Congo 'Super nun' Bags Award for Helping Victims of Terror Group

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photo credits: CNN

A Congolese nun working in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sister Angelique Namaika has been recognized for her extraordinary humanitarian work with victims of atrocities committed by members of the Lord's Resistance Army, the militant group led by African warlord Joseph Kony.

The LRA took up arms against the Ugandan gvernment in the 1980s and its members are known for hacking off the lips and ears of their victims, looting villages and burning huts, and stealing clothes and medicine from the communities they terrorize. Survivors of the attacks have been deeply scarred.

She has received the Nansen Refugee Award United Nations award for her work in the DRC, has helped rebuild the lives of more than 2,000 women and girls caught in the LRA's web. She has dedicated the award to all the women and children who were abducted by the LRA.

Working in the north-eastern Congolese town of Dungu, Namaika said she has worked with women who were captured by LRA rebels when they were as young as 11 or 12.

Namaika said she was inspired to follow the path of social work as a child when she saw a German nun, Sister Tone, who used to visit her village to help the less fortunate.

"Some women did not directly witness the atrocities performed by the LRA, but they saw them through their children whom they counted on. This one woman had three of her children taken from her, two boys and a girl, one of the boys was killed in the jungle, the other had both his arms amputated, and the girl had a sexually transmitted disease. And this woman carries this pain in her heart."

Namaika recently met with Pope Francis. Just before the meeting she said: "I am going to ask him for a special blessing for us and for me, for me to continue to have the courage I need to fulfil my mission to help women to find their lives again."'

After years hiding in the jungle, the number of LRA fighters is thought to be down to a handful, and the U.N. report says there's been a drop in the frequency of attacks against civilians. It is good news, but as Namaika knows, the healing will go on for years to come.