Food for the Hungry has been implementing programs in some of the poorest regions of Uganda since 1989, with a focus on child development, evangelism, spiritual development and discipleship, agriculture, health, water, sanitation and education. In the northern part of the country, a horrific civil war raged for more than 20 years resulting in some 200,000 deaths and 1,600,000 displacements. During the conflict, the brutal Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) systematically captured, raped, impregnated and terrorized girls. Following the 2006 peace agreement and the cessation of fighting, tens of thousands of these girls (with babies in tow) escaped from or were released by the LRA and attempted to re-integrate into their former communities. Many of the girls were deeply traumatized and needed help, but were instead rejected by their families and communities.

To respond to the massive needs of these “child mothers,” Janet Shaver, staff member of Food for the Hungry (FH), along with Dr. Wendy Bovard, started a psycho-social counseling, trauma recovery and life skills training initiative in 2006 within two sub-counties of Kitgum District. At the heart of the New Life Initiative has been the engagement of local churches to work alongside FH in identifying and providing care and support to the child mothers in their communities. For those in need of intensive psycho-social care, the New Life Center was established to offer a safe haven where the girls (up to 36 at a time) participate in a 12-week rehabilitation and Biblically-based counseling program which includes social, emotional and vocational support. The families of the girls also receive ongoing counseling support from FH staff and trained counselors within their communities throughout the program to reduce levels of marginalization when the girls return to their homes. At the completion of the 12-week program, counselors trained by FH from within the communities are responsible for follow-up visits and ongoing counseling and care for the girls and their families.

Food for the Hungry is also providing support through adult literacy and numeracy education, savings and loan groups, and income generating activity (IGA) opportunities. For the IGA program, the child mothers are organized into groups and provided with training in technical and managerial skills necessary for starting a business. Each group decides which business venture(s) to engage in. Activities range from mushroom and other vegetable production to small livestock (poultry, goat) raising to marketplace selling.

Due to the work of the New Life Initiative, thousands of marginalized girls have already been transformed spiritually and emotionally and are now able to function normally in society again.

"We hope to introduce them to the healer, who can free them from their shame and the prison they have been locked inside,” said Janet Shaver, founder of New Life Center. The Center was called “New Life” because in Christ, the broken-hearted are healed, ashes turn to beauty and mourning becomes dancing. Christ’s wounds and resurrection prove that these abused and crushed women can be given new life. And in that, there is great rejoicing.