Summary
Sister Rosemary Nyerumbe, a Ugandan nun, has dedicated her life to helping girls who were victims of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Uganda. During a brutal conflict that lasted two decades, many girls were abducted, forced into sexual slavery, and trained as child soldiers. Sister Rosemary, who runs St. Monica's Tailoring School in Gulu, emphasizes the importance of compassion and acceptance for these traumatized girls, many of whom return home with deep psychological scars.
Sister Rosemary's approach includes providing practical skills through tailoring courses, which empower the girls to become economically self-reliant. She recalls the challenges of attracting these girls to the school, often stigmatized by their past. In a bold move, she announced on the radio that the school would welcome all girls, including those who were pregnant or had children, a decision that faced local resistance but ultimately resulted in an overwhelming response of 240 girls seeking education and support.
Despite the risks involved, including threats from the LRA, Sister Rosemary remains committed to her mission. Her faith plays a crucial role in her work, guiding her actions and providing strength in the face of adversity. She continues to advocate for marginalized groups, including children affected by HIV/AIDS and those abandoned in South Sudan, demonstrating a lifelong commitment to alleviating suffering and fostering hope in her community.
Show Notes
Rosemary Nyirumbe became a nun when she was just in her mid-teens – and she felt her true vocation lay in rehabilitating children who had been through some of the worst trauma imaginable. So that’s what she did. In this episode Mike Wooldridge hears Sr Rosemary’s astonishing story. The feared rebel group, the Lord’s Resistance Army, started to terrorise the north of Uganda in the 1980s. Many children, girls as well as boys, were abducted and forced to become child soldiers. In many cases, the LRA forced them to commit atrocities, leaving them deeply traumatised. Many of the girls also bore the children of rebel leaders. As they started to return home, these children were often rejected by their families and communities, says Sr Rosemary. So she set about giving them a future and a hope: through enabling them to acquire skills like sewing, and by helping them see that God had not rejected them for the atrocities they had been forced to commit. More than once, Sr Rosemary put herself in enormous danger in order to fulfil her mission. But, she says, she also learnt that small acts of kindness can touch the hearts of even battle-hardened rebels.
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