I remember a vehicle came, full of soldiers. There was a woman who was coming for the market, she was the first person to be shot. Then they started firing everywhere. That woman’s daughter was crying on the road because she had just seen her mother shot. The commander yelled, “If you’re not from this tribe, you have five minutes to leave the area!” After five minutes, all the people from that tribe were shot.

After that, life became very hard, the fighting was terrifying and even my father became afraid. He decided that the family should move to Uganda so that we could be safe. It was not an easy journey to come to Uganda. When we reached here, life was still very hard. It took a long time for me to cope but now, I have made some big improvements.

In the past, when I would share what happened, it was very difficult. Now, I feel more comfortable sharing these events in a sand tray activity. I still feel sad remembering all those bad things, but I am not thinking too much about it now, because I cannot change what has happened. Before this program, I was having nightmares and couldn’t sleep well. Nowadays, the nightmares have gone.

In the Heroes Journey, I loved the story of the donkey! It goes like this: There was an old man who had a lot of animals on his farm, but his favorite was the donkey. He loved the donkey so much, but one day, the donkey fell into a pit! Seeing his donkey dying and suffering down there really upset the man, so he went and brought sand and a shovel to bury the donkey and end his suffering. As the man put the sand in the pit, the donkey began shaking it off him, and standing on top of it. As they continued, the donkey kept shaking it off, until there was enough sand under his feet that he could step out of the hole he was in! I want to be like the donkey, as sometimes I feel like life is hard, and it is covering me up! But now I have learned how to create hope, how to look at my problems differently to find a solution.

Because of the generosity of people like you, children like Joyce have found the courage they need to move forward. BUT there are thousands of people with stories that are yet to end with hope. Help Tutapona provide that hope and healing by donating today.

*Name has been changed to protect the individual and family.