PICTURES:
- a truck loaded to the brim with people and goods, the picture doesn't do it justice.
- One of the only NGO's at the camp is UAF, Uganda Australian Foundation.
- Pastor Harrison and myself.
- Some of our many loyal followers while we were there. Acholi children.
- Everyone lives in these round mud huts, which take a month or two to complete.
Rackoko (pronounced "Ratch-E-Co-Co") is in Pader district, Northern Uganda. It used to be part of Kitgum district but when it became too large, they split the districts up. It is right in the heart of the land where the LRA rebels have often attacked.
It is home to an Internally Displaced People (IDP) camp. At some points in the war with the rebels, there has been up to 17000 people living at this particular IDP camp.
So I went with Janet, an eMi staff member to do some surveying for one of our ministries. Carla is an American lady, who wants to help widows. Deaths to HIV/AIDS and the LRA have left many women as widows. So Carla wants to train them to sew etc. to be able to make money to support their families. We staked out the boundaries for her land so that she can begin construction of her centre.
LRA. I realise many of my readers will know little about the LRA. The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) have been fighting in Northern Uganda for over 20 years. They began when President Museveni came to power and have conducted a campaign of terror ever since. They abduct young children, forcing the girls to become 'wives' (sex slaves) to the commanders and forcing the young boys to fight, often after committing atrocities against their family members or other young children (trampling them to death or beating them to death with sticks.) There are many other horrific stories. The estimates vary a lot but some are as high as 60000 children abducted. In the last several months, it has been more peaceful while peace talks have been occuring and people have been returning to their villages, building housing and clearing land.
Some of the aftermath of such violence is: severe psychological damage in children, land disputes, extreme poverty, lots of orphans and more. So while peace has returned currently, the scars will remain for a long time. The rebels are currently believed to be in the Central African Republic. I don't know what will happen, the ceasefire agreement officially ends in a few days, so I hope and pray it will last. Jospeh Kony, the rebel leader, must know his days are numbered, as he is currently the #1 wanted war criminal in the world, by the ICC.
While there is much I will never understand, standing where rebels have killed and raped people, seeing the children and families they targeted, it gives you a little more insight into the terrible pain and suffering people here have been through. Standing in the long grass/bush where children slept in fear of the rebels , it reminds me how thankful we should be to God because of the freedom and peace we enjoy.
There still remains a lot of desperation among the people, but there is a sense of joy and hope also, and an appreciation of their current reduction in fear, although some people are still too afraid to leave the camps.
I went with African Pastor Harrison to talk to people about the good news of Jesus for a few hours, and there was a lot of genuine joy and happiness among the many christians there. We spoke to quite a few people who were not saved there also, and it was interesting to hear their journey's. God can always bring good results from seemingly desperate tragedies, so it was amazing to see such hope and joy in such bleak circumstances. The pastor himself feeds his family and an additional 6 orphans with about $8 / month, which covers medical and travel expenses also.
They were generous and very community focused. If you were nearby at meal time, people would offer their food and hospitality. They feed each other's children and the many orphans in the camp are looked after as if they are their very own kids.
I spent time hanging out at night near the one television (they watch soccer each night- a game they love) and a pool table which up to 50 people might gather around to watch a game. Being white, many of them wanted to play against me, there were many good players there, but I represented Australia well.
Definately an experience which will stay with me for a long time. I would have liked to stay for a lot longer.
The trip home
We caught the bus from Lira back to Kampala, 7 hours. I stood the whole time in the central isle, at one point I was convinced we couldn't fit any more people on. They prooved me wrong by getting another 15 or so people onto the bus. So with chickens pooing on my shoes and plenty of sweat from nearby people, we got back safely. The road was built in the 60's and hasn't been redone since, so there are many dangerous potholes and jagged edges. I was least comfortable when the bus rides one side on the asphalt and one on the lower dirt shoulder, at fairly high speed. Especially since there was one overturned bus in a gully and two trucks also overturned that we saw on the way back. I'm not sure how many people died but I would be very surprised if none did in those other accidents. Long distance travel is always a bit risky over here
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