GULU

one of the many camp
Anaka Kids dancing!
Effects of the war on children
The village we went to where kids live with no surviving relatives

Hey everyone

How are you all? We haven't had the internet for the last few days and I have SO missed being in touch with you all! Yay for the internet working again!

Well, another week has passed since I've been in Uganda and what an amazing week it has been. I feel like I've felt every emotion possible to feel under the sun and feel like I have just a million questions to process and a responsibility to act on what I have seen and heard.

Sally Hanna (Director of ora International NZ) and Robby Berghan arrived in Arua on Monday! Was SO cool to see them and we spent all Tuesday working with our social wokers on the sponsorship policy and general sponsorship stuff. Awesome.

On Wednesday Sally, Robby and I headed to Gulu. Gulu in a nutshell is the main area that the LRA (Lords Resistance Army) have been operating over a 21 year old period. Over this time the LRA have abducted thousands of children to enlist in their army. The children of Gulu are known because thousands of them would commute from their villages and family homes, walking many of kilometers to reach the town centers where they would all sleep together in bus parks or under the hospitals to protect themselves from being abducted by the rebels. So sad. I was first alerted about Gulu last time I was in Uganda, and all of you who know me will know it has been a place on my heart ever since – especially since I discovered the Invisible Children documentary and movement. ORA NZ have felt a real drawing to Gulu over the past few years so it was just an absolute joy for me to be able to go there. Infact, I would have to say that of all the cool things I'm doing while in Africa, Gulu is probably the main thing I have been ultra excited about!!

Brief history of the LRA and war in Uganda

So the LRA stands for Lords Resistance Army. The LRA are a cultish rebel group having the aim to overthrow the Ugandan government to make it run by the 10 commandments. They use Christianity and witchcraft as the justification for what they are doing. Joseph Kony is the leader of this group and directed by a spirit called Lakwena. This spirit instructs him to kill people and shows the exact way this should be done. Lakwena is also the spirit that instructs him to overthrow the government. As Kony has not had support for this movement to overthrow the government, he and his army abduct young children and through violent indoctrination enlist them into the rebel army ranks. Day one of their conscription into the army they are forced to kill in the most repulsive ways. I read in the Ugandan post that children are forced to kill their mothers by axing them and then eating their organs. One of the most common injuries you see in the Gulu people are people who have had their noses, lips, ears cut off and have been forced to eat them. I met SO many people in Gulu who are limbless from getting their legs/arms axed off and of course, all of the soldiers take wives who they rape repeatedly and then force to abduct others. In Gulu I met an ex officer who had only one leg but 4 wives (he was only 20 years old) each consecutive wife had been abducted by the last. Currently, the International Criminal Court are trying Kony for war crimes against humanity. He is hiding in the Congo with some of his army. There are "peace talks" taking place at the moment. Kony says he will only stop fighting if all his sentences are dropped. This causes huge questions to arise such as "should peace or justice be pursued for the best interest of humanity?" Man, this is so fascinating to me as I wrote an essay on child soldiers this year for one of my law papers and discussed this very question.

Heading to Gulu
Wednesday we headed off to Gulu on the GaaGaa bus. The whole trip was extremely comical so I must just mention it before I get to the meat of my update! So we're on this GaaGaa bus to Karuma and the bus conductor tells us to bow our heads in prayer… "Lord we BEG of you to save our lives this trip. PLEEASE will you send us your traveling mercies. Jesus I ask that NOONE will put their arms outside the bus and have them cut off like our 2 sisters did last week. Jesus we are SORRY for the sins we have committed but plead with you to spare us this day…"Sally, Robby and I just looked at each other in disbelief! It was just the most hilarious prayer but very much needed as SO many people have lost their lives on the roads to Gulu!

Anyway, we start rolling off surrounded by just the coolest scenery. It was awesome. When we got to Karuma we had to catch a mini van taxi to Gulu. Wow. What an experience! We hopped on this van and to start off there were just a few people… we kept stopping and more people jumped on until it was full…. And then we kept moving along and MORE people would jump on the bus until honestly we were just jam-packed like sardines sitting ontop of each other. Our mini-van had 12 actual seats but 22 people inside!!!!! Talk about claustrophobia! Haha. But then, it gets worse… We're sitting there and I feel something furry graze up against my leg… my first thought is "Oh no… not a rat…." I am petrified of rats!!!! So we keep moving and then two fury things are like honestly grazing up and down my legs and I'm like absolutely freaking out like jumping in the air as high as I can in this cramped condition!!! I can't even see what it is that is nestling into me but are pretty sure that it's some kind of creature…. Anyway… then the PECKING starts at my toes!!! Honestly, I'm not an animal lover at the best of times… I realize that ALL around me are CHICKENS!!! Like 5 dirty chickens all around my feet!! Haha… so I kinda tried to lift my legs up desperately hoping they wouldn't touch me.. the funniest though was when they moved to Sally who was sitting right in front of me. I absolutely lost it as I saw her jump in the air every time s chicken pecked her… I was in fits of giggles!!! Felt a little silly though when I'd been talking to this 12 year old boy about how he feared the LRA rebels and he asked me "so why do you fear this chicken??!" It really was amazing driving down the same dirt roads that the LRA rebels have traveled on shooting everyone in sight… That the villages we passed were the same villages where hundreds of children had been abducted from…

In Gulu Day 1
So on our first day in Gulu, we met up with the ANAKA foundation which are an NGO similar to ORA working with children who have been orphaned from their parents being abducted by the rebels. We met heaps of these darling children who danced and sang for us (definatly the best krumping I've ever seen – will try upload video to facebook) they were just AMAZING but they all had just the deepest sadness in their faces. We noticed such a huge difference between our orphans in Arua and these orphans. We presented ANAKA with a cheque of money that NZ kids had raised. We also gave them each a beautifully handmade jandal that NZ kids had made with a personal message of hope and encouragement on it. So so cool. The kids were stoked!

Gulu day 2
Ahh! This was just one of the COOLEST most memorable days of my life!

Motorbiking

We were picked up at 10 by members of the ANAKA foundation on motorbikes! We all jumped on the back of one of the guys and went out to the villages. Honestly, it was just incredible… SOSO fun to be rolling along these dirt roads littered with goats and children excitedly waving! I was riding with Richard who is just the most amazing guy. My neck is half sunburnt from craning my neck to talk to him. We had the most incredible discussions and I know we will be good friends forever. Riding out to the villages it was just astounding to see camp after camp where thousands of Gulu people had left their villages to come and live near each other for security. These camps are just so hideous with mud huts built SO close to each other with no greenery in sight. One of the smallest camps we saw housed 30,000 people in just the smallest space. The military would surround the camps at night to fight the rebels who would attack. We heard about SO many villages that had been torched by the LRA rebels. 4,000 people, one whole village died in one night from being torched. I can't believe I have never heard this information before??!

The Villages
The first village we went to was amazing. It was a foster care situation where a lady called Jackline was caring for 12 children, all who have no surviving relatives. Can you believe it? These kids don't even have an aunty or cousin alive to live with? This is an example of the devastation the rebel army have had on the people of Gulu. The village had about 6 graves of the relatives of the children. We interviewed some of them as we are hoping to provide sponsorship for them and we had to stop as when we mentioned their parents, they couldn't speak as silent tears rolled down their cheeks. These kids ranged from about 4 years to 12. Honestly, it was absolutely heartbreaking to hear their stories, but amazing to see the care and love they are receiving from the ANAKA foundation. I hate to think what would have happened to these kids had they been left to fend for themselves.

Anaka Village
We then drove out to the actual Anaka village. This was only 56K's away but took us 2 hours over all the pot holes and dirt roads! Haha. Such a thrilling, fun fun fun ride. I have to say I was amazingly impressed with Sally and Robby who are old enough to be my mum and grandmother bumping along on these motorbikes! Honestly, we had such a great day… man it was just the best and I had SO much fun with Robby and Sally!

Arriving in ANAKA was pretty chilling. It was one of the camps and everyone we met had been somehow affected by the rebels. I have never seen a group of people so oppressed in my life. I feel like they are merely surviving. Although the war has apparently stopped, people are reluctant to return back to their villages. They still do not feel safe enough to believe Kony and the rebels have ceased. We saw so much alchoholism, mental health, once again, the limbs and scars of hundreds of people marred by the rebels. The children are all so violent with each other. They don't play normal games with each other. They have the greatest sadness in their eyes. We saw that the ANAKA foundation were helping a portion of these kids but there were so many other children in just the deepest poverty. I wish you could see them. I promise you, you would weep. I feel like I can't explain the affect the war has had on the people and to be honest, it is hard to imagine how Gulu will ever recover from this. It will definitely take generations before this country can get back on its feet.

On the way home, Sally's motorbike got a puncture so we were stranded in the wops for about an hour.. met the most amazing kids… we sung them "jesus loves the little children" and then Richard asked them why they were thankful to God. One little 5 year old said "I am so thankful that I don't have to sleep in the bush anymore and can live in my village."

Kope Café
Back in Gulu, we decided to eat at Kope Café which had just opened. Man, it was just the coolest café with the styleyest artwork on the walls. It also had western food. We had a smoothy each and a steak salad! Bliss! All profit goes to the HEALS foundation. As we were paying the bill, I realized that Jolly Grace Okot who is one of the main people in the Invisible children DVD was sitting in the café!!!1 It was AMAZING as I have been writing to the Invisible Children offices this year asking if I can meet up with them in Gulu and had them reply saying no, and here I am in the same room as Jolly who is the Country Director of Invisible Children and just been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize!!! We organized a meeting with her for the next day. Honestly, it could only have been God who orchestrated that meeting. It all made sense… the puncture, our meals being delayed… AMAZING that I was able to connect up with Jolly. Praise God!!!!

Gulu Day 3
So we met up with Jolly in the morning. Such an inspiration. It was amazing to see what Invisible Children are doing. We had big talks about peace and justice. In my essay I had mentioned above, I had argued that Kony needed to be brought to justice. I may have to rethink my argument…. Jolly had heaps of kids living with her who are have all been abducted. She told us that in her village, she knows that her cousins, her sisters and brothers have been killed by soldiers who have now returned back to the villages. She said "punishing the people who have killed my relatives will not bring my relatives back to me. What is done is done. The only hope Gulu has is if we forgive and move on." Amazing… Jolly is also the Country director of the HEALS foundation. This is kinda a sponsorship program for kids who have been abducted that encourages "play therapy" as a way of helping the kids deal with what they are feeling. She says it really works. That the kids started off drawing bloody gruesome pictures, but over time have started drawing flowers, aeroplanes, less gruesome things!! I had visions of bringing a team of people back next year. Just imagine… we could have clowns, maori stick games and really minister to these kids!!!

SO!I apologise for the size of this email! I reall couldn't make it any shorter and feel like I've left a thousand things out! I have been SO impacted by what I have seen here. Jolly said that only 1% of the kids in Gulu are receiving aid… there is just SO much help needed for this country. I saw a magazine article this week that was titled "The real reason Posh changed her hair colour" and I felt like being sick. I guess seeing such devastation and suffering makes you assess your life and what is important. I know I spend so much of my time focusing on the trivial things when there are people in Gulu just struggling to make it through the day. I feel like so many of the things I worry about are just so trivial now. It really has been a challenging time and a time to get my priorities in check!

There are many different aspects involved with Gulu getting back on its feet again.. the Ugandan government being a huge part of this. I love Joel Housten in his iheartrevolution site ( www.iheartrevolution.com) where he says that if our generation is remembered for ipods, myspace, youtube then we've missed the point! We will merely be remembered for living a self-indulgent life. He encourages us to stand up for something greater than ourselves. He says "it's time for a revolution.. fuelled by a dissatisfaction with self-centred living and complacent faith.. driven by a desire for truth, love and justice." I so agree with him. While I still have many unanswered questions, I am beginning to think the ONE way we can see change and witness hope for Africa is to have a shift of culture. A revolution like Joel speaks of where we ALL decide to get involved and help Africa get on its feet... it's only when we shift our eyes off ourselves, we love God, love people that we will see change. ALL of us can be a part of this.

When you see that only 1% of Gulu is being reached by aid, it is hard to see how hope can be restored to this nation. But I tell you, if you even met just one of these children you would be sold out to this cause. One way we can give hope to Gulu is through spending more of our time, money, resources concentrated on this region of the world instead of on ourselves. Honestly, this has just been the hugest wakeup call to me and I hope I will never be the same again. Please look up www.invisiblechildren.com for more information on these kids. I have the Invisible Children DVD and would SO strongly recommend you to watch it. There are no copyrite laws over this so if someone can copy it over and over and distribute it, that'd be so cool. It's at my flat for those who want to borrow.

I read these verses while in Gulu and really felt they were for the Acholi people
Isaiah 51:13-17
Will you remain in constant dread of human oppression? Will you continue to fear the anger of your enemies from morning til night? Soon all you captives will be released! Imprisonment, starvation, and death will not be your fate! For I am the Lord your God, who stirs up the sea causing its waves to roar. My name is the Lord almighty and I have put my words in your mouth and hidden you safely within your hand. I set all the stars in space and established the earth, I am the one who says "you are mine."

Another reason to hope. There are promises of Jesus releasing the captives and freeing people from poverty all through the bible. I pray that this scripture will reign true for these beautiful people. God cares for them so very much.

Other news!
Sally and Robby leave on Wed! It's been great having them here! We are having a worship service on our ora land tomorrow. So awesome to be able to dedicate it to the Lord before we continue building.

I have been asked to preach next Sunday by the Bishop of St Phillips church! Eeek! Totally stoked to be asked as I really hoped I would have the opportunity to speak into people's lives while in Uganda. I've been journaling for a while things I think God would have me say to the youth here and praying for an opportunity to be able to say them. Definatly nervous though! Please pray that God would show me so clearly what I'm supposed to say. I'm speaking to youth in particular.

Man, thanks so much for your prayers. Dad has been telling me about people who have been ringing home asking how I am and what they can pray for, Thanks so so much. We have felt God's guidance so clearly over the last week.

Check out this link for more photos!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=13659&l=92721&id=514582012

My love to you all!!!

BEX