The Pader Girls Academy (PGA), in northern Uganda’s Pader Town was founded in 2002 by the Christian Counseling Fellowship (CCF) as a reception center for girls escaped or rescued from Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) captivity. Under the leadership of PGA Director, Alice Achan, and with funding from the Uganda Fund and other international donors, PGA was later transformed into a secondary boarding school that fills a major void in service to girls affected by conflict: it is the only school in northern Uganda where girls who are pregnant or have children can be educated.

PGA engages community leaders in villages throughout Pader district to recruit former LRA abductees – most of who were forced to commit atrocities as combatants – and other young mothers who lived in squalid Internally Displaced Persons camps where sexual violence was common. PGA’s vision is to create a community of girls affected by conflict who are self-reliant, can achieve personal security and economic independence, and are equipped to support their children through acquisition of quality education.

In 2012, PGA enrolled 460 students, with nearly 75 percent of students living on the school’s campus with 111 infants. PGA curricula include: a six-month vocational program, which provides practical skills in catering and tailoring; a six-month accelerated learning program to help students who have been out of school for long periods catch up; and the standard secondary education program, which teaches the Ministry of Education syllabus in preparation for national exams. The school employs 18 teachers, five tutors and seven child caregivers. Girls receive instruction in hygiene, breastfeeding and HIV prevention and undergo routine psychological counseling. PGA works in partnership with the Pader Health Center to provide medication (when available) for HIV positive girls. PGA takes an active role in the lives of students. On average seven girls drop out each year. School administrators visit the girls in their home villages to discover why they have dropped out and encourage them to return. PGA is a unique educational setting in which young women, who suffered sustained violence, have the rare opportunity to give birth and care for their infants in a supportive, empowering educational community.

Student Profile: Judith Adong

Judith (18) was born in a small village with the highest number of LRA child abductions in Lamiyo Sub-County. Judith was not abducted. The eldest of six children, she lived with an ill mother. At the age of 13, Judith was sexually abused by a man twice her late father’s age. Judith became pregnant from the relationship and the man never fulfilled his promises to take care of Judith and her siblings. Judith was rejected by her community when her father was dying of cancer. In 2011, Judith was identified by PGA as a vulnerable girl in need of support; she enrolled in senior one and moved on campus with her baby. Judith recalls, “I couldn’t believe that I had gotten another opportunity to return to school, I particularly feared the shame of studying while my baby is beside me. I even thought of giving up this opportunity, at one point, I also thought of leaving the child with the old grandmother but I knew this would haunt me for the rest of my life so I decided to take up to books with my baby Michel.”

At PGA, Judith attends classes Monday through Friday and on weekends she participates in vocational training. Interactions with PGA classmates have encouraged her to accept who she is, forget her past and accept her baby as a special gift from God. Her participation in the school scripture union activity, one of the clubs within Pader Girls Academy has changed her attitude towards children. Michael attends PGA daycare where is receives instruction as part of the new early childhood education program.

Since arriving at PGA, Judith has become happier and her dreams have expanded. She wants to become a nurse. Judith’s education is garnering respect from her family and community. She proudly describes, “my mother often calls me home to settle minor conflicts among my siblings because of the discipline I have shown, she tells me all her hope now lies in me and this gives me a reason to concentrate in class and even double my effort.” Judith is just one student whose story reveals the continued need for targeted institutional support for vulnerable girls in northern Uganda.

Student Reactions
“I love the way our teachers and Matrons treat us from school, I feel cared for, loved and respected as a child mother. I always feel my baby is safer from the school because our matrons advise us on how to behave and live a disciplined life more than my step-mother can tell me. I used to think my condition is the worst but when I met fellow classmates from the other sub counties with similar problems, others worse than mine, I got encouraged to concentrate in books to better change my condition given this second opportunity.”
- Anonymous PGA Student

“I graduated from Pader Girls Academy and I am working in the local restaurant. I was really frustrated some time back. I thank God, by the grace, He took me to Pader Girls and I got knowledge in hotel management and really my life is almost getting to that destiny I’m supposed to reach.”
- Grace, PGA graduate

For more information about current or projects under development, please contact us at info@ugandafund.org