Must Be Heard Firsthand

By: Scott Putler

Over the past two days I have heard two things that made more of an impact on me to hear firsthand, one for the positive and one to the negative.

Last night Dennis Toolit, program coordinator for FoDU, talked to our group about his experience during the war in Northern Uganda with the LRA.  I had heard about it and even tried to read the books Kill Your Family First and Children Soldiers...those were tough. However when Dennis explained it firsthand it broke my heart so much more. To hear him tell about his cousin being abducted and not knowing if he was alive or dead. Others being abducted and having their arms cut off depending on a short sleeved or longed sleeved shirt. And so many other stories he told. But as he said, the war is over and this is no longer that Northern Uganda. Fields of Dreams is providing hope for these children that were victims of the war or have parents that have been through the war. Hearing Dennis' story gives all the reason that FoDU must be providing this hope in Gulu. Dennis will graduate from University later this year and truly has a passion for the children of Northern Uganda in Gulu. He is an examples of light coming out of darkness and evil.

The second thing happened today. As you may or may not know Fields of Dreams Uganda provides hygiene kits to the girls at their partner schools. This past February was the first time that the girls in Gulu received this. Today we had three girls, two at Gulu PTC and one at Pageya share their experiences with these kits. All three girls were very appreciative of the kit and talked about how the hygiene kits allow them to attend school during their menstruation period. Before these kits,

they would use whatever they could find, leaves or pages from books, and would not attend school. I knew about this project but I did not grasp the full impact of this project until I heard these girls speak today.

There are some things that you can read about or hear about second hand, but then there are others that you must experience to truly grasp.