GRG Beekeeping Project
Channel: Grassrootspeace
Date: 2011-08-04

Three weeks. Twenty- one days. Five hundred and four hours. That is how long Robert spent walking back home as a child after escaping from captivity in the Lord's Resistance Army in northern Uganda. In his seemingly endless two years with the rebels, he was forced to kill, abduct young children, and walk over 300 miles, usually in dense jungle without shoes. And yet now just three short years later, he is leading a successful community project to help his fellow former child soldiers to generate income and reintegrate back into society.

Even after his incredible journey back home, Robert had to face the stigma of being "from the bush" upon his return. It nearly broke his strength. "When I came back home, people said I had evil spirits. I felt as if I was being chased away..."
As the peace process seemed to be moving forward, and people were starting to rebuild, Robert knew that he had to pick up the pieces and move on. He had a family to take care of— he now had three children of his own.

Not only did Robert move on, he led. "I wanted to take my bad experiences and turn them into good," he explained. Last year, Robert became chairman of the group Can Bwone. "We have twenty- fi ve people," he says, "and half of them are returnees [former LRA child soldiers and concubines], and we work together three times per week on different projects." One of these is beekeeping, as seen in this video.
With these projects, people like Robert are able to provide for their families and rebuild their communities together, former child-soldiers and community members. 

Join us in this continuing effort at grassrootsgroup.org.