A civil war began in Northern Uganda in 1986 between the government and a rebel group known as the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). This rebel group quickly became notorious for abducting children from their homes and conscripting them into their ranks, forcing them to commit terrible acts of torture and murder, even against their own families. The Pader district, in which our village lies, was the district hardest hit by the war. Our small village, Rackoko, became an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp for around 10,000 people (85% of which had HIV), packed like sardines. These people not only lived in constant fear of rebel attacks, which the rebels did attack a few times, but they also had to survive food shortages and extreme heat. The war hit its peak here between 2002 and 2005, after which the rebels were chased out into neighboring countries, mainly southern Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. So though the rebels have left the North, these people still live in constant fear of their return, especially as their leader, Joseph Kony, is still at large.
Today only 3,000 people live in this village, but they are people who have endured things many of us in the west can only dream of. Every family here has either had someone killed or abducted during the conflict. No one was left unaffected. Many are still traumatized, especially the youth. People only left the IDP camp three years ago, returning to their homes to find the rebels have taken everything. So they start over with what little they have. Slowly but surely they begin to rebuild. And looking around this place you can see it. People fighting to rebuild. Not only their homes but their lives. People fighting to rebuild their lives on hope, not fear. Yes, this village is poor, but these people have such strength like I’ve never seen. You can see resilience in the eyes of the widows. You can hear such joy in the orphans laughter. These people are survivors of the brutal atrocities and hardships of war.
This month I lived life alongside these people. Living as they live. Eating what they eat. And oh how the changed me. But thats for another blog.
Here are just a few of their stories..
Immanuel is a 78 year old man with one eye and is practically skin and bones, a physical representation of the years of poverty and hardship he’s endured.
He owned a huge piece of property, a little ways from the village center, growing cotton and tobacco, and lived in a nice home complete with tin sheets (which is a big deal in the village because most live in grass huts). And then the rebels came, taking everything, including 68 cattle he owned. He then spent five years on the run, fleeing from the rebels like everyone else. Trying to survive in the bush or in overpopulated displacement camps. His youngest son was abducted by the rebels at only 14 years old. He would be 26 today but they have no idea if he is dead or alive for they havent seen him since that fateful day. It was only 3 years ago that they left the displacement camp that was here in Rococo. Only to return to nothing. And so he started over, trying to resurrect the land that had been ransacked and left untended to. Today he lives in a grass hut, working the fields, and herding 2 cattle he now possesses. Yet this man is a man a faith. A man with a tested and tried strength and refined character. He has endured and overcome. He has been faithful to seek and trust the Lord, and He has carried him through. Despite all that he’s been through, all that has happened to him, he is so gentle. His smile, very much toothless, lights up a room and his laugh fills your spirit with life and joy.
He is a man of whom the world is not worthy.
Sylvia was orphaned as a child and was brought to the village when she was 7 years old. Mentally and physically disabled all her life, she moves around my crawling on her stomach like a snake. The only work she is really capable of doing is cracking groundnuts, but besides that she is in need of constant care and assistance. During the war she was raped and impregnated by a rebel and today has a beautiful 5 year old girl named Carla. Sylvia does not know her age but her caretaker, Jenn, says she’s around 39. This woman is so full of joy and life and has a beautiful smile that just melts your heart. She loves going to church, especially to pray and worship. And she even sang us a song during our visit that just made my spirit swell.
During our visit the Lord gave me this passage to share with her:
“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival, so that you will no longer suffer reproach. Behold, at that time I will deal with all your oppressors. And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth. At that time I will bring you in, at the time when I gather you together; for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes,” says the Lord. Zephaniah 3:17-20
Patrick is an older married man. Builder by profession. Sixteen children in his household – orphans, extended family, and biological. He came to this village in 1994 and has lived in 3 different homes (we were sitting in the third).
And this is his story:
He was sitting with his children around a fire when the rebels came. He fled with his children when he realized that one of his younger daughters was not with them. So he left the other children to hide in the bush as he went back to look for her. When he arrived at the fire the rebels were there. They had given his daughter to another woman they abducted from a different village. So they took him into the bush to kill him, beating him along the way. As they were walking, one of the rebel officers recognized Patrick as one of his father’s friends and was able to spare his life. So instead of killing him, they took him out to the main road and left him there. In the morning his children found him on the side of the road and took him to the hospital to get treatment. They were also able to get his daughter back (got kinda confused when he was explaining that part).
He was also telling us about how the people in his church would gather every night during the war and pray. For this war was very much a spiritual one just as much as it was a physical one. They would pray and cry out to God even as all hell was breaking loose around them. And then, one morning they woke up and the rebels were gone.
This village still bears many physical scars from the war, and many of the people are still traumatized from what they experienced. So much healing is needed in this place. So much love. One of the pastors told us that this village has been the most unreceptive to the Gospel in the region. Much of that is because the people blame God for what happened, and turn to alcohol to deal with their problems. Many of them men spend their days drunk as the woman struggle to earn an income selling what few things they can.
But the Lord has not given up on these people. He’s never left them. He will never stop pursuing them with His sweet love that never fails. The Kingdom is breaking through all the darkness and brokenness that plagues these people. Even the atrocities of war cannot stop heaven from invading.
Oh, and this woman tried to sell us her monkey one day. Tempting.
