In this article we, the CCVS Lira and Bunia teams, would like to express our sincere thanks to Close the Gap for providing us with the two laptops and four computers that are now being used on a daily basis by our staff in Lira and Bunia. It would be difficult for us to imagine our communication, administration and situation today without their precious help.

The Centre for Children in Vulnerable Situations (CCVS) Lira and Bunia are two small-scale psychotherapy centres. Our centre in Northern Uganda is located in Lira, where rebels of the LRA (Lord Resistance Army) have been destabilising this part of Uganda for the past 20 years.

Our centre in DRC is located in Bunia, a provincial town in Eastern Congo where fierce ethnic fighting and insurgencies led by rebels of Congolese, Rwandan and Ugandan origin have been part of daily life. Civilians in both areas are too accustomed to daily trauma, violence, sexual violence, economic hardship, and much more. While Lira is engaged in post-war recovery, Bunia is once again the victim of more violent outbreaks.

The Centre for Children in Vulnerable Situations has the mission to promote the psychosocial well-being of children and adolescents living in vulnerable situations, as well as of their families and communities, to support sustainable initiatives and capacity building. Both our centres are here to provide free counselling services, sensitisation activities and psycho-education services for children and adolescents, communities and schools, in collaboration with parents, caretakers and the community at large - where necessary.

Our services are provided by a highly motivated group of Ugandan and Congolese psychologists, counsellors and social workers who show great compassion in their work and for the people. CCVS supports them through training and capacity building. CCVS is also committed to making the gathered knowledge and expertise available to local stakeholders and policy makers.

Our budgets are minimal. Thanks to the support of Close the Gap we were able to provide our staff with computers for communication, administration, reporting and documentation purposes. This contributes, in turn, to their motivation and ability to cope better with their daily workload.

Best Regards,

An Verelst Lieve Milissen

Coordinator CCVS Bunia Coordinator CCVS Lira