The Acid Survivors Foundation Uganda

by Kathleen Lorden

As my foot gets lodged in the mud, the local children quickly surround me and chant “Muzungo! Muzungo!” I laugh and chant back, as I wipe off my camera bag and escape through the narrow alleyway. Most of the children turn back, once they notice where I am headed. Even the wild roosters cluck and scramble, as I approach the one-room hut. I anxiously pull back the tattered sheet that drapes over the open entryway. I am greeted by a deafening silence and a mummy-like teenager rocking back and forth on the bed. I could not be farther away from home, but there is nowhere else I would rather be.

Photographing and filming Numungo was my first assignment for The Acid Survivors Foundation. Nine months prior, a townsman’s jealous wife hired two children to douse Numungo with battery acid. She had just arrived back from the hospital and I was there to document it. I was in Uganda for a “Digital Storytelling” workshop for three weeks this past November. We were to research and photograph a local non-governmental organization (NGO) that touched us. After weeks of investigation, this is what I found. I was anxious to acknowledge these voices through imagery.

Over the next few days, I visited more victims in the remote villages of Eastern Uganda. Most of them were teenage girls, already susceptible to the common challenges of growing up. Not only are they extremely poor and disfigured, but they are often shunned from their own communities - being labeled as adulteresses, mistresses, or jealous business partners. The Acid Survivors Foundation goes above and beyond, restoring their dignity and hope.

The warmth and determination of these survivors forever changed me.

Kathleen Lorden On behalf of The Acid Survivors Foundation Uganda