20 July - Friedis Rehabilitation Centre, Lira

A phone call woke me up. It was 9 am!! I am sure all the adrenalin I used up on Tuesday just knocked me out. Martin and John were waiting. Martin wanted up to try another hotel. It was good advice. We each have a small apartment for the equivalent of $40/night, and though it is not in town, they will drive us where we want to go.



Next, we headed off to Freidis Rehabilitation Center. We were greeted by the director, Christopher, and two other staff members. Christopher told us the story of founding the Centre, a dream of his Norwegian wife (who died in 2009) and himself. Then Joseph gave us detailed information about the programs run by the center. They focus their work on disabled children, war affected children, parent groups, and micro-financing adults. John explained the Unity Project approach, and we saw so much opportunity for collaboration. We spent at least 5 hours there. We are brainstorming ways to make the psycho-social and educational aspects become self-sufficient through business done by those involved.

We waited to meet with a USAID officer, but he did not arrive. It was ok; we were tired after the travel day, and we also had to move to other rooms after we had each settled into a room: John because he was getting two for the price of one (electricity when trying to take a shower – not good!), and me, because my electricity stopped working altogether. I was pleased, because my original room was right next to the generator (there is never 24 hours of continuous town power), and it was very noisy. Tomorrow is very busy, meeting with Esther (director of Children of Hope Uganda), her husband Solomon (director of the Barlonya Technical School), and Grace Akan and her mother Consy (Grace was abducted for 8 years, and her mother was a leader of the Concerned Parents Association).