History of Uganda

For over 20 years Northern Uganda has been one of the most dangerous places on earth to be a child. Joseph Kony and his rebel group, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), have wreaked havoc on two generations of children. Joseph Kony can only be described as one of the worst incarnations of evil the world has ever seen and experienced. He claims to be a prophet who can talk directly to God and get visions and directions from him. He actually becomes possessed by spirits, (one who was associated with dictator Idi Amin from the blood bath years in the 1970’s) convincing the people that he has been brainwashed into doing unimaginable things to his very own people.

It is quite obvious the “lord” Kony serves is certainly not the Lord Jesus Christ, and no one is clear who or what he is resisting —his stories and actions do not make sense. Kony states this war is to bring glory back to the Acholi for all of the pain inflicted on them first by the colonial rulers who used the Acholi as military supply and now the discrimination from the south under President Museveni’s government. The whole point of the war, according to Kony, is to overthrow Museveni. Kony claims he wants to bring the people of Uganda under the authority of the Ten Commandments. However, the LRA breaks every commandment and actually is inflicting all the pain on his own tribesmen! His tactics make no sense! The attacks done by the LRA show no pattern or reason and can only be described as brutal and devastating.

Child Abductions—stealing children’s families, hopes, and futures.
It has been reported that the LRA has kidnapped around 30,000 children in northern Uganda. The majority of the LRA’s main generals are almost all children who were kidnapped and trained by LRA forces. Coercing a child to become a brutal soldier is a horrific process. Once abducted, he is toughened and dehumanized almost immediately. In order to break the strong family bonds traditional to the Acholi culture, LRA forces the child to kill or maim family members or other kidnapped children soon after capture using machetes, sticks, clubs and the butt of a gun, otherwise they will be killed. If they are not directly killing or maiming someone, they are told they must watch and cannot cry or else they will be killed. Children are then told that since they have done such atrocious things, they can never be forgiven or accepted again by society. Their only hope is now with the LRA. Kidnapped children are marched for a week or more without food into the training camps in southern Sudan. Denied water, they are forced to drink muddy ground water or urine in order to survive. There they are trained to shoot, cut off lips, noses, ears and limbs, and to accept the word of their commanders without question. They are then sent out to spread the kind of terror they themselves experienced.

The “Invisible Children” - Night Commuters
The LRA usually strike at night in small villages, making it unsafe for any child in northern Uganda to sleep with his family. Reportedly, 40,000 children began “night commuting”, walking for hours into towns every night for a safe place to sleep . The fortunate ones crowd into shelters provided by Christian and humanitarian agencies, where they lie back to back like sardines in a can. Some of the agencies have enclosed their shelters with razor wire and provide armed guards. However, there are the unfortunate children who have to sleep on the street subjected to theft, beating, and rape, but nothing compared to being abducted by the LRA and becoming part of their evil. These “night commuters” have been called “invisible children” because when night falls, they seem to appear in droves in the cities, as if from nowhere.

Forcing Children in IDP Camps
In 1996 the Ugandan government declared that all villagers had 48 hours to move from their homes into government protected camps forcing millions of Acholi people to leave their homes and move into Internally Displaced Persons Camp (refugee camps). If they chose to stay at home the Ugandan army would consider them hostile and kill them on sight thinking they were either the LRA or were supporters. This was to help “solve” the problem and quickly resolve the LRA problem. Therefore, millions of people moved into these over crowded, mud and grass huts with no resources, job or school opportunities and no real hope. Conditions are beyond horrible and unfathomable for these millions of people. For thousands upon thousands of people at one camp there typically is one water pump, no running water/electricity/sanitary system, and the camps are in remote areas far away from main towns for job/market opportunities. In the Gulu District alone there are thirty IDP Camps. Conditions there are well below the “minimal” level acceptable for existence—no human being should ever even have to see these conditions much less live in them!

Hope
It has been reported that Kony’s mother and several of his top generals have recently come to Christ, and Kony himself seems to be on the run, hiding out somewhere in eastern Congo. The number of night commuters has significantly decreased, and some sense of security is beginning to be restored to the north. Now, the hard job starts—rebuilding a nation so devasted. We believe Jesus Christ can offer hope for situations like these, and He is abundantly able!

Missionaries are overwhelmed and exhausted because the work is so great. People are excited and open to the Gospel at the camps. As part of reestablishing hope in these camps, ECM has adopted Tegotatoo IDP camp, one of the worst IDP camps in the area. Most children there are orphaned either because of the war or AIDS and without an education. They are the poorest, most malnourished, dirtiest children you will ever met; however, they are also still some of the most BEAUTIFUL children you will ever meet.

Taken from www.ecmafrica.org