PERREAULT Magazine August 2014 | Page 54

"We openly defied Joseph Kony and the rebel soldiers and commanders of the Lord’s Resistance Army in their 20-year reign of terror. Since 2002, we have helped more than 2,000 girls who had been previously abducted by the LRA or abandoned by their families”.

Sister Rosemary gives a description the miserable condition of hundreds of young women she serves at Saint Monica girl’s school. She points out that this where her inspiration comes making her to press on year after year.

She joined the communities work to reconstruct among the demolition of the past 25 years, the diverse challenges and needs unique to disarmament and post-conflict have inspired most of the work she undertake as the supervisor of the Girls’ Relief center. The students whom not even that their rights were violated but they have never enjoyed their rights. She points out that they are working day in day out to bring back the girl’s dignity and to provide them with the support and skills they require to proceed on with life.

Sewing Hope

This is documentary movie that was released in 2013. It is an inspiration story produced by filmmaker Derek Watson and narrated by Oscar winner Forest Whitaker. It is developed similar to the Nyirumbe’s book with similar title co-authored by Reggie Whitten, co-founder of Pros for Africa, and professional writer Nancy Henderson (Dust Jacket Press, 2013).. It gives a detailed story of Sister Rosemary’s cause to build again her native nation after more than two decades of war under Lord's Resistance Army.

In a time of 25 years the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) under the lead of Joseph Kony terrorized Northern Uganda. The army kidnapped children and forced them to commit cruel and inhumane actions against their own relatives and

communities. Young girls of up to thirteen years were taken down as sex slaves for the army officers.

Forest Whitaker narrates that after war ended; people remained deeply scarred from the decades of brutal conflict in their homeland. The child soldiers came home to the same communities they committed violent crimes against, and the young women carried with them a constant reminder of their abuse: their captors' children. These girls and their children are often ostracized by their communities, and most lack the skills they need to provide for their families.

In this film, you find a story of one woman's struggle to bring hope back to her nation. Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe. She presides over Saint Monica's Vocational School in Gulu, Uganda. She lived through the horror created by Kony's LRA and now works to heal the wounds he inflicted on her people. She invites formerly abducted girls to Saint Monica's where they learn skills to provide for their families. Through vocational training, these young women gain independence. Through community with their fellow students, they find forgiveness. Through the restoration of their lost futures, they find hope.

Sister Nyirumbe developed a passion to care for others that she would carry through life. She dreams of establishing much more schools in Northern parts Uganda extending Southern Sudan. Starting with the girls under her care, she sees a bright future for her people. In fact, she is dedicated to counteracting violence in her home land.

Awards

Sister Nyirumbe's has earned a spot in TIME Magazine's 2014 "100 Most Influential People" list through her humanitarian work. Also she was identified as a CNN Hero in 2007.

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