Former child soldier in Lord's Resistance Army receives peace award

A former child soldier who was sexually assaulted and forced into Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) will be awarded for her role in peace building in Uganda this week.

Angela Atim Lakor will receive the Marsh Award for Peace-making and Peace building from the prestigious Wilton Park in London after she co-founded the Watye Ki Gen charity, which translates as 'we have hope'.

Angela Atim Lakor will be awarded the peace prize in London this week. World Vision

The group supports females who have returned from the LRA and their children and aims to help women fight the stigma associated with being a LRA survivor. When they return to their villages the association with LRA affects every area of their lives from employment to their children's education.

After she escaped the infamous LRA Angela was supported by World Vision's Children of War Reintegration Centre which has helped reintegrate nearly 15,000 former child soldiers and children born in captivity in the past decade.

Erica Hall, World Vision UK's Technical Policy Lead on Child Protection, said: 'Children are vulnerable in the face of conflict. Recent UN figures show that there were at least 14,500 grave violations against children in armed conflict last year, including recruitment, sexual violence and abductions.'

News
What we can learn from Mary of Bethany
What we can learn from Mary of Bethany

Dear reader, what would it look like for you to be a Mary of Bethany in this day and age?

Why the world needs more women like Dullari
Why the world needs more women like Dullari

In the UK, gender equality conversations often focus on pay gaps or female representation in leadership, but in Nepal the struggle is far more basic. It is whether a girl can go to school, whether a woman can seek medical care without permission from her husband, and whether she can live in her own home without fear.

Fresh drive to reach 100,000 girls with anti-trafficking programme
Fresh drive to reach 100,000 girls with anti-trafficking programme

An international charity has committed to reaching 100,000 girls worldwide who are at risk of human trafficking. 

The story of the Bible’s female leaders
The story of the Bible’s female leaders

8 March is International Women’s Day. In the Bible we can read about the roles that many women played in leadership and ministry. This is the story …