Uganda and the LRA

Invisible Children has made the LRA, The Lord's Resistance Army, and their leader Joseph Kony infamous over the past couple of years. Being the skeptic I am, I approached it all with some praise and some criticism. However, being in Uganda for almost three weeks has changed my perceptions on the entire organization.

For background the LRA began in 1987 under a Ugandan woman named Alice Lakwena. She claimed to have a direct message from God to overthrow the Ugandan government. After a short while Kony took over and began his assault on Uganda. He preached to his soldiers that they should cover their bodies with shea oil and bullets would not harm them, and they would raid villages and grow in number by abducting the children and forcing them to kill their families and then join their army. Over 10,000 children since 1987 have been forced in the army with the majority of them dying.

Kony and the LRA are reportedly in the Central African Republic jungles now and have fled Uganda. But a 20+ year war leaves scars and destruction. The town we are in, Lira, is located in the exact center of the former LRA zone. Everything and everyone here has a past with the LRA, and it hurts to be a part of it. Most of our ministry deals with the kids of the community and the scars are evident. One desk in a local primary school, ages 4-14, has the phrase "I killed..." scratched into the top of the wood. James, a friend of ours, ran from his home village after his father who was in the LRA was murdered for attempting to turn himself in. 500-1,000 kids in Lira live on the streets because the LRA either killed their parents, they were former soldiers, or they are scared to go back home.

And the story closest to my heart is that of a man named Patrick. He works at the place we live and drives us around. He is in his mid-20's. Both of his parents were killed when the LRA raided his village when he was a teenager and he barely escaped. But he lost everything. He now has a wife and one-year old boy named Desmon. He has the biggest servant's heart I have ever encountered and will drop everything to help us out. We took him to a nice cafe in town and treated him to lunch yesterday and just talked. Randomly, I gave him a watch I have had in my backpack for a while and didn't really think  about it much. A teammate asked if he likes watches, he responded with "This is my first one. It is nice!" and proceeded to thank me 43 times during lunch. Talk about an emotional moment. While laying in my hammock at our home I watched him walk by admiring his new watch with the biggest smile on his face. He has yet to take it off. Humbled doesn't do the situation justice.

All this to say, the LRA's destruction is still felt around here. We hear LRA being whispered about everywhere we go. It is still a sore subject. But, we are seeing hope spring up from the ground. People are picking themselves back up and moving on. Kids who have done things I can't imagine are being rehabilitated and re-entered back into society. And we are getting to see it first hand! God is pouring out  His love on these people and they have so much faith! They constantly dance around and sing songs of thanks to the Lord. So beautiful.

Continue to pray for Patrick, James, and the rest of Northern Uganda. God has not forgotten them
Ben Moore