July 2008 marked the beginning of unprecedented expansion for PCAF in East Africa.
The PCAF sponsored the first-ever annual Eastern African Psycho-trauma Training Seminar and it went off without a hitch. Eighty doctors, psychologists, and other medical personnel representing nine East African countries were trained at this multi-disciplinary conference featuring didactic sessions on the tools for treating psycho-trauma, as well as analysis of war-induced trauma in the context of the region’s experience in an effort to generate African solutions for African problems. Debilitating traumatic depression is East Africa’s single largest health problem, affecting more people than HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria combined.
On July 25, 2008, the Peter C. Alderman Psycho-trauma Unit in Gulu, Uganda was dedicated by Gulu University Hospital officials and the Government of Uganda. Speeches and traditional dancing were the order of the day. Uganda’s Minister of Health declared, “The landscape of Northern Uganda is changed. No longer will the war-traumatized people, living in the villages or in the camps be denied the care they so desperately need. The partnership between the Republic of Uganda and the Peter C. Alderman Foundation has begun to rebuild our war-torn country.” The Gulu District of Northern Uganda has been plagued by insurgent fighting for years. It is estimated that over 90% of the population has been displaced, mostly into camps clustered around towns and trading centers. A generation of children has grown up inside the internally displaced persons camps to avoid being kidnapped from local villages by the “Lords Resistance Army” and forced to become child-soldiers.
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"Michael," a formerly abducted child soldier, came to the Gulu Clinic with flashbacks and severe insomnia. He said he was being pursued by a spirit. For six years Michael (not his real name) had been forced to fight in one of the cruelest rebel groups on earth - the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda. He was instructed to murder and in each case was forced to drink the victim's blood to "internalize" him. Shortly after killing his last victim, he was rescued by government troops and returned home, not having the opportunity to ritualize the murder .This was the spirit that haunted him. Following therapy at the Peter C Alderman Gulu Clinic, Michael is now productively in school.