Thanks to the generosity of Bermudians, young women ravaged by war in Uganda will get a second chance at life.

Local charity Restorers of Hope runs an orphanage in Kampala, Uganda, and plans to expand its outreach to war-torn northern Uganda.

Shortly before Christmas, The Royal Gazette sat down with Nathan Atcheson for an update on Restorers of Hope.

Mr. Atcheson is the son of Restorers of Hope founder and director Christine Atcheson, who is at school in Pennsylvania at the moment.

"One of our new things is that Restorers of Hope is funding Destiny House, in Gulu, northern Uganda," Mr. Atcheson said.

Africa's longest running war in Uganda has left 1.7 million people displaced over the last twenty years.

The war began as a series of uprisings against President Yoweri Kaguta. In the 1980s the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) emerged. The LRA, run by Joseph Kony, is stocked with thousands of abducted child soldiers. An estimated 25,000 to 30,000 children have been kidnapped by the LRA in the last two decades.

Northern Uganda is the area hardest hit. Gulu is a district that sits on the boarder of the Sudan.

"There are child kidnappings, village pillaging and that sort of thing," said Mr. Atcheson. "That is where most of the internally displaced people (IDP) camps are.

"The camps have anywhere from 500 people to 46,000 people in one camp."

Destiny House, now funded in part by Restorers of Hope, is a home for women who have escaped from the LRA. Most of them have experienced abduction or rape.

"It is run by Hedwig Lee, the wife of Bermudian Colin Lee, who was murdered by the LRA a few years ago."

Mr. Atcheson said there are four women at Destiny House. One of them has a small child who was born in the bush, his father being a member of the LRA.

"Hedwig's heart is to train the ladies so that they can then go out and lead others into healing through Christ," said Mrs. Atcheson in an e-mail to The Royal Gazette.

"On a practical level, the ladies are being taught baking, sewing on a machine and stitching. Those who cannot read and write are also helped in those areas," she said.

Mrs. Lee offers the women at Destiny House counselling, training and crafts.

"She is working on getting them a sewing kit each so they will have some way to support themselves afterward," said Mr. Atcheson.

Mrs. Atcheson and another lady, Ann Wilkings, visited Mrs. Lee last summer.

Mrs. Atcheson said the home needs items that would enable the ladies to be self sufficient when they leave the house.

"Some ideas on that line would be to buy them a sewing machine and some cloth to begin a sewing business or a clay oven so that they can begin to make bread for sale," said Mrs. Atcheson.

And Destiny House has the usual operating costs to deal with including $1,400 a month in rent.

One of Restorers of Hope's earlier projects was to start an orphanage in Uganda's capital, Kampala.

The children there have mostly been orphaned through the AIDS epidemic or through war.

Mr. Atcheson works in public relations at The Total Marketing Group.

His mother is attending The Global School of Supernatural Ministries.

"It is a church-based mission school," said Mr. Atcheson. "They believe that not only can you help people with your hands, but you can also spiritually help people. You can help people through God, and allow God to use you."

Next summer, Mrs. Atcheson hopes to take a group of people from Bermuda and Pennsylvania to Gulu. While there, she has a number of projects on the board.

"We want to start a home for orphans in Gulu," said Mr. Atcheson. "We are all about supporting Destiny House, but orphans were our original vision."

They are working on peopling their second orphanage with medics, trauma counsellors, teachers and spiritual counsellors.

"We are hoping to be able to affect all areas of their lives in a positive way," said Mr. Atcheson.

Another goal is to purchase farm tools from people in the IDP camps.

"The people in Gulu are farmers," he said. "They grow their own food and make money off the land.

"Because all these people are in camps together, no one has land to call their own to do farming. People are slowly starting to go back home, because things are getting a bit better. But they are going back home to villages that have been pillaged. They don't have any tools or anything.

"The tools we want to buy for them are not for use in the camps, but are for when they go back home so they can set things to rights."

Restorers of Hope also wants to bore water holes so that villages can obtain fresh water.

Mr. Atcheson said he has not yet been to Gulu with his mother, but he has been to Kampala.

"When I went to Kampala it felt more real than life here," he said. "The issues that they are facing are truly life and death.

"Whereas the issues in Bermuda are more material issues, not having as much as you want. There they are faced with disease and death and with rape and things like that.

"When I was in Africa I felt very much alive, and very much appreciated by the people. The people listen to you, and they look you right in the eye. You can tell they are very appreciative of what you say. Oftentimes in the west we ignore each other, and we don't take to heart what people say."

Mr. Atcheson said that while he was in Kampala helping at the Restorers of Hope orphanage he felt like he was making a difference in the world.

"I felt like my days were being used for good," he said. "I felt like my days were full. That is why I do hope to go back. As Restorers of Hope grows I hope that I have a place in it."