Grace Akallo

Not to be confused with Grace Akello.

Grace Akallo
Born1981 (age 42–43)
NationalityUgandan
CitizenshipUganda, United States of America
Education
OccupationActivist
Known for
  • Human rights activism
    • African women's and children's rights activism
    • Rehabilitation of former child soldiers
Notable workGirl Soldier: A Story of Hope for Northern Uganda's Children (co-authored)
SpouseJonathan Day
ChildrenJonathan Day Jr.

Grace Akallo (born 1981) is a Ugandan woman who was abducted in 1996 to be used as a child soldier in the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA),[1] a rebel military group led by Joseph Kony. At the time of her abduction, Akallo was 15 years old and attending St. Mary's College, a Catholic boarding school[2] in Aboke, Uganda.[1] She remained in the LRA for seven months before escaping.[3] After escaping the army, Akallo returned to St. Mary's College[4] to finish her high school education.[4] She began her college education at the Uganda Christian University, but finished her undergraduate degree at Gordon College after receiving a scholarship.[4] Akallo then went on to receive her master's degree from Clark University.[3] Upon her escape from the LRA, Akallo began working as an advocate for peace and for the rights of African women and children.[3] She has been using both her experiences as a child soldier and the information she has gained in her higher education to advocate against violence and the use of child soldiers, as well as to help counsel other escaped child soldiers like herself.

Akallo has since worked for different organizations, such as the Sister Rachelle Rehabilitation Centre[4] and World Vision,[5] as well as worked on several different advocacy projects, including contributing to the passage of amendments to the 2008 Child Soldiers Accountability Act.[6] and delivering speeches about her experience as a former child soldier[4] Akallo has also started a non-profit organization in America called United Africans for Women and Children's Rights (UAWCR), aiming to protect the rights of African women and children;[3] and cofounded the Network of Young People Affected by War through UNICEF.[7] Several biographical texts and documentaries have been written and produced documenting the experiences of Akallo and her fellow child soldiers, most notably being the 2007 autobiography; Girl Soldier: A Story of Hope for Northern Uganda's Children, co-authored with Faith J. H. McDonnell, the 2015 biography Grace Akallo and the Pursuit of Justice for Child Soldiers written by Kem Knapp Sawyer, and the 2010 documentary Grace, Milly, Lucy... Child Soldiers produced by Raymonde Provencher.[8]

  1. ^ a b Tremblay, Stephanie (29 April 2009). "29 Apr 2009 - Grace Akallo at the Security Council". United Nations Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict | To promote and protect the rights of all children affected by armed conflict. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  2. ^ "Former Kony Child Soldier Tells Her Story". www.wbur.org. 19 April 2012. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d "Grace Akallo comes back from the last place on earth". UNICEF. Archived from the original on 28 June 2017. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d e Brown, DeNeen L. (10 May 2006). "A Child's Hell in the Lord's Resistance Army". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  5. ^ "Gordon Student Speaks to U.S. Congress at Endangered Children of Uganda Hearing". www.gordon.edu. 20 October 2006. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  6. ^ Report on the Activities of the Committee on the Judiciary ,... January 3, 2009, 110-2 House Report 110-941. Washington, D.C.: U. S. Government Printing Office. 2009. p. 187.
  7. ^ "Young conflict survivors launch network for children caught in war". UNICEF. 20 November 2008. Archived from the original on 6 March 2019. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  8. ^ T'Cha Dunlevy, "How girls become 'killing machines'". Montreal Gazette, February 11, 2011.