ISSN 1710-6931 June 30, 2006 Issue 76
FEATURE ARTICLES

Refugee Trainers Receive HIV/AIDS Awareness Training

by Dieudonné Amisi Mutambala
RESPECT DRC-Burundi Coordinator

On Sunday, April 9, 2006, an event whose planning started in 2005, began with a welcoming ceremony. Entertainment was provided by different groups who came to Baraka Catholic Parish for the occasion. So began the HIV/AIDS training for about sixty participants.

The training was the result of a collaboration between Working To Empower, RESPECT International, RESPECT DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo), and ArtHum (Artists for Humanity). The training was led by Logan Cochrane, Director of Working To Empower. As RESPECT DRC Coordinator, I directly assisted Logan and served as an interpret and translator. HIV/AIDS

Drama Talent Displayed During Art Celebration Show

by Anthony M. Barlee
Program Coordinator, RESPECT Ghana

Professor Daniel Banks of the Ticsh School of the Arts and the University of Ghana, with some of his students, accepted a proposal from RESPECT Ghana to lead a series of workshops. The workshops in dramatic arts were attended by students from nine schools. Art Celebration

Construction Begins on Resource Center and Library

by Anjani Sarma
To Love Children Volunteer

In the midst of strife-ridden Gulu district in Northern Uganda, the construction of the Universal African Resource Center and Library (UARCL) supported by To Love Children (TLC) offers a ray of hope for the children of northern Uganda. The resource center aims to reach the most vulnerable girl child, and bridge the gap in education and health created by 20 years of conflict. Resource Center

PHOTO GALLERY

UARCL construction

Construction of the Universal African Resource Center and Library (UARCL) supported by To Love Children (TLC) began in May 2006. It is expected to be completed in July and TLC hopes the center will open for use in November 2006.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Final Entries Received

After a delay of almost three months, we have finally received the last of the poster contest entries. Now it is up to the judges to determine the winners.

The winners of the contest will be announced on our website, respectrefugees.org and in a future issue of this e-Zine.

AFFILIATES

Visiting Northern Uganda

by Logan Cochrane

Amidst the awesome beauty of a lush mountainous environment, a force has been terrorizing its inhabitants for nearly twenty years. The LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) is a band of rebels who abduct people for the sake of expanding their military prowess or merely for the sake of temporary transport labor.

Currently, they have begun peace talks in Sudan, but for the past two decades they have made fear such a common feeling that the people living in Agoro don't know life without it. People have left their homes, leaving villages totally abandoned, moving to central locations where the government soldiers can provide some protection. Such measures still have not resulted in any form of safety; the weekend before my arrival two young women were abducted.

Due to the need for food, the internally displaced people (IDPs) walk some distance each morning around nine o'clock to a place for cultivation, making sure to return to camp by two in the afternoon so as not to become the next person not to return home.

I arrived after a fourteen-hour bus journey from Nairobi, Kenya, to Kampala where I boarded a second bus for a ten-hour trip to the northern region of Uganda. Warmly greeted by an amazing group of organized and passionate volunteers, I was impressed with the Agoro Community Development Association (ACDA) a non-governmental organization (NGO). Northern Uganda

As in any newsletter or magazine, RESPECT e-zine is committed to striving for interesting articles and announcements concerning refugee issues all around the world.

If you have any suggestions or would like to contribute an article, contact the e-Zine editor, Will Wallace, at editor@respectrefugees.org.

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