February 17, 2009, Kampala, Uganda: Local entertainers, government officials and activists will join together in Kampala, Uganda Wednesday to raise awareness of displaced people with disabilities and raise funds to help them return home.

The Gulu Disabled Persons’ Union (GDPU), an Advocacy Project (AP) partner, is urging the government and relief agencies to focus more on the needs of the disabled as they begin the task of reconstruction in Gulu, which has been devastated by the long and brutal rebellion of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). Annelieke van de Wiel, an AP Peace Fellow volunteering with the GDPU, organized the upcoming fundraising dinner on February 18 at the Sheraton hotel in Kampala.

Thousands of people with disabilities live in Uganda’s camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs). As the Ugandan government steps up efforts to empty the camps, these people are being left behind because they lack the basic mobility aides and other resources to return to their former homes.

Ms van de Wiel hopes the fundraiser will help change that. All money raised will go toward the creation of resettlement kits to help disabled people in camps begin the task of returning home. These kits may include wheelchairs, farming tools and seeds, oxen, housing materials, and general household items.

The fundraising dinner will be MCed by Miss Uganda, Dorah Mwima. Attendees will get to hear from Simon Ongom, the chairman of the GDPU, as well as a disabled person currently living in an IDP camp. Other guest speakers include: Madada Kyebakoze Sulaiman, the Minister of State for Elderly and Disability Affairs; William Nokrach, a Parliament member representing persons with disabilities in Northern Uganda; and Alex Ndeezi, the chairperson of a parliamentary group for people with disabilities.

Ugandan musicians Chameleone, Sam Gombya and Navio will perform at the dinner, and two short documentaries and a photo presentation featuring displaced people with disabilities will also be shown.

AP is teaming up with Survivor Corps to promote the event and collect donations for the GDPU. In addition, AP and Survivor Corps are each donating $200 to purchase seats at the fundraiser.

For more information, including photos from the event and news on how you can help disabled IDPs, please check the AP website later this week.