Over the last twenty years 2 million Northern Ugandans have been forced to leave their homes for fear of attack by rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army.  They are living in huge overcrowded camps.

At last, the LRA have laid down their weapons and peace talks continue between them and the Ugandan government.  Gradually the people are going back to their villages, or in many cases the site of their villages – nothing and no one was safe from LRA attack.  The people are rebuilding their homes and beginning to get back on their feet again.

In many villages the schools have either been totally destroyed or are in a terrible state of repair.  It is vital that the schools can function properly, because without education the people of Northern Uganda cannot possibly hope to restore the area to its previous prosperity.  Just about every family has been affected by HIV/AIDS and/or LRA violence, thus creating thousands of orphans and child-headed families.

Gulu is a small town where the Comboni Samaritans are based.  The Comboni Samaritans are a community based organisation made up of 40 local people who have been mentored by the Comboni Sisters.  They have achieved considerable success and last year won second prize in a Ugandan government NGO awards programme for best practice and financial transparency.

They are running a number of projects and over the last two years IRT has supported their health and orphans programmes.  We are now concentrating our resources on the Samaritans’ primary education programme.   Over the coming three years we are going to pay for:

• Building 7 classrooms in six primary schools
• Building 14 latrines in each of the six schools
• Provision of desks, chairs, text books and sports equipment
• Establishment of simple income-generating projects at each school
• Cost of 300 orphans to attend school - uniform, exercise books, exam fees