People Need to Heal-The Potter's House Dream

An Interview With Benson Ocen - Founder/Director of I Live Again Uganda
Interviewer-Tricia DeBoer, Partner Representative

Benson on the site of the new Potter's House project.

I Live Again Uganda (ILA) is celebrating its 14th anniversary on the 25th of March. Fourteen years of developing an extraordinarily successful program that helps people who’ve been traumatized find restoration and healing.

This interview with Benson unwraps ILA’s fabulous dreams for The Potter's House, a project in which IAFR Canada is both a thrilled and grateful partner. 

Tricia
How did I Live Again Uganda begin?

Benson
I Live Again Uganda began because of the war in northern Uganda, where many children were abducted and forced to become soldiers. They returned back to their families with a lot of trauma. Every person in northern Uganda became a victim of trauma, because of the war. 
After surviving the war, we needed to help give people hope, healing and identity through trauma counseling. So in 2008, the Lord birthed in us a call to start this ministry.  I Live Again is a way to restore life back to the people who had lost hope.

Tricia
The Lord's Resistance Army insurgency, the war that you have referred to, that lasted for more than 20 years. The war is over now. Do you think that it still affects the region and the people today?

Benson
Yes, the war is over. But the effect of war still continues because of the trauma. It will live on in the lives of people for decades. Today we see many children that are ages 16, 17, 18 - they were born in the Internally Displaced People camps.

The effect of separation of families still continues. So in a nutshell, I'm saying the effect of war is still evident in the lifestyle of the people of northern Uganda.

Tricia
Tell me a little bit about the moment that you chose to start I Live Again Uganda. What was that moment? What was that idea?

Benson
It started through a clinical psychologist from Australia, who came and did two years of research on mental health and post-traumatic stress disorder. I was part of the research team. The research was published in the British Journal for Clinical Psychology with evidence that people in northern Uganda are traumatized. 

After two years, the research was done, but we still had millions of traumatized people in northern Uganda. Over 1.2 million people were affected in northern Uganda, because of the war. It was at that moment that I sat and I thought, "Will it just end like that?  Something must happen."

And at that moment I said, "God help me." God talked to me clearly saying, "There must be restoration in the life of the people." He gave me the name "I Live Again" from what I learned from the research.

Art Therapy for Refugee Children

Tricia
Today, I Live Again Uganda is starting to expand and is building The Potter's House. What is the vision of this project and how was it inspired?

Benson
I Live Again Uganda realized that the need for mental health is overwhelming across the entire globe. There is a rise in trauma because of war, because of natural disasters, the increase in refugee displacement- over 82 million people have been displaced from their own country because of different factors. One or two people cannot go across all these countries to help in the healing of trauma. 

The idea of The Potter's House came through prayer when the Lord spoke to us, of a place where people can come together, learn and go and help in different places around the world. It would make expansion in bringing healing to victims of trauma easier. So, The Potter's House idea came to help people come do training in trauma counseling and to learn from one another. To ask and understand what has worked in different countries. 

Sometimes, when helping trauma victims, frontline workers can become traumatized.  So, we also wanted to think of how we can bring frontline workers together, to receive refreshment, get more training, get their own healing and be ready to go back and serve again. 

Tricia
How did you come up with the name The Potter's House?

Benson
It was through a gathering of ILA staff. We were at the land that the Lord had given us. We were dreaming about the land and wondering if we should build a school to help children. Or should we do vocational training or maybe an Agricultural Training Center? What would it be? We kept dreaming. But the Lord spoke to us and asked us, "Is that My desire or your own desire?"

So, we went to prayer, and as we were praying together, the Lord spoke to us through the words in Jeremiah.  The Lord told Jeremiah to go to The Potter's House. Then He asked Jeremiah, "What do you see?" Jeremiah explained how he saw the mud that was being formed in the hands of the potter. The Lord spoke to us clearly and told us that we are people who have been victims of trauma. But God Himself would mold us to make us new again. He showed us that pottery is very much therapeutic. 

God said, "This place shall be a place of encounter, a place that can be called The Potter's House, a place for remolding us to be a better person and become who we are called to be."

Tricia
What do you mean by it being "a place of encounter"? What does that phrase mean?

Benson
A place of encounter is a place where you would encounter healing, you will encounter hope and you will encounter your identity in God.

Tricia
Who do you hope will come to The Potter's House?

Benson
I hope the people who will join us at The Potter's House would be 

1. Victims of war. Those are people that will come for counseling. 
   
2. People who are on the frontlines, people who need to be trained in trauma counseling. 
   
3. I see children coming to camp for a week or two and learning from one another, being trained, being supported and being counseled.
4. I also envision seeing Pastors and Church Leaders coming together and supporting one another and working in unity seeking how we can bring transformation, how we can bring the gospel and how we can be people that work together in the vineyard of God. 
5. I also see leaders - political leaders, government leaders, tribal leaders- all kinds of leaders coming to us.

Looking for water on the site

 Tricia
So how far along is The Potter's House in being built? Where are things at?

Benson
Clearing the land: We are in the process of clearing the land. It's currently the dry season here in northern Uganda, which is the best season to do that.

The roads: The district engineer has come and put together the information we need to hire excavators, bulldozers and trucks in order to build the road network. We are excited about that.

Water: We have already worked through an engineering company that will help us in drilling water or a well on site. We are excited about that too! 
 
Tricia
So after that, what's next?

Benson
Buildings: After that, the construction of the training centre, a sports centre and the security houses would begin.

Soccer field: Uganda is known for soccer or football. In building a good soccer field we can easily engage with young people and the surrounding community of The Potter's House site. It's important to us that we not only support those that are coming to us - but also the community around us. We are so excited about the football pitch that will be put there!

Clearing the land with machetes has begun!

Tricia
How do you feel The Potter's House will impact the world?

Benson
The Potter's House will have a global impact. It will bring information concerning trauma and mental health to the world. The training would bring people from across the Great Lakes Region of Africa:  South Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, DR Congo, Rwanda and the neighbouring countries. They will come together and learn and they will go back to their countries and bring impact. They will be transformed and bring healing and bring hope to their community. That is very, very key. 

Beyond that, The Potter's House will be a hub where people will come from different parts of the world to share what has worked in their perspective of cultures in their countries and what did not work, and how we can come together in the mental health challenge that is huge in the world today.

Tricia
What difference does the partnership with IAFR Canada make to you and to the dreams you have for The Potter's House?

Benson
Our partnership with IAFR is very important to us.  We cannot and do not want to do what we do alone.  The Body of Christ is so important.  

There are things that IAFR can do to bring the vision of the Potter's House to fruition that we cannot do.  The role IAFR plays in sharing this vision, helping and inviting others to join us, networking and praying and encouraging is important.

We have a heart and calling to bring healing and hope to the nations through Trauma Counseling.   We simply cannot do what we do without our friends at IAFR Canada.

Tricia
Do you have any further comments about The Potter's House you'd like to share?

Benson
Anything left for me to say would be to request people to 

• Stand with us. 
• Pray with us.
• Financially support us
• Physically support us. 

Help us see that this land is developed. I desire to see the will of the Lord in this place. I know that at the right time the right people will come and join hands to see that The Potter's House is erected for the glory of the Lord.