About HEALS and Jolly Okot

Since 1986, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has led a civil war in Northern Uganda. The primary victims of this war have been the Acholi people, 30,000 of their children abducted and forced to serve as child soldiers and sex slaves. 95% of LRA forces are made up of abducted children and that 1.6 million Ugandans are displaced in the camps due to this war. In addition to being ravaged by more than 20 years of war, Northern Uganda faces one of the highest HIV prevalence in the country.

H.E.A.L.S is a registered non-profit organization based in Gulu, Northern Uganda. H.E.A.L.S was founded by Jolly Grace Okot who was among the first children abducted by the rebels in 1986. She was forced to work as a child soldier for two years later. Jolly returned to school and went on to work with several international organizations such as Oxfam, Médecins Sans Frontiers-Holland, InterAid International, and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). Having directly experienced the effects of war gave Jolly a deep understanding of what war-affected children in Northern Uganda were going through and inspired her to start her own non-profit organization.In 2003, Jolly created H.E.A.L.S so that war-affected children could be provided with a variety of programs and services including school sponsorship, health education, literacy classes as well focusing on recovery, and provides children with a safe space to play after school through its Play Therapy Program, which offers traditional dance and music classes, sporting activities, and art classes.