2 of 2

Even after their release, former child soldiers face hellish memories and a traumatic return to society. Villagers often reject returning abductees in retaliation for their association with the LRA.To soften the blow, aid organizations take children to rehabilitation centers in northern Uganda. Most children enter the centers sickly and malnourished. Many girls are pregnant from rapes by LRA soldiers. "Some of the children sit rocking; it's like they are not there. They're a shell," says Pat Mendoza, a Global Outreach missionary who works with children in Gulu. "Some children sit and look at running water and just see blood.""They come very bitter and angry. We discuss reconciliation, peace, and love with the children," says Moses Dombo of World Vision, which runs a rehabilitation center in Gulu. "They feel their parents have let them down, didn't do enough to prevent their capture."While UNICEF and other aid groups focus on the rights of children and humanitarian development, World Vision and independent Christian missionaries are keeping the gospel at the front edge of their counseling ministries. "I've found an exciting challenge to reach these children with the gospel," Mendoza says.The haunting memories still linger for Grace Acayo. "While I was abducted I prayed that God would give me a chance to escape," she says. "I also prayed that God would forgive me [for] the things they made me do."Acayo stayed at World Vision's center for nine months, where she received extensive trauma counseling and training in job skills. She feels hopeful about her future. "I want to return to school to become a doctor to help the sick," she says."We're out there to help transform lives," a Ugandan aid worker tells CT. "We want them to be children again."

Previous Christianity Today articles on Uganda include an account of the mistrust and fear independent Christian groups in Uganda are facing after the deaths of 900 cult members in March.Christianity Today also covered the Nehemiah Project, which provides residential care for children who have been used as soldiers in war.Read the 1997 Human Rights Watch Report that documented several cases of child abduction by the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda. Amnesty International has a similar report.Get current Ugandan news updates from a Uganda Home Pages, Yahoo full coverage, and Africa News Online.

Copyright © 2004 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

first page |  2 of 2

share this page

July 10 2000, Vol. 44, No. 8