Victor Ochen: From War Victim to International Youth Development Expert

Victor making a statement at the NATO summit in 2010

Victor Ochen, born to his poor parents in Abia, Lira District of Northern Uganda, a region that has been ravaged by war for more than two decades. A victor against all odds, Victor overcame many painful childhood challenges to become one of Africa’s foremost dynamic visionary youth leaders. His hurting childhood, growing up in the refuge camp, struggling with his own security, education, health and surviving on one meal a day for years helped shaped him into one of the most responsible compassionate person. His achievement in the last 10 years clearly proves that Mr. Victor Ochen is one of Africa’s vibrant youth leaders. In this interview with Funso Ero-Philips, Victor shares the story of his life

Uganda was in constant conflict for more than two decades of your childhood, what was this experience like for you?

I was born in 1981 during the heavy civil war; luckily a year after Uganda’s dictator President Iddi Amin was deposed. Amin had ordered all baby boys to be killed; a move that my mother told me caused so many deaths of pregnant women within our communities as a result of suicide and local abortion upon realizing they are pregnant with baby boys.

Growing in conflicts, where over four guerilla wars were concurrently taking place was the most costly experience, especially to the innocent children and women who knows nothing to do with politics.  I remember eating meals without salt for years, surviving on one meal a day for years, owned only one rag-short, my entire community didn’t have soap and every body including my family would go digging roots/herbs for washing clothes. Education was just the dream, we could study under trees during our stay in the camp, and I remember dropping out of school for three years after completing the first year in primary one.

The worst experience was the gruesome killings and abductions of civilians, especially the children of my age starting at 6 years who were being recruited as child soldiers. I narrowly survived several abductions by the Lord Resistance Army (LRA). We could spend months sleeping in the bush in fear of night abductions. Children died of malnutrition, malaria and epidemic outbreaks. I grew up asking questions about where our government is? Where the United Nations are, and what should be done to bring peace to people who had severely suffered.

As the Founder and Director of AYINET, in just 5 years, your organization has achieved many great feats what inspires you? What keeps you going?

It was my childhood experience that inspired me to take positive actions. My generations went through horrible situations of being repeatedly abducted, forcefully recruitment into militias, brutal torture, rape and forced killing of their own relatives.  So many remain orphans after loosing their parents, stopped education and the high level of desperation caused total sense of hopelessness in my community. And the history of civil wars and use of military as a mean of assuming power was and is still deeply rooted in the mind of many young generations.

So coming up with African Youth Initiative Network (AYINET), was an opportunity to help us mobilize and build these young generations, who are hurt and pained by their sufferings to actively participate in promoting peace and justice. My suffering has not made me less in anyway, instead it has generated more wish to building peace, performing the life saving interventions and restoring hope among these severely affected people and communities.

When my brother Geoffrey Omara, together with my cousin were abducted

Victor Ochen and UN Secretary General, Ban-ki Moon

by the LRA rebels from our home in Abia, an abduction which I survived by minutes. I thought my brother would go and return after hours, days, or months, but since December 9^th 2003 to date he has never returned, his fate is not known and presumably dead or alive. I feel our government didn’t do enough to protect our citizens, and international communities especially the United Nations ignored the suffering of over two million Ugandans. It keeps me sleepless to imagine why over 30,000 children would be abducted, and thousands including my brother has never returned and their families have been through the worst in life.

My strength is my history, which creates in me full commitment to supporting those million of the victims of the conflict who continue to bear the burden of their physical and psychological scars, providing a constant and inescapable reminder of their history of suffering. With the invaluable help and cooperation of our donors, partners and friends, AYINET always try to assist the people of northern Uganda, a move that is helping them to raise the banner of hope for a region and for their future as people whose aspirations were crushed by a long and violent conflict.

How possible is the promotion of tolerance, rehabilitation, reconciliation, forgiveness, and development for the victims?

Its deeply worrying that prolonged conflict sufferings has made us hate ourselves,  our government,  colonization, and as made us perceive each other as enemies not friends.  Politicians took advantages and divided us; a move that further held us in poverty and made us lived degrading lives. Today, we can not only work to keep peace alone, but we must now work to build peace, and peace in only possible in a reconciled society.  I have a strong felling now than ever that youth have the power and there is a huge interest now than ever before to connect and move our country Uganda, and Africa forward in solidarity for peace, security and human freedom.

The heart of tolerance and reconciliation is possible when new and young generations of African leaders, accept to wean ourselves from leaders that have led our nation astray. We have to climb to the highest self esteem, and have real programmatic approach to fight ethnicity that has held us in deep hatreds and poverty.  We are stronger as one; we need to work so hard to rehabilitate lives, infrastructures and have care and support towards everybody, including those who still suffer from all forms on injustices.  Infrastructure development plays key role in society reconciliation and harmony.

In 2006, AYINET received a $50,000 grant from International Crimes Commission Victims’ Trust fund, how was this grant utilized?

After living in decades of conflict, the communities lost millions of life, millions sustained lifetime physical deformities, public service institutions like hospitals and schools were all damaged.  These situations left dysfunctional human lives, children and women living in deep pains sustained as a result of torture, gun shots, sexual abuse, and irreversible psychological trauma. People suffered for so long and too bitterly.  This caused a needy situation, which medical support for victims of war, especially those women, children and men who were abducted, tortured, mutilated were mobilised and offered.

Since 2005, we have helped rehabilitated many victims with critical needs, we facilitated reconstructive surgeries, offering psychosocial support to these people suffering from trauma and restoring human functionalities.  Our work has helped save many lives, so many families rebuilt, orphans has resumed schooling and the community economy to have been re-fixed.  The funding we have been receiving has been so helpful, but has not been meeting the overwhelming demand. We have hundreds of women who were sexually abused in northern Uganda, DRC and southern Sudan who are approaching us for support.

In honor of victims, your organization co-organized a football game called War Victims Day Football Game with the participation of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, among other high profile dignitaries. Could you explain how you came up with this idea and how you convinced the dignitaries to take part in the game?

War Victims Day Football game was organized to create opportunity for the

Ban ki moon playing soccer

delegates of the ICC states members, and top world leaders such as Uganda’s President Museveni, UN secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and the President of the Assemblies of States Parties of the International Criminal Court to show solidarity with the victims of war.  We brought thousands of war victims from Uganda, DRC, Somalia, Darfur, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Pakistan, Kenya and other countries.  Everybody wondered how we managed to bring UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Uganda’s president to play football. To us it was easy, because our leaders at national and United Nations needs us; the only challenge is establishing the connections with them. Ban Ki-moon, Uganda’s President Museveni and signatories felt really honored for having been invited to participate in showing solidarity and attracting support for victims. At the end of the day, Uganda’s victims of war had hugely reconciled with their government after witnessing President Museveni played football in solidarity with the victims.  The theme was “Everyone is equal in the eyes of the referee, just like in the eyes of the law’

The fact that the review conference of the International Criminal Court was taking place in Uganda; we felt we needed to bridge the gap between the leaders and victims they speak for.  It was always our concern that on many occasion, more attention and focus are given towards the perpetrators more than the victims.  It was a huge success, where in the review conference. We presented our appeal to the UN SG and world leaders to have 30^th of May be a day dedicated in the international calendar to commemorate the war victims from around the world.  On many occasion we have witnessed war heroes being honored, but what brings about their state of heroism? It’s after creating a huge sense of victim hood.

Do you have fears that your life could be under threat by LRA due to your humanitarian work?

Whatever LRA has done to the million of innocent civilians in northern Uganda is sad and inexcusable. After causing the tragic human suffering in Uganda’s history, LRA advanced and are now committing more atrocities in Sudan, DRC and Central African Republic. LRA is a terrorist organisation, not a threat to me alone but to everybody. I know we can always reconcile with everybody, but we can never reconcile with permanent enemies.  I don’t fear LRA, they have caused the tragic humanitarian situations and so sad that they still hold captives thousands of innocent children. LRA must face justice, and the ICC must do all it takes to have all those indicted LRA commanders apprehended.

Uganda and South Sudan are getting into elections which could lay the foundation for the legacy of a truly peaceful region, which efforts is AYINET putting in place to ensure that the elections are impartial and non-partisan?

Uganda and Southern Sudan have a very common history of violent civil wars and poverty. Even beyond Southern Sudan, Uganda plays a key role in regional security. Uganda is one of the only two African countries to send peace keepers to Somalia, their history with Rwanda and DRC; makes Uganda a vital country in regional peace and security. With both countries having succeeded in peaceful elections, our conviction is despite the challenges, long term, short term, Ugandans are far better of living side by side in peace and stability, just like Southern Sudan do need too.

Uganda is so different today than it was 10yrs ago, and vastly better than 20yrs ago. We can’t secure our future with violent start, and that’s why we have to resolve our differences now. Our generations should find ways to dramatically improve the human condition through creativity, compassion, and innovation. We need to develop leadership potentials of young generations, prepare them with humility, openness, and determination to further reverse the trend of political, ethnic, economic conflicts and the HIV/AIDS epidemic, problems that have killed too many at a tender age.

From your experience, what strategy (ies) would you propose in re-building war-torn African countries?

In Africa, our history made us hate each other, segregate and always having the heart of revenge. We are not enemies, we can’t be one either and I always told my friends that regardless of our history, ethnicity and geographical locations; we want to create the opportunity for youth to advance the spirit of national unity and solidarity. Youth need new point of clarity in their hands, responsibility in their actions, humility in their approaches and civility in their attitudes even if they are politically and ethnically different.

Involving grassroots organizations and victims in social mobilisation will be what the Africa requires to re-brand the continent. If we must fight for total peace and Justice, the nation must be warned that many young people feel increasingly marginalised and angered by the wealth they see, which is only accessible to people associated with the connected elite who are in power.  It’s not a surprise to see the revolution taking place in Northern Africa and Middle East; such social movements will play critical roles in fight for political freedom.

How do you relax?

I perform unbelievably difficult job. Hearing painful and heart breaking

Victor Ochen and Nicholas Cage

emotional stories from victims of armed conflicts daily, with so many victims in critical needs; I am always called to support. But truly, I am happier to see the results of my work, where children, women and all those who lived in pains for long finally walks in peace. I have seen the practical human dignity and human rights.  I don’t always relax; my life is totally workaholic, which to so many might sound tedious.  Because I always feel African situation is in emergency state, and there is so much to be done, and therefore no much time to relax.

What legacy would you want to leave for the coming Ugandan generation and for Africa?

Africa holds within her the aspiration for global peace and security, but we had decades of mistrust and this is affecting how we should proceed with courage.  Seeing man slaughters from Somalia, to Congo, to Ivory Cost, to Darfur, to Uganda is a stain in our continent for human security. Compounded with challenges of governance, ethnic and colonial differences around the continent, Africa is a continent facing snags where leadership remains hugely problematic to its own citizens.

When violent extremists operate in one stretch of Africa, people are endangered across oceans. United States, Europe and Asia holds a major responsibility to build the unbreakable bond with Africa, with clear strategies knowing that military power alone is not going to solve the problems in Africa.  It’s my dream to work with everybody and we address the phenomenal human sufferings around the world.  We may not have to wait until leaders knocks our door, but we are knocking your door to strengthen and build a strong democracy for our country, freedom, liberty, security and the rule of law.

A safer Africa means a safe world, and I will mobilise voices of support and solidarity, as we struggle to rebuild lives and restore human dignity in Africa.