We are very excited to be gearing up for the launch of the Situational Analysis (the big report we’ve been working on that summarizes our findings from the data collection with interviews of acid attack survivors.) The launch will involve the presentation of our findings to members of Parliament in Uganda and we’re planning to live stream the event so you all can attend! LEARN MORE & LEAVE US A COMMENT OR QUESTION HERE!
As we move into this next phase of getting a law against acid attacks in Uganda, we want to introduce you to members of the RISE team who have been working so hard to make this a reality!
Arnold Agaba (pictured left) is RISE's Legal Advisor. He is a doctoral candidate at McGill University Institute of Air and Space Law. After his undergraduate training in Uganda, he received an LLM with a focus on international law and human rights from the University of Cincinnati’s LLM (master of laws) program in 2016. It was while living in Cincinnati and attending UC’s LLM program that Arnold first met Angie. He previously headed the department of law and jurisprudence at Kampala International University and taught law in several institutions, including his alma mater Uganda Christian University. Arnold will be spearheading the launch of the report and meetings with members of the Ugandan Parliament.
Dr. Angie Vredeveld (pictured middle) is RISE's founder & director. She is a clinical psychologist who founded Immigration Psychology Services in Cincinnati, Ohio. Although she had been to Uganda twice before, it was her work with immigrants and refugees that took her to Uganda in 2014, and this is when she first met an acid attack survivor. After getting back to the US, Angie was contacted by many other Ugandan acid attack survivors to ask for assistance. Angie then reached out to her friend, Ellen, for help. Together, they formed RISE.
Ellen Galloway (pictured right) is a professional writer-editor. She retired from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, part of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Ellen has done healthcare-related work in Sierra Leone, Rwanda, and Uganda. She obtained her bachelor’s degree from Miami University and a master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling from the University of Cincinnati.
There’s one other key person in this equation:
Dr. Bert Lockwood is the Distinguished Service Professor and Director of the renowned Urban Morgan Institute for Human Rights. Founded in 1979, the Urban Morgan Institute for Human Rights at the University of Cincinnati College of Law is the oldest program for the study of international human rights law. Well-known for its editing of Human Rights Quarterly (The John Hopkins University Press), the Morgan Institute places law students in summer human rights externships with human rights organizations around the world. Through the law college’s LLM program, a number of highly talented lawyers spend a year studying at Cincinnati and have the opportunity to engage with the Morgan Institute.
After Angie let Professor Lockwood know about her work with acid attack survivors, he invited her to give a presentation to the LLM students that year (2016,) knowing that several were Ugandan born and may be interested in this work. It was through this presentation that Angie and Arnold first met. Since that time, Professor Lockwood and the Urban Morgan Institute for Human Rights has advised Arnold and Angie in the important work they are doing in Uganda.