We are WEND
First, an edit from Roomrs —
Did you know, on April 22nd we’ll be hosting a Women’s Panel called “Rising Women”?! Panelists will each speak about their unique identities, personal experiences, and professional journies. Join us for a night of networking and inspiration, all you have to do is RSVP!
Why does this matter? All ticket sales and proceeds will be donated to WEND Africa! Check out the event information to learn a bit more.
Now, on to a powerful story from Sara Kreski and Jolly Okot…
WEND Africa, Women Empowerment Network Design, is a nonprofit that provides opportunities for employment, education & empowerment to war-affected mothers in Northern Uganda. Many of our ladies were forced to become child soldiers or wives to LRA commanders. During war, nearly all the women were abducted, raped and abused. For the women who were lucky enough to escape, many returned HIV positive and with new children.
After returning home, these women and children were ostracized due to their former affiliation with the rebels. Because these women were taken captive at a tender age, many lacked a basic education or a means to support themselves and their families. In response, in 2009, Invisible Children Uganda developed the social enterprise, Mend. This program employed 22 war-affected mothers as seamstresses to utilize skills training and education to improve their quality of life, invest in a sustainable future, and grow as leaders within their families and communities.
Due to the hard work of the seamstresses, as well the resources invested in their livelihoods, the Mend program experienced many successes. In 2014, Invisible Children could no longer provide funding or availability to the US marketplace. As a result, Mend came to a close.
Determined not to leave the ladies, Jolly Okot, founder of Invisible Children Uganda and former Noble Peace Prize Nominee, made a commitment to continue on — but this time under a new name, WEND Africa. So, she flipped the Mend logo upside and WEND was born.
This is her story:
My name is Jolly Okot and I’m an Acholi from Northern Uganda. As a child, I grew up in the same village as Joseph Kony, never imagining what he would one day become and the horrors I would face. In 1986, as a teenager, while walking the 10 miles home from school, I was abducted by a group of rebels. Immediately, they captured me and I began to hear gunshots. When I turned, I saw a commander draw a pistol and shoot two people in their feet. This was my introduction to the rebel group that was then called the Holy Spirit movement. The rebel group would later come to be known as the LRA- the Lord’s Resistance Army. They held me captive for the next two years where I was forced to fight, forced to steal from my own people at gunpoint and was repeatedly raped by the commanders. Despite the horrific circumstances, I did not give up. I was determined to make it back home to my family.
Finally, two long painful years later, I managed to escape…but I would pay a heavy price. When I returned home, I learned that my beloved father had been imprisoned and was soon to be shot to death. Using the training that I was forced to learn while captive, I lead a nighttime raid and successfully freed my father. The next day, I walked 60 miles in search of safety and education. When the LRA learned of what I had done to free my father, they retaliated. A couple months later, they went to my village and killed my uncle. A year later, they returned to my village and killed 21 of my cousins in a single night. Despite the atrocities I faced, I went back to school, realizing that education was the only hope for creating change. During that time, I was offered a life of freedom in the United States, but I declined because I felt that I had been blessed to return to my family and felt it was my responsibility to help other child soldiers regain what they could of their lives.
Since then, I have dedicated my life to working with communities affected by LRA violence. I have worked with dozens of organizations such as Oxfam, MSF, InterAid, UNHCR and founded HEALS — an organization focused on providing “play therapy” for children who were night commuters (children who would walk miles to avoid being abducted by the LRA.) Because of my work with HEALS, in 2005, I was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. Around that time, I was introduced to the filmmakers of Invisible Children, and took on the role as the Director of Invisible Children Uganda. As a director, I developed many successful programs — one of my proudest being founding the Legacy Scholarship program, where we put 4,800 children through school. Currently, I am the CEO of WEND, a socially minded fashion company that employs and empowers women formerly affected by the war in Northern Uganda. We provide advanced training in tailoring, finance, and personal development to the seamstresses we support. Watching these women grow and become self- sufficient, strong, and educated with every day that passes is my constant reminder of why I do what I do. People will jump on the wagon because it is easy to go for a ride. The joy of the ride is fleeting and fast.
But the ones who will truly feel the kind of joy that lasts a lifetime aren’t the ones seated, but the ones pulling the wagon. The true listeners, the people who hear God and act on it are the ones pulling the wagon — that is both who I am, as well as all the ladies at WEND, and that is who we will always be.
Jolly is a former Noble Peace Prize Nominee and currently the CEO of WEND. She has dedicated her life to improving the lives of women in Northern Uganda.
For the past two years, Jolly has run the nonprofit entirely on her own. Each month she has struggled to pay the ladies’ salaries out of her own pocket so the women can keep their jobs and provide for their children. Despite immense hardship, Jolly and the ladies never gave up hope — And good thing they didn’t. Because of their relentless perseverance and faith, WEND launched in the United States last year. It is just getting started.
Throughout this past year, the WEND women have designed and created bags (of all sizes), jewelry, laptop cases, and print animals. These women hand make each bag and mark them with their fingerprint or their name. You can look inside each bag and discover who hand-crafted your bag. Through the WEND website, you will find each woman’s story and what her life looks like in Gulu, Uganda. These women put hours of hard work into these bags to make each one individualized and unique. Every bag has a hint of Africa to remind you what the bag stands for and where it came from. It is not just a bag, it is a sign of hope for these brave, courageous women.
We invite you to come be a part of this exciting new chapter of the WEND story. It’s not the end…it’s WEND.
Meet Jolly in person at our Rising Women Panel this coming Monday, April 22nd 7–9pm. Learn more about WEND and find out how you can help!
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