Day 3 - History of the Lord's Resistance Army - hell in Uganda

Today marks our first full day in Uganda. Waking up in the Sheraton to a gourmet, delicious breakfast on a beautifully sunny warm day was wonderful, but very different than our excursion later on to the Acholi Quarters.

After breakfast we heard talks from Joseph of Building Tomorrow, who we will help build schools next week, as well as Andrew Morgan and Margy who help run the Invisible Children movement. Also as guests were members of the Acholi Tribe, two women to tell their stories of terror when confronted with the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), and their life now in the Acholi Quarters, essentially a refugee camp in Kampala.

As explained by Andrew Morgan, Joseph Koney, leader of the LRA, wanted to overthrow the government in southern Uganda and started the LRA in 1986. He initially had some interest from the local people, but it was not organized and when interest waned he took severe measures of building an army by abducting children and forcing them to fight for him and carry out his work. They never challenged the government but only terrorized the people in northern Uganda, and these people were the Acholi Tribe.

This year marks the 24th year the LRA has operated in this way.... going unseen from the West until recently thanks to the films Invisible Children and WarDance, highlighting the plight of the people. In the first few days after abuction, children are forcibly "numbed" to the violence by committing an unspeakable atrocity, a small example of which is to bite someone to death, to kill someone to death with their bare hands, to cannibalize someone, which most likely is a family member. Koney uses the child soldiers to raid villages for items needed to survive in the bush. Boys fight, girls care for soldiers and become one of their "wives", serving as sex slaves, though any offspring that result are most likely killed. Why invest in feeding and raising a child when you can just abduct one to serve you, I suppose is Koney's thinking. Children from 8 years up have been abducted and can be imprisoned into its practices for however long, some even 10 years of more, in a twisted life of fear, manipulation, and violence. Many try to escape during the night raids and return home, but traumatized to all different degrees from their experiences.

So, due to the danger the Acholi tribe was displaced to these camps near Kampala. They are extremely poor and growing. They cannot find work or grow food where they currently live. Without jobs, any money the women make selling beads, they give to their husbands who spend it on liquor and drink as their daily hobby.

The LRA has been pushed out of Northern Uganda, now plaguing Sudan, the Republic of Congo and surrounding areas. Still wrecking havoc. The Acholi people in the north finally are experiencing a sense of peace, hope, and empowerment for a better future. Though this positive attitude has also resulted in less interest of going after Joseph Koney.

So why do the Acholi in Kampala not go back home if they are living in such poor conditions? They would be starting over from nothing, which is far more challenging then where they are now. They have no homes and would need money and supplies to build them. They could farm, but have no seeds and to start a crop would still take five months until harvest so what do they eat until then? These are their concerns and until they get help with such a transition, these people remain victims of war and dependent on the government for food...their current way of life is not sustainable and contributes to a cycle of dependency on aid. If only the goverment could help them transition back themselves.... or a nonprofit who will really make sure the funds go where they need to.

This 24 year war with the LRA is worse than Darfur, uncovered only recently. Joseph Koney was the first internationally wanted criminal with the creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and has yet to be apprehended. The invisible soldiers are innocent children, victims of war. Any death of LRA soldiers is essentially killing the victims of such horrific manipulation.

Today two women talked about their life as Acholi, the LRA, and life now in the camp. One woman had a son abducted by the LRA, who she heard became an escort for Joseph Koney, and later heard he died. One of her other children contracted AIDS, from whom she and her two other children contracted after treating his rash wounds. Those children died. She now lives in the Acholi Quarters. Another woman experienced the LRA 5 times. She said they would pick the parents out from the family and kill them while the children watched. Once she was forced next to a pole with a soldier intended to slice off her head, but instead she ducked and the machete missed, slicing the pole instead, she survived. She has seen 4 people from her village killed by being cut to death. To prevent victims from spreading the word of the LRA's presence to other villages or the government, they would take their lips and either put a padlock through them or cut them completely off, as well as the ears, sometimes the nose, too, completely disfiguring the face. This woman also left the homeland in the north for safety in refugee camps.

There has been so much torment and these stories have been untold for too long. So learn more and bare witness yourself in my next entry regarding our visit to the Acholi Quarters.