MISSIONER NEWSLETTER – Spring 2025

Marj Humphrey, Uganda

Marj Humphrey meets with a parish social worker in Gulu, Uganda. Marj, along with missioner Joanne Blaney, is working with local leaders there on restorative justice and nonviolent conflict resolution.

Greetings from Northern Uganda, where, at the invitation of the Archdiocese of Gulu, lay missioner Joanne Blaney and I have been working together with the diocesan justice and peace team to train local parish and community leaders in Trauma Healing, Nonviolence, and Restorative Justice. I would like to share with you more information about the suffering of the people of Uganda and the theory behind our work.

OUR CONTEXT

“The Internally Displaced People’s Camps had closed, the guns had gone silent, and as a result nearly all of the international donors had packed up and moved on to other crisis areas… Few realized just how great were the challenges of rebuilding communities torn apart by kidnapping, forced relocation, and decades of war…. Disputes over land, mistrust toward former soldiers on all sides, and hostility toward children born in the camps of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) soldiers divided families and communities….” (From John Ashcrofts’s biography of Gulu Archbishop John Baptist Odama, “STOP FIGHTING START TALKING”)

The current director of the justice and peace team here, Yasinto Okot, said recently, “Our history is violence, violence, violence.” Another person said, “Our history is written in blood.” But this area is also home to so many heroes and heroines—most the rest of the world will never know.

Primary among them are the local people themselves who have never stopped trying to care for one another and have risked their lives for children, neighbors, and family members.

Among them is also Archbishop John Baptiste Odama, who devoted his life, and risked his life, for his “flock” during these horrendous years. His story, as well as those of other religious leaders, are topics for another letter or two.

Women in Gulu gather to share their stories. Many of them were abducted as children, endured years of abuse, and now seek community and healing after decades of isolation.

Entire generations here have suffered horrific violence, and many people have developed coping skills to deal with their suffering. However, structural and interpersonal violence continues in the communities, contributing to trauma, anger, and desire for vengeance.

The participants seeking training were all in one way or another affected by what they call “the insurgency,” which was the reign of terror carried out for over 20 years on their communities by the Lord’s Resistance Army.

Their testimonies and experiences were the backbone of our time together. Many were victims, some were children abducted to be child soldiers, but many recall the anguish of their lost childhood spent hiding at night in the forests to avoid being abducted. Most had family members tortured, brutally beaten, and killed.

The Gulu area is largely populated by a Nilotic tribe called the Acholi. I first came to know the Acholi people when I served in Southern Sudan in the 1990’s, just over the Ugandan border, during a prolonged period of civil war. The Acholi of Northern Uganda have historically been the victims of unspeakable brutality and violence—going back to the time of Idi Amin, through the reign of terror of the Lord’s Resistance Army, and currently being the targets of cattle-raiding and land-grabbing by other clans and tribes.

At the time, returned lay missioner Dr. Susan Nagele and I were offering medical and health care in camps for displaced people. The atrocities happening (the LRA’s brutalization, kidnapping, raping, murdering, and torturing of the local populations) just over the border, in Uganda, with incursions into our area as well at times, were being carried out throughout our time and beyond.

Reflecting on my current presence here, Susan said recently, “The Acholi, especially the women, are a group with hurt so deep it almost cannot be plumbed.”

WHAT IS RESTORATIVE JUSTICE?

“It is impossible for peace to exist without dialogue. All the wars, all the strife, all the unsolved problems over which we clash are due to a lack of dialogue. When there is a problem, talk: this makes peace.” — Pope Francis

Many of you have asked me to describe Trauma Healing and Restorative Justice Theory. It is a complex topic, which, in simple terms, helps people who have been harmed to find a way to repair that harm and ultimately work towards restoring human dignity to those involved.

As I was struggling to find a way to explain, I suddenly remembered Precious Ramotswe! Those of you who have enjoyed the insightful (and also enjoyable) “No. 1 Ladie’s Detective Agency Series” over the years may recall the healing and restorative ways that Precious, the “traditionally built” lady detective and heroine, has dealt with those who have harmed others, and those who have suffered the harm.

For inevitably, once the facts of the case are known and understood by all involved, Precious ultimately seeks a mutually agreeable way for the harm to be repaired, relationships to be restored when possible, and each person to understand the humanity and dignity of the other.

Certainly, this is a very simplified explanation of Restorative Justice, but overall, we see how general principles are applied, which are the basis of how the principles are applied the world over in very serious and violent encounters among people or groups.

These restorative “circles” are quite different than the “retributive justice” that we are most often accustomed, which is based on a judgment that punishes people and seeks vengeance.

We now know, from decades of situations the world over, that before restorative justice can be carried out, the many people involved need to understand trauma and be healed of traumatic pasts and deep-seated anger for true restoration of self to occur.

The method has been successfully used as part of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa, and in the healing of the severe trauma and violence in Rwanda.

The purpose is to resolve issues in a manner that does not rely on vengeance, but rather a forgiveness that allows people to move forward from the past and not fall back into vicious cycles of repeat violence.

Survivors of war share their stories with vulnerability and courage. They crave connection—being heard is part of healing.

TRAUMA HEALING AND ACHOLI WOMEN

On International Women’s Day, we were invited by Comboni Sr. Giovanna Calabria to share and listen to the stories of 30 women whom she has accompanied for years.

Sr. Giovanna arrived in Uganda from Italy in 1971. During the worst years of the insurgency when many fled, she remained to serve those in need.

These women were abducted when they were children or teenagers, by LRA rebels. All were sexually and physically abused, and many spent more than 10 years in captivity in these conditions.

The abducted women rendered us silent as they told not only of their ordeals but of their resultant stigmatization and societal rejection as they escaped, one by one over time, bringing with them their children fathered by the LRA soldiers.

They did not meet welcoming embraces when they tried to return to their families, but instead they were greeted by rejection and judgment. Their children had been born in the bush during their captivity, and they brought these children with them when they escaped, but they have never been welcomed “home” into their families and clans, because they were seen as cursed. The children, many adolescent and young adults now, did not attend school.

More than 20 years later, they remain isolated and stigmatized members of society with no land for settling and raising food.

Several women said this sweeping rejection has been one of the hardest parts, saying that what they crave most is human connectedness and belonging.

They expressed gratitude for our listening hearts. We were so privileged and honored to hear and honor their stories. Multiple times, they expressed their gratitude to Sr. Giovanna, who “has accompanied us and given us hope.”

Since that day, we have met with approximately 200 of these women. The depth of this experience is too much for this letter, and I need more time to reflect upon it and process. I hope to write more in my next letter.

I can only say, at this time, that my days have been filled with profound encounters with groups and individuals who have courageously begun to tell their stories and try to get in touch with their own deep, long-held anger and the unrelenting trauma that continues to affect their daily lives.

What a privilege it has been to be entrusted with so many people’s deepest feelings, fears, struggles, and pain. This is Holy Ground. As a close friend of mine just wrote “…everyone needs someone to know their deepest suffering, even if, or especially if, it cannot be changed.”

Please pray for me, and especially for the people of this deeply wounded community. Our experience teaches us that yes, talking brings peace.

I am deeply grateful to all of you for your support and encouraging words during this time.

It has been a profound encounter with people and a culture deeply rooted in faith and with great hope in a Loving Spirit they feel has been with them throughout, and continues to be.