At the height of the conflict 87% of the population of Pader district were forcibly moved into Internally Displaced Peoples (IDP) camps because the government forces could no longer protect them in their villages. It is thought that more than 60,000 children in Uganda were child soldiers.
Since the fighting stopped in 2006 relative security has returned to the region, and the government has ordered people to return to their villages. There were a large number of Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) delivering services to people in the camps, but as the population has disbursed, NGOs have withdrawn from the area and families are having to travel further to reach facilities such as schools, hospitals and bore holes.
Lawrence aged 14
Uganda
Lawrence desperately wanted to get into school, it was poverty that kept him out. Poverty and conflict. And the horrific events that took place one afternoon six years ago.
Rebels from the Lord’s Resistance Army descended upon his village one day and took his parents, two brothers and sisters into the bush to execute them. His mum survived but she was seriously wounded and can now do very little physical labour.
Unable to earn a living, she had no choice but to pull Lawrence out of school so he could help out. He had to wake up at 6:30am for a back-breaking daily routine of farm work.
It’s a pretty bleak situation for such a bright kid to find himself in.
When we first met Lawrence he told us: “Without education I have no option but to stay as a farmer. I feel education could brighten my future and I could support my mother fully. But right now it’s not possible.”
With the help and support of warchild and child sponsors, that future is now a real possibility. Donations have helped pay for him to go back to school. It’s no exaggeration to say that this education could well transform his whole life. Now he dreams of becoming a teacher.
(www.warchild.org.uk)
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