Aboke girls book raises sh300m

Aboke Girls, a book published by a Belgian woman journalist, Ells De Temmerman in May 2001, has sold close to sh300m, reports Dennis Ojwee.Temmerman said the money was raised out of the sale of the book locally and internationally.She said the money will support 250 children formerly abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Uganda over the past 16 years.Temmerman said the children will be paid sh25m as termly school fees costing sh75m per year.She said the beneficiaries were catered for at the Gulu World Vision Trauma and Counselling Centre (WVTCC), Gulu Support the Children Organisation, Kitgum Concerned Parents’ Association and Concerned Parents’ Association in Lira district.Temmerman handed over sh7.36m as payment for first term school fees for some of the children at World Vision in Gulu. The acting WVTCC co-ordinator, Dennis Oruk, received the money on behalf of World Vision. Two lawyers, Marlees van Doren and Anneke Vande Velde and Mirelle Schreus, a judge from Belgium accompanied Temmernan.Temmernan also said two former captives were receiving university education at Makerere University under the Belgium support programme. She pledged to sponsor the 250 children and more to university level if they are committed to their studies. She promised more support from Belgium.The head of the Belgian team, Bettie Elias, said the Belgian government was concerned about the plight of the former captives in northern Uganda, especially those in the Acholi sub-region where the war has persisted for 16 years.