This is the first article in a series profiling staff at GDPU, the Gulu disability community, and those who call northern Uganda home. All contents of this article have been approved and shared with the permission of Mary.

Mary Lakot has worked for GDPU since 2014 as the Accountant. She has a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Gulu University, concentrating in Accounting. Mary has an infectious smile and brings an immense amount of joy to her work and the GDPU offices. Mary lives in Gulu with her husband and three children. Although she has lived here for 16 years, Kitgum is where she calls home. One day, she hopes to become the best female entrepreneur in Uganda and the entire East Africa region with a wholesale clothing business.

Mary Lakot of GDPU

How did you first hear about GDPU?

I heard about GDPU when I was working in a [health] clinic. It was Dennis (a Counselor for Persons with Disabilities in Gulu District), actually. I was a receptionist. I greeted him and Dennis asked, “Do you want to work for an organization for people living with disability?” I said “if there is a vacancy.” He told me to apply. So I applied and that was my first time to come here… I brought in my application with Patrick, went through the interview, and I started working.

What is your role at GDPU?

I am the Accountant. The job for an accountant requires knowing a budget and what we have to spend, guiding project people on how they are managing their funds, and looking for resources – what do you need to do to generate income? I look for the best resources our organization can acquire.

What work have you been proudest of at GDPU?

I am really very proud of being part of trainings. You see the lives of youth changing through the projects that came in. People recognize the impact. You are changing the lives of people with disabilities.

What makes me feel good is that before coming here, I used to imagine that they are different. But now that I have worked with people with disabilities for ten years, when I meet them along the street, to me, we are the same. They are people with special abilities. [People ask me], “You are going to your office, how do you communicate with them?” The assumption people here make is that people with disabilities and mental issues should shake you. But not me. Now, I am an advocate for them. We are all on the same level.

What do you hope GDPU accomplishes in the next ten years?

GDPU should be self-reliant and come up with something that can help it generate income. There is always challenges with funding. GDPU depends entirely on project funding, so when there is no project, you are not able to keep your staff. When there is no money, then no one will be here.

In all of northern Uganda, this is the strongest union for persons with disabilities. If you compare GDPU with disability unions in Kitgum or Omoro, they look at us as their role model. So GDPU should strategize on raising money and coming up with business enterprises so they are self-reliant.

Do you have ideas on what that could be?

Yes… We are intending to start up a workshop where we can repair assistive devices from here. The money can be small, the youths can be few, but we can integrate mixed [participants] – those with disabilities and those without disabilities. First, we need to improve on the dormitory and improve on the classrooms. Then we are good to go.

But you know, stepping out of your comfort zone is just another thing. There is that fear of “How many kids will we have? Will we be able to sustain them? Do we have enough resources?” The resources will always not be enough. But we need to take risks. We can start small and improve. We also need to learn to generate money by fundraising locally… Charity begins at home.

If a donor showed up tomorrow and gave GDPU the equivalent of $1 million USD (about 4 billion Ugandan Shillings), how would you use it?

First, I would set up GDPU with a big hall. So if there is any workshop in Gulu, people can come, and pay for the hall. You improve the infrastructure first… Since we already have a school and the land is big enough, we build a dormitory that is accommodating and inclusive for both boys and girls. It should accommodate at least 100 boys and 100 girls. If you set up the facility, it can generate money on its own.

And then, you put a production workshop outside. We now have former beneficiaries – youth who have trained in welding, youth who have trained in electronic repairs. We can identify former beneficiaries and employ them, and we produce quality product. You get exceptional people with good track record already, and you help them build their capacity and their resilience.

We won’t put everything in one basket. We should start generating money, so after the $1 million, [GDPU] is able to stand on their own. Business-minded, that’s me.

Right now, if there is a workshop, it is very expensive to [rent] other places. Because now when other organizations, like National Union of Disabled Persons of Uganda (NUDIPU) come to do a training, they go look around at other places. But when you improve your facility, you can host your own project. The facility should be clean, the floor should be tiled, the walls should be good. You should have good power, a generator on, and set up the Wi-Fi. When people come, they should feel comfortable. The first thing to consider is inclusiveness. Is the environment inclusive enough? We are people advocating for persons with disabilities, we know all the criteria needed.

Also, if we had a guest house, not necessarily here, but in GDPU name, we could make money. We have had Peace Fellows for the past four years. [If we had a guest house], we would have had that money coming back to us, not going out. All of these are things that can keep GDPU moving.

How did you become passionate about working with people with disabilities?

I feel that God was preparing me for this. There was a girl with disabilities who sat behind me in primary school. I found her at GDPU when I started working here. We were in the same class for four years. My second year at university, I was living with two girls with disabilities in the same room. So I started thinking, “Why was I meeting these people?” Was it because I was coming to work here? Maybe.

When you see some of the children, your heart breaks. [Parents] don’t take care of them well. The child is sleeping naked at ten years, nine years [old]. But at least if you get the parents taking care of a child with disability very well, you get motivated. You feel happy. You appreciate such a parent. But you protect your heart by just saying, God knows.

But it’s hard, eh? You feel broken. The first time I visited the school [for children with disabilities in Gulu], I talked to [the head teacher] and he told me, “I know today you’re broken because it’s your first time.” When I came back, I had a headache. A very bad one. I said [to Emma], “If you knew you were taking me to such a place, you should have told me.” The kids look so bad. They were feeding them posho (corn meal), cabbages – it looked like they were just boiling them. There’s no nutrients there. These kids need protein, they need beans, at least. But [the head teacher], he’s trying his best. I could not blame him.

I believe I’m very strong. But whenever I see children with disabilities, that is the part that kills me. Because I’m a mother… It’s too hard for a child. Because you don’t know what happens.

What is something you wish people knew about GDPU?

This is a home for everyone, whether you are disabled or not. And in this place, you are able to be humbled and learn a lot about disability and people around you. At any time, you are just temporarily abled. Being here, I’ve learned a lot. Some are not born with disability, they just got it along the way. So when you are out there seeing someone with disability wanting to cross the road, help them. You don’t know what tomorrow brings.

It can look like a small center, but it has a big heart. And once you are here, you learn to love – a person with disability, you will not put them aside.

Is there anything we did not talk about that you would want people to know about you or your work?

I love this place. It will be very hard for me to walk away from GDPU. I do not know why. It has been part of my home. At some point, I walked away and worked somewhere for three years. But when they called me, I willingly came back.

But there will be a time for me to exit. I want to leave GDPU using improved financial software. Because for the past five years, we have only used simple accounting packages. The challenges is money and [the software] needs money to sustain it. If we could improve our accounting software, I would have left GDPU better than I found it.