Kony’s War Has Stolen The Comfort Of Children

By Denis Ocwich In Gulu
IF our society was just, then midnight is a time when children would be rolling comfortably in their beds. But that is not to be for thousands of innocent children helplessly caught up in the long-running Kony war in northern Uganda.
On a Friday night, I stroll through Gulu town. Completely baffled, I stand akimbo, for a while; and ask myself: “What crime have all these young people committed that they continue to suffer out in the cold night?”
Strange, and sad, but true! Every evening, boys and girls aged between five to 17, stream from all directions to take refuge in town. They fear that if they sleep in the villages, the rebels can easily strike and abduct them.
Each time the sun goes to bed, the teenagers — now popularly called commuters — carry their buvera containing their basic requirements and dirty tattered blankets to shop verandahs and open grounds in hospitals and churches.
Some of them, including very young ones, have to walk more than five miles to town, then trek back home in the morning.
“In the mornings, they go to school when already very tired, and cannot concentrate,” said a parent, Angelo Kilama from Layibi. Above all, some children sleep on empty stomachs, then wake up to proceed to school without washing their faces and brushing their teeth. Others miss school on some days because they are too tired to concentrate.
“Although our children are committed to studies, they are undergoing a very difficult situation. They would be performing better, if there was peace,” said George Ochol Onono, the district education officer.
Indeed, up to 150 of the 196 primary schools in the district have been displaced. Which means most of the majority of the 149,463 UPE beneficiaries in the district have been displaced.
It is a common occurance to see children revising their books in the middle of the night under the lit verandahs, or in the bus parks and churches.
For the girls, the situation is worse because they are often sexually abused. In the quest of looking for better ways of survival, they end up either being defiled or forced to elope with older men.
“Our girls are being sexually abused on the streets. Where are we heading with this kind of problem?” wondered Joyce Layado, a displaced mother of 10 at Pece near Gulu town.
“When these children grow up, they will be spoilt people. Some of them will contract HIV/AIDS,” she lamented.
The younger girls, some of who are orphans, look for whoever can offer them accommodation, be it in the garage or a store. In the end, some end up getting pregnant, while others have been lured into prostitution.
Even with the boys, it is a tale of lamentation. As they keep loitering in the town, some of them turn to pick-pocketing or thuggery.
“We pray to God to give us peace, so that we return to our villages to start grooming our children afresh. Otherwise, I don’t know if our children will ever be normal,” said Mary Anek from Laliya near the town.
Jospeh Oneka, the head of Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC), northern region office said being on the streets is a violation of their fundamental human rights, including the right to shelter.
“The very fact that young people are sleeping on the streets, shows that we are not responsible,” Oneka said. “The problem is really big in magnitude... The challenge goes to NGOs or anybody who can intervene.”

Some NGOs have already moved in to provide shelter to the vulnerable children. Among them is Noah’s Ark Children’s Ministry Uganda (NACMU). The organisation has opened a children’s centre at former Sanyu Babies Home at Kaunda Grounds in the town.
“When I went to the bus park, I cried upon seeing a crowd of children sleeping on bare ground... It was a horrible experience for me,” said Annet Kurui Chepkurui, the NACMU project co-ordinator in Gulu.
The centre was officially opened early this year by District Chairman, Lt. Col.Walter Ochora. It now offers shelter to about 700 children — more than double the 200 they had planned for. And yet it keeps increasing.
“We are planning to buy for them desks and put in place a safe place for reading,” said Chepkurui.
The children are given water, soap and blankets, among other items. They are also given informal lessons and offered recreational facilities. Instead of being idle at the bus park, they are kept busy learning.
“I started sleeping on the streets in May last year, I could not read. But now I can get sometime to revise my notes at this centre,” John Bosco Odong (14), an S.2 student of Gulu Central said at the NACMU centre.
His colleague, Patrick Olum, an orphan, is now in P.7 at Gulu Town Primary School. He too has been displaced and takes shelter at Noah’s Ark. “I now feel secure reading from here. I wish more NGOs could come in to help us.”
Another orphan, Yafesi Oryema (P.6) of Gulu Town Academy, was displaced by rebels from Paicho in Aswa county. Now he stays with a guardian and has to do manual work to earn money for school fees.
“I am studying under a lot of difficulty. I come to sleep here and go to school very early in the morning. After leaving school in the evening, I go back home to cook before coming to sleep here,” narrated Oryema, clad in an old T-Shirt, a pair of shorts and rubber sleepers.
According to Solomon Okidi, the district probation and welfare officer, the situation worsened last June when the LRA war intensified.
“Most of these children fear abductions in their villages,” said Okidi. “Some walk from as far as five kilometres away from Pageya or Bungatira.”
The plight is not peculiar to Gulu. Kitgum and Pader have similar scenarios. Some of the children are slowly turning into street kids. Others miss school quite often because they fall sick as a result of cold weather and walking long distances between their homes and town, and then schools.
“We don’t have the exact data, but the number could be more than 1000,” said Okidi. The number always rises when attacks intensify. Most of the affected children are those in primary school. Few are at secondary level.
Michael Ocan Ongom, Gulu’s assistant education officer in-charge administration said: “As parents, we are equally touched by the situation, and that is one of the factors affecting the standard of education in our district.”
Rev. Vincent Ocheng Ocen, the inspector of schools, said that in the last PLE examinations, Gulu had 129 first grades and 1,662 second grades out of 4,813 candidates who sat.
This represented a 70% increase in passes compared with last year’s 76 first grades.
“Despite the situation here, we are trying our best. But our district could have been doing better, if there was peace,” said Ocen.
The problem, certainly, is big enough to warrant collaborative efforts by both the local and central government and NGOs. Otherwise, the children, some of who may easily turn into thieves, will feel let down by the very community supposed to protect them.
Besides, the Acholi society risks having a big generation of its children which knows nothing but life on the streets. In other words, such children are a time bomb; they can easily drop out of school and become wrong elements — thugs, pickpockets, or even rebels.
Oneka observed: “For all these kids to continue staying on the streets is not proper. They can become a big future problem if not properly handled... They will feel betrayed by society.” Ends