The Journey to Northern Uganda Part 1 of 2 or maybe 3 :)

The worst thing I had to worry about growing up surrounded by Government housing in the western suburbs of Sydney was getting raw eggs and the occasional hard boiled egg thrown at me while waiting at the bus stop.  We were the “pretty boys” who went to the boys Catholic school dressed in pretty clothes and knee high socks.   The worst war I had to worry about was the war between the state school and our catholic school.  Good times!

I never worried about where my next meal was coming from, clean water, sickness or disease, whether my parents could afford school  or, God forbid, that I would be abducted to fight in a war.   What a mad-crazy thought that is!

Night commuters camping out in town for safety

Those worries were the furthest thing from my mind at 12 ,13 and 14 years of age.  It’s insane to think that these thoughts have been genuine worries of young people in Northern Uganda for 20 plus years.

Leading up to my trip in Uganda I watched a documentary called “Invisible children”   what a film! I was absolutely blown away and ripped apart.  

It tells the story of three young guys who went on a trip to Africa in 2003, looking for a story.  They stumbled upon Africa's longest running war. Rebel armies, known as the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), had been abducting children and using them as troops to wage war against the Ugandan government.

The danger of being snatched was so high that children would walk miles at night in an effort to avoid these troops. It is estimated that 90% of the LRA were abducted children. Joseph Kony, the leader of the LRA, a former witch doctor, aimed to start a new government in Uganda based on the bible and the ten commandments.  

Over twenty five years, the LRA abducted more than 30,000 boys and girls as soldiers, some estimate up to 65,000. Attacks against Uganda's Acholi people have resulted in severe trauma to civilians from extreme violence and abduction. Girls are often forced to be sex slaves.  Many of the kids were forced to kill, abuse dead bodies and many never returned.

This stuff is profoundly freaky and intense, a sickening nightmare that corrupts and imprisons. How would I be effected living there?  What would my life be like?   Would I be able to live knowing what I had done if I were abducted for the rebel army?  Would I have killed people?   These questions are too hard for me because, to be honest, I just can’t comprehend this horror as a reality.  

The only difference between me and these now young men is that I was born to a different mother.

Peace has now come to Northern Uganda through a cease fire between Joseph Kony and the Ugandan Government.  The people are rebuilding their lives and trying to live a normal existence.  The poverty that we saw was extreme and the hardships they now face is like being given a reprieve and moving into a different new kind of nightmare.

Lucas, me and Marc on our war to Northern Uganda

Kony has now moved into the Congo and is trying to move towards the corridors of Southern Sudan and Central African Republic.  Peace may have come to Uganda but the carnage has moved.

About five days into the trip we arrived in this Northern area of Uganda known as Kitgum.   Right in the midst of this war torn area,  we met an amazing Aussie lady...

• Uganda to compensate LRA victims ahead of vote (reuters.com)
• Time to End the Use of Child Soldiers in Northern Uganda (humantrafficking.change.org)
• You: Obama signs law aimed against Lord's Resistance Army (earthtimes.org)

Peace,
Pete Rees