Staff Stories: Jackline—A Seed of Hope, Love, and Peace

 

Jackline

Jackline’s Childhood & Education:

Jackline, a visiting counselor, grew up as a child of a soldier in western Uganda—the first girl in a family of seven. She often lacked basic necessities at home, but she persevered through life regardless of the hardships. She was loved and cared for by her parents, but their family lacked many of life’s basics.

Jackline also did not enjoy school very much because she didn’t have many of the basic supplies her peers had. But she went to school up to a bachelor level, and is able to understand each student at Neema better because of her education and her own life experiences.

She now has a husband and two boys, as well as three orphaned children who she supports for her late uncle. 



Before Neema:

Jackline brought trauma-informed counseling to Neema through an organization called Zion in 2018. She had started her university degree with ministry to children, which led to her job with Zion. Her work started as an internship, as their first counselor, and they liked what she did so much they offered her a job.

Zion was an organization focused on helping women in prostitution by rescuing them and taking them through counseling. Jackline did a lot of work beyond just helping the women. She counseled their children, taught parenting classes, and helped people with their marital problems as well. She was also involved in community outreach and training, which led her to Neema. 

When Neema reached out for training, Zion invited the staff to Uganda. They were taught about self-care because Jackie believes that if you are hurting, you could unintentionally hurt others even if you are trying to help. She taught them that sometimes you have to listen to what God says to be able to better yourself and help others. She also taught about “soul ties,” which prevent you from making your own decisions because you are prone to consult another person for everything. She taught about how to break these ties so you can live freely.

Neema then invited Jackline to work with their students. She now trains staff on counseling skills and does trauma counseling with the young women at Neema. 

Jackline meeting with a student at Neema.

Theophostic Counseling:

Jackline works specifically in trauma-informed counseling because she sees that trauma pushes people to the edge. She works to help people find joy again as they heal.

Jackline also uses theophostic counseling. This means Jesus does the healing—so her work is to focus people on Jesus. Due to the past experiences of these young women, Jackline explain that they believe lies like that they are unloved. Through theophostic counseling, Jackline lets Jesus speak peace and their true identity. The girls may think Jackline isn’t telling the truth or that she will disappoint them, but Jesus will not—he reveals what he wants them to know. Jackline wants to make sure they know their past does not describe them. She explains that anyone can fall, but they can rise. Who they are in Christ is what matters—not what they’ve been through.  

Jackline believes that hope will help the young women gain motivation and resilience while having a positive outlook on life. She explains that healthy self-esteem helps the students build confidence, and it helps them in forming a strong sense of identity and self-worth. Jackline’s work as a counselor at Neema and her passion to empower young women gives the students a stepping stone towards this confidence by building hope and faith within them. 

Jackline (right) with Neema students.

Self Care:

Jackline’s greatest joy is putting a smile on peoples faces. She truly loves listening to people who don’t have the opportunity to be listened to. Despite the fact that she lives in Uganda, a one day journey from Neema’s location, and she once lived a two days journey away, she takes the time to travel to Kenya quarterly. During the rest of the year she calls with the students on a weekly basis, doing both individual and group sessions over Zoom.

Jackline finds great joy in helping these young women, but she also takes her own mental health very seriously. When she returns home from Kenya she schedules a week off to ensure she does not take all of the pain on herself. She has a counselor herself, her mentor, whom she talks to when she needs to. She stresses that she has weakness too, and the importance of taking care of yourself to be able to properly take care of others. She also regularly exercises and spends time with her children.

Her husband along with her three children bring great joy to her life. They are cross married, as she is from western Uganda and he is from the north. This is common in Uganda—to marry into a different tribe. When this happens, it is common for the woman to leave her maternal culture for her husbands. Because they speak two different languages, they speak English with their children at home. There are over 80 languages in Uganda, so English unites the country together. 




A Lasting and Far Reaching Impact: 

Knowing youth often feel voiceless gave Jackline passion to empower that voice and give them a hug or be a shoulder to lean on. She wants to see the students with a genuine smile, and she believes there is healing in speaking.

She is also committed to community outreach and maintaining relationships with the alumni. She says that some alumni are even like counselors back in their community because of the counseling they received through Neema. It made such an impact that they will call back and ask her to talk to people they know who need help.

Jackline’s favorite part of her work is seeing a transformed heart. She loves counseling at Neema, and she hopes Neema will one day extend counseling services to more of the students’ communities. 



On Compassion: 

More than anything, Jackline highlights the importance of compassion. She says that living with compassion is loving people for who they are, accepting everyone the way they come, and listening without judgment. When asked about giving advice on self-care, Jackline says, “first of all, I would tell that person they are loved and accepted for who they are. They should know that they matter. No matter where you are, no matter who you are, what you have gone through, you matter. And you are somebody…once you put a seed of love and a reminder that you matter, despite what you go through…you [can offer] a seed of hope, love, and peace. Something they would think about and it gives them energy to push on for tomorrow.”


To hear more about Jackie’s story, listen to her episode on “The Human Podcast” (episode 6).