You may remember meeting Jacob Okello, a mentor from Invisible Children Uganda’s field office in Pader district, through our blog a few months back. At the end of last year, Jacob transitioned into his new role as Invisible Children’s Regional Family Tracing Assistant.
Jacob prepares files for radio broadcast from the ICU office in Gulu.
Now based out of Gulu, Jacob works directly with formerly abducted persons who recently returned home to Uganda. He spearheads initiatives to collect messages from returnees and their families to be shared as part of Invisible Children’s “Come Home” radio messaging program. He also takes photos of returnees and their families to be featured on defection fliers. The hope is that these messages will continue to be effective in encouraging escapes by those still in LRA captivity.
Jacob is currently working with the 12 Ugandan members of the “Zemio 19“. Six men, two women and four children came home to Uganda in December. As the group goes through rehabilitation in Gulu, Jacob provides family tracing support for each returnee. He uses information provided by the returnees to kickstart the process of mapping the individual’s family history and location in order to effectively reunite each formerly abducted person with his or her family and community.
Jacob compares working as a mentor for the Legacy Scholarship Program to his new role as “like moving from one room to the next within the same premise” since all of Invisible Children’s programs share the same goal of providing relief and recovery to war-affected communities across the region.
Recording “Come Home” messages with Mary, a formerly abducted person and sister-in-law to one of the Zemio 19
“With mentoring, I was working in the community. Now with family tracing and I am also in the community, covering all over northern Uganda and beyond,” Jacob said.
Jacob’s job doesn’t come without difficulties, but to him, they are worth it.
“Before we had the returnees come back to Uganda, I had no where to start to trace someone still in captivity. I need to get the family details from those particular people. When they came back it was a work of art. The information and phone calls make it simple for me,” he said.
This week, Jacob successfully met with the families of three recent returnees. He explains to them what role Invisible Children plays in the returnees’ rehabilitation and reintegration and how each family can prepare for the return home of their son or daughter. In many cases this involves establishing support and trust. While in captivity, members of the LRA often hear that their families or communities may want to poison and kill them when they return home. Making sure the returnees understand that this is not true is very important.
“It was so successful,” Jacob said. “It connects me a lot to the community and I love working with the community members.”
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