Free at last: Nine years after living as a rebel

ON Friday, Teso sub-region remembered their relatives killed by the rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), who entered Teso through Obalanga sub-county in Amuria district nine years ago. Hundreds of people were killed. Over 300 people were buried in three mass graves at Obalanga sub-county headquarters. Hundreds of children were abducted and many are still missing to this day. However, there is a lucky girl, who after nine years in captivity, returned to her parents. Godfrey Ojore witnessed the reunion of Tabitha Apio and her parents 

 

 

It was 4:30pm on a Thursday when Tabitha Apio arrived at her village Angaro, Dokolo parish, Gweri sub-county in Soroti district, aboard a Red Cross vehicle.

Abducted at the age of 13 in 2003 while living with her elder sister in Kapelebiong, Amuria district, Apio has returned an adult of 21 years old.

Her parents and relatives had lost hope of recovering her. The clan leaders even deleted her name from their list because they thought she was killed by the LRA.

A month ago, Handington Ocige, Apio’s father, received a call from Red Cross officials saying they had Apio in their care and they were planning to bring her back home.

Apio was rescued by the UPDF who are in pursuit of the LRA rebels.

“When I told my wife the news, she dismissed it as a mere dream. ‘How can it be possible that Apio is still alive?”’ Ocige narrated to Sunday Vision the response of his wife Kaetura Acam.

Doubts of Apio’s parents over her return were dispelled on June 7, 2012, when Apio arrived in a Red Cross vehicle. 

 

Finally home

She was received in an opera welcome from hundreds of people in the village and the neighbouring villages. They gathered along the road to catch a glimpse of Apio, whom they had never had hope of meeting again. 

People sang songs of praise to God, others danced, while others shed tears of joy as Apio was ushered into the compound of her home.

“I am lost for words as the chairman of the clan because we had deleted her from the clan list. I am pleased to announce that our number has gone up from 673 to 674,” Daudi Oumo, the chairman of Inom Iteten, said amidst cheers from a jubilant crowd.

 

“I thank the UPDF for making me smile today. I had lost hope for reuniting with my daughter,” Ocige said during a reunion party at his home.

 

Though Ocige’s heart is not fully relived because he lost two daughters to the rebels, he is at least optimistic that the other daughter will one day return too.

 

“Teddy Acam, my other daughter who the LRA abducted, was older than Apio. I pray that God brings her alive like her sister,” Ocige said.

 

When asked about the whereabouts of her sister  Apio said they were separated soon after the abduction in 2003 and since then, she has not met her. It was the LRA policy to separate relatives.

 

Apio has been speaking Lingala fluently and her mother tongue is fading out. She cannot express herself to the extent that she uses sign language to communicate with her parents.

 

Before learning the language, she confessed that the rebels would thoroughly beat them up. Bruises were evident on her right hand.

 

“She was abducted while in P5 and had not learnt how to speak English fluently,” said the father. 

However, in her broken Ateso, Apio told Sunday Vision that she escaped from the rebels and walked to the UPDF troops who took her to Red Cross International for care.

 

She also told Sunday Vision that the team of rebels that abducted them was killed and they were handed to another group that also suffered a lot of causalities.

 

“I am happy to return home, I was beaten by the rebels and forced to walk for long distances,” Apio recalls nasty experiences at the hands of the rebels.

According to Sarah Alako, Apio’s elder sister, Apio and Acam were staying at her home when rebels trapped them after they had finished having lunch.

 

“Rebels took us to a certain home where they had kept other people. Elders and children sat in different places,” Alako recalls.

 

“That is the last time I saw my sisters. In the night, they took the children and left us behind,” Alako said adding that when she returned to her home she thought of committing suicide. She was all smiles to see her sister whom she showered with hugs.