Below is the story of one of our students at Beacon of Hope. His story brought me to tears. In the early 2000's, Uganda was a very war-torn country. His is one of many stories that have changed the face of this country. A country filled with young and old who have been scarred, both physically and emotionally, by war, civil conflict and unrest. Note: when he mentions Primary Two he was around 7 or 8 years old.
THE
DISGRACE THAT OUR FAMILY FACED DURING THE YEAR OF WAR IN NORTHERN UGANDA
One
day, at dawn, in the year 2000 my parents woke me up to go to the garden. Unfortunately as we were in the garden the
place became shrouded with mist. Little
did we know that the rebels were amidst us and all we could hear was “hoes down”
from the rebels. I was scared and
frightened because the attack was upon us.
I felt like breathing my last breath before any pain was inflicted on
me. As they were tying the rope around
our waist, I was completely at sea because I could not guess what would happen
next. Lucky enough, my mother was
pregnant and they told her to “eff off” but to remain at home. Me and my elder brother were captured
together with our father (3 people from our family) and taken deep in the bush
up to a place called “ATOO” Hill where the rebels were camping in “Acholi land.” Though I tried my hardest to escape, it did
not work out because I was under so much pressure and I could not figure out a
plan.
In
the bush we were living in misery in such a way that every day, very early in
the morning, we were sent in the cold to the top of a hill to carry
stones. The aim was to train us to be
the upcoming soldiers (rebels) to overthrow the government. Though I was my own master, I did not make
merry with the other soldiers. I had to
endure the situation with my brother and our father. My father was beaten with a panga (machete)
and wire lock because they had no interest in the old men, only the young and
able ones. My father had pity on me
whenever I was badly treated, but whenever he said anything he would be whipped
beyond measure. Since we were at the
mercy of the rebels, we all petered out and the human rights and control went
out the window. The situation became
worse for us staying in the bush. We
could only keep the wolf from the door for so long. We failed to have any medicine. We only had feelings of melting away from the
bush and being back home. But we lacked
power.
“I think I am no
longer in the zone of living,” my father said to me in a cool voice one day. But I did not understand at the time, but I
got it later and after his message my tension dropped away. This happened after one to two years of
staying in the bush. Though he told me
so, but nothing happened and we had to acclimatize to the environment as we
needed to forget of our memories of home.
In
approximately two to three years in the bush, we shifted from Atoo Hill in
Acholi land towards Sudan in an undetermined distance. This was due to the pressure from Uganda
Peoples Defence Force. During the
journey, we the young ones, were made to carry food stuffs and the old men and
women were made to carry weapons, until we settled in the forest in Sudan. At our settlement food became a bigger
problem for us to the point we started to feed on plant leaves. It was difficult for us. The troop leader, together with the team,
decided to make a u-turn after 3 months stay in the forest to go back to Atoo
Hill, in Uganda, where we had settled before.
We settled in the bush was for only short times at any point, so movement
became continuous and my legs got swollen to the extent that I could move no
more. I was carried by the rebels, but I
did not know their point of interest in me.
Despite
us passing over dangerous animals, for example snakes, none but God was
protecting us in the bush. Immediately
after our return to Atoo Hill I was made an escort to one of the commanders
called “Sam Koho”, but I was not with him full time. Two months into my third year in the bush I
was assigned to spy and do a job “by all means without failure.”
On
my return, I was not in contact with my father.
“You will see me no more,” he whispered to me one day during troop
count. I did not understand him well,
but I remembered later on after he had already left with my brother. I felt devastated, though my friends tried to
comfort me and told me not to worry. My
father and brother had left me in a dilemma.
I was dazed because I had nothing to hold on to. I wanted to escape and see my parents but I
had no hope of seeing them alive again.
I could not account for the reasons as to why my father left me in the
bush. This was such a disgrace to
me. Since an escape was just like committing
suicide, I remained steadfast in the absence of my parents. The rebels could not tell whether my father
was in camp or not because the civilian counts (the abducted ones) happened on
the third week of every month and were changing constantly.
Two
weeks after my father and brother’s escape, I was told to start a secret mission.
I was accompanied by three bush-minded men to keep an eye on me. I had to get used to the environment and
start working as a rebel. I was forced to
kill human beings in the period of my missions, but I could not abide by
this. I feared I would be killed after
my failure to follow through on my instructions. In my mission, I was told to move in various
towns in Northern Uganda like Gulu, Lira, Apach, Pader, Kitgum and many
others. I was told to capture the able
ones to increase the number of soldiers (rebels) during my time in action. It was difficult and I had to do it by
force. I was also forced to go and burn
one of the radio stations in Lira, which I did successfully. Feeling positive, I took back the report on
how the mission went. My boss was so
pleased with me that he gave me permission to live freely in the bush. Even though I thought about escape I could
not break the guard and trust of my new friends.
One
day I was sent to go and spy in Gulu and on my way, all of a sudden, I met a
troop of government soldiers (Uganda Peoples Defense Force) in the place called
“opit in Gulu district.” When they saw
me from a far, they laid an ambush along the road I used to follow. They trapped me, questioned me, and finally I
was beaten until I was in a coma. They
thought I was dead because I took 32 hours to recover. I recovered in the police barrack. Immediately after my recovery they bathed me,
fed me and then transferred me from the police barracks to a Rehabilitation Center
in Gulu. It was called Gusco. This happened after my third day in the
barracks.
In
Gusco I was kept for three to four months.
They told me that they were refreshing my mind to be stress free and at
the end of my four month stay in Gusco, they took me to the radio station
called Radio Mega in Gulu to make a communication to my fellow friends in the
bush to come back home. I also
communicated to my parents to come for me and after a week, I saw my brother
coming to pick me up and I was so happy.
My
abduction happened when I was in Primary Two.
When I reached home I did not give up on my education. I went on with further study from Primary
Three, but sadly in Primary Five my father died because he was weak. In Primary Seven my mother died of
stress. I became stuck because my
brother was alone and could not pay for my studies. Though I was eager about schooling I had to
give up my studies after my Primary Leaving Exam.
One
year later when I was almost ready to give up completely on the hope of more
schooling, a man I did not know came to me and gave me a message about an
organization who was sponsoring abducted children. I realized later that he was a Pilgrim Africa
coordinator for Northern Uganda. The
time for the interview came and I met this man again while I was interviewing. I passed the interview and Pilgrim Africa
restored my hopes in 2009 by giving me sponsorship to their school, Beacon of
Hope Secondary School.
May
God Bless Pilgrim Africa.
