Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe has spent years doing something most people cannot imagine: welcoming back children who were stolen, weaponized, and broken by Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army in northern Uganda. Her work is not abstract charity. It is daily, hands-on rehabilitation of young people who were forced to become soldiers and, in many cases, killers.
Operating out of St. Monica's Girls' Tailoring Centre in Gulu, Sister Rosemary runs a program that teaches former child soldiers practical skills, with sewing and tailoring at the center of the curriculum. The idea is straightforward: give young people something to make with their hands, and you begin to give them back a sense of self. Many of the girls who come through her doors also arrive with children of their own, born out of the violence they survived.
Her approach has drawn international attention, and she has been recognized globally for her humanitarian efforts. But the heart of what she does stays local, in the community of Gulu, working one young person at a time.
The documentary podcast brings her story to a wider audience, tracing the scope of the LRA's destruction and the quiet, persistent work it takes to begin healing it. If you have never heard Sister Rosemary speak about this work, that is exactly where to start.
Originally published by BBC Africa.