City resident plans return trip to war-torn Uganda this fall
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
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Some people look at a crisis like the bloody conflict in northern Uganda and throw up their
hands.
Not Rebekah Heacock.
The Lawrence native and Kansas University graduate is planning her second trip to the war-torn nation. And though her contribution may be small, its a start, the 21-year-old said.
Maybe one of these kids will grow up and be the next Nelson Mandela, the legendary former president of South Africa, Heacock said.
Heacock, founder of the Kansas University student group KU for Uganda, is raising money before her September departure. She will live in Uganda for a year, teaching English and working as a health and peace educator in a Ugandan orphanage.
Her future students are AIDS orphans, former enslaved child soldiers and children displaced by the conflict.
Im just happy that Ill be able to equip some of these children with the skills they can use to help themselves later in life, she said.
Salmah Rizvi/Special to the Journal-World
Children from Hope Integrity Orphanage display toys that they received from Lawrence residents as part of The Box Project, a humanitarian project organized by Students for Uganda, a Kansas University student organization. KU students, who visited Uganda last fall, are
planning another trip to the orphanage for September.
Heacock with travel with Lawrence resident and KU graduate Heather Baker.
Last January, Heacock visited the countrys capital, Kampala, and the orphanage. She met the children displaced by war and saw how the conflict hurt them.
Its just as strange for them as it would be for us, she said.
In her future trip, she plans to travel to northern Uganda, which has suffered from civil unrest since the early 1980s, to meet with those living in camps for internally displaced persons.
Heacocks mother, Carolyn Heacock, said she doesnt fear for her daughters safety.
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Im just
excited that shes wanting to put her life into something that has value, Carolyn Heacock said. Im not worried.
Rebekah Heacock said she knows some people feel that one person cant help such a large-scale crisis. The conflict has displaced nearly 2 million people, according to Refugees International, a humanitarian assistance organization.
Special to the Journal-World
Sheila
Bukirwa, left, from Kampala, Uganda, and Kansas University graduate Rebekah Heacock both volunteered at the Hope Integrity Orphanage in Uganda.
She recalled a man she met on her first trip. He had escaped the war and became a teacher. She said she wishes people wouldnt simply write off the crisis but would rather they see hope.
I just wish that more Americans would look at the positive things that come out of situations like this, Heacock said.
Nathan Mack, a member of KU for Uganda, said rarely more than eight people attended the student groups meetings. But the group raised about $5,000 and sent the funds to Uganda, primarily to the orphanage where Heacock will work.
I really think that little things do add up, he said.
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