Kidnapped by the LRA in 1994, Concy escaped during a clash between the rebels and government soldiers in which she was shot in the groin and had her legs and feet injured by shrapnel from a bomb. She made it home in 1995 just in time to witness the LRA murder her husband in the garden. Widowed in her mid-twenties, Concy has a past that would shake anyone who heard it.
But that’s not what she wants to talk about. She wants to talk about the future. She wants to talk about the work of the Advocacy Committee in Alero.
Concy wants to talk about the future because she has children that need her to. One of her sons is deaf and he has not been able to attend school regularly for several years. Either he faces ridicule from fellow students, or worse, the school administrators flat out refuse to allow him to attend because of his disability. Unfair, sure, but also illegal.
Uganda has laws in place that guarantee the right to health, education, employment and participation in public and private life to all persons living with disabilities. The Advocacy Committee that Concy is a part of is part of the mechanism that will hold the Ugandan government to these promises that they have made to their people. The more people that become aware of the responsibilities of the Ugandan government, the more likely it is that the government will enforce its own policies. With more trainings done by the GDPU on disability rights, and more committee members like Concy, the change will not be a long time coming.
