Fr. Leonsyo Akena greets a woman heading to fish with locally made fishing traps on their heads.

Fr. Akena splits his time between running his local non-profit and administering to the thousands of parishioners in his care. This elderly woman lives alone and went without food for three days because she was sick and unable to leave her hut to seek help.

This parishioner of Fr. Akena lives deep in the bush far from any township. Her husband died during the war. She was recently raped and gave birth to a newborn. Not long after the birth she found out she was HIV positive. Four days after the birth she was forced to go work in someone's garden in order to secure food for her four children.

This child is suffering from a mysterious disease local officials are calling "Nodding Disease", which appears to attack young children's basic brain functioning causing them to lose control of not only basic bodily functions but severely degrades there cognitive abilities. The CDC is currently doing studies to determine the causes of the illness. Due to the war there is only one doctor in the entire sub-county of 90,000 people.

This parishioner of Fr. Akena was wounded several years ago in an attack on the IDP camp in which she was staying. A stray bullet from a rebel gun pierced the wall of her hut entering her body through her shoulder than exiting and continuing through her right eye socket. She laid on the floor of her bleeding for two days before her husband could secure transport to take her to a clinic.

Fr. Akena inspects the 3rd degree burn rooms of a toddler who during an epileptic seizure fell into a cooking fire. Her widowed mother who is handicapped and unable to walk struggled to pull her from the flames.

The emotional toll exacted on Fr. Akena is great. Every morning he meets with local parishioners to hear their needs and help in whatever way he can.

Fr. Akena meets with school children at a Catholic affiliated school. Each time he visits he reminds them of how important education is for the rebuilding and healing of the community.

A moment of quiet reflection and struggle for Fr. Akena.

Almost two months after Lakang Pauline escaped her 18 year captivity in the Lord's Resistance Army she poses for a portrait. She was abducted from mother's hut at age 17 a few days after she was married. The night of her abduction she was forced to watch the decapitation of hundreds of other abductees. The next day she was forced to march on foot up to the Sudan where she was given as wife to an LRA commander. For the next 18 years she would be forced to march with the rebel group throughout Central Africa carrying with her three children born in the bush.

Pauline grinds peanuts into a paste. Since being reunited with her family she toils tirelessly by day to help her family survive.

Pauline's daughter takes a break from chores at the family compound. During an attack by government soldiers in the Central African Republic Pauline's daughter was separated from her and the little girl made a lonely trek to a U.N. camp. Personnel at the camp relocated her to her mother's village where she was later miraculously reunited with Pauline after her mother's escape.

Pauline's nieces at their family compound.

Pauline waling the several miles to family land where she will spend the day cutting tall grasses to be dried and sold for roofing material for local huts.

Pauline struggles to handle her grass harvest, which she will carry on her head back to the family compound.

Pauline's children settle in for sleep after a long day of chores and school.

Franka Olal carries cooking water to the kitchen to help prepare a scant dinner for her family. Franka was born in the bush to a rebel father and mother who was abducted at an early age. Several years ago they escaped captivity and made it back to their family's land. Franka is a beneficiary of Fr. Akena's non-profit who pays for her school fees without which she would be unable to attend school.

Franka sits with her family in one of two small hut's which houses her family of five.

Franka carefully keeps every one of her journals from school. She attends a boarding school and comes home periodically during the semester to help her mother take care of the family.

Franka taking a quiet moment in her school dormitory after arriving for a new semester.

Franka sharing a comedic moment in the classroom with her classmates. Despite the war Franka and her friends have a resiliency and a humor which sees them through the difficulties created by conflict.

Franka poses with her best friends at school.

"I was born into war. Since I was young I was raised with soldiers all around me. Until the war ended my nights were full of gunshots. There was no peace. There was no life. But now the war is over. I survived because of my mother's love. God is #1 but if God is not there then my mom is there. Sometimes I say my mom should be #1. Now that the war is over my dream is to get a job and raise a family in the right way and support my mom. You know my mother is tired...so tired." -Richard Okot

Richard helps his mother cook the small cakes to be sold to hungry on their way to school. The profits from the cakes are his mother's only income.

Richard makes the long walk to his mother's home where he will spend the evening helping her prepare the batter for small cakes she will sell in the morning to school kids. The cakes were what fed Richard and sent him to school as a child.

Richard watches helplessly as a neighbor's hut burns to the ground. It was caused by a cooking fire and was destroyed within minutes.

As a volunteer for Fr. Akena's non-profit Richard facilitates the organization's successful micro-credit program. In it's first year it saw a 100% success rate with all participants successfully paying back their loans and all starting equally successful small business enterprises.

Richard looks out the door of his small single room apartment as he prepares to start another day.

Richard chats with his neighbors as he waits his turn to pump water for his daily needs.