Final Report from BHW Uganda Partnership Facilitator

It is with very mixed feelings that we write this report, which will be the final report for Hope Restoration Centre. Normally, when we write reports for our website, those reports are written in the third person and are about conveying information about what is going on with our partners and the people and communities that they are working with. This is not that type of final report.

Our involvement with Hope Restoration Centre has now come to an end. The reason for this is the sad death of our partner Anna Ocen on January 14, 2024. While we are sure that she has gone to her eternal reward, her passing has left a very large hole. Over the last two years Anna’s daughter, Fiona, with whom we have had a lot of contact over the years, has been endeavouring to step into Anna’s shoes and take over the loan programmes (UGA05 and UGA06) and Hope Restoration Centre (HRC) to ensure their continuity. Despite her significant effort, and through no fault of hers, it is clear that Fiona will not be able to fill Anna’s shoes. Part of this has to do with the fact that Anna was very ‘hands on’ in both programmes, part to do with the fact that Fiona is perceived as being very young, and partly because the situation with the care of the young people and funding their education has become very complicated due to relationship issues between people involved in the partnership. Even though these issues do not appear capable of resolution, we want to honour all those involved, and in particular, Penninah, Fiona’s aunt, who has provided wonderful care for the young people at HRC over many years.

As part of the preparation for this final report, I have re-read some of the reports from previous years. They do make wonderful reading and are a testimony to the integrity and faithful service of our beloved Anna and Penninah. HRC has benefited many people, not just the children and young people over the years, and it is fair to say that there are many people who have experienced significantly changed lives.

Hope Restoration Centre was founded under extraordinarily difficult circumstances. In 2003, 28 children who were living with Anna and Penninah‘s father and mother in one of the villages in Northern Uganda and who were orphans, or had lost one or more parent, were kidnapped by the Lord’s Resistance Army. This was a rebel group renowned for extreme violence. Many of the children suffered enormously, either as child soldiers forced to fight, or due to other things that they experienced. Due to the persistence of Anna and Penninah, they were miraculously able to track down and recover all of the 28 children, many of whom had been able to escape from their captors. This is remarkable given that there remain about 36,000 children unaccounted for from that time.

This meant, however, that they had to relocate to a refugee camp in Lira. This was a horrible place to live, and they had nowhere else to go for three years. It was during this time that they met Kevin Honore from Bright Hope World, and steps were taken to obtain a house in the town and accommodate all of the children and Penninah, who was the primary caregiver. During this period Anna was living in Mbale, which is about 4 hours south of Lira. She travelled regularly to Lira, despite significant risks from the rebel group.

Over time Bright Hope World supported the children, now young people or adults, through their various education processes. In Uganda education is valued very highly, with a strong emphasis on tertiary. Unfortunately, this can sometimes leave people with qualifications but without employability. However, it is a testimony to Anna and Penninah, that those who have been through the education system have largely all been able to obtain jobs. It is amazing to consider that, despite the grinding poverty and the loss of absolutely everything that these young people had, including parents who had been murdered, loss of land, and loss of possessions, they are now largely thriving. Some are married and have families of their own, and all, except the last ones finishing education, are pursuing careers. 

Anna proved to be incredibly faithful over the years, even in the face of difficulties with her own family members, and a degree of betrayal by some of her very closest friends. At the same time, she persevered, and each year that we visited, we have seen the people involved with HRC thriving. 

Anna's story is one of enormous struggle. Her husband Simon was unjustly imprisoned for 18 months without charge or conviction. Anna and Simon had their house in Mbale stolen by government officers who falsified land title records and threatened to kill them. Anna has been beaten up by robbers. Anna and Simon suffered a recent home invasion not long before her death, and to top it all off, Anna through all of that time has been chronically sick with asthma and respiratory problems. It was sad that she died when she did, but we are very grateful for the wonderful testimony of HRC.

In addition to the enormous amount hardships along the way, they have suffered the deaths of three of the young people. One of them, Amos, who has written his story, had trained to become a medical officer. He was a lovely young man who was tragically killed in a truck accident. One of the other young people died as a result of an HIV/AIDS infection that was contracted during his captivity. Another one was the victim of traditional medicine.

However, we give thanks for the nurses, teachers, lawyers, veterinary nurse, plumbers and builders, and agriculturalists, who have come out of HRC. We have had a lot of involvement with them over the years and have rejoiced to see them grow and develop. Many of them are now scattered widely throughout Uganda, and are pursuing their careers and families, and are involved in their churches and communities.

The partnership has come to an end because of the untimely death of Anna. There was not really any logical successor to her to administer and run the partnership. This has meant that we have been unable to continue to support the remaining five young people who are still working through their education. However, Bright Hope World has funded a grinding mill which is now operating in Lira, and we are hopeful that this will produce enough income to ensure that the commitments that Bright Hope World made to their education will be able to be honoured by virtue of the income received. 

It is also important to express our gratitude to the donors who have provided funding for this centre and to Anna for the enormous amount of hard work that she put in. We also honour her sister Penninah, who has shared many of the difficulties with her through a lot of hardship as well. We give our condolences to Anna's family, to Simon her husband, and to Fiona and Deborah her daughters. May she rest in peace.