Here’s my best attemp to articulate the jumble of my thoughts after a trip to Gulu, one of the cities most affected by the war. Written July, 2005:

I traveled to Gulu with a woman who had been forced to “collect revenue” for the rebels when she was 18. She did this with a gun and grenades wrapped around her waste. She rescued her father from the rebels and they escaped together. Now her life is about helping her people.

One day I was caught up in a group of about 50 former rebels, coming to protest and seek help because their amnesty letters* were not being honored. These “rebels” just looked like normal village ladies, with babies on their backs, a few men, and children.

That night I went to a night commuter center and sat around a bonfire with children who come every night from the surrounding villages to sleep in town, away from the threat of abduction by the rebels. They took turns telling stories and then some led in songs and prayer. Next to the camp we were in, there were two more: all full with hundreds of children. This has been going on for years and now it is normal life to them.

I moved around Gulu town much of the time with a former rebel commander. You would never guess it, seeing this 22 year old with a big, quick smile. He was abducted at 9 years old. When he came to pick us up after the time with the night commuters he said, “I missed that.” I thought he was speaking of the time with the kids, but he said, “No, I mean, I missed being a kid.”

Gulu town seems normal enough except for the truck loads of military going through the streets and more NGO’s* than can be counted. It seems that with all those, something significant would have changed for these people in the 18 years this war has been going on.

I was able to visit two Rescued Children centers and establish the possibility of partnership with them. Kids who are rescued from the rebels are first taken to these centers, who then do all the background work on the kids, and resettle them back with relatives. They will be able to recommend and send to us children who now don’t have a place to go.

Here’s what I wrote in my journal afterwards, trying to make sense of it all:
“I feel I’ve somehow been drawn into this war in Northern Uganda. It is spinning around in my head and heart, without making any sense. How can a war be won in which the Acholi tribe, who is being attacked, abducted, tortured, and killed, secretly hope the ‘enemy’ wins and overthrows the government? How can the desire to be the ruling tribe rise still above all these atrocities? Who will fight the enemy when those who are safe say, ‘The Acholi people did so many terrible things in the past. Why should we help them?’ These mindsets keep things going in circles and dragging on.
How do you fight an enemy which is mostly women and children who were abducted into the forces? Is giving hand-outs fighting the war or perpetuating it? As long as the supplies are coming in, why would the people rise up to stop the reason for the hand-outs?
Where does the end begin? Not with food, education, or shelter. But with love from the inside. This is only possible by first being reconciled to God through Christ. In Him there is no Jew or Gentile, slave nor free, but Christ is all and is in all. By this, we are brought into one family, destroying all barriers.
Someone from within has to start this process- someone who has been injured personally and is willing to extend forgiveness and call for others to forgive. It takes brokenness and humility. As long as pride is held onto, God opposes. And pride is on all sides of this war, so they are in a deadlock.”
Only God knows what will break it.

*1. This group claims to opperate by the Holy Spirit and want to set up their own government run by the Ten Commandments, but they are actually totally anti anything the God of the Bible is about and have made up their own set of commandments. Check out these sites to find out more about the LRA and the civil war. www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/para/lra.htm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3462901.stm

*2. Amnesty letters are given to rebels who turn themselves in, guaranteeing no punishment and also giving land to them.

*3. Non-Government Organizations