During my time in Lira our team has been able to make many trips to the hospital to visit and pray over the patients. Among one of the visits I was able to meet Joseph, a former child soldier that had been abducted by the LRA. He had come to the hospital to see and older woman he knew, and to help pay for her medical bills. Through our conversation he began to tell me his story, and a few weeks later he was able to type up and email his experience in detail to me.
Being in Uganda has allowed me to put a face to these brutal stories. They are no longer merely statistics, they are personal. ***Be aware that Joseph's story isn't easy to read, and at times is gruesome. But it is truthful and unfortunately, it was his reality.
"My father used to have two wives in 1984, of which the first was my
mother. In 1985 my father was appointed to be a pastor. He started to
chase away his first wife, who was my mother. This was when I was two
years old and she was forced to go while leaving me behind, so when
she left my stepmother took care of me and I happened to stay unaware
of the fact that my stepmother was not my real mother. Though the
situation was rough, I kept questioning myself if really this was my
real mother and I could not get any answer for myself. When I stayed
with my parents for 15 years I started hearing some rumours that my
real mother is close but whenever I asked my father about her he would
get really upset that is why I couldn´t ask him anymore and I just
continued persevere with the hard situation.
Unfortunately in 1999 the Lords Resistance Army abducted me by the age
of 15. This happened on a Friday and after I was abducted with seven
of my friends we spent the night in the bush. During that night the
rebels slaughtered five of us and only two of us were allowed to
continue with the rebels.
Then in 2001 we were all in Sudan and from there I managed to be taken
and stayed in the home of the rebel commander Joseph Kony and in 2002
they took me to school and I was allowed to study in Sudan for the
next three years. From there I heard that some of my relatives were
killed by the LRA. Then in 2004 they gave me one of the hardest task
to do, which was cutting of one hundred heads, and two sacks of
women´s breasts and all this was supposed to be done in only 7 days.
The task was so hard that I could not fulfil it. Because I was scared
of the consequences of my failure I still managed this terrible and
crucial task. But my daily prayer was to come back and start living my normal life.
In that same year of 2004 they took me and other child soldiers back to
Barloonyo and we were forced again to kill the people from our homes.
And from there about 370 people lost their lives and numbers of houses
were burnt and young kids of 7 years and younger were cut into pieces
and adults were pushed in houses and burnt as well. Many government
soldiers were defeated, tortured and killed and all the farm animals
were massacred. The area was left with no hope whatsoever of any human
being seen around. The following day, we went to Katakwi to a place
called Balanga and there we killed 120 people and a great number of
government soldiers and I was forced to carry two rotten bodies in a
sack. This was a particular punishment because I had misplaced my gun.
After that I was forced to carry two rotten head tied on my neck.
This year was a terrible year of atrocities and personal difficulties.
In this same year we went to my former home and they happened to
abduct 20 people of my home village and they forced me to slaughter
them by myself. This was the most difficult thing for me to be done by
myself and I started crying. They immediately forced me to sit down
and held a gun at my head to kill me. That was the moment when I
forced myself to slaughter all these people as they had instructed me
to do.
All these happenings were stuck in my mind, after they had forced me
to carry rotten body parts, I couldn´t neither sleep nor eat or talk
without feeling terrible afterward and terrible nightmares shocked me
every night, all these memories terribly affected me mentally and
physically.
One day we went again to a certain place called Lira Parto and there 7
kids were pushed in a sack and pound like maize until they died. All
these cruelties made my life were painful and I suffered from terrible
worries and as if that was not enough, one day they brought 15 women
and they were all tied on the ground with dried grass and then the
rebels burnt them and forced us to watch them die. During that
horrible crime, the women were crying and begged God for help. They
also forced an old grandmother to have sex with one of her
grandchildren that was only 14 years old and they forced them to enjoy
it publically. Since they were forced by the evil spirit they again
happened to cut off 20 peoples mouth, ears and noses and this was
commanded by the spirit in Kony. Later that evening after this event,
the spirit commanded Kony to make 5 people eaten alive by their fellow
friends and we were the ones who were forced to eat all those people,
leaving only the bones standing. In addition to that we were forced to
carry peoples goats, cattle, birds (such as ducks and chicken) and
many other animals and yet all these actions felt like violating the
will of God.
And again when we were going across to Sudan, we met some soldiers and
we fought and many of us were killed, but we ended the battle by
defeating them and of one hundred thousand soldiers patrolling
alongside of the border we managed to pass through without too much of
a problem. About two hundred thousand people alongside the border of
Uganda and Sudan were either killed or taken away from their homes to
live in Internal Displacement Camps.
And during the same period; many people were arrested especially the
young abducted men and women where by these men were taken to be
trained to become good soldiers in the future, where as the young
women captured were given to other men, or even sold to them, which
was also terrible insulting in front of God."
Being in Uganda has allowed me to put a face to these brutal stories. They are no longer merely statistics, they are personal. ***Be aware that Joseph's story isn't easy to read, and at times is gruesome. But it is truthful and unfortunately, it was his reality.
"My father used to have two wives in 1984, of which the first was my
mother. In 1985 my father was appointed to be a pastor. He started to
chase away his first wife, who was my mother. This was when I was two
years old and she was forced to go while leaving me behind, so when
she left my stepmother took care of me and I happened to stay unaware
of the fact that my stepmother was not my real mother. Though the
situation was rough, I kept questioning myself if really this was my
real mother and I could not get any answer for myself. When I stayed
with my parents for 15 years I started hearing some rumours that my
real mother is close but whenever I asked my father about her he would
get really upset that is why I couldn´t ask him anymore and I just
continued persevere with the hard situation.
Unfortunately in 1999 the Lords Resistance Army abducted me by the age
of 15. This happened on a Friday and after I was abducted with seven
of my friends we spent the night in the bush. During that night the
rebels slaughtered five of us and only two of us were allowed to
continue with the rebels.
Then in 2001 we were all in Sudan and from there I managed to be taken
and stayed in the home of the rebel commander Joseph Kony and in 2002
they took me to school and I was allowed to study in Sudan for the
next three years. From there I heard that some of my relatives were
killed by the LRA. Then in 2004 they gave me one of the hardest task
to do, which was cutting of one hundred heads, and two sacks of
women´s breasts and all this was supposed to be done in only 7 days.
The task was so hard that I could not fulfil it. Because I was scared
of the consequences of my failure I still managed this terrible and
crucial task. But my daily prayer was to come back and start living my normal life.
In that same year of 2004 they took me and other child soldiers back to
Barloonyo and we were forced again to kill the people from our homes.
And from there about 370 people lost their lives and numbers of houses
were burnt and young kids of 7 years and younger were cut into pieces
and adults were pushed in houses and burnt as well. Many government
soldiers were defeated, tortured and killed and all the farm animals
were massacred. The area was left with no hope whatsoever of any human
being seen around. The following day, we went to Katakwi to a place
called Balanga and there we killed 120 people and a great number of
government soldiers and I was forced to carry two rotten bodies in a
sack. This was a particular punishment because I had misplaced my gun.
After that I was forced to carry two rotten head tied on my neck.
This year was a terrible year of atrocities and personal difficulties.
In this same year we went to my former home and they happened to
abduct 20 people of my home village and they forced me to slaughter
them by myself. This was the most difficult thing for me to be done by
myself and I started crying. They immediately forced me to sit down
and held a gun at my head to kill me. That was the moment when I
forced myself to slaughter all these people as they had instructed me
to do.
All these happenings were stuck in my mind, after they had forced me
to carry rotten body parts, I couldn´t neither sleep nor eat or talk
without feeling terrible afterward and terrible nightmares shocked me
every night, all these memories terribly affected me mentally and
physically.
One day we went again to a certain place called Lira Parto and there 7
kids were pushed in a sack and pound like maize until they died. All
these cruelties made my life were painful and I suffered from terrible
worries and as if that was not enough, one day they brought 15 women
and they were all tied on the ground with dried grass and then the
rebels burnt them and forced us to watch them die. During that
horrible crime, the women were crying and begged God for help. They
also forced an old grandmother to have sex with one of her
grandchildren that was only 14 years old and they forced them to enjoy
it publically. Since they were forced by the evil spirit they again
happened to cut off 20 peoples mouth, ears and noses and this was
commanded by the spirit in Kony. Later that evening after this event,
the spirit commanded Kony to make 5 people eaten alive by their fellow
friends and we were the ones who were forced to eat all those people,
leaving only the bones standing. In addition to that we were forced to
carry peoples goats, cattle, birds (such as ducks and chicken) and
many other animals and yet all these actions felt like violating the
will of God.
And again when we were going across to Sudan, we met some soldiers and
we fought and many of us were killed, but we ended the battle by
defeating them and of one hundred thousand soldiers patrolling
alongside of the border we managed to pass through without too much of
a problem. About two hundred thousand people alongside the border of
Uganda and Sudan were either killed or taken away from their homes to
live in Internal Displacement Camps.
And during the same period; many people were arrested especially the
young abducted men and women where by these men were taken to be
trained to become good soldiers in the future, where as the young
women captured were given to other men, or even sold to them, which
was also terrible insulting in front of God."
