Voices for Human Dignity: Uganda survivor's journey of resilience

"I come from a very painful past," said Arach Santa Mulare, a survivor of Uganda's civil war who lives near Paibona, a village in the remote north-west, close to Uganda's borders with South Sudan and DR Congo.

Stabbed and then left for dead by the rebel Lord's Resistance Army, Mulare later witnessed the Ugandan government troops detain and then beat to death family members, before later marrying and enduring domestic violence. "Any time I tried to tell my story I would find myself breaking down as I remembered the past," she said.

Mulare joined a torture rehabilitation programme that encourages survivors to work together in groups. Some participants have received livestock, crops, or a milling machine to help meet their families' basic food needs and generate income.

“This milling machine has changed my life,” says Mulare, who is the chairperson of her group. “Now I know my children will eat and it has lifted my low self-esteem. I can play with my children. I even laugh.”

This content was produced by the #UnitedAgainstTorture Consortium (OMCT, IRCT, FIACAT, APT, OMEGA and REDRESS), funded by the EU. The contents are the sole responsibility of UATC and do not necessarily reflect the position of the EU.