BRIEF BACKGROUND OF THE SECURITY SITUATION IN ACHOLI:
The little known but atrocious war which has existed in Northern Uganda for the last two decades (i.e. since 1986) has been as a result of conflict between the rebel group of Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) led by religious fanatic Joseph Kony and the government of Uganda. The conflict affected the local population in the districts of Gulu (Amuru
) Pader and Kitgum. The rebels have been mainly targeting civilians carrying out massacres, ambushing vehicles, planting landmines, and abducting people mainly young ones as their recruits, and making them kill members of their households to initiate them into the culture of murder. These resulted in the destruction properties, loss of lives, and displacement of local communities. Consequently, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps were created as safe havens to re-locate to several IDPs within Northern Uganda. Impoverished women, children, youth, landmines/bomb blast survivors, and disabled persons are among the vulnerable groups that emerged. The persistent war in Northern Uganda has taken its toll on children, women and the community as a whole. The children through abduction and forceful recruitment into rebel ranks as fighters, porters and wives of rebels bore the brunt of this war. The anguish, suffering, trauma, starvation that the children have experienced will definitely take a long time to heal. Samaritan Voice is a local Community Based Organization that was founded to address the needs of the vulnerable communities through an integrated health care programs with an overall objective of improving the quality of live of the community through empowering their economic, health and social status. CORE VALUES:
Our five Core values are the driving force behind Samaritan Voice’s business, representing the day- today guidance;
(1) ACCOUNTABILITY and TRANSPARENCY in all our dealings. (3) Pursuit of EXCELLENCE and continuous improvement. (4) Commitment to personal INTEGRITY and improvement. (5) Creating a culture of TEAMWORK. CORE PROGRAMME AREAS (CPAs):
We implement programs in four (4) thematic areas of;
(1) Health and Nutrition. (3) Livelihoods and Food security. (4) Research and Advocacy. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES:
(1) Encouraging the use of safe and clean water to prevent the spread of water- borne diseases through health education on the protection of water sources and sanitation facilities. (2) Provision of high quality diets among infants and adults through encouraging the growing of nutritious food crops to reduce the burdens associated with malnutrition. (3) Eradicating the spread of communicable and non- communicable diseases through Behavior Change Communication (BCC), raising awareness and where applicable, provide diagnosis and treatment to the infected persons. (4) Provision of Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) services such as Antenatal Care (ANC), Safe Medical Male Circumcision and Family Planning to reduce the burdens resulting from Maternal Mortality Rate, HIV infection and unplanned pregnancies. (5) Strengthening the referral system of patients through networking with the relevant line service providers (Government, Non- Governmental Organizations). MOTO: Reaching the Needy, Bringing Hope. SHARED VISION:
“Increasing the availability of a range of high- impact health intervention to the underprivileged community”
