I landed in Entebbe, Uganda after an all night flight from London. The driver was a little late which was a bit unnerving considering I didn't know anything about Uganda. When he came, we drove to Kampala to meet with others on the team. I took a quick shower and a power nap then we were off to Gulu.
The road from Kampala to Gulu is the worst in Uganda and I believe it. There were so many pot-holes I actually got a headache from the bumps. Our car didn't just jerk with each pothole - often you could hear the metal crashing as the car bottom-out time after time. A 2 1/2 hour drive took 7 1/2 hours. So needless to say I was very tired when we got to Gulu. By that time, I had been awake about 35 hours.
The next day we did many things but I wanted to share with you about a vocational school we visited. We met with some of the World Vision staff and Lucy (of World Vision) asked if we would go to a refugee camp with her that afternoon to visit with some children. On the edge of the camp, World Vision helps sponsor a vocational school and we were going to go there and talk with some of the kids.
While we were driving there, Lucy asked me if I would speak to the children about a former World Vision worker who had died. No one had spoken to the kids of the death and Lucy felt they should know. I thought it was a bit odd that the children had not already been told so I asked for some details.
Margaret of the World Vision staff worked extensively with formerly abducted kids. "Formerly abducted" children are the kids who were taken from their school or village and made to join with the rebels during the civil war. Margaret asked the kids to tell their story. She asked them to go into detail about their abduction and incarceration. The kids opened up to her. She began making time-lines for the children and they would go over each section of the time line. She was actually making progress with the kids.
The details are fuzzy but suffice it to say that someone did not appreciate Margaret's efforts. About two months ago, she was murdered by poison. The kids had not been told of her death. Some of them had already heard but many of them didn't know. This is the news I was asked to tell the children and I did. Their faces didn't change. There was no emotion - it was as if this was normal because in their lives traumatic death is the norm. A few of their eyes shifted - some eyes tightened in hardness others moistened with tears (just barely) but no one spoke.
After a few minutes, I asked the kids if they had every been treated as objects. They all immediately raised their hands. My response was, "People are not objects! We have been created in the very image of God and you are not an object." They were reminded that they are important and they matter. They were told that although terrible things had happened to them their story was important and the most important fact of all is that they are not objects.
As I looked into the faces now, I saw softening. I saw heads hanging down in contemplation. I saw a couple of small grins as the statements began to sink in. I saw kids looking down and shuffling their feet as if they were afraid to believe the truth. I saw God's love begin to break through. Their stories matter. There may be 1000 more like it but each child is an individual with a name, a family and a history. They matter.
We dismissed the children but they did not leave. Instead they began lining up to tell me their stories. The first girl told me that she was abducted at home. She was made to watch as the rebels murdered her father and beat her mother almost to death. She was abducted and raped repeatedly throughout her three year ordeal. She finally escaped but not without a child.
She made her way home and found that her mother was alive; although, severally weakened from the beatings. Her child was a small baby but she loved this child. She knew the only way out of the cycle was to get an education. The only place she can go to school at this point is the vocational school. Her training will end in Dec. With tears rolling down her cheeks, she kept saying I need an education and if it is too late for me my child will need an education to have options.
I was astounded that this girl loved the child so much. A child conceived in hate was now so loved by this young mother (who was a child herself). This young mother and her child are stigmatized. The mother is shunned by the community and people accuse her of being married to a rebel. The child is shunned because they think the child is a rebel because it's father is one. The mother is blamed for crimes she was forced to commit until her escape. It is so sad.
This young girl recently received word that her mother was very ill. Her mother has never fully recovered from the beating. The girl is afraid to go home to check on her mother. She is afraid she will die or that she is already dead and this girl cannot face that pain. Therefore, she lives in day in conflict and fear of her mother's fate.
The second girl's story was much the same. She also came "back from the bush with a child." Her family was killed, she was beaten, she was raped repeatedly and she bore a child. Same old story right - NO! She is an individual with a story to tell. A story that needs to be heard. How can people be treated this way? Each news story has a name, a face, and a life that has been horribly interrupted.
The third girl's story was virtually the same as girl after girl came. They don't have a hope of getting married because of the stigmatization. What hope then do they have of recovery? I was overwhelmed at the faces of civil war, HIV/AIDS, rape, murder and abuse. My prayer was for God to penetrate this darkness with his love. I believe He does. I did begin to see sparks of hope through their stories of abuse and anguish.
It was dark by the time we left. We were not supposed to be in the camp after dark so we had to tell some of the kids we could no longer talk. I hated doing that because I want them to know they are important too. But I was told we had to leave and I must admit is was a bit scary leaving the camp at night. There are many bandits on the road at night and they come to your car when you slow down for the crater sized pot-holes that blanket Northern Uganda.
We were also told that the situation in Sudan deteriorated over the week-end. The rebels are desperate for weapons and they are angry about the peace talks. They are kidnapping and murdering Westerners in their anger. Although we had to go further north in the morning, we were still a good distance from the border of Sudan.
Lord in your mercy - hear our prayer - O God, the well of love and Father of all, make us so to love that we know not but to love every man in Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen
