Twenty-five years ago, in the rural village of Kitgum, Jackie Packa entered the world during a time of great difficulty for her homeland of Northern Uganda. As if the poverty of the region weren’t enough, an escalating civil war and the eventual abandonment by her father left Jackie and her mother, Aparyo, in dire circumstances. During the war, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) is thought to have kidnapped between 25,000 and 38,000 Acholi children, often forcing them to kill their own parents so they would have no home to return to if they tried to escape. From the beginning, Aparayo knew the family’s future depended on Jackie being able to attend school, and she was determined to see her daughter graduate, no matter the cost. When the money ran out, Jackie did her part by working as a house maid on a nearby refugee farm.
