Village of Hope, Uganda

Village of Hope, our partnering orphanage in Uganda, was founded by Cindy Cunningham in 2007. Cindy took a trip to Africa in 2006, during which she visited Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Sudan. On this trip, Cindy witnessed incredible devastation, that left her asking God, "What can I do?" upon returning to the US. Similar to the birth of eXile international, Village of Hope was born out of one woman's broken heart and compassion for the people of Africa.

Village of Hope is a self-sustaining village of former child soldiers and children orphaned by war. eXile international partners with Village of Hope through providing trauma care in the form of art and expressive therapy workshops for all of the children, training and consultation with local counselors on the ground who provide weekly group work. eXile also provides monthly financial support for the children's physical, emotional, spiritual, and educational rehabilitation by selling the Harambee beaded necklaces handmade by the children.

On our last trip to Uganda in June 2011, we were able to witness the growth and transformation that Village of Hope has recently experienced. There are now 154 children living at Village of Hope Uganda. We were blessed to conduct a full spectrum trauma program with these beautiful children that incorporated art and expressive therapy, sports therapy, and trainings on peace education and coping skills. We have committed to return to Uganda each year to take each child through our program as part of their entrance from the displacement camps into the village.

Visit their website here: www.villageofhopeuganda.com

Children of Peace, Uganda

In 2009, the film Children of War was released by filmmaker Bryan Single. This film, which required three years of filming inside the war zone of Northern Uganda, follows the story of a group of former child soldiers as they undergo trauma therapy and emotional healing at a rehabilitation center. It vividly depicts their transformation from a past of traumatic violence at the hands of the Lord's Resistance Army and it's leader Joseph Kony to a future of forgiveness and hope. This film won the 2010 Cinema for Peace Justice Award in Berlin. Out of the film, Children of War, was born an amazing nonprofit organization called Children of Peace. Children of Peace is an African based wholestic model that involves a ten year plan of emotional, educational, psychological rehabilitation, psychosocial training, and advocacy work for the children of Northern Uganda.

eXile international team members were honored to meet with the baord of Children of Peace board during their time in Uganda. Jane Ekayu, the feature counselor in the film, founded Children of Peace. She has worked with many of the children affected by the war in Northern Uganda. Jane has spoken on behalf of these children at United Nations screenings around the world. Jane, as well as the rest of the Children of Peace board, share the same heart as eXile international. They, like us, dream of spiritual, psychological and physical rehabilitation for the children traumatized by the LRA in Northern Uganda. After meeting with their board in Uganda, eXile international is honored to partner with Children of Peace Uganda as we help them become children of peace rather than children of war.

Stay up to date with the Children of Peace by following their blog: cpuganda.wordpress.com

Peace Lives Center, DR Congo

The Peace Lives Center in Goma, DR Congo started with a dream of 24 former child soldiers to return to their villages and teach about peace, reconciliation, and forgiveness from their own survival stories. Two local leaders have taken these boys under their wing, built small shacks for their shelter, and are teaching them how to live again. eXile international has committed to walk hand in hand with this project through raising financial support, providing art therapy trauma care for the program, and in finding sponsors for each of the former child soldiers. The vision of this center is not only to help the boys heal from their wounds of trauma, but also to teach them leadership and peace building skills, so that they can fulfill their own dreams of becoming the future peacemakers of Congo. They have named their center - Peace Lives.Some of these boys have been abducted three times by three different rebel groups. They are the first 24 of hundreds that we hope to reach. There are around 200 children rescued from the bush in the Goma area each month. Most of these children are not able to expereince any true rehabilitation. Through this center, we hope to change that.

You can watch the latest footage of their drama here.

You may sponsor one of these boys for $35 a month here:

Dina Center, DR Congo

The Dina Center was founded in 2002, after a young girl was placed in the arms of a Norweigan man by her mother. This young girl was bleeding after being raped. She was only two years old. The Dina Center is a home for those girls who have been orphaned or abandoned because of the wars in DRC. Around 80% of these girls have been victims of rape, which is commonly used as a weapon of war in Congo.

This center cares for some of the first children Bethany met on her first trip to Congo, before eXile international was founded. We are now honored to be partnering with this center to provide weekly group trauma work for the girls conducted by local counselors on the ground in the form of art, dance, drama, and music therapy. We teach the girls to love themselves and to see themselves as the beautiful young women of God that they are. As survivors. Leaders. Peacemakers.

The Hope Counseling Center, DR Congo

As one of the only Christan Counseling Centers in the region, The Hope Counseling Center provides individual counseling, group counseling, and psychosocial rehabilitation to war-affected children, young girls who have been victim to sexual violance, and women who have survied rape and muliple traumas. It is lead by local leaders who have themselves survived war. All therapy is done by local Congolese leaders and is culturally approrpirate to those they work with. eXile internaitonal provides monthly support for this center. Trainings for the staff are also provided as needed. Specifically, the centers’ leaders use and have been trained in The Empower Trauma Rehabilitation Program, a highly acclained evidence-based model for treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disroder.

The Poza Project

The Poza Project is a traveling art exhibit consisting of select drawings by the former child soldiers eXile international works with. During our trauma workshops, we ask the children to draw on two large white handkerchiefs. On the first, they are asked to draw their heartaches, a bad memory, or what they have nightmares about. Within that drawing, however, they are asked to draw God standing next to them in the midst of that heartache or sad time. On the second handkerchief, the children are asked to draw their hopes and dreams.

These drawings by the former child soldiers are utterly powerful. They reveal the deepest darkness that the children have experienced, while showing God right beside them or holding their hand in the middle of it all. Many of the children draw guns, rebels, or burning huts, displaying the trauma and violence they were forced to endure for so long. Their second handkerchiefs, however, reveal their hopes and dreams for a better future. The children draw themselves as teachers, doctors, nurses, and social workers. When they stand up in front of their group to explain their drawings, their faces light up as they speak like dreaming children again. Drawing on these handkerchiefs helps bring healing to these children's hearts. We can see it in their eyes when they share their artwork. We can see them start to come back to life again.

By displaying the children's artwork, we hope to provide information and evidence of the long-standing wars in Central and Eastern Africa to those who are unware. Awareness is critical in inspiring action, and without action, the current state of Africa will stay the same. We bring the Poza Project to speaking engagements and events, because these drawings are the children’s stories in color. They reveal the deepest heartaches, hopes, and dreams of the most traumatized hearts in the world. Through The Poza Project, we hope to move, educate, and inspire action to help end one of Africa's longest wars and bring peace, healing, and new life to children in Central and Eastern Africa.