Wartime children's suffering and quests for therapy in northern Uganda
Akello-Ayebare, G.
Citation
Akello-Ayebare, G. (2009, May 20). Wartime children's suffering and quests for therapy in northern Uganda. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/1887/13807
Version: Corrected Publisher’s Version
License: Licence agreement concerning inclusion of doctoral thesis in the Institutional Repository of the University of Leiden Downloaded from: https://hdl.handle.net/1887/13807
Note: To cite this publication please use the final published version (if applicable).
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Part II
Micro-level setting in which wartime children lived
After my description of the macro context of war in northern Uganda in Chapter One, and the study’s methodology in Chapter Two, I now move on to a description of the micro-level setting in which the children who participated in my study lived, both in institutional and informal settings. The aim of this section, which consists of only one chapter, is to serve as a bridge to Part III where the children’s illness experiences and quests for therapy will be analyzed.
An understanding of the institutional context of the children’s lives has been derivedhe institutional context of the children’s lives has been derivedinstitutional context of the children’s lives has been derived through an examination of the ways in which major multi-layered issues in the context of civil war become institutionalized through structures put in place to ensure the wellbeing of war affected people. For example, the problem of insecurity in camps and villages was addressed by the creation of night commuters’ shelters, to nightly host people-mainly children severely affected by the war. I also sought insights into wartime children’s social lives, particularly regarding what they considered to be their daily challenges, their predisposition to the dangers of armed conflict, and their coping mechanisms. This part of the thesis will also demonstrate how the activities and operations of emergency aid institutions, aimed at alleviating children’s suffering, had the double impact of both minimizing their suffering and creating even more complex forms of suffering.
