They tossed the confetti into the air - little white flakes of snow against the azure sky framed the celebration and gave shape to the singing that rose in a bright chorus.

Piswa.

A few of the things that have happened here: One FH initiated and now community-owned reforestation project, boasting one of the largest tree seedling nurseries in eastern Uganda; one FH-built health center, the only health center for at least a day's walk; two FH-built primary schools constructed with the community in the lead, 284 FH sponsored children, and a series of cultural shifts happening that are completely changing everything.

The first vehicle entered Piswa in 1999, and shortly after, FH arrived. Tradition ran deep. Alcoholism was high, disease was rampant, only 300 children were in school. But today, 2,000 children are studying, diseases are being treated and prevented and alcoholism prevalence has plummeted.

"FH taught us how to work - people didn't know how to do work that would really help their lives. People would just go hunting, drinking and fighting. Today we have many skills - tree planting is one of them," said Stephen, a church elder at Mengya Church, the main community church in Piswa, from which much of the cultural changes have come.

FH encouraged truth-based messaging in Piswa and urged church leaders to teach things like gender equality and ending the practice of female genital mutilation and circumcision. Eastern Uganda has a historically embedded culture of female genital mutilation and early marriage, resulting in girls submitting to these excruciatingly painful practices for the sake of social inclusion. "If you weren't circumcised you were considered an abomination, you couldn't have a husband, you weren't allowed to fetch water, you would be called a child forever and when you die they wouldn't bury you," said Jacqueline, a women leader in Mengya Church.

"But I said no to being circumcised," Jacqueline said proudly. "And today, it's the model in the whole district. And it is all because my Church encouraged me to say no."

Alice Masai, a mother, wife and another leader of women, represents women at the sub-county level, fighting to bring sensitization of women's rights and to encourage men to see women as bridges, as valuable, as equals.

Four years ago, Alice, her two children and her husband were considered wanderers. They had been living high up on Mt. Elgon and when they came to Piswa they were viewed as outcasts. Alice's husband Moses was picking wild greens to sell. When FH offered educational sponsorships to their children, the ease of the financial strain made it possible for Moses to return to school. He was able to gain a degree and is now a teacher at a private primary school. The family bought their own land and Moses wants to use part of the profits to pay for other children to go to school, to receive the opportunity of education that he had wanted for so long and that his children have been granted.

A waterfall cascades over a sharp cliff, running like silver glass down the mountainside; a grove of trees, planted by a woman's group, seems to be waving. Piswa is not just an anomaly; some might call it a miracle. Minds are changing, girls are getting to go to school, and an entire community is moving away from poverty.

WHERE

+ Democratic Republic
-- of Congo
+ Ethiopia
+ Kenya
+ Rwanda
+ Uganda

+ FH HISTORY:

FH started working in Uganda in 1988 initially as a branch of FH Kenya. At that time Uganda was beginning to address infrastructural and social damage wrought by 13 years of civil and liberation wars as well as the AIDS pandemic. Both AIDS and the war left high numbers of widows and orphans in their wake. Initially FH Uganda helped communities recover by providing relief commodities. Consequently it helped strengthen household food security through efforts to rehabilitate the prison farm system. Over the past twenty years, FH Uganda has expanded to include programs addressing: agriculture and food security, water and sanitation, child education and development, community health and HIV/AIDS, returnee resettlement, child protection and psycho-social care for survivors of abduction.

+ UGANDA'S HISTORY:

The kingdoms of Buganda, Ankole, Toro, and Bunyoro, were some of the last to be explored by outsiders, with Arab settlers arriving in the middle of the 19th century, followed by European explorers. Uganda was given to the British East Africa Company in 1888 and remained a British protectorate from 1896-1962. Ruling through already existing kingdoms, Britain granted the majority of ruling power to the kingdom of Buganda.

Gaining independence in 1962, Milton Obote, founder of the Ugandan People's Congress, was elected Prime Minister. As Obote's regime became increasingly oppressive he abolished all hereditary kingdoms, using terror to crush any opposition. Amnesty International has estimated that over 300,000 Ugandans were killed during Obote's regime.

While abroad, Obote's government was toppled in a coup led by military commander Idi Amin. Like Obote, Amin ruled through terror, targeting tribes other than his own and expelling Uganda's Asian population. During Amin's eight year rule nearly 500,000 Ugandans were killed or brutally tortured. In 1978, Obote returned to power after defeating Amin in his attempt to invade Tanzania and was defeated. Obote continued his regime until 1986.

Uganda's current leader, President Yowera Museveni, gained control of Uganda in a military coup in 1986, following a five year guerilla war. Museveni was democratically elected in 1996 and has since served three consecutive terms.

Shortly after Museveni came to power, war erupted in Northern Uganda. The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), led by Joseph Kony, has been fighting against Museveni's government ever since. The LRA's actions, characterized by routine maiming and killing of civilians and the abduction of children for use as child soldiers, sex slaves, and domestic workers, have forced 1.6 million people to flee their homes and live in some 200 camps for internally displaced persons. Roughly ninety percent of Northern Ugandans are now living in camps, the majority of whom are almost entirely dependent on humanitarian aid.

+ FACTS:

+ For over 20 years northern Uganda has been the center of violent conflict between the Lord's Resistance Army and the Ugandan Government

+ The Lord's Resistance Army is infamous for its brutality, "routinely maiming and killing civilians, and abducting children for use as child fighters, sex slaves or domestic workers" (IRIN). Over 25,000 children have been abducted since the conflict began.

+ Nearly half of Uganda's two million orphans have been orphaned by AIDS.

+ 12.9 million Ugandans lack access to clean water

+ Roughly 90% of Northern Ugandans live in some 200 IDP camps

+ Facts From: IRIN, CIA, The World Factbook, UNHCR, UNICEF.

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