Soul Touch

“The Lucky Ones”

July 26, 2007 on 4:59 pm | In Uganda |

src=’http://blog.standonline.org.uk/soultouch/files/2007/08/lorna.jpg’ The title of this update was a passing remark made by one the members of this team. I’m not even sure who said it but the words have been ringing in my head for the past few days. They make me feel sad and joyful at the same time, if that is even possible. They were referring to the children here at the school we have been working at. I will try to upload photos as soon as possible (this is the first time I have been on a computer or near electricity for weeks) but for now try to imagine if you can. We arrived at Butagaya school on Monday and we were met by a sea of black children wearing bright yellow dresses and shirts. These uniforms are one of the ways to distinguish between the boys and the girls in this school. They all have shaved heads as they board at their school and so head live spreads quickly, especially as they are crammed into classrooms where they sleep by night

and learn by day.

The other way of course is by their developing bodies the young girls can barely afford to go to school and so they wear torn dresses and no bras. My first thought on seeing the girls “dorm’ was how horrible it must be for these girls in the heat menstruating. They have absolutely no privacy and no sanitation. The beds they sleep on are simply straw mats, but of course a few have mattresses. They’re the “lucky ones”. I will spare you the details of the toilets but I’m sure you can imagine. They call it the long drop. I tend to hold my breathe when using it and Gill you’ll be happy to know I’m singing through it.

I will start with some news of today and work backwards. Today for me was slightly different from the rest of the team. I was privileged to go with only two other people to meet some children who were previously child soldiers in Northern Uganda. They told me of how they were captured by rebel soldiers. This war is going on as we speak and children and their families are living in fear that they will captured in the night by these men. They are taken into, what they refer to as, the bush. There they are trained to kill. One girl we spoke to said she was stolen from her school in the night. The soldiers took her along with another hundred girls. They marched them for days into the bush. She was made to cook for the commander of the rebels. I asked her if she ate with the soldiers but she sad no. They were not fed so they ate the leaves from the trees and the dirt from the ground. It’s hard for me to fathom how she could survive such torture let alone talk to some strange (intrusive) white girl about it but thank God that she could and I pray that her story will not jut be heard by me but that you will listen and take not, pray and tell and others about her. She now attends Lords Meads, a secondary school here in Jinja. She too is one of the “lucky ones” I guess.

Another young boy spoke of how he was taken from his home when he was eight. His parents were killed. I’m not sure if he was forced to kill them or not but I know that, that goes on and that it is seen as a sign commitment to the rebels. He too was taken to the bush. He was given a gun and trained to use it. The rebels take these young boys and train them to kill. Their intention is to overthrow the government and rule Northern Uganda. He talked about how they had to walk and train everyday and how if they became to weak to continue (baring in mind they were not fed) they were killed. Not only shot but “chopped up”. He pointed to a point on the back of his head and said, “they hit you there and you die.”

Both of these children escaped. I cannot imagine the bravery of these young people to flee the rebels but they both said that God was very important to them when they were in the bush and he got them through. Another interesting thing they said was that they went to the camp in Gulu. (I haven’t researched it but maybe you could research it a little). He said that it was better to be in the bush than in the camp because in the bush he could eat the leaves but in the camp (where I assume there is aid) they had to share bags of rice and there wasn’t enough for everyone.

Visited an Aids orphanage this afternoon…a whole other blog!
I’m sorry I’m running out of time to write, we have to go back to camp and I may not get internet for some time. But please keep these children in your prayers.
I promise to write happy stuff next time. So many good, exciting and wonderful things have happened since we got here it’s just that this is what is on my heart right now.

Last night we had a musical evening at Lords Mead school. Eliza and I spent the day singing with the children and teaching them some music which they performed with us infront of their whole school. Em taught them dance (they have serious rhythm) which was amazing and Lorna spent the day teaching the younger kiddies English. We love it here and wouldn’t be anywhere else! Love you all xxx