We asked the women what kind of support they could use on the ground and they asked for help in starting their own businesses. To be very clear, the women are not looking for a handout, rather a partner, and simply the opportunity to sustain themselves and those they care for. They suggested with a small amount of money they could start a small farm. We took the money raised at the Ed Sharpe record release party and we secured some land. The women planted eggplant, a good cash crop in the region, and a few months later ahd their first harvest and turned a profit, which they reinvested in a brick making operation and buying some oxen which could be used to cultivate the land as well as be rented out to other farmers for additional income. The thank you and celebration of them singing “Suitcase” over the phone and the video of them singing Home was an amazing moment, one which we all got to celebrate together. These women never seem to cease teaching us about strength and resilience and we feel lucky to be able to help in expanding their operation and we’re going to roll it out, replicating and spreading it with their help to other women’s and youth groups in the region with more land procurement and start-up supplies such as seeds and tools.

Godwin Mayega's school is a small one, but one that truly helps students realize their dreams. Often without the right to even own land, women and girls in the region widowed or orphaned by war are often left with no way to survive. Additionally gender based violence rates are extremely high both in the IDP camps and in the communities. Job training and leaning a skill or craft is a dream for many girls and women effected by the war, and a means to a survival and a better life. Sponsoring students and supporting the school is an important initiative for The Voice Project as we believe individual economic empowerment leads social empowerment and change. Anena Joyce, interviewed in the Interview section, is a great example, now about to complete her training as a skilled tailor, with her own sewing machine, and a new life. This type of training and something like a sewing machine may sound like a small thing, but it these small investments that can make a world of difference. We are proud to support the school and defray the costs for students like Joyce in order to help them realize their dreams and to start anew.

A River Blue started as an arts empowerment project for the children of Alebtong, Aloi and Amoro IDP (internally-displaced persons) camps in northern Uganda, funded and overseen by Barefoot Workshops, a non-profit, media-based educational and development organization.

A year later, the local government in Aloi sub-country donated a building, which now serves as a rehabilitation and vocational training center for the most vulnerable youth in the surrounding community. A River Blue gives these youth the opportunity to receive vocational training in a variety of subjects. The program also supports the students through psychosocial counseling that includes group sessions, one-one-one sessions and by expressing themselves through the arts. Counseling allows students to begin to heal themselves, which gives them the chance to reach out to the community and offer the same support.

Barefoot’s relationship with the youth of northern Uganda began in August, 2006 when singer/songwriter Joseph Arthur was invited to help launch the project with a music, dance, drama and art festival bringing together one hundred young people living in the camps to nurture and celebrate their creative vision and passion for the arts. During the festival, Joseph and the children recorded his song A River Blue from which the project takes its name.

Every year, twenty-six students are sponsored through A River Blue Vocational Training Center which offers a hybrid curriculum that mixes tailoring, agroforestry, tropical agriculture, animal husbandry, English, counseling and business. Students rotate between classes, giving them a variety of skills that offers them more opportunity and a chance to support themselves while helping to rebuild their community.

We are proud to partner with and support such an amazing organization and we are working to help provide supplies and infrastructure/facilities support as well as to defray student costs so that more former child soldiers can benefit from these amazing rehabilitation and training programs.