COVID19 response and adaptation on delivering essential services. One of the informed adaptations was the provision of remote psychosocial First Aid which helped to identify women and girls experiencing GBV. Thirty-nine-year-old Grace was among the beneficiaries of the remotes services offered by Partners for Community Health and Development Organisation (PACHEDO) under the Women and Youth Resilience Project (WAYREP) ending an eight-year grisly experience of GBV.

“I stopped in primary five because of school fees however I am proud I went to school. I can write my name and read signposts. My husband married me after dropping out of school and we started living together. After our first child who is now 20 years, life was hard financially and our home area in Kitgum became insecure with rebels. We decided to move here to Gulu to look for jobs and a better life. I started hawking boiled maize while my husband was riding a boda boda (bicycle). Fortunately for him, he advanced to a motorcycle boda boda and was doing well. I also changed to selling cassava however most women started doing the same business in the area and it was no longer profitable after one year. I decided to start selling millet porridge something I have done for the last five years. My husband was lucky, he got money from Boda boda and decided to go for a course in masonry and that is what he does for a living”.

According to Grace, the more progress and money the husband made, the more he belittled her and even sought for extramarital relationships with the justification that she was not good enough for him. “He started drinking a lot of alcohol and stopped providing for us around 2014. Each time he went to drink, he would come back very drunk, and any small argument would end in beating me up using his tools for building. I would be beaten in front of the children, and each time the neighbours came to my rescue, he would tell them off; that no one can change anything about him. He would ask me to account for all the money from my porridge business and sometimes insist that I hand him all the profits made”.

While she made several attempts to ran away, she never reported to the police for fear that the father of her children would be arrested, something that is not ‘culturally’ accepted according to her. She opted to involve her family members and the husband’s relatives to intervene. Unfortunately, this was in vain.

‘One time, I was trapped in the house, and he strangled me several times. I knew I was going to die that night but luckily survived. In the morning, I went back to my parents’ home, and my father called him to our home. He promised to change; however, when we came back, he continued beating me and said, your parents are kilometers away, what will they do? Nothing . . . ‘. When her option of seeking family support to resolve the issue failed, Grace accepted this as her normal life. While all the neighbours were tired of these scenes, their hands were tied. She could be beaten two to three times a week.

The couple has six children; four girls and one boy; aged 20, 17, 14, 12, and seven. They live in Pece Vanguard, Division B, Gulu Municipality where they are renting two traditional grass-thatched houses to accommodate their family, a home where she has witnessed the worst form of gender-based violence. Luckily for Grace, while the world was condemning the unprecedented outbreak of COVID19 and subsequent lockdown, this was her turning point. At the beginning of the lockdown, one of Grace’s friends who had witnessed her ordeal several times got an opportunity to work as a community-based facilitator through PACHEDO. According to Grace, her friend realized she could actually help Grace through the referral mechanism. She linked Grace to one of PACHEDO’s program officers for Case Management.

“During the lockdown, I was reaching out to her remotely, when the lockdown was lifted, I came and met her face to face. She had experienced a series of violence, and so we were meeting weekly. The first time I came here, this was not her weight. Her mood was off each time I talked about her husband”. Said Patience Ataro, PACHEDO Project officer who handled her case.

“The husband was so much into alcohol and peer groups which made him so abusive. At first, he did not want to be involved, but the wife and children wanted to see the change. He was not happy to come, but I used a role play..living in a woman’s world. I made him act like a woman and the wife to act like a man. That was the turning point.so is this what the women go through?” He posed a question to Patience after the role play. According to Grace, the lockdown was a perfect timing and turning point in her marriage, and is grateful to PACHEDO.

“Each time I talked to her, I got relief. She also gave me hope and asked if I could allow her to involve my husband. He was home and not working because of the lockdown; I was the one sustaining the family with my porridge business. When Patience involved him, I saw some change in the first week; he would keep quiet after his drinking and also started leaving something small at home before he went off to drink. The fights and quarrels stopped. When the lockdown was lifted, he told me; my wife, take a break for some time while I also work and take care of our family. You did a lot for us during the lockdown. So I took a break from the business and resumed recently after two months. I am happy and doing well. He is happy that his ‘flesh is good and the stomach is pushing the shirt’ (her illustration of weight gain) because he takes only what is enough, and I am positive he will completely stop. His peers are now saying I pocketed him because he has changed a lot from his previous behaviors”.

Grace continues with the porridge business that earns her a profit of UGX 6,500 daily. She is now able to save because the husband takes care of all their needs and even gives her the capital in her business occasionally. She plans to grow her business and join efforts with the husband to buy land where they can build their own house. Grace concluded by advising organizations implementing in their communities. “Many women are experiencing violence, there is a need to target men on awareness for the prevention of violence because they are responsible”.