Building Peace and Resilience in Uganda
Posted on 28/05/2009 | 1 Comments
The United Nations has called the situation in northern Uganda the most neglected humanitarian crisis in the world. The 20-year civil war between government forces and a rebel group known as the Lord’s Resistance Army has victimized tens of thousands of youth, destroyed families and fractured communities. The recent decrease in armed conflict has left the region with a difficult question: how do you teach peace to a generation who has known nothing but war? The future of this region is in its youth! Many young people have been traumatized as victims and as perpetrators of violence. They have grown up knowing fear, now they need to learn to adapt to a less frightening world and to help each other heal. 
Last year, the Dalhousie International Health Office (IHO) and Section of International Psychiatry: Youth Coalition for Peace participated in a joint project with the Canadian Physicians for Aid Relief (CPAR) and Gulu University. Their goal was to work with affected youth, communities and non-governmental organizations to help build a climate supporting sustainable peace in Northern Uganda. Using a youth peer counselling model, our team developed a training program to integrate mental health into local peace-building efforts and establish community activities to address these issues in a non-stigmatizing manner. Given the important role that sport plays in Ugandan communities, soccer was identified as tool to engage youth and teach peace-building skills such as teamwork and conflict resolution. My Daughter, Leah Kutcher - captain of the 2006 Dalhousie women’s soccer team - worked with Katie Orr at the Dalhousie International Health Office and coach Graham Chandler to send extra uniforms, equipment and soccer balls to Ugandan teams who lacked the materials needed to play. The Halifax City Soccer Club also contributed uniforms and equipment. 
A program update from CPAR earlier this year reported that the uniforms and equipment were successfully distributed to youth teams in Laiby and Bungaterra. The update also reported the establishment of many community-organized sports, music and drama programs and Peace Clubs, allowing Ugandan youth to finally start building a better, more peaceful future. Since then Stan Football Club (Stan FC) is thriving! Their latest blog entry is evidence of their success:
Stan football club players were honored by youth coalition for peace (YCFP), a community-based organization working (CBO) in northern Uganda to participate in a five-day children soccer camp for peace. Players are learning lots of new skills and rules for fair play that can foster harmony and sustainable youth participation in sport for development. The camp is being facilitated by professional coaches from Canada.
They have some great photos posted on their site too! ~ Dr. Stan Kutcher
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This is a great set of comments and rings very true.
I totally agree that scientists (just like everyone else) have their biases and foibles. After all, scientists are human beings too! But science is different than scientists.
The scientific method is the most objective frame that we have by which to evaluate and predict. Science is not about finding truth. It is only about being less wrong most of the time. The scientific method (experimental design and mathematics) gives us the ability to test what we believe. The scientific method is not used to prove something is correct, on the contrary, the scientific method is designed to prove that something is not correct! It is designed to test what is called the “null hypothesis”. It takes ideas that come out of left field (or wherever else they come from) and puts those ideas to an independent test.
t does not drive our beliefs. It does however challenge our beliefs. In that way it is self-correcting. Of course scientific inquiry and understanding lives within a wider social context. That is one of the great features of science.
But gravity is gravity, social context notwithstanding. And thus it is nasty, brutish and long. As Brecht said, (something like this) - the purpose of science is to save us from everlasting error.
By Christina Carew on May 11th
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We would like to say thanks...
Without their help this initiative would not be possible. Thanks for you help.
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Richard Anguyo said...
It is so amazing how sports can harmonize and unit two conflicting parties and if i may call enemies. i had such an experience in Karamoja, North eastern Uganda where the Worriors (Karachuna) have been in war with the disarmerment team of Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF), the national army, and also the intetribal raids among the dodoth, jie and pokot clans. this different clans and the army have been in clash for a long time and couldn’t see face to face. During my time for pastoral work in Panyangara parish in Kotido district, One Mill Hill Priest, Fr. Gerry Hastie introduced football club at the parish for the youth and within no time, worriors from different clans and the army were mixing freely and playing football together. the once real enemies started befriending each other and within weeks, soldiers and the worriers were friends, worriers from different conflicting clans could for once visit each other. how amazing simple games like football can help to build peace in the worst conflicts. from that experience i always ask myself, why should we look far in getting solutions for conflicts when simple get togethers can solve them?
Comment made on August 05th, 2010
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