In northern Uganda, women in remote villages access safe drinking water from new wells. The bore holes are a component of U.S. AID and Winrock International's $500 million NUDEIL project to help revitalize the impoverished, war-torn region. The new wells reduce long distances most residents travel for water, transforming the health of families, and freeing mothers' time for undertaking other economically productive activites.

A farmer with her morning harvest. She told us that the new road outside her home meant easier access for selling her crops at the local market.

Two barefoot road construction workers with their hoes. My local guide estimated that these women were in their 40's. more women than men sign up for this day labor on NUDEIL's road crews. Most workers had languished in government camps during the protracted insurgency by the Lords Resistance Army.

A barefoot woman smooths gravel on a new road with her hoe. The construction program provides local subsistence farmers with cash needed for household staples and school fees. These workers languished in government camps during the protracted, brutal insurgency by the Lords Resistance Army. More women than men signed up for the day labor offered on road crews.

A barefoot worker waters down gravel on a road construction project. She receives daily wages for her work.

New roads dramatically improve travel for hauling water and crops, and give local residents safer, easier access to markets and schools. More traditional jungle footpaths require longer walks, are less secure, and involve risks ranging from snakes to strangers.

A woman on a traditional footpath pushes her bicycle loaded with water jugs. New gravel roads are making transporting water and supplies easier.

Bikie repair is big business. Bikes are used primarily for hauling water, small livestock, and crops. Newly built gravel roads have replaced jungle footpaths making travel easier, and perhaps extending tire life.

In rural Uganda, battery powered radios are the primary link to outside news, and the primary means of transmitting vital health messages to the population.

In Northern Uganda, children can now play freely in their school yards. During the years of terror by Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army, children were kidnapped from their homes and schools by Kony's forces.

An afternoon group run in a school's field. With three years of peace, children in Northern Uganda no longer fear kidnapping by Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army.

Cotton farmers in northern Uganda are encouraged to practice crop rotation and diversification by growing sesame seeds - another cash crop. These workers at the Gulu ginnery bag bountiful seeds.

Oxen till a field to prepare for spring rains and planting. While oxen are prohibitively costly, the Gulu ginnery is encouraging small farmers to expand their plots and form cooperatives to share oxen.

An extended cotton farming family outside their thatched hut. Northern Ugandan subsistence farmers are expanding acerage devoted to cotton farming, an important cash crop.

Workers inside Gulu Cotton's ginnery process an abundant harvest of locally grown cotton.

A farm couple relaxing on a mattress in their hut. They told us a chilling tale of losing a child during the LRA insurgency, and being forced to live in a government camp. They said they new road outside their home meant easier access to the local market for selling her crops.