On our film trip, we wanted to tell the story of one of the families who will benefit from
Hope Partners Africa. Mama Stephanie (in the middle) shares her family's story below.
"My Name is Amisa Mulengezi Stephanie. I am coming from
Congo, a town called Bukavu. My story is too long I will only tell you a part
of it. Men came into my house with weapons, they raped me. Imagine a mother of
my age, being raped by men that I don’t even know, before my children, before
my boys, before everybody…. They raped my daughter who was only 14, she got
pregnant and she has now a child. In my town I used to have a good life, my
children were going to school. And I didn’t imagine that I would be a refugee
one day. But because I was raped there I was obliged to come here in Uganda.
And now that I was raped before my husband and my children my life is very
difficult. I came here with all my family and I am living with them. Before I
came here I used to help my husband with his business. The hardest part of
being here is to be a refugee, I couldn’t imagine that one day I will be a
refugee. My children are not studying, they are failing even to eat every day.
Even water to drink we have to buy. And I cannot even do anything about it.
Life it is very hard. In my family my life it is very difficult. All because
they raped me in the presence of my husband. Since then my husband doesn’t
consider me like a woman, I am just a worthless thing in his eyes. And when my
daughter delivered, her boy wasn’t accepted by the family. He and my daughter
who was raped have a lot of problems in the family. Even today, that wound that
I am carrying in my heart is still bleeding. When I flew from Congo, I didn’t
leave war there, I came with my own war inside myself. And I am living that war
every day. I would like you to help me to remove that war that I am carrying
everywhere. To those women who are praying for me I am very grateful to God who
planned them to meet me. Because it was His plan to not let me being killed in
Congo and to send people to come and to listen to me. And he planned people to
have only on family called ‘ Love’. That is why he sent Achille, then Herbert
and then all those peope who are coming. And now you are bringing me back to
life. And I am grateful for that."
Through trauma therapy provided by Christian psychologists along with micro enterprise opportunities that double as occupational therapy, we are seeking to provide hope in the middle of despair. Here two of the psychologists and I are sharing with our plans to serve this and families and others like them.
They were so encouraged that people in other areas of the world cared about them and wanted to help.
This beautiful energetic boy, Josh, is the product of such a dark tragedy, but reminds me that God is able to redeem any situation.
God allowed us to encourage this family with a couple months of rice and beans.
Here we are interviewing a Psychologist on the depth of the need for trauma therapy within these camps.
Right now the only way that refugees can get therapy is to pay to travel outside the camp and pay for the counseling. This is impossible for the vast majority of refugees who are struggling to buy food and water for their families. We hope to employ professional and peer counselors within the camp as a service to the refugees.
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