Home Sweet Home - until darkness falls

Aid orientated towards the future | Children in Uganda - The Flotsam of War | Dutch journalist visits the SOS Emergency Relief Programme in Gulu | Home Sweet Home - until darkness falls | Taking the initiative in Uganda | Increased rebel activity in northern Uganda puts children at risk

By Hilary Atkins It's hard to imagine the level of fear that prompts a mother to turn her child out of her home every night. Yet this is exactly what happens in the area around Gulu town in northern Uganda - home to the notorious Lord's Resistance Army - as children head for the safety of the town. Children settle down for the night in the bus station - Photo: H. Atkins Every night, at about 7.30 pm, just as darkness is descending, the roads leading into Gulu town bustle with life. Many of the walkers are children, with and without adults, chatting and laughing as if on their way to school. Their destinations though, are less welcoming - the bus station, the hospital, the church, or even the covered walkways outside the shops. So long as there's the crudest form of shelter and a space to place their banana leaf mats, the children will head for it.  The reason behind this nightly trek is that Gulu is in northern Uganda, at the heart of territory inhabited by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a notorious rebel group specializing in abducting children to work as unpaid labour, including carrying heavy weapons, satisfying sexual needs and, if necessary, killing people. Their atrocities are well documented and fear of the LRA runs deep. Although Gulu has, in the past, been targeted by the LRA, there seems to be safety in numbers, and the children of the district spend the night huddled together in their temporary shelters. Once daylight returns, at around 6.00 am, they pick up their mats and begin the long walk home, back to their parents. But why do their parents choose to send their children out at night, instead of moving the whole family into the relative safety of a displacement camp? There wouldn't be a lack a food... - Photo: H. Atkins Cut off from their means of subsistence Many of the population around Gulu are peasant farmers who grow their own produce in this extremely fertile land. The colourful, vibrant market in the centre of Gulu, where piles of tomatoes, onions, greens and pulses compete for buyers, is a testament to the quality of the soil. Yet, with the continual threat of abductions by the LRA, people have been forced to leave their homes and move into overcrowded displacement camps where their chances of growing anything are nil. Thus they lose not only their homes, but also their source of livelihood. Living at high risk - Children in a displacement camp - Photo: H. Atkins The options open to these peasant farmers are straightforward: leave home for the relative safety of the camps, but lose your means of subsistence, or stay and risk the ferocity of the LRA who may kill you and kidnap your children. Many choose the second option, but compromise by sending their children into town for the night, where they at least have a chance of survival. For the children of northern Uganda life is precarious - a balancing act between family, safety and survival. Until the 'rebels' are defeated and the raids on villages cease, the nightly trek into Gulu town - in this climate of fear, an option preferable even to the most loving parent - will continue.