Bookec turns 1!
So, I got a beautiful email from Tumblr telling me that the Bookec tumblr became a year old on October 12!
Happy belated birthday Bookec Tumblr!
With this celebration comes the realization that there has been a few updates which you supporters, need to hear about.
One (it may sound like old news now, but the fact that Joseph Kony -- the perpetrator behind the crimes which affected the women in "Bookec" -- is close to being captured) sounds like good news!
Okay that sounds like great news but let's focus for a bit on what that means:
When I talked to Esther (one of the women in Bookec) about what her plans were before she was kidnapped by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebel soldiers, she told me:
"When the rebels captured me. I was really frustrated. My future plan before the captivity was that, I had wanted to finish my education. If possible, I should at least earn something before I go with a man. That was my plan ahead. But now when they captured us, things have fallen apart. In fact when I was still in school. The future plan, I had wanted to be a secretary."
But Esther is a survivor, who has learned to make lemonade out of lemons. In addition to running a small grocery store, Esther is planning to start her own poultry (chicken) farm. In her words:
"These days you have to choose a business which is marketable to people. So I am planning to start doing poultry keeping."
Esther not only finds the strength to keep herself in a positive state of mind, she also helps Alice (a friend and one of the stars in Bookec, who she met during the LRA kidnapping and quickly took under her wing).
During one of the interview sessions for Bookec, Alice broke down in tears when a memory of her with the rebel soldiers crossed her mind. It was remarkable to see how kind and compassionate Esther was while consoling her. Drawing her in for a motherly hug, Esther whispered to Alice:
"Don’t try to recall what happened in the past. You just forget and be relaxed, then you will be ok. You have seen how I looked like before, but I have overcome the situation, because of making my decision through the Lord Jesus Christ. Make up your mind to be free. If you are not free in mind, then you won’t even stand firm."
So you see, it may seem like great news that Joseph Kony is about to be captured. But in the grand scheme of things, if and when this happens, the women in Bookec just want to move on with their lives. And that, is worth celebrating!








