THE FIRST SUGGETION...

The current surge of Ebola problems has caused quite a stir in the country. you would think that with all the CHOGM money the government would afford to contain the situation, if not with ease then with difficulty, you know?

But clearly I digress,for that is not my concern today. I am asking what do you do about close to 2 million people displaced from their homes after 20 year of civil conflict? What can an ordinary person do to change this kind of situation? When a war has taken everything you have ever had and considered dear you have little to live for and /or die for. You have no land and you have no pride.

I will tell you what one man did. In 1996. A man chose a path that many would not. After having his village ravaged and burnt to cinders, this man chose (we always have a choice) to have hope. He went out and sought for a solution that he as an individual could do to make the burden lighter, if not for him, for other war-affected people. He and friends bought land and started a Child Soldier Refugee Center, not for himself but for the homeless and war affected children of Gulu. For the children who walked miles into town every night to sleep on the verandahs and streets of Gulu town; for those who had been forced to commit attrocities against loved ones; for who had been loved and lost to a senseless war.

Today the Hope North Camp located in Masindi town about 3 hours North of Kampala is today a haven for the war-affected and AIDS-orphaned children of Gulu. By housing and taking care of 250 children the camp is giving them a chance to live the joyful moments of childhood that allow us to be fully human.

The Camp provides technical education, formal education and life-skills training for the children. By allowing them to learn that they too have the right to be children, we learn with them and by looking through their eyes we see

Their Art;

Their deams;

Their aspirations;

Their future.

One man has chosen where he wants to go, he has chosen to write his name in the sands of time. I feel that Sam Okello deserves special mention for all the work he has put in to see his dream come to where it is...and where it is going; with partners Realta, CBU, Phillips Art Gallery, friends from Austria and around the world!

You deserve special mention Because your sugestion worked!