the wider South Sudan refugee community in Adjumani.
“I was a soldier in the South Sudan army for 17 years. I’m a changed man now. The hands I used for destruction, I now use them to bless,” he said.
Pastor Tabitha Apat’s husband lost his life while preaching at a church in Woryol village, South Sudan. The children were in the congregation that day, where many others also lost their lives.
“At that time, I hated the Nuer; they were responsible for my husband’s death,” said Tabitha.
“One time I went to a bank and failed to get what I wanted – because the security guard was Nuer. I walked away in tears and anger. But the trauma healing training has transformed our hearts.”
Tabitha and Simon are now equipping other refugees with the knowledge they have acquired. And unlike in the past, the two tribes, the Dinka and the Nuer, can now coexist.
A total of 120 refugees have been equipped in trauma healing so far. Even though it is costly, Rosemary is grateful that this work is changing lives.
On average, MAF flies Rosemary to Adjumani at least once a month to oversee this work.
“We wouldn’t travel here as often as we do if MAF were not available,” she said.
STORY & PHOTOS / DAMALIE HIRWA