From IDP Displacement to Enterprise: How Lakidi Salome Rewrote Her Family’s Legacy

“I was a child with a child, living in a crowded hut with 13 family members, completely unsure of how I would survive,” recalls Lakidi Salome. Uprooted by conflict in 1997 at just nine years old, Salome spent 18 years in an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in Northern Uganda. Like many survivors, long-term displacement and dependence on relief aid eroded her community’s traditional culture of economic self-reliance. When the camps dissolved, Salome returned home as a single mother of three with no land, no husband, and no clear pathway forward.

The turning point arrived when the Women’s Global Empowerment Fund (WGEF) stepped in. Salome joined a local women’s enterprise group, where she received hands-on training in financial literacy, business management, and micro-loan seed capital. Through structured mentorship and community solidarity, she launched an agricultural business that transformed her household’s trajectory.

Today, Salome is recognized as a leading business owner in Acet Town Council, Omoro District. Beyond securing financial independence, she has broken the cycle of poverty for her lineage, single-handedly funding school fees for her grandchildren and championing education within her community. “Through WGEF,” Salome says, “I didn’t just rebuild my livelihood. I changed the socio-economic story of my generation.”