Oweka Emmanuel

From Gulu (Acholi sub-region), Northern Uganda

As a child born in captivity the project has helped me to realize that telling my story is important. It will inform people of things they do not know about me, and through this, help in a process of healing from darkness and the difficult situations in life that I have experienced. If I fail to speak about my story, no one will know about it.

If I speak out about my story, tell the world what happened to me and what I went through during childhood, it will be of help to others. It is through hearing about similar experiences that people develop confidence to discuss their own stories. My story can encourage others. If someone joins me to voice our stories at least there must be a change. We will tell the whole world that these acts were done, but something needs to be done about it too.

Finally, I have learnt self-acceptance. This ranges from a lot of things, but most especially being ourselves in whatever situations we go through in life, and being patient with friends, lovers, parents and families.

Skills and experience

I was able to learn a lot of things. Most importantly, I was able to learn how to express myself through sharing out my stories which has help me use my path to strive for a better future. I was able to improve on my interpersonal relations with my friends, and especially my brother and sisters who were able to attend the project. It has help me to identify the kinds of people that I can reach out and seek advice from in case I am feeling low in life. It has helped me also to learn several ways of approaching and building trust with people to share their story. Building a safe environment for someone who feels insecure and always letting the person gain personal trust is so helpful. Above all, I have learned about the spirit of teamwork and kindness irrespective of what someone has gone through and always being able to listen to someone when he /she is speaking. This helps to improve our communication skills and ability to solve problems together and most importantly, it makes us become family to each other.

I have learnt that we always need to forgive and forget in all ways and to have the courage to continue with life. God is always blessing me and showing me the right ways so that I can live a life much better in the future.